MCN's multinational protest reaches Brussels

Riders from the UK, France and Belgium have arrived at the European Commission headquarters. MAG chairman Ian Mutch, the BMF’s government relations head Chris Hodder and MCN’s Steve Farrell have each addressed the crowd.

Said Farrell: “People can question whether protests like this make a difference, but we can be certain that nothing will be achieved by sitting at home.” 

The protestors will now ride to the European Parliament to address MEPs over anti-tampering proposals under which tuning could become impossible and even home-maintenance severely hampered.

Under the proposals so-called on-board 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.