The latest trend to grip the UK in the past few years has been the mass use of super pocket bikes or minibikes as they are more commonly known in the UK. These mini versions of scooters and motorbikes appear to offer non-license owning people the experience of riding a motorbike or scooter- or does they?

If you have never seen one of these mini bikes I will quickly give a “mini” description.

These bikes have tyres with a diameter of around 4-6 inches (10-15cm) and can have top speeds of around 35mph to 40mph. The bikes often look like scaled down versions of popular “super bikes.”

This is not the Super Pocket bike that I am talking about!

On first impressions most believe (myself included) that you can ride these bikes without any safety gear or legal documentation. However I have researched that the truth is that in the UK these mini bikes are treated in the same manner as any 50cc moped.

According to UK law you must meet the following requirements:

Be over the age of 16 years
You must wear a helmet that meets UK law
The bike must be fully road taxed and insured
Must also have undergone a CBT (which is a basic one day training day)
If the bike is more than three years old - an MOT must be obtained
You are not allowed to ride these super pocket bikes on the pavement (side walk)
However the vast majority of these “mini-moto” riders seem to believe that these rules do not apply to them. To be honest I can understand their point of view. Many of these pocket bikes are so small they do look like toys and one does wonder if they can cause any harm. But in the last few years these bikes have caused a lot of “out cry” due to many of the “Chav” tribe causing a nuisance by riding them at high speed in public areas.