Table of Contents
Editorial
If you want to skew the results of a consultation, just put out a questionnaire that favours the preferred outcome. The NMC (National Motorcyclists Council) found that the DfT’s (Department for Transport) consultation on the future of integrated transport in the UK focussed mostly on public transport and technology. The NMC submitted their views in a separate report. This report does a very good job of laying out the social role, environmental role, rider training, licensing, vehicle manufacturing and market conditions experience by riders today. In submitting a separate report to the DfT’s ‘Call for Evidence’, the NMC has successfully circumvented the questionnaire constraints on how the case for motorcycling in the UK is presented. This submission, along with that from the BMF (British Motorcyclists Federation), are worth taking the time to read. They can help in doing our favourite task, i.e. talking about bikers, bikes and biking! In addition, it will help in stopping the ill-informed stigma and prejudice that is socially endemic in the UK.
The case of motorcycling wasn’t helped in Sheffield this week. There were loud complaint about heavily modified electric bicycles riding on the shared cycle path in the centre of town. Wrongly described as ‘motorcycles’, these ‘electric bicycles’ were ridden with little regard for road safety and other road users. As advanced motorcyclists we loudly condemn any such behaviour.
In your newsletter this week, you will find the usual curated list of articles for you to enjoy. Lastly, we send our warmest congratulations to our colleagues, the Yorkshire Blood Bikes. In a lavish ceremony they received the ‘King’s Award for Voluntary Service’. We are proud to train these volunteer NHS motorcycle dispatch riders. Well done. Until next week, ride safe and happy reading.
Your success is our success!
Advanced riders are safer road users, ride longer, rider further, meet more people and enjoy a healthier, happier life!
SAM Members Events
Meetings
Next SAM Club Night
Annual General Meeting 2025
7th April 2025
7.30pm start for meeting at 8pm. Gives you time to catch up on what you’ve missed!
Treeton Miners Welfare Club
Arundel Street
Treeton
Rotherham S60 5PW
Next SAM Committee Meeting
24th April 2025
Details to be arranged
Online Motorcycling News
General
Radical aero tech to get Pininfarina treatment for possible production
White Motorcycle Concepts’ recent tie-in with Zero to develop a more aerodynamic version of the US brand’s SR/S sportsbike is being followed up by a tie-in with styling powerhouse Pininfarina. Our world exclusive road test of the prototype (see current issue) is the start of a process that could see the British design put into production with Italian styling. Read more…
The day promises to be packed with attractions, including a stage show hosted by Lili Myers, widow of the late Hairy Bikers star Dave Myers, alongside special guest and Dave Day organiser Jason Woodcock.
Set to take place from 1pm in the museum’s Britannia Suite, the pair will delve into the success of 2024’s Dave Day celebration, which saw 46,136 riders band together to ride 300 miles from London to Dave’s hometown of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, raising £83,000 to support Childline and the Institute of Cancer Research.Lili and Jason will discuss plans for a 2025 follow-up event, which is set to take place on the weekend of June 21-22 – with a riding procession planned on the Saturday (following 2024’s route), before a festival on Sunday. Read more…
Rider Health & Safety
Do you ride a motorcycle or know someone who does? If so, you’ll know that riding a motorcycle has some risks. In fact, statistics show that motorcyclists are much more likely to be involved in a serious or fatal accident than car drivers. This is why it’s important to take steps to reduce the risks and the Biker I.C.E. Card is one of the most effective solutions available.
The Biker I.C.E. Card is a simple, yet vital tool. It contains your contact details and essential medical information. In the event of an accident, emergency services staff can quickly access this information to help them decide on the right treatment for you. By carrying a Biker I.C.E. Card, you can ensure that emergency services staff have the information they need to take account of any ongoing health problems you have and any current treatments that you are receiving. This can make their job easier and your emergency care safer. Read more...
