EU law makers trying to ban bike modificatins.. massive protest, very little news coverage

reply to post by Extralien



the eu will be making it so they have a rep standing there making sure you plant the right number of plants in your garden and making sure you have a balanced garden full of eqaul amounts of fruits and vegetables

The EU is always trying this crap. Thank god for MAG.

I'd just like to add that I own a couple of old Harleys, I can't get factory parts for them as Harley stopped making the things.

This legislation is just another way to make riding a bike more difficult.
Sod the EU, if I wanna stick hot cams in my sportster or change the switches on my SX for ones that actually work...its my business.

And I also ain't gonna be told to wear day glo or swap my cutoff for full leathers if I don't want to.

When everything is illegal, the only free men will be the Outlaws.

reply to post by Pigraphia


Laying flat on your custom painted tank to get a better slip stream.. squeezing every bit out of your throttle as you can.. lovely..

Or being on a motorway in stormy weather and getting blown across all three lanes.. pouring the rain water out of your boots at the end of the ride..

Fingers almost dropping off from the cold in the winter, to riding with your jacket open in the summer..

Can't beat it..

If any modifications should be made, then perhaps it is to the kit we wear.. ie some form of extra armour to help prevent broken bones instead of worrying about what a bike is allowed.
Bikers do tend to get that Knight of the road feeling.. or the Highwayman the leathers we wear are almost5 as much as a badge as the bike itself..
Storm trooper suits anyone???

reply to post by SprocketUK


That's got to be one of the reasons why they are trying this.. in order to get the old stuff off the roads.

Seems they don't care about history or nostalgia or even peoples hobbies.
If parts are not available then you've got to get the bits any way you can.. and what if those bits that you get are not standard? They may do the job better or the same as, but it would not be original parts..

Hard to say how far they are really going with this as it seems we are still having trouble finding the entire law(s) proposed.

reply to post by Extralien


All great feelings.

That feeling where you have rode the throttle so long and so hard your arm is numb from your shoulder to your finger tips.

The sound as you blow out from under a bridge as the echo does a kind of stutter.

So many sensations I couldn't write them all down.

I can't wait to get back on a bike.

I feel you on the gear, I only lived landing on my head and doing a head stand across the road for 10+ feet because of my gear.
My friend a dealer sold me a top of the line helmet, very high end for under $100.00 because it was the previous years model miss painted and the factory had messed up the order giving him an extra one.

If I had, had a cheapo helmet I wouldn't be here now.

Honestly I cringe when I see squids in shorts and flip flops with no jacket.
I all for opening the jacket during the summer but you still need gear.

reply to post by Extralien


If these new laws are going to stop people putting on those obnoxious loud and noisy exhausts then it is all good..


Anyway demonstrations don't work. You need to mount effective lobbies, investigate target elected officials and mount pressure through the media with exposures.

reply to post by Extralien


A modified bike implies individuality and non-conformity. TPTB are terrified of that and will try to supress the freedom it brings. Also, it brings in money from fines to line the elite pockets and their criminal authorities.

Here in France there are restrictions on power for bikes with a maximum 100bhp I think. Modding is creative and fun but already caught up in bureaucracy here.

A safe bike is a LOUD bike!

Thanks for the thread and for bringing our attention to this. Show me a petition against this and I will sign.

First, "they" should deal with the problems of drink-driving, mobile phone use while driving, boy racers, tailgaters, traffic light jumpers etc, etc. This motorcycle plan has nothing to do with safety, it's about controlling an uncontrollable force....and there are millions of us!

Ride on.....

reply to post by Ilovecatbinlady


So, cars can do it but bikes can't?

Cars can put on bigger or smaller wheels depending on how you want it to perform, but bikes can't.
Cars can have sound systems louder than the average disco, causing noise nuisance at all hours of the day/night.

This is very much one rule for them and another rule for everyone else...

reply to post by nerbot


Damned good to see you.. been a while.

yup, they don't want us to think for ourselves.. no freedom to express ourselves in any shape or form.
Can't even have a bent banana.

Have been following the paper trail a bit.. trying to find you that petition..
meanwhile this might help.. looks like I've found the legislation stuff..
www.euhandsoffbiking.co.uk...

can't agree more with your post.. would give multiple stars if i could..
glad to see you here my friend.

Got your thinking caps on??

