Relevant to all PTW's

[Mr Angry]

Shameless promotion of the NABD and some of what it does.

The Agony and the Ecstasy?
(No it’s not about catching your foreskin in your zip while on E’s)

I’m sure a lot of people think my life is just one long party (the chance would be a fine thing) but the sad fact is that as chairman of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability the past twenty years of my life have involved lots of quite serious stuff too.

Not that I’m saying the “serious stuff” can’t be enjoyable too! I get immense joy from helping disabled riders to enjoy the freedom and independence that bikes and trikes can offer and as a born-and-bred Socialist I get enormous pleasure from the fact that the NABD has remained true to its objectives and has never been allowed to become a corrupt gravy-train for greedy directors and employees like so many charities are.

The NABD still has only two paid employees (the ladies who administer the office) and the rest of us remain fully voluntary without recourse to cushy expense accounts and subsidised jollies. Keeping it this way has sometimes involved quite a lot of “serious stuff” when unscrupulous scumbags have tried to corrupt our fine association for their own benefit but again I have taken great pleasure from seeing them booted out on their arses.

Of course the world is not a perfect place and there are times when even a dedicated Hedonist like myself cannot find any joy in some aspects of it. A good example of that is the hours of mind-numbing tedium involved in reading shit like the “Consultation on a Proposed European Commission Regulation on the type approval and market surveillance of 2- and 3-wheeled vehicles and quadricycles” and worse still, the actual proposals themselves.

What the hell was nature thinking when it produced the dreary-minded boring bastards who formulate these mountains of utter shite?
The titles given to these things should give you enough insight into the mind-set of these parasitic worshippers of tedium but if you’re still not sure, let me give you a completely random example of the way the proposals are explained in the 148 page document (yes really 148 fucking pages of drivel that ‘yours truly’ had to wade through!) produced by the civil servants of the Euro-gravy-train:

“For the sake of clarity and completeness, it is important to point out that the data provided by EuroStat can only be used to gain a generic picture of the Cycle and L-category vehicle market since it lacks precision in two important ways. First, the data includes the manufacture of cycles which is problematic in the sense that the cycle market strongly varies from the PTWs market. The cycle market is very diversified and heterogeneous in terms of producers which often constitute of micro companies.”

And they started that paragraph with “For the sake of clarity”… Are they taking the piss?

Well, of course they are!
People like them have been taking the piss out of taxpayers since the first tax was invented to pay for the whoring and warring of the world’s original parasitic elite!
If you want to read the whole thing (like you do?) I suggest a large dose of amphetamine sulphate to keep you awake, then go here: http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/i ... 152_en.pdf

The fact is that some of us have to read this sort of shit so that we can warn you and try to do something about it when the Euro-monster tries to add yet another level of control onto all of our lives. There are times when I could happily say “Fuck it!” and go off for cocktails and a laugh. And indeed there are times when I do just that! But then I come back eventually and read the shit and formulate the response because despite my hatred of boredom and puerile civil servants I am addicted to the joy that even the smallest of victories can bring. At the end of the day I suppose that is why people like me generally put in the time and effort without getting paid for it? We are addicted to the buzz we get when we make a difference.

My point is (in case you were wondering by now) that I truly believe life to be about joy and happiness. Though we may often have to do things that bore the shit out of us we have to look for the pleasure we get from the results of that effort. Sometimes that pleasure may not be obviously apparent so you have to look for it but generally there is some gratification to be had from most types of effort. The trick of course is to find it and squeeze every last drop of joy from it!

Of course the opposite also applies. If something gives you great joy, you have to be willing to put the effort in to maintaining and protecting it!

So which Rider’s Rights group are you a member of? Or is the joy of biking not worth the tiny effort of joining one for you?

For NABD (All bikers are welcome to join & support our work, you don’t have to be disabled). http://www.nabd.org.uk/membership/index.htm

For MAG. http://www.mag-uk.org/en/joinmag/a6318

For BMF. http://www.bmf.co.uk/pages/join.php

Take your pick, join one or join them all. Help to protect your right as a biker to squeeze every last drop of joy out of living!

Rick Hulse
(N.B. This article was originally written for and published by 100% Biker Magazine)

[Zed]

My point is

702 words, 3,989 characters... and still not there yet...

If something gives you great joy, you have to be willing to put the effort in to maintaining and protecting it!
So which Rider’s Rights group are you a member of? ... Take your pick, join one or join them all.

Another 100 words and 508 characters, and yay, The Point Someone needs to tell Mr Hulse how to keep a reader's attention span better

But yes, TBH i've never thought about joining a PTW group.
So which one is the least corrupt gravy-train for greedy people group, and bang-for-buck which the government actually respects / listens to?
I wouldnt join them all, but one would be cool. Do i get a gang patch?

[SH125Paul]

...Do i get a gang patch?

MAG - Oily Patch...
BMF - Piss Patch...
NABD - Cabbage Patch (Joke!)

Note: I am fully aware of the excellent work that the NABD do, recently they assisted a fellow CCM rider with modifications to his bike, left hand throttle, and dual clutch/brake conversion etc as the rider lost his right arm in an accident. The members of the (now defunct) CCM Riders forum, assisted him and his family in their time of need... Bike riders really are the best of the bunch.

[Mr Angry]

MAG is the best IMHO.

If your fellow CCM rider feels like submitting a report with photo's of the adaption it may well get published in Open House, the NABD magazine. It's shame we have had to suspend the grants for a while due to an overwhelming demand for adaptions, hopefully back up and running soon.

[ginge]

Had to google PTW. So it does not mean Permit to Work.
Ginge.

[Zed]

Had to google PTW. So it does not mean Permit to Work.

PTW = Piss Taking Wanker. Happy to help

MAG is the best IMHO.

Anyways joined MAG, not sure why though: I'm not a Mother, and not really Against Guns either

[mightbesane]

I'm not familiar with the nonprofit world in the UK and Europe but I'm a fairly successful fundraiser for nonprofits in the USof A. Do you guys have the kinds of charitable foundations that we have here? For instance, American Honda has a foundation that supports charitable work and Yamaha does the same through its corporate offices. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir but have you solicited that kind of funding for your worthy efforts, particularly in the field of retrofitting bikes and trikes for disabled riders? It seems to me that would be right up their alley.

[Mr Angry]

I'm not familiar with the nonprofit world in the UK and Europe but I'm a fairly successful fundraiser for nonprofits in the USof A. Do you guys have the kinds of charitable foundations that we have here? For instance, American Honda has a foundation that supports charitable work and Yamaha does the same through its corporate offices. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir but have you solicited that kind of funding for your worthy efforts, particularly in the field of retrofitting bikes and trikes for disabled riders? It seems to me that would be right up their alley.

Unfortunately we have had very little support from the big bike manufacturers as some in the UK appear to have an outmoded attitude of not wanting to be associated with disability. We are always working to change these attitudes.

We have a small fleet of 125's that are adapted for various disabilities that we loan to members so that they can learn to ride (Either for the first time or to get reacquainted after an accident) that have been donated by various people, we would love to have a one make fleet of new bikes to cut down on maintenance costs but it is proving difficult to persuade a mainstream manufacturer to donate them.

We shall persevere undaunted.

[mightbesane]

I wish you all the best. I'm planning on retiring to France in a year or two and I'll be looking for a way to get involved in good work. Maybe...

[Zed]

Got my MAG welcome pack: The ROAD magazine is a bit ranty, but didnt quite realise all the topics theyre trying to cover for us all. Hopefully my little bit helps the PTW community, and might have to go on some protests now!

Question, it says the London meeting place is Ace Cafe, is there not a MAG group south of the river?