The inaugural Hagar Ride Against Slavery led by the First Bloke, Tim Mathieson. Riders will travel from Sydney via Sea Cliff Bridge to Kangaroo Valley. Picture: Hunter Bradley

THE prime minister's beau, Tim Mathieson, is leading a gang of motorcyclists down the road to Canberra to raise money for former child slaves.

Mr Mathieson joined the bikers for breakfast at Kirribilli House, the Sydney home he shares with Julia Gillard, before heading off for the couple's modest home away from home - the Lodge.

MEDIA RELEASE 15th April 2013

Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) rider advocacy groups including the Victorian Motorcycle Council (VMC), the Independent Riders Group (IRG) and the Victorian Scooter Riders Association (VSRA) have collectively called for postponement of the vote endorsing the Melbourne Road Safety Plan. Their concerns are the Plan fails to enhance the safety of PTW riders and fails to meet its goal to:

“Create a safe, comfortable and richly engaging urban environment where pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are welcomed and supported through world leading road safety practices” and “to “recognise the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists in street design”

In Australia we will have a weekend long celebration in Williamstown, Victoria from Friday the 12th to Sunday the 14th of April 2013.

So start your planning – an event like this only comes along every 110 years.

Australian celebrations will be held at the Seaworks Maritime Precinct on Nelson Place in Williamstown, Victoria.
DATE

12th April to 14th April, 2013
HOG Members

HOG members three day passes available: Friday evening, all day Saturday and all day Sunday.
General Public

All day Saturday and Sunday day passes are available now. Click here for more information.

Original Article

A new safety campaign in the UK is commencing that is focussing on car drivers. These drivers are being urged to visualise the motorcycle rider and take more care at junctions. This campaign has been timed to coincide with the anticipated increase in the numbers of motorcyclists returning to the roads during the second quarter of 2013. This campaign encourages drivers to take longer to look for motorcyclists and think about the biker, not just the bike. Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond said, “Motorcyclists account for just 1% of traffic but 19% of deaths on Britain’s roads and 30 bikers are killed or injured in accidents at junctions every day.”

The Chinese motorcycle industry is bigger and growing faster than most people realise. Shaun Lennard reports.

Chinese business leaders riding MV Agustas in Beijing, while Italians commute on Chinese scooters in Rome? Yes, when it comes to China and motorcycles, the paradigm has shifted in the past couple of years while the rest of us weren’t really looking.

In reality, there’s still a long way to go, but I suspect that the views of most people in Australia about Chinese motorcycles are far removed from the reality.

Hello all

Well Easter is upon us and still some roads are closed. The Old Tolmie Road Bridge will be shut to all traffic including police and emergency vehicles on 4th April btw 9 am and 5 pm. I also understand the Walhalla Woods Point Road is still closed to through traffic from Matlock until Baw Baw Shire advise otherwise, I have not been so advised.

Press Releases and Announcements - 27 March 2013
Motorcycle rider survives TAC appeal on trailer smash

A man who was knocked from his motorcycle by a wayward trailer whilst riding along the Great Alpine Road has survived a TAC appeal against a Supreme Court finding that the vehicle with the trailer was at fault in the crash.

Road safety lawyer and rider activist John Voyage from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, says the appeal against the County Court's original findings was breathtakingly audacious by the TAC, reinforcing the organisation's negative views of motorcyclists.

To all current financial members of the MRA(Vic).

Please note that as a result of the 2013 AGM a Special General Meeting has been called for the 15th April.

As per the constitution, all expired memberships and new memberships cannot be ratified so have been suspended pending the outcome of the SGM.

The caretaker board recommends all members with an interest in the proper governance of the association and the ultimate fate of the aims it was founded on attend this meeting.

The Victorian Motorcycle Council (VMC) has again called for the State Government to discontinue the selective use of discredited data and misleading statements that falsely represent motorcyclists, following the recent release of the State Road Safety Strategy 2013-2022.

VMC Chairman Peter Baulch said: “The Strategy is based upon unreliable data gathered from an agenda driven online survey and distribution through a single newspaper. Such surveys are notorious for failing to produce reliable data and it is to the Government’s discredit that they should use it as the basis of such an important strategy”.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word “biker” started out in the 1880s as a way to identify people who rode bicycles. But by the 1950s the word had traveled downhill to the point where it often referred to members of motorcycle gangs, and the “OED” defined it that way.

But the folks at Oxford just gave motorcyclists a break, sort of.

The Oxford Dictionary Online, sometimes called ODO, has tweaked its definition of biker to the following: a motorcyclist, especially one who is a member of a gang or group.

Original Article

NEW INDIAN: The new Chief made its first public debut at the Long Beach Motorcycle Show and shared its stand with a replica of Burt Munro's backyard-built Bonneville record machine.

Indian, America's oldest motorcycle brand, went bust in 1953, and there have been countless half-hearted measures to kick-start it back to life since.

