Here's an article written by a biker who is also a solicitor. It's based on the advice of Jon Hullis, a motoring offence solicitor and Len Tempest a barrister of long standing.

It follows on from the case of Ken Clark who was leading a ride-out and was doing around 85mph in a 60 limit when the two bikes following him were trying to catch up and doing over 100mph and the implication was that, as he was lead rider, his speed was an aggravating factor in the actions of the other two bikers' speeding.

Despite the way this was reported in the media, it seems that things aren't as bad as has been made out:

http://www.bgtbikersolicitors.co.uk/case_law.html#group_ride

(PS Mods: I'd suggest making this a sticky because it's very useful info)

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a Southerner, a New Englander, and a Californian) an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Kyrgyzstani, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 47 Africans from different African countries all walk into a fine restaurant.
 
 
The maître d' scrutinizes the group one by one and bars their entrance saying "Sorry, you can't come in here without a Thai."

Despite the protests last year by 40,000 bikers around the country, the EU Commission has gone ahead with a vote for the proposals to pass its First Stage Committee Reading and, not only that, they have adopted new text mandating compulsory ABS for most bikes and the adoption of "Delegated Acts" restricting, for instance, the sale and use of after-market parts.

The thing is, this vote was carried out *before* the results of an Impact Assessment were available and the Delegated Acts have not even been decided on and which won't be decided until after the regulations are adopted!

If you go to http://www.writetothem.com you can send a letter to your MEPs objecting to the majority of the proposals, however there are some good elements, eg that details of bikes' CO2 emissions should be available before sale and that they will over-turn the earlier decision to introduce power limits for motorcycles (1995), on the basis that no evidence can be found of a correlation between safety and power (which rather contradicts the idea from these proposals that tuning or adding after market parts to change a bike's performance is "dangerous"!)

There's more information on the MAG facebook page here along with a suggested form letter which you can send to your MEP.

I recommend everyone take a copy of this and amend it slightly so it's clear it's not simply a "cut and paste" job, then send it to their MEPs.

Coming back from Southampton this evening, I noticed traffic ahead of me in in Lane 1 fairly abruptly pulling out, doing an overtake, then moving back again.

I couldn't figure out what was going on until I saw for myself, a Lambretta scooter (with a rear light with as much intensity as a couple of glowworms) doing about 50mph 

Now I presume it had a capacity of over 50cc to make it legal, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to be riding it on a motorway...!

"Hold my beer and watch this...!" 

Suzuki GSXR 1000 Frontflip Accident

I wanted to visit two different events in London and given that one finished late and the next one started early, there was no point in riding all the way back to Portsmouth and then back to London again, I found a cheap hotel, the Etap in Hounslow.

I parked my bike in the motorcycle spot in their car park which was next to an "employees only" door and, judging by the number of cigarette butts on the ground. that's where the staff smoke.

The next morning I came out to find that someone had flicked their fag ash onto my seat (and one hot "coal" had melted a small hole in the surface and when I got home I found that they'd chucked the butt into the gap between the screen and the instruments! 

As I was in a hurry to get to the second event when I left the hotel I didn't stop to mention the ash (and I didn't know about the dumped butt until later) but they've just sent me an e-mail "How was your stay" and I've made a strong complaint about whichever of their staff treats guests' property with such little respect.

The one good factor is that they smoked a cigarette with a white butt, rather than the normal brown one, so that may help pin down who was responsible.

I've told them I want a reply from them telling me what they've done, so here's hoping someone gets a bollocking at least for this!

Oh and if you're thinking of staying at an Etap hotel, their beds are incredibly hard, so you might want to find somewhere else to stay!

... that Loud Pipes are a good addition to your bike, here's one for you!

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/11/worlds_only_twin_jet_engine_bike_under_the_hammer/

(Just don't try stopping it in a hurry...!) 

A man was walking along one morning when he noticed a most unusual funeral procession approaching the nearby cemetery. A black hearse was followed by a second black hearse about 50 Feet behind the first one. Behind the second hearse was a solitary man walking a dog on a leash. Behind him, a short distance back, were about 200 men walking single file.

The man couldn't stand the curiosity. He respectfully approached the man walking the dog and said:

"I am so sorry for your loss, and this may be a bad time to disturb you, but I've never seen a funeral like this. Whose funeral is it?"

"My wife's."

''What happened to her?"

"She yelled at me and my dog attacked and killed her."

He inquired further, "But who is in the second hearse?"

The man answered, "My mother-in-law. She was trying to help my wife when the dog turned on her."

A very poignant and touching moment of brotherhood and silence passed between the two men.

"Can I borrow the dog?"

The man replied, "Get in line."

Two men walk into a bar. The first one says "I'll have some H20". The second one says "I'll have some H20 too".

The second man died.

It has been revealed that Police marksmen did have to open fire at the Dale Farm eviction.

Apparently they won a goldfish a teddy bear and a plastic inflatable hammer.

Apropos of recent problems with RIM technology...

My Blackberry Is Not Working! - The One Ronnie, Preview - BBC One

A husband and wife are playing golf and, just as he's about to tee off on the fourth hole, the husband says:

"Darling, I have to tell you something. Years ago, not long after we were married, I had an affair with another woman. I'm so sorry, but it's been eating at me all these years and I just had to tell you."

"Darling," says the wife, "if it was that long ago and you've never done it again, I forgive you because I love you."

They go on playing and then, just as they get to the 18th hole, the wife says:

"Darling, I need to tell you something too. Years ago, before we were married, I had a sex change, I was born a man."

The husband looks at her and then smashes his putter against his golf bag, ranting and raving.

"You lying, despicable *BITCH*!! You never told me?







"And all these years you've been playing off the *LADIES* tee!!"

Just a test post to see what this forum is like...