The Annual General Meeting of  the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) was held at General European Union Road Federation (ERF), Rue de Belliard, Brussels 1040, and online, via Teams, on Saturday 11th February 2023. The meeting was chaired by Anna Zee, President, also Director of Political and Technical services, of the BMF. The attendees, 27 from 18 National Motorcycle organisations (NMO), including 7 online, both inside and outside of the EU, with apologies from a further 3 NMOs, and 2 partner organisations, approved the agenda, and the minutes of the October ’22 meeting, held in Koln. A financial report from FEMA Treasurer and  BMF chair, Jim Freeman, reported an operating loss of 1,225 euros, against a projected loss of 1,018 forecast in

‘End of sale dates’ for motorcycles a ‘stretching goal’ says Transport Minister, but we must ‘match ambition’ of cars and vans. There will be an end to the sale for new non-zero emission motorcycles, according to Jesse Norman, Minister of State for Transport Decarbonisation and Technology. He acknowledged that some motorcycles ‘may need longer to make that transition’ and talked positively about their diversity and place in the transport mix, from touring to deliveries. However, he was firm in the government’s plans for cutting carbon in this sector, calling it a ‘revolution’. In a pre-recorded speech to the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) annual conference it was clear from the mention of a ‘reduction in air and noise pollution’ that the government’s

With regret the British Motorcyclists Federation has decided to withdraw from the operation of the National Road Rally (NRR). This is because the BMF feel that, over a number of years, the National Road Rally has been taken in a direction that we can no longer take responsibility for. The event’s direction has been overwhelmingly dominated by Auto Cycle Union (ACU) officials, which means that the BMF has been taking joint responsibility for an event over which we have no control. The BMF offered to run and finance the National Road Rally, and associated Welsh and Scottish events, on the basis that we have sufficient control, to match the responsibility. This was rejected by the Auto Cycle Union officials. The BMF wishes all the

I have never been one for doom and gloom, and I truly believe we may be living in one of the most exciting eras for motorcycling. Never before have we seen so many new developments and technical progress, never before have I heard so many young people getting excited by the idea of getting their own motorcycle. Yes, we need to stay vigilant and defend what is rightfully ours, but we must also pave the way for those that will follow in our tyre tracks. The future for motorcycling is bright, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. In 2022 we saw a significant growth of our membership, showing us that BMF is still the place to go for riders who

We would like to start this review with a message from our Director of Member Services, Peter Laidlaw "The BMF is supported by its membership, both individuals and clubs, who make it possible for the volunteers and staff to carry out the valuable work of representing the motorcycling family to UK government. Our partners for insurance, legal services and breakdown services provide benefits for members but also support the organisation with sponsorship. Membership numbers are stable, those members and sponsors are owed a great deal of thanks for their support, without them the work of the BMF could not continue." Next, we next have a brief outline of the year by Emily Rochester - Government Relations Executive and Anna Zee -

Crash avoidance testing of automated cars will include motorcycles from 2023. Euro NCAP, a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme, which is responsible for the tests and which gives all new cars a safety rating, detailed the changes in Vision 2030, a paper published on 9th November 2022. “We consider this as good news,” said FEMA’s General Secretary Dolf Willigers. “In September 2022 we published an article about the very high Euro NCAP star rating for the Tesla Model Y, while accidents with Teslas in the USA have shown that the Autopilot system is far from failproof, especially in bad weather conditions. The paper provides an answer to the concerns we expressed earlier.” According to Vision 2030, crash avoidance testing will now include powered

Could your next motorcycle be a petrol/electric hybrid? Vitesco Technologies, a German company which supplies electric powertrain technologies, certainly thinks so, unveiling a 400cc prototype at EICMA*. The bike, based on Husqvarna’s Vitpilen single, adds a 48-volt electric drive system consisting of a 12Kw motor and small 1.5kwh battery. Vitesco claims that the petrol/electric system gives the best of both worlds, doubling the torque of the standard Husky 400cc engine while delivering up to 75% less CO2 (on the standard WMTC cycle) and makes the bike easier to ride, with an automated gearbox – it’s even got a reverse gear. Petrol/electric hybrid cars have been around for many years, and White Motorcycle Concepts is building petrol/electric Yamaha Tricity scooters for Northamptonshire Police,

The Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA) Committee, consisting of the delegates from all the member organisations, the FEMA staff, and invited guests, took place on 2nd October 2022. The meeting was generously hosted by IVM, the German industry Association, in their conference room at Koelncongress, Cologne, Germany. There were 16 delegates and 4 guests, plus the staff, attending physically, with a further 5 delegates joining virtually, via Teams. The meeting was opened by the FEMA President, Anna Zee, also the BMF’s Political Technical Services (PTS) director, welcoming everyone, and listing the apologies. Due to transport problems, a number of delegates registered could not attend; with the unluckiest being MCTC’s Soren Bendtsen who was delayed at the airport for 4 hours, flown

The British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 10th October 2022, at 10.00. The event, held on Zoom, for the third time, was a great success with members taking part, from both Clubs and as individuals. Regular business was dealt with briskly, before moving on to wide ranging discussions on a number of topics. The meeting heard reports from the Chair, Jim Freeman, and fellow Directors: Howard Anderson, Finance Peter Laidlaw, Membership Services Sheonagh Ravensdale, Communications Anna Zee, Political & Technical Services The meeting was run by Jim Freeman, who managed the polls and voting, with help from Helen Hancock, the BMF’s Administrator, particularly monitoring the lively chat board. Jim Freeman was re-elected as Chair with 89% of the votes cast on a

The BMF is responding today, September 2nd 2022, to the Law Commission's consultation on remote driving. Some limited forms of remote driving are already employed, usually in industrial context such as mines and quarries but there is interest in employing it more widely; for example, to move rental cars between hires. One topic in the consultation is examining current legislation as to whether some of it is hindering development of remote driving. It is probable that not all of us will think hindering this development is a bad thing, but we have taken the opportunity to point out some of the issues we see around automated driving as well. You can read more about the consultation here And you can read our response to

Save London Motorcycling (SLM) is organising a mass ride out to protest against proposed new parking charges from 2023 for powered two-wheelers by Hackney Council. The Council is planning to charge motorcycles and scooters £6 per hour to park in a marked bay, with a maximum stay of four hours. The charge applies equally to mopeds, litre-plus adventure tourers and even to electric motorcycles and scooters. In response to a question from the BMF, Hackney Council provided this statement: “As a Council we are committed to improving local air quality and tackling the climate emergency. As part of this commitment, and following a full public consultation in 2020, Cabinet agreed in February 2021 to place motorcycles on the same footing as