Two of the most famous names in UK motorcycling are coming together in 2011 to stage a series of London-based events for biking enthusiasts. Warr's Harley-Davidson will host a year long series of Harley® Nights in partnership with the Ace Cafe London on the last Thursday of every month, starting on Thursday 31st March.

The opening event will feature an exhibit from Warr's Kings Road Customs and the iconic Harley® dealership will stage the opening round of a customisation competition. Judging of H-D® accessorised bikes will take place on the night, with the opportunity for winners to be crowned each month.  All monthly victors will receive a £250 Parts & Accessories voucher for use at Warr's dealerships and be invited to a grand prize-giving for the overall winner at the Ace Cafe London on Thursday 27th October.

Warr's will also be at the Ace all day on Sunday 10 April with the travelling Warr's Harley Museum and Kings Road Custom for Real Classics day. As Europe's oldest authorised Harley® dealership, the Warr family has an impressive collection of vintage motorcycles from the legendary Motor Company®, which are sure to impress.

However, the key date not to be missed is the Bank Holiday weekend extravaganza in August. Warr's and the Ace will link up for a four-day festival at the iconic venue, which has been devised, designed and built by passionate petrolheads for an individual and authentic experience that combines music and machines. In addition to the Kings Road Customs display, Warr's will have a demo truck and full fleet of bikes to provide free test rides for visitors, which can be booked online in advance.

"We're really pleased to be working closely with the Ace this year," said Warr's Managing Director John Warr.  "Ace Cafe London has an incredible heritage and is iconic amongst bikers. As both Warr's and the Ace are London-based, it made sense to forge a relationship that we believe is a perfect partnership, bringing lots of benefits and opportunities for all our riders and visitors."

Mark Wilsmore, Ace Managing Director said "'To be working with Warr's, Europe's oldest and most successful Harley-Davidson dealership, is something that can only be good news for all. We are excited to have them on board, particularly during this 10th anniversary year of the cafe having been fully reopened."

To find out more, please phone 020 7736 2934, visit the award-winning website at www.warrs.com or call into the dealership at 611 Kings Road, London, SW6 2EL.

Saturday 25^th  – Sunday 26^th June

To allow more flexibility and widen the appeal of the National Road Rally, the UK’s premier road riding event, there will now be a choice of six ‘Final Controls’ to allow entrants to complete the Rally at a location closer to home.

The National Road Rally, run by the ACU in association with the BMF and the learning difficulty charity Mencap, is to be held this year over the weekend of 25/26 June, but in a break with tradition, the single Final Control format has been changed.

Know as a scatter rally, in recent years the National Road Rally Final Control has been at places such as The National Motorcycle Museum, Bletchley Park museum and last year at the MIRA HQ in Hinckley, however, feedback from participants showed that with a single finish control, some riders, even after completing the 540 miles maximum allowed on the rally itself, could still face a considerable journey home. This, together with the distance to their chosen start control could mean that entrants may be riding over a thousand miles during the weekend.

With the cost of fuel escalating, as well as the safety issues involved in travelling such distances in a restricted time, the National Road Rally Committee decided on a broader spread of six controls.

Three Final Controls have already been confirmed and they are at Lymm Services, Warrington; The Raven Café, Whitchurch and Donington Services, Kegworth. The three further Final Controls covering the North, South and the London area will be confirmed shortly. These controls will operate as normal controls during the rally but between 7.30am – 10.00am on the Sunday, they will act as Final Controls.

To allow riders to start closer to home, there will also be a number of controls only open for starting the rally and/or connecting with the main matrix of the Rally. The location of these restricted opening controls will be released with the participants’ final instructions. Riders may still start at any control on the rally matrix.

New for 2011, Rally entrants are also eligible for a number of special offers:

1. Any rider who raises over £500 for Mencap will receive free entry to the 2012 National Road Rally.
2. Get a friend to enter the Rally (who did not enter last year) and receive a £5 refund for each friend (up to 4 friends!)
3. Entrants will also receive a £5 discount if they are a member of the BMF (not available in conjunction with any other BMF offer or promotion)

For full details, entry forms, prices and Mencap fund raising packs, see the National Road Rally website: www.nationalroadrally.co.uk

Chris Hodder, the BMF’s Government Relations Executive, has been elected as Director of Communications for the Brussels’ based Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations, FEMA.

Chris, 31, has been with the BMF since 2007 and has been the BMF’s representative at FEMA since then. He takes over the role from Morten Hansen, General Secretary of NMCU Norway, who has stood down.

This is Chris’s second year on the FEMA board, a task he undertakes in addition to his BMF role. In his previous role as FEMA’s Director of Public Policy, Chris directed FEMA's lobbying work and helped devise campaign strategies on issues such as the latest Type Approval regulations.

The new role involves working with the other three directors and the FEMA president in helping to improve FEMA's communication both internally and externally. Chris will primarily provide oversight, but will often be directly involved with developing communication.

Speaking after his election Chris said:  "I am very happy to have been re-elected to the board by my European peers and hope that this year will result in many campaign victories for FEMA and consequently for BMF members."

This is a role funded and supported by the BMF as a show of its commitment on campaigning for UK riders’ rights at the EU level.

In July last year we reported that it appeared that Northern Ireland was getting wired up with the fitting of Wirerope/Cable barriers (Vehicle Restraint Systems).

We first noticed these barriers in Belfast, situated at the junction of Tesco’s at Newtownbreda, however stretches of wirerope barriers have been and are now being fitted on the A1 Dual Carriageway between Belfast and Newry.

We also reported that A1 Beech Hill to Cloghogue dual carriageway (Newry By-pass), a 12km stretch at a cost of just over £150million which was part funded by the European Union, TEN-T (Trans-European Network Transport) Programme, seemed to have ignored the exposure to risk of motorcyclists by installing a wire rope barrier system.

On Wednesday 23rd February the Roads Minister Conor Murphy, officially opened the £45million A2 Maydown to City of Derry Airport dualling scheme.

At the launch the Minister said: "The completion of this £45million project is an important step forward for the people of the northwest. The new dual carriageway will help ease congestion, resulting in improved safety and journey times for traffic travelling on this route.”

However what is clear at Right To Right is that when the Minister says that the “project” will result in improved safety for traffic travelling on this route, he has again forgotten about one mode of transport and that is the motorcycle and their riders.

At Right To Ride our position on wire rope barriers is clear and what is considered by riders’ organisations around the world, which is that these road restraint systems are seen as the most dangerous type of crash barriers because of the exposure to the lethal upright posts.

A2 Bikers against Rope Barriers - (BARB)

Local members of the motorcycle fraternity have now been spurred into public action and they have formed into an organized group called, A2 Bikers against Rope Barriers - (BARB)

The group has unanimously agreed that a wrong and lethal decision has now been made by Roads Service, supposedly on our behalf, resulting in a 100% rejection by bikers, of this type of Vehicle Restraint System chosen for this stretch of road.

BARB continues by saying, “Either by a mistake or design, this decision has resulted in exposing a fundamental safety flaw. It is our view as lay people that instead of decreasing a greater daily risk to us motorcyclists, it has multiplied the daily risk who have to use this stretch of road in the future. This is compared to other types of safety barrier choices that were available to the engineers at the time.

Right To Ride along with the British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) in Northern Ireland, are 100% behind BARB and are supporting BARB’s  mission, "to stop DRD Roads Division from updating/upgrading our roads infrastructure with any more anti motorcycling safety rope barriers until an alternative suitable barrier has been agreed by all parties for this road and past and future development."

For further information BARB can be contacted on [email protected]

And also via the Facebook page - Bikers against rope barriers A2