The FEMA Committee meeting, confusingly referred to as the ‘Spring’ meeting, took place at the Motor Cycle Touring Club [MCTC] campsite in Kolind, Denmark, on Saturday 11th June 2022. The meeting was attended by 14 delegates, 10 in person and 4 online, from 12 organisations, with proxies held for a further 4 organisations, and a number of guests. The BMF were privileged to hold the proxy for Norsk Motorcykkel Union [NMCU]. The meeting was chaired by Anna Zee, FEMA President and BMF Political and Technical Services [PTS] Director. The BMF delegate [online] was Jim Freeman, FEMA Treasurer and BMF Chair. Following the Treasurer’s report, that all was well financially, particularly after a two-year pandemic was taken into account, the meeting settled into

Bosch has thrown its weight behind the use of hydrogen in place of fossil fuels, renewing hopes that hydrogen could replace petrol power in the future. However, getting to the hydrogen economy isn’t quite as simple as it seems. On paper, it looks beguiling, and several motorcycle manufacturers have been working on hydrogen power. Yamaha is helping Toyota develop a hydrogen car engine while Kawasaki is working on a hydrogen version of its existing H2 piston engine. Hydrogen can also power fuel cells, which produce electricity to supply an electric motor, just as a battery would – fuel cells are lighter than a conventional lithium-ion battery and promise a potentially longer range. A hydrogen-powered bike would also have zero emissions at

Honda has patented a system which moves the autonomous motorcycle a big step closer – but motorcycles are still way behind cars in the development of self-driving/riding. The trend towards autonomous cars seems unstoppable – Germany and Japan have approved ‘Level 3’ autonomy (the official SAE classification, highly automated driving on motorways) with the UK and other EU countries expected to follow suit, while Germany is also anticipating being the first country to approve SAE Level 4 (highly automated in ‘most driving situations.’) Motorcycle manufacturers are certainly working on this. BMW showed a riderless GS to journalists in 2018, Yamaha has developed a steering-assist system for motocross bikes and many production bikes already have radar-based systems to warn riders of nearby vehicles,

BMW has filed a patent for 'adjustable air deflectors' to improve comfort at low speed and aerodynamic efficiency when tanking along. The surprise, given the German company's love of complex high tech, is that the new system doesn't use electronics or clever speed sensors – just good old-fashioned springs. Moto Guzzi's new V100 Mandello has adaptive bodywork with the same end in mind – moveable flaps in the fairing are flush at high speed, but move outwards into the air stream to reduce turbulence when cruising more slowly. Servo motors move the flaps, controlled by electronics. BMW's system is much simpler. The flaps are hinged at their forward end and held open by springs. The faster you go, the air pressure increases,

Speed limiters will mandatory on all new cars sold in the UK from 6th July, but the new law doesn't apply to motorcycles. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) is a software system which automatically limits speed to whatever limit is prevailing, though it can be overridden by the driver. Many car manufacturers already fit ISA, including Ford, Mercedes, Peugeot/Citroen, Volvo and Renault. Anna Zee, Political and Technical Services Director of the BMF, explained the context. “ISA is part of the General Safety Regulation (GSR) passed by the EU in October 2021 and includes a number of items besides ISA, such as Automatic Emergency Braking. Yes, we will see this on cars sold in the UK because there is no law to say they