I didn't know where to put this,maybe Admin could help out,watch this vid and will revealed
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this affects us all!!
There is a FB page "TITS OUT AGAINST EU" that is calling for protests at your local motoway services on the 25th Sept with riders setting off at 1pm (so meet up b4 1pm) there is also a petition link on that page,
SIGN UP AND TURN UP!!
sorry if this seems like a rant or an order but WE CAN'T LET IT HAPPEN!!
I hate how they always pick on bikes, but let the chavs in the 205s with the turbos, dump valves, nitros and gigantic spolier and body kit loose on the streets.
The Anti tampering Regulation: Specifically Article 18 which wants to stop all modifications to complete power train, from airbox to controlling the rear tyre profile.
Compulsory ABS. If we can't stop this, we must get a switch so that we have an option in difficult conditions where ABS doesn't function well.
Automatic headlights on- passing the blame for poor observation on to us.
OBD. On Board Diagnostics so that easy roadside checks can be made of our emissions and so that constant readouts of engine performance can be obtained. Expensive, complicated and with the threat, rather like a tacho, of identifying past riding style...
RMI. Repair and Maintenance Information. Rather than keeping it hidden and available for huge expense, there is a chance that manufacturers will be forced to provide ECU codes etc for a fee. What that fee is remains to be seen.
The very worrying article 52: "If systems, components or seperate technical units on a list in a delegated act to this regulation, have a dual use, for vehicles intended exclusively for racing on roads and for vehicles intended for use on public roads, they may not be sold or offered for sale to consumers" So if your K&N filter can fit a CBR race bike and a CBR road bike, the best way to police that, is to make it illegal to sell the filter in Europe.The Delegated Acts are the most scary thing, as they are the lists and details drawn up by the unelected and we won't get to see what they are including until after the Regulation has been passed!
It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
Europe is about to go broke, mostly because of focusing on bullshit like this instead of fixing the banking system or collecting taxes (in Greece's case), so I hope this will never be passed into UK law.
If they did it to bikes, they'd need to do it to cars too, surely. IIRC, the Queen is currently transported around in a vintage Rolls. I highly doubt the idiot Euro's will be able to get that off her.
What about all the beautiful classics we have, again, if this is passed it effectively wipes out history. Imagine the law suits/compensation which would need to be paid......When they took our handguns off of us it cost the UK taxpayer millions upon millions in compensation. Not many people know that (it got burried), but it happened. Handguns were/are say around £500-800 on average. I wonder what the average value of motorbikes over 7 years old would be. If it had to include cars also, the cost could run into billions.
Load of old cobblers if you ask me.
I'd just like to raise a comparative situation if I may. Please bare with me.
I am not really a political person, but I ask you this, fellow bike owners. In many peoples eyes, a gun is dangerous. The main argument against them being, they are designed for one purpose, to kill. Whilst this is true in historical terms, in modern times, this is not necessarily the case, as humanity graduated from killing each other, to the shooting of targets for sport. If in doubt, think of swords, primarily designed for one purpose only, to kill, yet fencing is a popular sport and there are no calls to ban it (yet).
Whilst you might not think it initially, there are similarities here between the ridiculous restrictions on firearms in the UK, and the proposed restrictions on bikes.
The truth is, BOTH are lethal in the wrong hands. However, the same is true about cars, BUT....
The government/EU/law makers, ALWAYS pick on the minority because its easy. So whilst you, the reader here, may not like guns for example, surely it is plain to see, that someone with a minority interest, constantly gets persecuted for following it. It is a dangerous precedent to set.
As a person with many years of shooting experience with all types of firearms, I am more dangerous on a motorbike than with a handgun, purely down to experience. Hopefully that makes a bit of sense to even the anti-gun lobby. Yet I am allowed to obtain/licence a bike, as is anyone, from 16 and up. Is a handgun more dangerous in the hands of someone experienced, than a GSXR600 in the hands of a 21 year old who's been riding motorcycles for a week? It happens, we all know it does.
The ultra PC brigade (including my mother, who I argue with almost constantly when it comes to politics), would have the government ban BOTH. On the same grounds, danger to the user and the public at large! I would agree, if everyone firing a gun and everyone riding a bike was a complete moron.
Back in 1997, following the horrific shootings by a crazed lunatic who had been on police files as such for years, yet was still allowed access to guns, legislation was passed as a reaction to public emotion a the time and simultaneously cover up the wrong doings of the police in failing to check the perpetrators history. A similar thing is happening here, except instead of crazed lunatics, we have statistics as the enemy, yet no evidence to show that bikers are the primary cause of pollution or road deaths.
I am very much for conservation I might add but I would start by negotiating with the worlds most polluting countries rather than seek to punish Europeans even further..
Anyway, it doesnt matter what you do these days, what your hobby is, unless its reading, people can seek to ban it (in China/North Korea even reading is restricted). So if you were one of the people who, in 1997, welcomed the ban on many types of firearms that were used for competition, I ask you to think to yourself if you really gave consideration to people who simply wished to follow a hobby.
It takes something like this for most people to realise that nothing is safe from "do gooders" and the PC brigade.
I lost my favourite passtime due to knee jerk legislation, I doubt it affected even 10 of our forum users. The same can be said however, about this law, which I am sure would not affect even 10 people on a cross stich forum. So, the cross stichers look the other way and ignore the fact that someon else is losing their hobby, until their hobby is banned..."you'll have someones eye out with that needle" - sounds silly, but is it any more ridiculous than banning the changing of an air filter on a bike?
People really need to band together and protect each other, instead of always looking after their own interests alone. Maybe I live in a dream world, but I'd like to see it happen.
