Difference between revisions of "Moped"

'''Mopeds''' are a type of low-powered [[motorcycle]] designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements. Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals (the source of the term, motor-pedal), but ''moped'' has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their restricted [[engine displacement]], speed, and/or power output.  Mopeds occasionally resemble powered bicycles, but most are now step-through designs (of both kinds, having either large or small wheels) and step-over designs similar to a regular motorcycle.  Although mopeds usually have two wheels, in some jurisdictions low-powered three or four wheeled vehicles are also classified as mopeds.

The wide availability of previously-used but still functional small motorcycles in western societies enables and encourages cheap forms of racing, wrongly called moped racing. Dirt-racing forms of this sport is sometimes staged in the stadiums of agricultural shows, where, unlike football and athletic grounds, the surface is not too important. One popular series uses chicanes consisting of stacked large-diameter tractor tyres and requires a team of riders, each doing ten laps and then pulling into the middle of the ring for change-over. Two heats and a final, each lasting 25 minutes, can be held in one day interspersed with speedway racing and other displays. Another series once held on full-size race-tracks, including [[Le Mans]], ran for 25 hours (typically 3.00pm one day until 4.00pm the next) and was billed as "the longest race in the world".