How well can you read the road or trail? Most riders are aware how important it is to watch for other traffic, whether it’s a car waiting at an intersection, or a logging truck coming down a dirt mountain road. Recent U.S. and European accident studies have shown that there are now more injuries and deaths due to single vehicle accidents (rider error) than those in multi-vehicle accidents. This has been true for backroad and trail riding forever, but now it is true for pavement dwellers as well.
There are many ways to interpret this data, but my observation, as a professional motorcycle riding instructor, is that the public is becoming more aware of motorcyclists in general, and that a larger percentage of motorcyclists is more conscious of the importance of being visible, wearing bright and reflective colors. Read more…
What do you think about when riding a motorcycle?
Close your eyes and replay a mental blast down your favourite road. What are you seeing? I can visualise the geography, the lines, the road surfaces, even the smells of hundreds of different routes all over the UK and beyond.
Oddly, when I’m riding these roads, my conscious thoughts have no relation to any of that. Al that detail is processed by some kind of peripheral awareness. Read more…
How good was your riding today? How do you know? Who’s the judge of your day-to-day skills on a bike? Oh, it’s you. That’s handy.
Imagine if all assessments were that easy.
‘How good are you at cooking Mr Rose?’ ‘Well, I’m brilliant as it happens, thank you for asking.’
‘How good are you in bed lover-boy?’ ‘The best…Grr’
Etc.
Leaving that image behind, the point is that most of us never have our riding assessed after passing our tests. So, how do you know if your riding is any good? Does it bother you that you could take that blind left-hander better every flipping time you ride it? Does it bother you that you turn in too early to that uphill right hander on the B660? Read more…
European regulators are cracking down on noisy aftermarket motorcycle exhausts, introducing anti-tampering proposals to combat systems that exceed sound levels emitted by standard pipes.
The move, backed by the European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM), aims to stop riders from bypassing legal noise limits using adjustable silencers, while ensuring aftermarket brands sell products adhering to these legal standards. One of the primary issues raised in the proposal is the use of aftermarket systems that can be adjusted, with valves that open outside of the standard testing range, allowing bikes to exceed noise limits. Read more…
Adventure & Touring
DAY RIDE: In search of the Rarebit
Mikko Niemenen reports…
Wales is a much-loved destination for lots of riders, but it’s only when you get a little off-piste that you find the hidden gems it has to offer
The ride in brief: A round route from Lake Vyrnwy to the coast, taking in some of the lesser known, but best to explore, small roads in Mid-Wales
Article continues below…
Advert
Triumph Motorcycles Ltd
Enjoy everything More Bikes by reading the monthly newspaper, Read FREE Online.
Wales doesn’t always get the credit it deserves as a biking destination. Many of us bikers regularly head up to the Lakes or Scotland in search of biking Nirvana, but there are plenty of good roads and natural beauty to be found in Wales.
The National Parks of Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons are the best-known areas to visit but scratch a bit deeper beneath the surface and you’ll find miles of roads and tracks just waiting to be discovered. The best way to get to know the ideal places to ride is to follow someone who knows their way around the area. This time it just so happened that this person was the record-smashing round-the-world rider Nick Sanders, who runs his Expedition Centre on the outskirts of Snowdonia National Park. Read more…
Some roads are famous for the scenery through which they traverse, and some are famous for the unique nature of the roads themselves. There is a 100-mile southeastern Utah motorcycle ride that embodies both. This ride has been on my bucket list for a long time, and it’s 80% pavement and 20% dirt.My night’s sleep at the quaint and spotless Stone Lizard Lodge in Blanding was deep and comfortable. A ride from Blanding to Mexican Hat is normally an easy 50-minute trip due south on pavement. However, this alternate route is a circuitous adventure ride that takes half a day or more. Read more…
History & Custom
Delta: Purpose Built Moto’s custom Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650
As a bustling custom motorcycle business, Purpose Built Moto isn’t above taking on jobs that require minimal fettling. But it’s when the brief calls for something more unique that shop boss Tom Gilroy truly comes alive, relishing the opportunity to push himself, and his crew, to new heights. “We have held fast to the idea…Read more »
Kevin Williams
Rediscover the Ride Part 2 – basics before complexity
One of the weak points I see with riders who are both relatively new to biking and even with riders who have years of experience is a lack of proficiency in basic skills. Why? New riders simply haven’t had chance to develop the skills they learned on basic training, but once past the test, riders frequently don’t bother to practice because the basics “are for learners”. Read more…
Seeing is believing! Or is it?