I do not intend this post to be a political soap box, I really do not care for such things. its just that, in the past, I lost my favourite hobby to the PC brigade, based upon the actions of 2 lunatics, who should never have been in a position to do what they did, the police and government failed to prevent it, which they were absolutely responsible for. Yet I suffered as a result, a law abiding person who never had so much as a speeding ticket in my life. In the case of this proposal, it is merely an attempt for Europe to meet its commitments to the world, made not on behalf of the people, but on behalf of the politicians who we all know make ridiculous claims, simply to be elected. Being a politician isnt badly paid as I am sure you know. Well they should be, to weed out those who do it for monetary gain, or a power trip.
I hope this does not become law, its merely another nail in Europes coffin.
Please, I do not wish this thread to turn into ANYTHING to do with guns, AT ALL. My intention is merely to illustrate an example in recent history, where a minority hobby has been effectively banned, on the whim of politicians without really giving thought to the real issues around it. I dont deny guns are dangerous in the wrong hands, but so are bikes, so are cars, so are kitchen knives, so is pretty much everything in the entire world. Hell, a page of the european legislation is dangerous in the hands of a maniac who would crunch it up and stuff it down someones throat.
Are people really going to stand around and let these people justify their salaries by creating ridiculous laws to meet commitments which the people never agreed to in the first place
Basically, ask yourself, how far are we away from communism? If you went to your MP with a serious point, would he really pursue it? Do the politicians really listen to the people.
My opinion is, we live in a faux democracy. Europe basks in the image of democracy, yet the will of the people is often ignored, or issues are spin-doctored to gain public support (effectively spreading lies en-masse). At least the citizens of China KNOW their freedom is restricted and can take steps to circumvent such restrictions, over here, we are blind to the restrictions we face on every day life. There are many many examples of such things, sports day at school not giving prizes properly for fear of persecuting pupils who are not good at sport, a black coloured board not being called as such so as not to offend minorities, nursery rhymes being banned for racism towards sheep, the list goes on.
These are sad times we live in, here is our one chance, with a common goal, to do something and maybe prevent further idiotic legislation in the future.
This all sounds like a war cry and perhaps it is, to an extent. I'll be involved in the ride out, for sure and I'd really like it if my fellow forum members joined too.
As someone else has said somewhere, we dont really live in a democracy, we live in a parliamentary democracy. We dont make decisions, politicians make decisions on our behalf and based on what they think is right for us, or more likely, for them.
Yes the PC brigade probably are playing a big part in pushing this through, but isnt it obvious that there is pressure coming from the manufacturers? When something unpopular is pushed through into law, you always have to look at who is to gain from the legislation.
Who else would want to force you to use a main dealer for any and all work required, ban 3rd party after market parts not sanctioned by the manufacturer, force older bikes off the road and people to buy newer bikes.
Its a fact that bike sales are really slow at the moment, something like this will be a huge boost to the bike industry. So who is to gain? Well the manufacturers and main dealers...I wouldnt be surprised if money was changing hands or jobs being offered to politicians pushing this through also. You know the thing, get this law passed and come work for us when you get voted out of office.
And could someone tell me how to convince Honda to start remaking the Firestorm? Because if I have to, by law, get rid of my 11 year old Firestorm because I cant ride it in urban areas, which means home from work and even too work then I fully expect the government to buy me a nice new bike to comply with their law.
I'd also expect them to start telling cage drivers that they should scrap their cars if they are over 7 years old otherwise its discriminatory. Also scrap the modification of chav mobiles for the same reason.
To be honest. I cant see it ever getting passed because their would be outcry and it would cost the already skint government way too much to enforce but it just shows how much of a joke the EU has become.
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
History:....CZ125....RXS100.....Lifan LF125-14F.....Suzuki GSXR750
Current:...1999 VTR FIRESTORM!
I've been reading about this in Streetfighters magazine.
To be honest it just reads like a set of ideas that are stupid in the first place, but even srupider when you consider the cost and difficulty in implementing any of them. Manufacturers, dealers and owners will all end up out of pocket somewhere, then there's the question of what you do with a new bike as soon as it reaches 7 years old? What happens to bikes already modified? Bikes currently without ABS? Vintage bikes?
I can't see it being passed, thankfully. I think it would simply be too difficult and costly, let alone unpopular.
my previuos post "latest from the MAG" has a list of meeting points in the uk, tbh i posted this thread to inform you all but all i see is negative "it'll never happen" comments all i'll say WILL YOU BE HAPPY TO WAKE 1 MORNING TO FIND YOUR BIKES BANNED AND A NEW 1 IS A THIRD MORE EXPENSIVE,YOU HAVE TO FULL HI-VIS,NO CONTROL OVER YOUR HEADLIGHT AND THE COPS CAN DO YOU FOR SPEEDING WHEN N0-ONE SAW YOU DO IT!!
i'll be at MAG meeting point for Manchester area and at Manchester town hall after,check MAG website and facebook pages "tits out against eu" and "Direct Action-Sunday 25th Mass Road Demo"
From everything I have seen in the past, whether the helmet laws, the NERC laws which screwed up green laning in the uk, the firearms things that vtryorks talked about, the new 50 limits etc. If you are a minority, and especially if there is a reason to moralise the crusade against you (we are a danger to ourselves and others, noisy, etc), things like this will go ahead!!!!!!
Fully or partially, this proposed legislation will keep building up till it is passed to law, the extent of the implementation is going to be down to how much people fight back. To do nothing will play into their hands, so let's have a look at joining one of the protest rides and get ourselves counted.
VTR Firestorm and other bikes t-shirts
