Motorcycle Action Group

[johnr]

used to b a partt of mag, trouble was it was just like any other 'club'. the ride outs and the social side of things were quite good, but when it got took over by egotistical power crazed robbing scumbags with a massive attitude problem it all wehn to kaka. coincidentally the same people then went on to form their own bike club and took all the mag members with them, and profitted greatly from it too. not saying that i agree or diagree with mag, but on a local level its innevitable that it will become political and money motivted, two things that i really can't be dealing with when i'm out and enjoying myself.

but thats odd logic. and nothing to do with mag. a bunch of nobbers ran a mag group and then left to do their own thing, and you refuse to have anything to do with mag, not because mag was bad, but because the nobbers who left were also members at the time. following that logical progression, shouldnt you also refuse to ride a motorbike because the nobbers rode them too?
the problem is, that its the 'enjoying yourslef' bit that is at threat from the legislators and eurocrats that mag is opposing.

[el vencejo]

I agree with the Trotskyite opinion on Society (applies to MCC's, MC's, Charities too): Revolution must be continuous or stagnation and corruption of ideals follows. Basically, without a regular review and shake-up, people start to take the p¡ss....
My questions are:
How many people are there in MAG with full-time jobs?
How much are they paid compared to equivalent jobs in the open market?
What are their expenses (travel allowance, overnight allowance, food and booze and "entertainment")?
Who audits their pay and performance other than the committee and membership, many of whom are only in it for the discounts and the badge?
Hopefully there are very good answers to my questions.  

[Andy M]

I noticed all the names on the BMF website (Trevor Magner etc.) were the same as when I was a member probably 7 years ago. Not sure about Trotskyite ideas, but they sure don't seem to be fans of Stalinist ones on performance related pay over there!

Andy

[el vencejo]

I noticed all the names on the BMF website (Trevor Magner etc.) were the same as when I was a member probably 7 years ago. Not sure about Trotskyite ideas, but they sure don't seem to be fans of Stalinist ones on performance related pay over there!

Andy

I should have included BMF and other groups in that comment. It's the same everywhere, people get comfortable in jobs and unless they are sharply reminded they forget what they are there for. Run by them for them.

[johnr]

so far as i am aware, mag employs 4 full time staff, mainly political lobbyists and admin staff as well as ian mutch who produces and writes the magazine. they also employ occasional sub contractors as anmd when different campaigns require them. all of the national committee and all of the regional reps are volunteers who do it in their own time and for no money. as a former local rep, i can say that our regional rep gave up a hell of a lot of her own time and effort to run our region and did it for the love of riding bikes, and nothing else. in fact when you add in visits to local groups and to monthly meetings of the national committee, plus her time, it actually cost her money. mag isnt stuffed with salaried suits, its almost entirely run by amateurs, that is to say, they do what they do for the love of  it, not for reward.

but whilst im rattling on, as ive previously said, being a mag member can make financial sense, regardless of any demos or campaigns,

forgive the cut and paste, it saves me half an hours typing!!

theres discount bike insurance,

Every MAG individual member's bike is covered by the guaranteed £1000 cash reward.
mag protected theft protection-If you are a MAG member and your bike - includes trikes and motorcycle combinations is stolen we will:
Produce a poster and leaflet which you can photocopy and distribute in your locality.
Notify all MAG local groups and affiliated clubs via our activists newsletter Network and Website
Notify the theft in The Road, MAG members magazine.
Guarantee a cash reward of up to £1000 which you can advertise to help catch the thieves.

discounted mortgage arrangement!
West Riding Personal Financial Solutions Limited - Motto "Honest Advice in Plain English" - is totally waiving its normal £295 mortgage arrangement fee for MAG members and MAG members only.
Based in Castleford, West Yorkshire, Independent Financial Adviser West Riding offers advice on mortgages, life assurance, pensions and investments throughout the UK


discounts at dealers,
http://www.mag-uk.org/en/joinmag/a6381

discounted accomodation at biker friendly venues,
MAG Touring

MAG Touring offers a list of motorcycle friendly accommodation at discount rates for MAG members on production of a valid MAG membership card. You will also find travel information and links to useful discounts for your travels and touring.

Click here to view list

discount travel insurance that DOES cover motorcycle holidays
European - Worldwide Travel In ;Dsurance

Exclusive Offer for MAG Members.

AIS Direct has arranged cover for those MAG members who are under 65 an Annual Worldwide policy from £65 for an Individual, £75 for a Couple and £85 for a family.

In addition members aged 65 and above can purchase Annual policies up to age 79 and Single Trips up to age 89.

There are also a variety of additional options such as Ski, Golf and Wedding cover as well as a discount for baggage

discount ferries, discount bike insurance that can also allow you to cover a car and a bike on the same policy, and a range of other stuff that i cant be *******d to even copy and paste right now!!

