Man tries to ride his $2,600 AliExpress race moped from London to Edinburgh to see if it can make it

He bought a race-tuned engine off AliExpress, wedged it into an old Honda moped, and pointed it north.

The plan? Ride from Buckingham Palace to Edinburgh Castle – 425 miles – on what was basically a questionable science experiment.

What followed was a day-long blur of petrol stops, coffee jitters, and the constant fear that the next sound would be the engine hitting its limit.

And while he made it from A to B, the ride was about as smooth as sandpaper… with lots of unexpected and unwanted bumps along the way.

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The ride nobody thought would work

This moped began life as a mild little Honda Vision with a 50cc motor. 

Then Ryan, the creator behind YouTube channel Bikes of Rye, tore it apart and gave it a heart transplant: a $2,600 AliExpress 125cc race engine that had already shown its flaws by breaking during its first test run.

Even before the road trip started, the moped was a problem child – a blown spark plug, shredded bearings, and a $55 replacement case just to get it running again. 

Still, with almost no proper road testing, Ryan rolled up outside Buckingham Palace and pointed it north toward Scotland.

From the very first mile, it was bedlam: constant refuels, mixing oil on gas station forecourts, a belt drive running hotter than a frying pan. 

The Vision would cruise at 45-50mph, but every new vibration felt like the beginning of the end.

And yet, it kept going.

Through numb hands, aching shoulders, and 14 hours of teeth-rattling misery, the AliExpress motor somehow held together. 

It broke down twice, threatened to give up a dozen more times, and still pressed on.

The Honda Vision even tried to quit just 12 miles out from the finish line when the exhaust bolts shook loose, leaving the moped sounding like it was about to tear itself apart. 

But one last roadside patch-up was enough to carry it over the line and into Edinburgh.

The rise of bargain-bin bikes

This AliExpress odyssey isn’t a one-off – in fact, budget bikes are having their moment. 

Just recently, two YouTubers tested a Temu dirt bike against an Amazon one in a messy but surprisingly entertaining showdown.

Another rider went solo and bought the most expensive dirt bike Temu had to offer for just over $1,000, before thrashing it in sketchy conditions to see if it would survive.

And over on Alibaba, a YouTuber risked $4,000 on a Sur-Ron e-bike and was stunned when it showed up in almost flawless condition.

Turns out, ordering vehicles off bargain websites isn’t always a flop. Sometimes, against all logic, they actually deliver.

So yes, in the end, the AliExpress miracle held together for 425 brutal miles and carried Ryan from palace gates to castle walls.

Not bad for a bargain-bin gamble.

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