Well, the bikes are out of the shed and making good use of the better weather. The SAM Committee has been very busy organising events for the coming year. The SAM AGM is on the 7th April 2025. Call notice, nomination form and the meeting agenda have been circulated. ALL SAM members can show their support by attending, learning about what has been achieved in the past year, what changes have been made and the plans we have for the coming year. The SAM Charity Constitution has been put into the members section of the website. Four events are currently ready for you to enjoy. The SAM Annual Photo Competition needs your entries. Send them to sam-editor@iam-sheffield.bike. Discounted track days at Darley Moor can be booked. Clive Lewis (Social Secretary) is organising the SAM Spring Ride to Northumberland, taking place on the 10th and 11th May 2025, so tell him about the accommodation you need. The SAM Spring Breakfast Meet, 7th April 2025, will be at Trent Port, Gainsborough, so book your place to ensure that you get something to eat! All these events can be booked via the SAM Members page on our website.
In your newsletter this week, you can read about adding more interest to your riding. Riding the same route, to the same place with the same riders may reduce the pleasure and satisfaction you get from riding. Some suggestions are learn to read a map (practice with openstreetmap and Google Earth). Play a game of road sign spotting with fellow riders (see how many you miss). Take longer to ride a route, enjoying the scenery, weather, sound of the engine, etc. Find the quietest roads possible and enjoy some peaceful cruising. When you’ve done all of the above, write down/record how you got on.
They say that riding a motorcycle is the closest thing to flying without leaving the ground. There is some great information on how the ‘startle response’ can affect your riding and what to do about it. Learning from the experience of airline pilots, you can read about ‘skill-based errors’ and ‘controls confusion’ produce cognitive overload and poor reactions. These often happen to both novice and experienced riders. Until next week, happy reading.
Advanced riders are safer road users, ride longer, rider further, meet more people and enjoy a healthier, happier life!
Annual Photograph Competition
It’s the SAM Annual Photo Competition 2025
Email ALL entries to sam-editor@iam-sheffield.bike
Closing date 12mn Sunday 23rd March 2025
Next SAM Club Night
3rd March 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
27th March 2025
Details to be arranged
General
One of the most popular bikes in the UK are 125cc scooters, with their sales figures easily outpacing every other type. If you’re looking for an affordable and fun method of transport then you really can’t go wrong with a 125.
Here we take a look at the best scooters vying for your attention in 2025.
Lexmoto Nexus 125
The undisputed titan of the affordable 125 market, Lexmoto’s range of scooters also includes some higher spec models at a higher yet still very competitive price. The Nexus is their flagship scooter, a learner-friendly model with a sleek maxi scooter look and a reported top speed of 69mph, making it a really practical urban mover that won’t drain your bank account.
For your money, you get a bunch of features including keyless ignition and a seven-inch colour display. Read more…
McFly’s Dougie Poynter joins hosts David Prutton and Iwan Thomas on motorcycling podcast Full Chat to discuss his career and newly discovered passion for bikes.
Poynter is best known for being one quarter of the chart-topping band McFly, famous for songs such as Five Colours in Her Hair, All About You and Obviously. The bass guitarist sat down with Thomas and Prutton to discuss his recent love for motorbikes thanks to band-mate Danny Jones, the bike tours he wants to go on and becoming king of the jungle like Bikesure ambassador Carl Fogarty. Read more…
The UK’s complex motorcycle licensing structure has once again come under scrutiny, with politicians from both the Labour and Conservative parties suggesting a need for change at the recent Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) Industry Conference. Taking place at London’s Euston Square on February 18, the event welcomed high-ranking members of the UK bike industry, plus representatives from global manufacturing giants such as Honda and Triumph, as well as MPs speaking on multiple topics. Read more…
Riding on track provokes a lot of questions, be it related to riding, bikes, or even products. Thankfully, Dean Ellison’s on hand to tackle your concerns and dish out advice you can depend on
Other than being asked multiple times at every trackday: “How many sighting laps?” and “Which is the first group out?”, I receive a lot of messages requesting advice – and I’m starting to see the same questions reoccurring. These are some of the more common ones…
Should I use tyre warmers on wet tyres? 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...
