Fighting Talk 202

Despite our incessant whining over the issues that motorcyclists face in everyday life, it's actually been over a decade since we last had any great threat to the lifestyle of the inveterate motorcycle tinkerer, and while the huge Euro Demos of the time were, seemingly, effective in ridding us of the threats of power limits and anti-tampering regulations, nobody was under the illusion that the suits in power in Brussels were going to leave us alone for the rest of time...

So none of you should be surprised at the recent announcement by the European Commission, which intends to implement regulations that restrict modifications made to motorcycles – a move eerily close to the proposed anti-tampering legislation of a decade or so ago.

As has become common practice amongst those who, seemingly, create new legislation in order to keep themselves in a job, rather than pass on a consultation document to parties with an interest (and knowledge of) the area in question, they keep it quiet, whisper amongst themselves and hope that no-one who is likely to disagree with their aims ever hears about the legislation in question.

Luckily for us, we have our eyes and ears amongst both the British and European parliaments, and although they couldn't be seen as being quite as exciting as international espionage – we haven't quite got a mole in Whitehall, or even a badger in Brussels (although we do have a stoat in Amsterdam…W) – the work that the Motorcycle Action Group and the British Motorcyclists Federation do is invaluable for the future of motorcycling...


Read the rest of this Fighting Talk in SF202