LEOMINSTER CLASSIC MOTOR CYCLE CLUB NEWSLETTER Website: www.lcmcc.uk Email: [email protected] April 2018 Eddy...and others..go to Sammy Millers Museum This meant a 5 o clock get up for me, followed by picking up my son Doug from Knighton, arriving at the Hereford pick up point around 7.15 after several miles of thick mist. Ron and Chris soon followed, then others. We boarded a luxury coach and did a circuit of Hereford for various pickups. The trip down was quite uneventful, even the sun came out, until we reached the New Forest. Ten miles of narrow lanes in a giant coach saw us eventually arrive at the museum. Here we split up to peruse the exotic motorcycles most of which you do not see at normal bike events except for a MK 1V Douglas which was a year younger than mine which I use as a winter hack. The racing bikes were topped by the magnificent Moto Guzzi V8. 1 Later in the day Sammy Miller took us into the workshop giving us an informal talk on the restoration of his bikes. Somehow this turned into a discussion between Sammy and Chris Moore on the size of nipples!! Circumnavigating miles of lanes again saw us on the motorway being treated to torrential rain, thunder and lightning before arriving back in Hereford around 8 o clock. Altogether it was an excellent day, just a pity that more members did not take up this opportunity after all the hard work Steve Hackett had put into organising it. Eddy Whittingham (photos Steve Hackett) FROM THE EASY CHAIR Funds are currently £3,010 in the Skipton BS and £1,786 in the TSB current a/c. Membership has risen to 158. With renewals pretty much now stalled, it was agreed to run the one-off £10 offer to new members at the Ancient to Modern Show in May. There were 34 members from last year who had chosen not to renew (compared to 46 the previous year); all had been sent reminders. March Club Night hosted Clive Edwards and Sue Price from Herefordshire Heartstart, one of our smaller nominated charities this year. They provided an informative and interesting glimpse at the service they provide and several members expressed an interest in attending a two- hour course on how to kick-start an old bloke using a defibrillator. Let us know if you would like the Club to set something up – it may save someone’s life! Sadly, we have heard nothing back from the Bromyard Speed Festival committee about our attendance there on 8th April so we have reluctantly decided to drop any thoughts of an organised ride up the hill or to have a stand there. I do hope the event goes ahead OK but wonder how successful it will be given the rather poor advance notification. Not only did we visit the Sammy Miller Museum but he gave us a tour of the workshop and treated us to some choice anecdotes and insights into current work in progress. I even got to shake his hand – a great day out. Read Ed’s article elsewhere in the newsletter. The Triumph factory experience was suggested as another future visit; if you would like to organise this then please get in touch. Two of my Nifty Fifty runs have been snowed off this year, and Wistanstow Show was cancelled because rain and mud rendered the parking impossible. Let’s hope spring is truly on the way now along with some good riding weather. Steve Hackett 2 MAG (MOTORCYCLE ACTION GROUP) UPDATE Three new HGV ‘supercabs’ are to take to the roads as part of a unique initiative to tackle dangerous driving on England’s motorways and major A roads. Highways England has announced plans to fund three new unmarked HGV cabs after a single one used by police forces across the country was used to help catch over 4,000 dangerous drivers in its first two years. The three new cabs will patrol motorways and main trunk roads, and have been fitted with wide-angle cameras to capture unsafe driving behaviour. They also have a derestricted speed limiter which means they can travel at speeds up to the national speed limit, and flashing lights have been installed for use by police forces in an emergency. The cabs allow police officers to film evidence of unsafe driving behaviour by pulling up alongside vehicles. Drivers are then pulled over by police cars following behind. Richard Leonard, Highways England’s Head of Road Safety, said: “Highways England has been funding a single cab for the past couple of years and we’ve been impressed with the impact it’s had on improving safety. Over 4,000 dangerous drivers have been pulled over, with police action ranging from verbal warnings to prosecutions. We’ve found that the vast majority of drivers are sensible behind the wheel but a few have got into bad habits, or are simply ignoring the law and putting themselves and others at risk. We’ve therefore decided to fund two extra unmarked HGV cabs to continue to target dangerous driving on England’s motorways and major A roads, improving safety for everyone”. In total, 28 police forces have taken part in the HGV cab safety initiative since it began in April 2015, pulling over 4,176 drivers in relation to 5,039 offences in its first two years. Nearly two thirds of the drivers who were stopped were illegally using a mobile phone while driving, despite the latest statistics showing that mobile phone use is a factor in an average of two deaths on the roads every month. Offences have included a driver being pulled over by Devon and Cornwall Police who was found to have sent 10 replies to 10 texts within one hour; a driver in Surrey who was seen trying to put toothpaste on a toothbrush; and a driver in the East Midlands who was spotted steering with his knees while he ate his lunch and used his mobile phone. The three new unmarked HGV cabs are being supplied as part of a three-year contract with Dawson Rentals, which will also be responsible for maintaining the vehicles. Khan’s bike tax will charge poorest workers £12.50 a day for ‘privilege of emptying his bin’ MAG has challenged London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, to justify some of the biggest transport contradictions in London’s history – following what they feel is a discriminatory plan to charge motorcyclists for using the eco-friendly option of powered two wheelers (PTWs).London’s Regional Rep, Tim Fawthrop, called Khan’s comments about motorcycles in a letter to Conservative MP (now Minister) Kelly Tolhurst “extraordinary and discriminatory.‟ Tim says ,in his reply to Ms Tolhurst, Mayor Khan states that charging users of older bikes £12.50 a day will – and I’m quoting his words directly here – deter the use of older vehicles, including those with highly polluting twostroke engines. Doesn’t he realise that these bikes often do more than 120 miles per gallon, and produce far fewer emissions than many exempt vehicles? He doesn’t offer a single data source for his claims yet the poorest workers in London who depend on older motorcycles to get to, say, City Hall to clean his office, and whose commute currently costs about £1.20 a day, will pay an extra £12.50 every day to him and his authority – for the privilege of emptying his bin. That’s not just wrong, it’s disgusting. So, I’ve got three questions for him: 1 Why are riders of older, small-capacity bikes being charged when other forms of transport, e.g. taxis, which produce considerably higher emissions with a single occupant, aren’t? We’re not asking for taxis to be charged – only for a level playing field. 3 2 Why does the Mayor want to force riders onto a public transport system that will expose them to up to eight times more particulate matter, according to publicly available research, than using private transport such as a motorbike, when the whole purpose of the change is meant to be environmental and health related? 3 Will Khan compensate the thousands of low-paid workers using small, older motorbikes because it’s all they can afford, and what scheme will he be setting up to pay the difference in cost between cheap, older bikes and expensive public transport? If he can’t answer these questions satisfactorily, he’ll be proving that this tax on older bikes is discriminatory and a social injustice that could seal his political fate at the next Mayoral election. MAG is asking all riders to contact the Mayor and ask these three questions. Sue (Editor: [email protected]) BIGFOOTS MUSINGS ON ALL SORTS Februarys winter meet was a right good do with 18 of us decended on The 3 Horseshoes,Little Cowarne. Good food, service and company on a very sunny but cold day. We had 3 wheelers and 1 solo turn up and we all got home before the beast from the east got us. It’s been a long time since we’ve had weather like we’ve just seen. I can remember heading for North Wales one Easter in early April and going over the mountain road from Dylife to Machynlleth. At the highest point, I went through a snow drift up to the side windows of my 4 x 4. When I came home on the Monday it had all gone. That was a few years back.