Police Officers will be given greater powers to access a property if a tracking device shows that a stolen motorcycle or scooter is inside, thanks to the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill.
The Home Office has announced that the flagship Bill, which is said to be at the heart of what the Labour government is calling its ‘Safer Streets Mission’ and is hoped to become law by the end of 2025, will target the most serious crimes including knife crime, stalking, criminal and sexual exploitation of children and terrorist threats.
But it’s also aiming to cut through red tape and speed up investigations into crimes that – while relatively minor in comparison – take up a significant amount of Police time and cause distress to a large proportion of the British public.
The BBC reported yesterday that the Bill promises more powers to search homes for stolen phones by eliminating the need for a court warrant, but Bennetts BikeSocial has confirmed with the Home Office that this will also apply to motorcycles and scooters, or in fact any vehicle that’s electronically tracked to a location, meaning Police will be able to far more easily gain access to recover it, and potentially secure an arrest. Read more…
I’ve spent a lot of the last seven months watching my 16-month-old granddaughter learning to walk. It’s been fascinating to see the transition between rolling over, sitting up, shuffling, standing while holding-on, tottering around and lurching into a stumble and fall. The ‘arms-out, Frankenstein shuffle’ was getting close to a walk and now, finally, something resembling a proper stroll.
She’s probably spent around five hours a day for 200+ days just to reach that point and all with a motley set of brain connections still not capable of putting two words together (unless you count ‘Uh-Oh’). Read more…
By September 2029, new cars sold in the US will be required to have automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems as standard and the technology is already increasingly commonplace. However, the latest tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) show that many of them still struggle to react to motorcycles.
The IIHS introduced testing for the front-crash prevention abilities of AEB systems last year, testing their performance when faced with targets representing stationary cars, trailers, and motorcycles. In the tests, there are runs at multiple speeds and with the stationary “dummy” cars and motorcycles positioned in the center of the lane and offset to either side to get a good overview of how well the systems work. Last April, the first results were disappointing, with only one of the 10 cars tested (a 2023 to 24 Subaru Forester) achieving a “good” rating, with two cars rated as “acceptable,” three as “marginal,” and four as “poor.” Read more…
Everyone has probably heard of the famous book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. But what’s that mean, exactly? To keep it simple, let’s forget the Zen part here, and just talk about the importance of maintenance. You’ll want to maintain your motorcycle properly because that way, you’ll get the most reliable and enjoyable riding experience, and more importantly, by keeping on top of maintenance, your bike will help take care of you, giving you a safer riding career. In all areas, your factory owner’s manual has precise guidance for what steps to take, what parts and tools are needed for your model, and when to do the work. But what if you’ve bought an older bike, say, that’s missing its manual? Let’s consider some fundamentals. Read more…
I think Harley-Davidson’s engineer, as well as three of its press people, told me no less than eight times “Whatever you do, don’t put your feet down.” Before the demonstration occurred, while the engineer was demonstrating the obstacle course, with each successive rider hopping onto the new Softail, and twice as I was walking up to the bike.
Why they were doing it was that the Motor Co.’s engineering team had fitted this specific new Softail with a set of outriggers. These are essentially adult training wheels without the wheel components and, if you accidentally do what you’ve always done and put your foot down when coming to a stop or when you feel the bike tipping over, you’re liable to break your leg. Read more…
Adventure & Touring
Kazakhstan, the Hell
Customs at the Uzbek border consisted of a dirty rectangular cubicle, two by three meters. Within the rough concrete building was a rickety chair, a dilapidated and wobbly pressed wood table, a gray file cabinet, three windows covered with generations of dust, and an elongated billboard with phrases taken from the Koran hanging crooked on a shelf.
Lying on a neighboring shelf was a chunk of unleavened bread, a blackened kettle, two hundred flies, and a radio emitting an endlessly atrocious stew of music—a mix of electronic pachanga disco beats fused with the wailing of traditional Asian songs.