Looks like the link I provided in my immediate post above seems to have a PDF that contains, what I suppose, is the proposed changes;
regulation of motorbikes proposal

Also this;
type approval

As a biker and a driver myself I cant believe the BS the Europrats can come up with, who cares if a vehicle is modified or not?
Modifying your car or bike does not make you a better rider or driver UNLESS you modify the suspension and brakes so how could that be made illegal and why?
Oh yeah and the reason they dont chase car modifications down is then their cars couldn't be made bulletproof as that would be a breach and they cant have their cars NOT made bulletproof as it would leave them open to attack right?

reply to post by DataWraith


Or have their windows tinted so you can't see who is inside.
There were laws about that brought into the UK a few years back.. I think...
Memory says something about not having the front windows done as it impeeds vision.

Which, to be fair.. bikers are not allowed tinted visors on their crash helmets ..

Yes gear can save you. Yes noise can be a nuisance, but realistically, how long are you going to have to put up with the sound for? Less than a second I'd wager.

Also, doesn't matter what gear you wear if you hit a tree, armco or a car. It just makes you feel safer. so you might ride a little less carefully. When I go up the road in a tshirt and a cutoff, I'm travelling a a fair bit slower than when I'm head to toe in fibreglass and cow skin.

If you allow people to dictate clothing based on safety they'll soon be trying to force leg protectors on us again and the eventual result will be another pair of wheels "Cos it's safer."

I wont ever force anyone to ride a bike, so I don't expect others to tell me how to go about riding mine, or what I can do to it. (Aside from things like speed limits and blood alcohol levels that apply to all road users, obviously).

I did not read all of the comments but I can tell you what this is about.

Bike sales.

this is corporatist legislation like most.

The big boys do not like the rise in popularity in custom bikes. It is one of the few areas left where you can start a small business and go huge in a short time.

They do not want companies like Australias Dues ( awesome custom old school cafe racers and stuff ) to eat into the corporations dwindling profits.

The bike industry is driven by the little guy as far as asthetics goes. The whole 'street fighter' culture started in europe when guys that smashed up their sports bikes found that they looked cooler without the fairing, it went from there and then the corporations latch on and started making their own mass produced street fightered bikes.

They follow us, we do not follow them.

I have no evidence that this is to stop small business but that is what I am thinking.

Corporatists

reply to post by Germanicus


Good point. If all you can do is buy the "official" parts then they are gonna cost a fortune (They already do tbf) I would imagine the big companies will be rubbing their hands with glee thinking about all that money they think they'll make, though it might just kill the industry cos really, anyone with any sense will buy stuff made before the legislation (Id guess they couldn't enforce it fully on old bikes) And, apart from the odd RUB that wants to spend a bit of his bonus on being Dennis Hopper when the sun's out..Most people who ride a bike don't really want to deal with all that factory stuff. (Race reps may be a bit different, cos I don't know many guys who ride them and do their own spanner work).

It's essentially a bunch of suits saying "You can have fun when we say, how we say and entirely on our terms." to the rest of us.

Originally posted by SprocketUK
reply to post by Germanicus

 

Good point. If all you can do is buy the "official" parts then they are gonna cost a fortune (They already do tbf) I would imagine the big companies will be rubbing their hands with glee thinking about all that money they think they'll make, though it might just kill the industry cos really, anyone with any sense will buy stuff made before the legislation (Id guess they couldn't enforce it fully on old bikes) And, apart from the odd RUB that wants to spend a bit of his bonus on being Dennis Hopper when the sun's out..Most people who ride a bike don't really want to deal with all that factory stuff. (Race reps may be a bit different, cos I don't know many guys who ride them and do their own spanner work).

It's essentially a bunch of suits saying "You can have fun when we say, how we say and entirely on our terms." to the rest of us.

Yeah, like we have Dues ex Machina. They are a boutique custom cafe racer business, They have celebrity clients like Orlando Bloom and charge a fair price for a custom cafe racer. they have become big very quickly.

If you buy a bike magazine you will see lots of these types of business' popping up. It seems to me that the little guy is taking over.

Plus I know a guy that is building a chopper from scratch. The custom game is big money now. It seems logical that the corporations would want to curb that.

And yeah, the custom parts industry is big too. All the best streetfighter mods come from Germany.

Originally posted by SprocketUK
The EU is always trying this crap. Thank god for MAG.

I'd just like to add that I own a couple of old Harleys, I can't get factory parts for them as Harley stopped making the things.

This legislation is just another way to make riding a bike more difficult.
Sod the EU, if I wanna stick hot cams in my sportster or change the switches on my SX for ones that actually work...its my business.

