Motorcycles should be powered by no more than 650cc, single-cylinder engines with automatic transmissions. This is the nightmare vision of the future for biking, as set out in an EU paper titled ‘Reduction of Energy Use in Transport’.
The report, produced by a Working Group comprising 15 specialists from EU member states including DEFRA and the Department for Transport, also appears to display an alarming lack of knowledge about the development of motorcycles in the last 20 years. Additional recommendations are for four-stroke rather than two-stroke engines and that the use of “well tuned carbs or better direct injection” is essential.
In other words, an accurate reflection of how most modern motorcycles are built.
In another part of the paper, there is also a suggestion that motorcycles be made part of “city tolls” – going directly against recommendations made by Ken Livingstone and also the DfTs own motorcycle strategy paper!
The BMF has damned the EU paper, saying it “demonstrates an ignorance of
motorcycling technicalities and is biased against motorcycles as a form of transport”.
Trevor Magner, the BMF’s Senior Government Relations Executive added “Tinkering with the technicalities will have far less effect on the environment than treating the motorcycle as a viable alternative to the car. The UK government has accepted this in its own motorcycling strategy document, it’s a pity our technical contributors didn’t appear to know this.”
The BMF has now written to DEFRA and asked for a meeting to discuss the proper role of the motorcycle in helping to save the environment.
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Originally Posted by Bob
social....
Bitch.
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