I stood, awaiting a temporary import visa for my motorcycle. Beside me, a group of military and civilians argued loudly, making quite a fuss. There’s something about the way they wear their uniforms that destroys any possible semblance of authority. Perhaps it’s their shoes, I couldn’t help but notice that the military and police never wear boots. Instead, they use low quality worn shoes, often with sharpened toes, angled somewhat upwardly, with heels crushed down in a way that suggests they’d be easy to remove. Read more…
Sticking to the familiar, comfortable routes off-road—riding the same easy trails day after day, taking the path of least resistance, and repeating these habits—keeps your mind in a perpetual loop. Our brains get used to these routines, further entrenching them each time. But to improve in vexing terrain like sand, I needed to alter my mindset, and I needed to work on my confidence as much as my technique. Suffice it to say, my self-belief has taken a sand-blasting recently.
The time came to shift my energy and change my mental state from static to soaring. To make any real, lasting changes, I had to think differently about my riding. This meant pushing past my comfort zone, so I decided to seek expert guidance.
• Shifting Gears
I stood amid the boundless possibilities of adventure in California’s Anza Borrego Desert, taking in a pink-streaked dawn. Alongside Jason, my seasoned partner in off-road exploration, I embarked on a journey that promised to test my riding skills and resolve. Despite 80,000 paved and dirt miles under my belt, a sense of apprehension lingered. Read more…
History & Custom
Cruise Control: An elegant Moto Guzzi California by Officine Rossopuro
If there’s one trend we’d love to see more of this year, it’s engineered simplicity. We’re suckers for ultra-clean custom bikes that match timeless aesthetics to modern performance. It’s an art form that Filippo Barbacane is well versed in—as evidenced by this tastefully modded Moto Guzzi California. Filippo runs Officine Rossopuro on Italy’s Adriatic coast.…Read more
KTM ‘House of Cards’ fall-out hits Bajaj and CFMoto
As you almost certainly know, Pierer Mobility and KTM are nearly at the end of the 90 day protection granted to them after they went into legally protected self-administration with debts totalling around €2.3b.
So what’s new?
First up, on Thursday 20 February one group of creditors voted on the European restructuring plan (ReO) of Pierer Industrie AG at the regional court of Wels. In case you are wondering – and I was – this is an entirely separate procedure to KTM debt payback scheme I have previously talked about. Pierer Industrie AG pursued this restructuring process to repay financing obligations amounting to €247.5 m – two bonds totaling €115m and two financing loans amounting to €132.5 m and under the terms of the settlement, they will pay the money in two phases: 69% by the end of 2026 and the remainder by the end of 2027. Interest will be due on the late payment. It’s my guess that it was Pierer’s inability to payback on these commitments triggered the insolvency proceedings last November that started the collapse of the KTM house of cards.
The second new development is that Bajaj Auto, the Indian manufacturer who build the small capacity KTMs and Husqvarnas in their Chakan plant have confessed to what their Chief Financial Officer called – and this is a direct quote – “a bit of a setback on KTM exports”. He continued: “the KTM issue globally is well known. We’ve had to take a hit on our export volumes this time. We took a cautious approach because we didn’t want to compromise the recoverability of money that would have been due had we continued to export.” I’m guessing they didn’t want to end up with bikes shipped to Europe that KTM could pay for. Read more…
Regaining motivation Part 2
As we get ready for the Northern Hemisphere spring, I’ve been talking about issues that might cause us to become ‘less interested’ in riding because we’re no longer pushing ourselves to develop new skills, or perhaps have just slipped into uninspiring routines. Last week, I looked at some widely accepted ideas about how sleep, fitness and diet can be tweaked to enhance our enjoyment of getting out on two wheels. Today I’ll suggest some ways to put a spark back into the ride itself as a way to regain lost enthusiasm for biking.
Before we even get on a bike we can try revisiting what initially inspired us by reflecting on past rides; what made us fall in love with riding in the first place. Looking back at old photos and even journaling your experiences can remind us of the fun, and that maybe enough to persuade us to get back on two wheels. Read more…
What is the ‘Startle Response’?