And I also ain't gonna be told to wear day glo or swap my cutoff for full leathers if I don't want to.

When everything is illegal, the only free men will be the Outlaws.

edit on 25-6-2012 by SprocketUK because: (no reason given)

Certainly makes you wonder what really happened to maz harris, I was a biker for a large part of my youth, My heart is still the same it just has a better attitude these days.

reply to post by Extralien


Yeah, hi to you too matey. I'm a bit of a lurker since my ATS details were hacked a while ago but still speak out when I feel the need.

This whole issue stinks of ignorance and the constant push, little by little, to control as much as possible regarding freedoms. Reminds me of the "Automatic Numberplate Recognition System" (ANRS) implemented in speed cameras to identify locations and times for road users via implanted chips in the plates. It would have targetted individuals who ride a bike and not just their vehicle because few people lend a motorcycle but many people share cars.

License plate tagging conspiracy-ATS thread

Rather than insist of stupid moves like compulsory ABS and government standards (written by non bikers prob) why don't they teach people to ride and drive more safely? Driving a car has been made so easy and safe with the advent of GPS, ABS, DVDs, gadgets, gizmos, traction control, airbags etc, etc, and the comfort additions mean there are so many distractions people don't pay attention to the road and don't have so much vulnerability to drive defensively. Bikers are more vulnerable because of these car conveniences and taking away the "need" for control and responsibility is proving daft.

Underpowered bikes (and cars) breed an "on-off" mentality, especially in learners who are creating habits that will stay with them. I fell victim to this going from an 850cc Mini to bigger and faster cars, still boot to the floor as usual. Yes, I was a boy racer but learned my lesson before I hurt anyone but me.

No-brain braking systems take away some of the consideration and perception of a road surface....THE most important thing when riding a two wheeled vehicle. There is also less or no chance to avoid a head on collision by locking the back wheel and broadsiding that b*stard who just pulled out on you instead. If my old 1982 GSX 750 ET had ABS I would have had to replace the whole front end instead of just a plastic sidepanel and mirror when exactly that happened to me. The only injury was to the car passenger who suffered cuts from broken glass. I do not think I would have been so lucky with ABS.

I think in simple terms, they control the fuel, they control the manufacture and import of vehicles, they control the insurances and taxes for them, they control the roads, they control the licensing etc, etc. Controlling the choices available to bikers regarding what they can use and how it is maintained is unfair. Making older vehicles obsolete does nothing but feed the need for consumtion of more new products with a limited shelf life due to unecessary technology that has become so complicated it can only be repaired by specialists. Stupid humans!

Ironic that an older bike would have to be modified to meet new standards, but other modifications might be disallowed.

ramble ramble ramble....

Ultimately...I DO NOT TRUST LITTLE BLACK BOXES THAT CANNOT BE OPENED!

Hell i havent even owned a car with abs in years. Of course, all semi tractors made after 96 and all semi trailers made after 97 are required to have abs in the usa. The company i work for has a lot of old trailers but all new trucks. i almost wrecked once cause my tractor has abs and my trailer didnt. tractor stayed straight but trailer went sideways across three lanes of traffic....

Back to bikes, one big thing that concerns me is combined brakes. I want full control over my bike. If you blow a tire its very dangerous to use that brake. You blow the front tire and use the front brakr and youll probably go down...

Heres an example of a mod that i did to my bike. I put air filter pods on all four carburetors. The factory airbox had to fit on all 4 at the same time and was almost impossible to put back on. I also broke it when i dropkicked it. It let more air in the engine so i had to put a jet kit in the carbs. Yes its faster but not by much...

Oh and people told me not to do this cause the filters wouldnt filter as well. Bs...

First of all, isn't this mostly due to the wingnuts who remove the baffles from their Harley's?

Once they come out the volume goes way up. It's unbearable to ride behind guys without baffles, you actually need earplugs to keep from getting a massive headache.


We had a similar push in America in the 60's and 70's where cops would pop your hood and look for competition parts that weren't street legal. I had a competition carb on my street car in high school, in big block letters it read "not legal for street use". So of course it went on the car 5 minutes after it came out of the box. Despite hearing about cops popping hoods and searching it never happened to me.

The U.S. has given up on enforcing these laws.

I got pulled over in my BMW M3 last month for doing 88 in a 55 and I only got a warning. Thankfully it was a pretty young deputy and he didn't look to see that my tires are not DOT approved for street use.