One of the biggest barriers I face when attempting to explain the real science ‘Science Of Being Seen’ (#SOBS) is the belief that “I can trust the evidence of my own eyes”. Every year we hear from police, road safety bodies and even the courts, that “if you had looked properly, you would have seen…”
Statements like this suggest that our direct visual experience is a simple, unfiltered truth. If we point our eyes in the right direction, the ‘looking properly’ argument implies that the entire visual field is available for our decision-making processes. If we ‘look but fail to see’, then the conclusion is that we cannot have looked properly. Read more…
Meta-learning and the skill of learning to learn
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been talking about the need to not just put in significant hours of practice to acquire a skill, but the need for the practice to be ‘deliberate’.
Having read the post last week, my former instructor buddy Malc reminded me that:
“Jerry Palladino, ex-motorcop, now ‘Ride like a Pro’ trainer, said that he’d ridden for 21 years before taking police training. That wasn’t 21 years experience, it was one year repeated a further 20 times.” Read more…
Yes – you CAN brake INTO and IN corners…
I confess I am getting a little frustrated with the CanyonChasers YouTube channel. This video is a few months old but it just popped up and caught my eye with the clickbait title: “The One Braking MISTAKE That Could Cost You Your Life”, which adds the following exhortation:
“Braking into corners is a technique only for the racetrack! Riders should NEVER brake in a corner. Do all your braking before the corner and then gently accelerate throughout the turn to stabilize the bike. Or maybe not?”
The video says:
“…the other bit of advice that you’re going to see down in the comments…”
Nothing like getting your retaliation in first – and I’m guessing the presenter has prior experience of being critiqued on these videos. Read more…
Whiteknights Blood Bikes
South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership
Scooter safety:Every death and serious injury on the road is a preventable tragedy. Yet, on average, five people die every day on the road in the UK and 82 are seriously injured (10-year average from 2013-2022). This has to change. Help us by sticking to the rules of the road. Brake, the road safety charity
Motorcycling Organisations
IAM RoadSmart
Has it been a while since you passed your Advanced test? 
Only a quarter are regularly using driver assistance aids which may reduce collisions and improve driving comfort
Younger drivers and those travelling more than 10,000 miles a year are more likely to embrace vehicle technology
Millions of drivers could be missing out on the benefits of potentially lifesaving in-vehicle assistance aids when they’re behind the wheel with new research* showing that a third (33%) of drivers never use them. Read more…
Are you aware of the OAP framework when out riding? 
National Motorcyclists Council
The National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) has welcomed news that the Department for Transport (DfT) is considering options for reviewing the current training, testing and licensing regime. The NMC, along several motorcycling organisations and other road safety stakeholders were told the news by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Lilian Greenwood MP who attended a round table meeting of the Government’s Motorcycle Strategic Focus Group on January 20th to discuss licensing and other aspects of motorcycle safety and policy. Read more…
SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THE POTHOLE
POTHOLE PARTNERSHIP REVEALS IMPROVING PICTURE ON NATIONAL POTHOLE DAY
- The AA attended 643,318 pothole related incidents in 2024, down compared to previous year
- Partnership urges councils to make permanent repairs a priority over temporary fixes
- Drop in pothole incidents coincides with rise in repair costs
- Pothole damage costs drivers whopping £579m
The Pothole Partnership is calling for more permanent repairs and greater use of innovation and technology on National Pothole Day (15 January) to reduce vehicle damage and injuries to cyclists and motorcycle riders. Read more…
FEMA
The European Council wants to make it mandatory to hand in motorcycles when the have come to ‘the end of their life’.