Keith Code noted years ago that in emergencies riders to freeze and referred to this as a ‘Survival Reaction’. The ‘No Surprise? No Accident!’ concept has proposed that the trigger for these Survival Reactions is the SURPRISE! that we all experience when something unexpected happened.
Let’s introduce the ‘Startle Response’ – defined as a rapid, involuntary physiological and psychological reaction to a sudden, unexpected stimulus – in other words, a SURPRISE! This reaction has previously been well documented in neuroscience and experimental psychology, where the Startle Response is shown to trigger an immediate “freeze” or disruption in cognitive processing. Read more…
Peripheral vision and ‘covert attention’
I’ve been doing more digging on the idea that we can rely on our peripheral vision to detect a ‘red Transit van’ as an article on the BikeSocial website suggested some weeks back. We’ve seen that peripheral vision plays a crucial role in functions like maintaining position and monitoring objects were already know are around us, and today I’m coming back to the idea – mentioned several times in comments – that we can usefully shift our mental attention without moving our eyes or head from our central (foveal) vision to our peripheral vision.
What is ‘attention’? In the sense of visual perception, attention allows us to optimise the use of the visual system’s limited resources. Selective attention enhances our ability to gather relevant visual information, while diminishing the less relevant, locations or features of our visual environment. Read more…
Our rider, Nick, was in Birmingham bright and early this morning to collect life saving FMT destined for a hospital in Middlesborough.
The National Young Rider Forum (NYRF) has launched a new campaign to educate young and new riders on the most important aspects of the Highway Code.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
IAM RoadSmart
Has it been a while since you passed your Advanced test? 
One in two motorists pulled over on suspicion of drug-driving fail roadside drug tests as number of fatalities rises
The number of deceased drivers with ‘impairment drugs’ present has increased by over 70% from 2014 to 2022, leading to concerns from road safety organisation that drug users continue to get behind the wheel despite the dangers 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
A new world record was set at the Mecum auction in Las Vegas recently, when a bid for just over £1 million was accepted for a 1915 Cyclone V-twin. It’s said to be the highest amount ever paid for a motorcycle in a public auction – £1,062,070, if you want to be exact.
The Cyclone, a sought-after American vintage bike, helped make the Mecum auction set a new gross world record for a motorcycle auction as well, at £21.2 million. Other top-dollar bikes sold on the day were a 1938 Crocker V-twin (£710,000) and an 1898 De Dion (three-wheeler) at a ‘mere’ £133,000. Proving that older bikes still command top prices, all but one of the top ten sales were pre-war machines. Read more…
The Manx Grand Prix is returning to its traditional two-week format, after it was reduced to a single week, post-Covid. Race goers, hoteliers and licenced victuallers were not best pleased, with the historic event cut to five days of practice sessions followed by a single weekend of racing. Add in the Isle of Man’s notoriously fickle weather, and it looked like the MGP was destined to shrink – 14,229 spectators turned up last year (down from just over 16,000 in 2019).
But for 2025, the fortnight-long MGP is back, with all four races taking place over the late August Bank Holiday weekend, followed by five Classic TT races and a parade lap. The extended timetable should also give more flexibility to reschedule races in case of bad weather. According to the Manx government, the aim is to, “re-establish the Manx GP as a feeder for the TT, providing a platform for emerging talent to showcase and develop their skills.” Read more…
New Rider Hub
Welcome to our Highway Code film series, designed specifically for young and new riders aged 16- 20 riding in an urban environment!
Our goal is to highlight the most important signs, rules, and regulations from the Highway Code that are crucial for your safety. Each short film will highlight the importance of specific Highway Code signs and show you how to follow them in real urban environments. By understanding and following these rules, you’ll not only protect yourself but also contribute to the safety of everyone on the road. Most importantly for you, by staying on top of these rules, you’ll not get fines and points on your licence, keeping you on the road without any legal hassles. Read more…
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 by: Read more…