[el vencejo]

@johnr,
good response, sounds like they are doing things the right way.
It's a bad orgaisation when The Committee are mainly full time employees too.

[guest1155]

used to b a partt of mag, trouble was it was just like any other 'club'. the ride outs and the social side of things were quite good, but when it got took over by egotistical power crazed robbing scumbags with a massive attitude problem it all wehn to kaka. coincidentally the same people then went on to form their own bike club and took all the mag members with them, and profitted greatly from it too. not saying that i agree or diagree with mag, but on a local level its innevitable that it will become political and money motivted, two things that i really can't be dealing with when i'm out and enjoying myself.

but thats odd logic. and nothing to do with mag. a bunch of nobbers ran a mag group and then left to do their own thing, and you refuse to have anything to do with mag, not because mag was bad, but because the nobbers who left were also members at the time. following that logical progression, shouldnt you also refuse to ride a motorbike because the nobbers rode them too?
the problem is, that its the 'enjoying yourslef' bit that is at threat from the legislators and eurocrats that mag is opposing.

couldn't agree more, however, unfortunately there is support for these groups only when you have significant numbers. hence why i no longer do any mag related stuff. That and the fact that there is no mag group anywhere near me. Me and a mate did start one up a year or so after the other one disolved but that failed due to dwindling numbers. don't get me wrong i am pro mag  and have more often than not been the only person outside dartmoor on the 10th of feb but unfortunately my experience of local mag groups has not been a positive one. as for my logic, yes that is indeed warped nobbers on motorcycles provide me a steady stream of spare parts when they drop their bikes, and i think it would be wasteful not to take full advantage of this.

[johnr]

im a mag member, ive not attended a mag meeting for a few years now though. but the lack of a local group, or your unwillingness to attend one shouldnt really be a reason to prevent you from being a member. we have to remember that there is a fundamental difference between mag and mag groups and motorcycle clubs. clubs are there really to allow groups of like minded folk to meet and ride and socialise together if they want to, and nothing wrong with that. but mag isnt a club, and mag grouips whilst they might appear to be like clubs are not, they are there to allow mag members to get together and socialise as well, but predominently, mag is a political lobbying organisation. it is a riders rights group, it seeks to support and protect the interests of bikes and bikers from the creeping tide of legislation being pushed on us from westminster and brussels.
      mag isnt about petty club and personality politics, its about politics with a big P, its leg protectors, power limits, age limits, external vehicle speed control(evsc) its about bikes in bus lanes, no tolls on bridges and tunnels, no congestion charge for ptw's (powered two wheelers) its about bike bans on certain roads, compulsory dayglo clothing, complusory safety clothing, anti tampering, tuv style vehicle inspections, no customisation, no modification from stock, only approved spare parts permitted, its emmisions testing, noise limits,  bars on vehicles over a certain age, its about people who arent elected and arent accountable making decisions about how we live our lives based on nothing deeper than their own prejudices against bikes.
  and yes, its about the helmet law, the law that brought about the birth of mag, its the issue that is still a part of mags dna. ok, i think its accepted that there is little chance of a reversal in the helmet law, but if you hold a belief and a set of principles, it doesnt matter how long you hold them, even if you dont win, you dont change them. if mag ditched the helmet issue, the people who slate them for keeping it alive would be the first to slate them for giving up on their beliefs. mag has fought, and in the case of Fred Hill, died for the helmet issue. if you dont know his story, google it.
anyhow, im rambling, im a mag member cos i believe in fighting for my right to ride a bike. why arent you?

[OZ]

Lots of interesting comments. Johnr has largely expressed how I feel about MAG.

I understand the cynicism that surrounds peoples opinion of politics and I share that view. I also accept the self serving nature of many within organised groups. However MAG is largely run by genuine enthusiastic bikers from all walks of life with a simple aim of trying to preserve our rights or enhance them. I am an active member although not a local or regional rep.

Many members on this forum are of a certain age. We have been able to enjoy our biking largely without too much state interference particularly 30 or more years ago. It's not like that now and it will get worse unless someone can influence the decision makers. If not MAG, then who? It is ludicrously expensive and difficult to obtain a bike licence and the proposed restrictions on how and what they ride are far reaching. Motorcycling will change beyond all recognition in the next decade or so and it won't be for the better!
 
MAG are active at European level through FEMA, at national level, at a regional level, within local clubs and through the efforts of individual members.

Most of us ride because we love it. Why not do something to try and preserve our rights!

Cheers

OZ

[squirrelciv]

"im a mag member cos i believe in fighting for my right to ride a bike. why arent you?"

Cos no one's said I can't.

If I thought for 1 minute MAG or the BMF were going to be effective They'd [probably] get my money, but they're not going to be. Bottom line is there just ain't enough motorcyclists out there.

