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.