Now a really big player in the lucrative power-sports segment in the United States, Polaris Industries, is about to revive the great historic rival to Harley-Davidson, and it has pockets deep enough to give its re-launch of the indigenous brand a huge push.

The NSW Government has today begun a two-month trial that will allow motorcyclists to 'filter' between stationary vehicles at intersections in the Sydney CBD.

Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the trial, developed by government body Transport for NSW, will test if traffic flow is improved by allowing powered two-wheelers to move to the front of traffic.

The trial will be confined to the areas bordered by Sussex and Market Streets, St James Road, Macquarie and Alfred Streets and Hickson Road.

Motorcyclists caught filtering outside this area will face the usual penalties.

Original Article

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Marc 1,2013: VACC and members of its Motorcycle Industry Division (MID) will watch with interest Sydney’s two month filtering trial for motorcycle and scooter riders. The trial will allow riders of powered two wheeled vehicles to lane filter in the north of Sydney’s CBD, a manoeuver which ordinarily, is against the law in New South Wales. The NSW Police Force will oversee the trial to ensure road rules are followed by all road users and videos will monitor motorcycle and scooter rider behaviour. Video recording commenced on 1 February 2013, for comparison purposes.

“Powered two wheeled vehicles are a convenient and environmentally friendly form of personal transport and should be encouraged,” said VACC Executive Director, David Purchase.

VICTORIA'S top road safety and accident research body and sentencing advisory group were not consulted before the Baillieu government's legislative blitz on dangerous driving.

The government has made daily announcements on new road rules and maximum penalties this week.

Police Minister Peter Ryan insisted the new policies were ''heavily researched''. He denied they were the result of poor opinion polls.

Professor Arie Freiberg, the chairman of the Sentencing Advisory Group has criticised the measures, saying it was important to look at why people drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs rather than simply increase penalties.

Motorcycle salesman Jason Gellatly. Picture: Mogens Johansen/The West Australian

Rising petrol prices and worsening traffic congestion have forced more people than ever to get around on motorcycles.

Figures show the number of registered motorcycles in WA topped 120,000 for the first time last year, having risen 60 per cent since 2007.

The biggest increase was in smaller, more fuel-efficient motorcycles. The number of licensed bikes with an engine size up to 250cc nearly doubled between 2007 and last year, including an 18 per cent increase from 2011.

Motorcycle Riders Association vice-president Dave Wright said he expected the trend to continue.

"More people are beginning to see motorcycles as a cheaper and quicker way to get to work," he said. "And the parking is cheaper when they arrive and it's better for the environment."

Series 2 of Temporary Australians, which was due to air from early March,will now

go to air later in the year. The change will allow the programme to have enough time to finish

the editing within budget.

Everyone at Temporary Australians is looking forward to getting Series 2 on air as soon as possible

so keep an eye on www.temporaryaustralians.com.au for more news

Press Releases and Announcements - 19 February 2013

TAC needs to take a longer look at its advertisements

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is under fire from rider groups and road safety activists at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, after re-running a controversial advertisement aimed at motorcyclists that was widely panned first back in 2009.

The ad, titled "The Ride", was widely condemned by riders and rider advocacy groups as misleading and alienating to riders, partly because it reinforces negative stereotypes of motorcyclists.

Principal at Maurice Blackburn and road safety advocate John Voyage said the motorcycling community was outraged that the TAC would choose to ignore the findings of last year's Parliamentary Motorcycle Safety Inquiry by running the maligned ad.

AN award-winning road safety campaign backed by five-time world champion Mick Doohan has been axed by the Gold Coast City Council.

The Safe Motorcycle Advanced Rider Training (SMART) courses were scrapped in budget cuts, with the council saying road safety was not part of its "core business".

The program has been a road safety success, cutting the region's motorcycle rider death toll from 27 in 2007 to nine last year.

IT happens in an instant. You are sitting in your car, tapping the wheel and filling time.

A glimpse of something draws your gaze to your rear-view mirror — a looming headlight or a garish helmet. And while you're still wondering how late you are running for work, between the lanes of traffic comes a motorcycle swaying by your side mirrors to finish at the front of the traffic queue.

How does a driver see that rider: as selfish, endangering lives or simply impatient? Or is it the case that lane filtering — as it is known — helps ease congestion and keeps motorcyclists safe?

That's one of the major questions posed in a state government report on motorcycle safety released late last year.

• We talk with Speed TV's Kevin Magee down at Philip Island about World Superbikes, this years competition and pick his brain about Moto GP without Casey Stoner.
• Mark from The Big Red Machine talks about the upcoming 'Good as Gold Poker Run' in Brisbane
• We find out how the Honda ST Club is going in Queensland and talk with Streak about their next national adventure
• And we get the latest news on the Silverwater Motor Festival
• Plus lots of other info about motorcycle fun around Australia.

Tune in 7pm-9pm Sydney time on Alive 90.5 FM or listen online through the Alive website and by smart phone.

Ride is proudly sponsored by:

Fraser Motorcycles: check out their stores in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, Melbourne and Perth.