A majority of EU member states wants to include motorcycles in the new Regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and on management of end-of-life vehicles (end-of-life vehicle means a vehicle which is waste or vehicles that are irreparable). Some members did ask for more data and for feasibility studies when it comes to inclusion of motorcycles and other powered two- and three-wheelers. This is the outcome of an environment meeting of the European Council on Tuesday 17 December 2024. The Hungarian presidency of the European Union was not able to complete the end-of-life dossier and reach a Council position, so it will now be handled by the Polish presidency, which will start from January 2025. Read more…
Filtering through a traffic jam on a motorcycle has finally become legal in France. After 26 years of fierce fighting this already well-established practice is recognized.
French motorcyclists’ organisation FFMC – a member of FEMA – calls it ‘A major step forward that marks a decisive step in road sharing and user safety’.
A step forward for road sharing and mobility
Filtering, although generally practiced by many bikers, was in a legal grey area until now, often tolerated, rarely sanctioned. And since 2016 the authorities experimented with it. After almost ten long years of experimentation, this legalization brings official recognition to a practice that helps to smooth traffic flow and reduce traffic jams. Read more…
British Motorcyclists Federation
Paul Varnsverry, the highly respected motorcycling clothing expert, is launching a campaign aimed at eliminating uncertified and potentially unsafe bike kit, currently being imported into the UK and offered for sale online. Varnsverry, Technical Director of clothing consultant at PVA-PPE, is started a petition aimed at alerting Government to the dangers of untested kit. In conversation with MCN, he praised the efforts of Trading Standards in the last three years, in checking bike shows and high street shops for sub-standard kit. But he added that clothing offered online is attempting to circumvent these checks. Read more… 
In responding to the Government’s “Call For Ideas” on developing a future National Integrated Transport Strategy, the BMF has called on Ministers to fully realise and harness the benefits of motorcycling as an accessible, low cost, zero congesting and low-zero polluting transport option both now and as part of the UK’s future transport model.
The BMF submitted its response via a detailed and comprehensive standalone paper, coordinated by our key partner the National Motorcyclists Council (NMC), and also via the Department For Transport’s (DfT) specific online questionnaire. You can access and read both responses below…… Read more…
MOT testers could be required to upload a digital image of every vehicle they put through the test, in the latest attempt to fight MOT fraud. There have been cases of ‘ghost’ MOTs, where the bike, car or truck is given a test pass without even visiting the test centre. From March 2025 the agency is trialling a new digital image capture system, which should prove that the vehicle in question really was undergoing the test.
“We want to create a level playing field where high quality testing is the standard,” said Chris Price, the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency’s head of MOT policy. “Capturing images at the time of the test will help prevent fraud while ensuring MOTs are conducted correctly.” Read more…
The European association of motorcycle manufacturers ACEM welcomes the new anti-tampering provisions for the non-original replacement exhaust silencing systems for motorcycles.
When an aftermarket silencer is fitted the sound may not exceed that of the bike with the original silencer. There are many silencers on the market that can be adjusted, for instance by a valve that can be opened or closed. Within the bandwidth and in the gears that are used with the type approval test, the valve is closed and the silencer does not exceed the sound limits. However, these silencers are programmed to have the valve opened outside this bandwidth and in other gears and then make much more sound. Read more…
New Rider Hub
What is Ridefree?
Ridefree is an award-winning enhancement to compulsory basic training (CBT), consisting of pre-course eLearning modules. Its aim is to help you prepare for your CBT and riding on the road.
How can it help me?
CBT should be an enjoyable experience. But there’s a lot to learn, and it’s normal to feel anxious about your first bike ride. The good news is that Ridefree will help you become a better and more confident rider…Read more.
Ready to ride? Make sure you’re road-ready!