The way I see it any laws introduced will target reckless behaviour and accident statistics in the main. With any luck the obstacles placed infront of prospective bikers will keep numpty power rangers off the roads and drive them off to seek their selfish pleasure elsewhere. This will leave the leafy quite lanes of rural Wales empty for me to pootle along

If you really want to preserve motorcycling burn every sportsbike you see on sight and ride along fully compliant with the law. No one will notice you (except for the smoke trail left by the burning bikes in your wake... and they'll thank you for that) and Brussels/Westminster will find some other minority group to pick on.

I'm chuffed for you and your membership to MAG, it's obvious your passionate. I'm not. Apoligies for my sarcasm, but I'm just not a fan of these things. As I see it no one is saying I can't ride my bike and as far as I'm aware, nothing is going to be changed in the law just yet. Plenty of scare stories from those with a vested interest in my enraged response but nothing being placed before the house. If anything should change in that scenario I'm pretty sure the likes of MAG/BMF will not be able to stop it anyway. Just not enough votes in the biker community.

[johnr]

sorry squirelciv, but i think you are wrong. the anti bike lobby arent anti sportsbike, they arent anti sportsbike rider. they are anti bike. they plan to legislate to remove bikes from the road if they can. the european commision is unelected, its members arent accountable to the ballot box, but they make the laws that govern out lives and they make them based on misinformation and untruths. examples, the 100bhp limit from a few years back. ok on the face of it, to the uninfomed, it seemed like a good idea, protecting us from ourselves, all them accidents that they quoted, and all that power they claimed we couldnt handle. but they lied. they told the world that power output on bikes was direcly linked to accident rates. they argued that cutting power would cut accidents, save lives, reduce injuries. however, they didnt have any statistics to back these claims, save for one study that only involved accidents involving bikes over 750cc. this gave them the stat that most accidents involved bikes making over 100bhp, thus cutting power would cut deaths. but they didnt say that their stats were taken from a selective group. thats akin to proposing to ban bmw's because most bike accidents involve bmws, and producing the stats to prove it, but not saying that the survey that gave you the stats only questioned bmw riders. now this flawed logic seems right out of yes minister, but it was deliberately used by the anti bike european commission and its head at the time to try and hamstring big bikes, the logic being that if they could cut the big bikes from the equation, then they would be able to work their way down through the capacity classes. now at the time, as now, survey after survey showed that the vast majority of motorcycle accidents, iirc it was over 80% took place at under 30mph. you neednt be a rocket scientist to figure that if accidents are happening sub 30mph, then power isnt really a factor. not only that, but when the stats were looked into, it showed that per mile traveled, 100+bhp bikes had actually got better accident stats than commuter bikes and scooters. ok, this is a bit rambling i know, but in the end the proposal was only killed off thanks to mag and the fem (now the fema) lobbying members of the European parliament to get this killed off. we won, but it proved to many of us just how low the anti bike lobby in europe would stoop to generate anti bike legislation. ive a long enough memory to remember these things, i went to the eurodemo in paris with my mrs and kids in our old sidecar outfit, along with 25thousand other bikers because i wanted to protest against this injustice. lets not pretend that the anti bike people in power have disappeared. they are still out there, and they still seek to curtail how we live our lives.does anyone know what evsc is? do you know that anti tampering hasnt gone away? there are still people seeking to remove bikes from bus lanes in london(the cycling lobby if you believe it are pedaling-sic- misinformation and untruths about accident rates to remove bikes from bus lanes) there are a myriad of anti biker movements about these days, and we need to be on our guard against these threats to our lifestyle. but, there are always people who will enjoy the freedoms earned for us all by others, but who refuse to support those that take action.
cest-la-vie!!!!

[squirrelciv]

I think I see what divides us here. I don't believe any legislative agency is anti-bike, I think they are anti sports bike. You seem to feel all are out to get bikers in general. But why?? Why target a group of people?? Bikes have many positive qualities that make good sense to government if directed correctly.

No, the reason [as I see it] that government target bikes is because a certain faction have flounted law and annoyed car drivers, who carry more votes than bikers. It's a easy hit. Car drivers [on the whole] roll over and accept what the law dictates, bikes tend not to. Bikes are percieved as annoying toys that gulp up resourses, require policing, and generally make pests of themselves.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. You may be proved right in time, or your fears may never materialise. Who knows. In the meantime I'll continue to pootle about care free.


As an aside, I think all motorists better get used to the idea of some form of movement restriction. Either by cost or law, governments are going to have to manage fuel usage, CO2 emmisions and congestion some how.

[Andy M]

+1

Andy

[OZ]

Squirrellciv,

No offence but you really don't get it do you?

You probably won't be able to pootle about care free for that much longer and the next generation of bikers have rock all chance of enjoying what we have taken for granted!

(If I knew what those round yellow face things meant I'd put several of those at the end )

OZ

[squirrelciv]

Oz Matey, I do get it, just don't believe it. And if that is our future I'm pretty sure MAG/BMF won't stop it. Heyho