Documents to ride on motorways with a 125cc

[IppC]

Hello everyone,

I am about to buy a 125cc, and I have technical administrative questions. Just to make my issue clear beforehand: what I want is basically to know how I can be allowed to drive on motorways with a 125cc.

The thing is that I am French and about to come live in London. I have a french driving licence (from 6 years) - in France it includes category B, B1 and AM vehicles. I know that in France I am allowed to drive 125cc motorbikes with my car licence. I also know that I don't need to exchange the french licence for the british one if I want to drive cars in the UK.

Here are my questions:
- If I keep my french licence, do you know if in the UK I am also allowed to drive 50cc and 125cc motorbikes? Do I need to take the CBT or not? In case I am allowed to drive 125cc motorbikes, do you know if I can take them on the motorways?
- If I exchange my french licence for the british one: then I am just like a regular British which has a car licence. In that case I know that if I take the CBT, I can drive 125cc bikes. But am I also allowed to take them on motorways? Or, if I want to do that do I need to take the A1 licence?

Thanks in advance to those that know something about these pretty boring questions. The thing is that depending on the answer, I have or not to start administrative queries and/or to plan spending more money on me starting riding motorbikes. In particular, if possible I would prefer to avoid paying for taking the A1 licence, at least for the first months in the UK.

Cheers!

[Three Dawg]

Unless you have a full licence you cannot ride or drive on a motorway. There is an exception for learner drivers with a qualified instructor and a dual control car.

https://begin-motorcycling.co.uk/uk-motorcycle-laws/

Full licence or not, I wouldn't go near a motorway on a bike under 500cc.

[mangocrazy]

Bonjour! Welcome to the UK and to this forum. Most of the people on here gained their full motorcycle licence under a very different regime than that which applies today (and that certainly applies to me). From what I can gather, at some point you will need to change your EU/FR licence for a UK one - not sure if that's something you want to do? The first place to start is the Gov.UK website. This is the page that deals with motorcycle licences:

https://www.gov.uk/ride-motorcycle-moped

There are doubtless other sites that go into more detail, but I suspect that Google will be your friend here. Are you permanently relocating to the UK, or is it a limited term move? Depending on the answer to that question, it may make sense to continue riding on your French licence.

Bonne chance!

[IppC]

Thank you for your answers!

Concerning changing the french licence for the UK one: I read on official websites that for driving cars, even if I stay 20 years in the UK, I can keep driving with my french licence. But I just saw that in order to pass my CBT though, I need the UK licence first.

I am going to stay at least 3 years in the UK. Anyway it seems that I need to change for the UK driving licence and then get the A1 licence. And as I saw that the A2 licence is the same price, I think I am going to take that one directly.

One question for Three Dawg concerning riding on motorways: why do you think it is so dangerous to ride on motorways with a 125cc? I am talking about riding at about 60mph, on the slowest lane. Do you think it is really dangerous to do that with a 125cc?

[Three Dawg]

Well I haven't ridden a 125 for quite some considerable time, but assuming they are still 12bhp and capable of a bit over 70mph on a good day I think I would feel somewhat vulnerable on a motorway just about anywhere in England, given the huge volume of traffic on the roads these days. A slight incline or headwind will see you straining to keep ahead of trucks, never mind the psychos who drive Audis. It can be hairy on a litrebike at times!

But maybe that's just me, I might need to harden the fuck up!

[Shebee]

I have a 125 as well as bigger bikes and generally avoid even busy dual carriageways for any distance never mind motorways. With a top speed of 70 downhill with the wind behind me, virtually no weight and with no ‘power out of a situation’ option I just feel too vulnerable. If i hit a slight hill i can be down to 50 mph and blown all over the place by passing trucks. I love the little bike and it’s huge fun if you pick your roads to suit but not motorways for me!

[IppC]

Ok that's good to have feedback from you, I don't really realize how having low speed and power feels on motorways, as I only drove cars for now.

[Florian]

Hi there,

Old Post but let's see if you're still here. I'm exactly in the same position (French with French car driving licence who wants to ride a 125cc and not sure of what I need, but not really keen to exchange my French licence or pass a whole new UK licence if I can avoid it, in UK since 7 years but may leave in few years).

What have you finally done and what are your advices?

On top of it now we had the brexit (I'm under EU settlement visa) and this may have impacted the rules.

Not sure who to ask...

[Wally]

This may help if you haven't already seen this.
https://www.gov.uk/driving-nongb-licence