Second MP backs MCN Brussels protest ride

An MP has given a major boost to MCN’s planned Brussels protest over stifling EU measures by promising to join the ride.

Steve Weatherley, Tory MP for Brighton and Hove, will join MCN readers taking part in the November 22 ride to European Parliament.

Weatherley is the latest MP to back our campaign against EU measures to make bikes impossible to modify. Last week Steve Baker, Tory MP for Wycombe, voiced his support.

Weatherley said: “I hope that this ride will highlight the riding community’s dissatisfaction with policies targeted against bikers.”

The Motorcycle Action Group also contacted MCN to back the protest.

MAG president Ian Mutch, who plans to attend, said: “It is reassuring that the bike press is interested enough in riders’ rights to get actively involved.”

Meanwhile a Facebook group supporting the protest has reached over 1200 members, with riders using the page to plan meeting points across the UK.

• Join the Facebook group here

This week there were new members from Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, and Poland. It comes after German and Dutch motorcycle publications agreed to tell their readers.

Iwan van der Valk, Editor of Dutch bike website nieuwsmotor.nl said: “If you want more support in Holland, we’d be happy to join your call for less EU regulations.”

The Facebook group has also attracted members from as far afield as Estonia and Bulgaria, with some planning to ride thousands of miles to be there.

Tuning could become impossible and even home-maintenance severely hampered under EU proposals.

So-called onboard diagnostic systems on new bikes could detect non-standard parts and trigger a warning light until the ‘fault’ is rectified by a dealer. Routine faults could be reported in code decipherable only be a dealer, preventing home-servicing.

One aim of the EU plans is to prevent any modifications to the ‘powertrain’ which rider groups fear could include anything from the throttle to rear tyre.

New bikes are also to get ABS under the proposals, due to be introduced gradually from 2014. MCN is calling for the anti-tampering measures to be thrown out of the plans.

Our November 22 protest ride, timed to coincide with a committee vote on the proposals, will start and finish at European Parliament Brussels.

Find details here: