AVID MOTORCYCLIST ELECTED AGAIN TO NEW HAMPSHIRE HOUSEDelight,
displeasure, or distrust, the November 8 midterms meant a lot of things
to a lot of people, but for motorcyclists there was at least one bright
spot in New Hampshire where longtime biker Charlie St. Clair won
election to the State House of Representatives, again.
St. Clair
is well known to riders everywhere as the coordinator of Laconia
Motorcycle Week; "The World's Oldest Motorcycle Rally," going on 100
years!
Democrat victor and former representative St. Clair
previously served one term in the State House, until this past election
cycle when he lost to now-incumbent Republican Rep. Richard Littlefield
in 2020, the same person St. Clair just defeated to now reclaim his old
House seat!
St. Clair told The Laconia Daily Sun that once he's
back at the Statehouse, he'd like to return to his previous seat on the
Transportation Committee, where he can best serve his community,
rally-goers and motorcyclists who live in or visit New Hampshire; "I
have a lot of questions on projects [that were] supposed to be done two
years ago [in the transportation committee] and I will also be listening
to the residents of Laconia and their concerns and following their
direction,” he told the local newspaper.
As a candidate, St.
Clair emphasized placing constituents above party lines and demands,
saying "I always encourage people not to vote by party but on the
individual."
With record-setting voter turnout across the
country, many races nationwide are still in Limbo or dispute, with
outcomes determining the political direction of many states and our
nation, and with Donald Trump once again throwing his hat in the
Presidential ring for 2024, American politics is about to get even more
interesting.
ARIZONA SENATOR CALLS FOR PASSAGE OF THE RPM ACTSince
being elected to Congress in November 2020, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly
(D-AZ) has proven himself to be a strong ally and defender of
motorsports, and as an original cosponsor of S. 2736, the Recognizing
the Protection of Motorsports Act of 2021 (RPM Act), and according to
SEMA (the Specialty Equipment Market Association) he has championed the
bill both publicly and behind the scenes.
Sen. Kelly recently
spoke at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing about
the importance of the RPM Act and amateur racing, noting that his wife,
former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, raced motorcycles on the
track. “Racing is important to many Arizonans -- and it’s a part of our
state’s legacy,” he testified. “The RPM Act will help provide certainty
to Arizona’s amateur racers and auto mechanics from EPA regulations,
which could harm their ability to enjoy the hobby of motorsport.”
The
RPM Act of 2021 was re-introduced in Congress last September 14 by U.S.
Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), currently with 33 cosponsors, and is
common-sense, bipartisan legislation to protect Americans' right to
convert street vehicles into dedicated race cars and the
motorsports-parts industry's ability to sell products that enable racers
to compete.
Racing cars and motorcycles has remained an
unquestioned American tradition until 2015 when the EPA took the
position that converted vehicles must remain emissions-compliant, even
though they are no longer driven on public streets or highways.
U.S. LAWMAKERS PURSUE “RIGHT TO REPAIR” CONSUMER PROTECTIONSLawmakers
in both the U.S. House and Senate are actively pursuing federal
legislation intended to level the playing field for independent repair
providers, including for motor vehicle repair shops.
U.S.
Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Ron Wyden
(D-OR) introduced S.3830, the Fair Repair Act of 2022, a bipartisan bill
that seeks to ensure that manufacturers do not lock out owners and
independent service providers from providing repairs by denying access
to parts, tools, and documentation. The Fair Repair Act would require
manufacturers of electronic equipment to make the same tools, parts, and
documentation available to owners and independent repair providers,
covering a variety of industries such as agricultural equipment,
consumer electronics, medical equipment, and motor vehicles.
Similarly,
Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL), a senior member of the House Committee
on Energy and Commerce, has introduced the Right to Equitable and
Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act (H.R.6570). This
legislation would ensure that vehicle owners and independent repair
shops have equal access to repair and maintenance tools and data as car
companies and licensed dealerships.
Vehicle makers have long
argued that they shouldn’t have to share proprietary performance
information, but for independent repair shops this practice makes for an
unfair marketplace.
Although industry advocates for years have
pushed for the right to repair, the issue gained momentum last year
when President Biden issued a sweeping Executive Order directing federal
regulatory agencies to take a variety of steps that would fundamentally
alter the government's regulation of businesses' competitive practices.
Specifically,
the order directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address “unfair
anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair
items, such as the restrictions imposed by powerful manufacturers that
prevent farmers from repairing their own equipment.”
HARLEY HIT WITH ANOTHER RIGHT-TO-REPAIR LAWSUITThis
past June, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a sternly-worded
order to Harley-Davidson, requiring it to honor existing right-to-repair
laws, citing illegal warranty language that restricted customers from
using aftermarket parts, or taking their bikes for service by anyone
other than a Harley dealer. Such actions, the warranties stated, could
void the owners’ warranties.
Secondarily, the FTC pointed to the
fact that the full terms of such warranties weren’t fully disclosed to
customers in a single document, but rather customers were directed to
contact an authorized dealer to learn the full details. The federal
trade agency also ordered Harley to cease this behavior, as well.
While
this was seen as a positive step by many interested in right-to-repair
reform within the U.S., this action by the FTC couldn’t recoup the
losses experienced by Harley customers who felt that they were
effectively held hostage to the terms of their warranties. Thus, in
August, 2022, two right-to-repair class action lawsuits were filed in
federal courts: one in Wisconsin, and one in California. But, as you may
already have suspected, that’s not the end of the story.
Now,
RideApart.com reports that on November 3, 2022, a third class-action
lawsuit was filed in Chicago federal court. It claims that the Motor
Company’s warranty policy violates existing U.S. antitrust laws because
it disallows the use of aftermarket parts. The 55-page class action
complaint demands a jury trial to hear its claims, and spells out in
detail the nature of both its claims and the multiple classes across
multiple states (and the District of Columbia) enveloped within. It
alleges that the Harley-Davidson warranties in question violated both
federal and state antitrust laws, and requests unspecified financial
relief for members of the Class, including payment of legal fees.
The
filing argues that since Harley makes approximately 15% of its annual
revenue from parts, it is clearly in the company’s best interest to
maximize that revenue as much as possible -- including using its
warranties as tools to force owners to use H-D’s OEM parts. It also
makes a case for how a Harley warranty can effectively cost owners an
excessive amount of money.
EUROPE MOVES TO BAN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINESOn
October 27, 2022, the European Commission, European Parliament, and the
member states, united in the Council of the European Union, reached an
agreement about the emission limits for cars and vans, and following a
few steps to lower the emission of the fleet, from 2035 the sale of new
cars that have no zero CO2-emission will be banned in the European
Union.
Environmentalists celebrated this as a victory of battery
electric vehicles (BEVs) against vehicles with an internal combustion
engine (ICE), claiming this means a ban on gasoline-powered engines.
Consequently, this would not only affect cars and vans, but also
motorcycles.
“The Federation of European Motorcyclists’
Associations will resist any attempt to ban the internal combustion
engine for motorcycles,” stated Dolf Willigers, FEMA’s General
Secretary, explaining that, “In our view, the emissions of motorcycles
are already negligible and the alternatives for both fossil fuels and
electricity are still in the development phase. To focus solely on
battery electric vehicles the problems of air quality and climate change
will just be redeemed to other, equal serious problems: the social and
environmental aspects of the mining of raw materials that are needed to
make batteries and the geo-political consequences of getting dependent
to countries like China to acquire these raw materials and the batteries
should not be underestimated.”
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INTERNATIONAL TREATY AGAINST FOSSIL FUELS FLOATED AT U.N. CLIMATE SUMMITThe
world should confront climate change the way it does nuclear weapons,
by agreeing to a non-proliferation treaty that stops further production
of fossil fuels, a small island nation leader urged during the recent
United Nations’ climate summit in Egypt.
“We all know that the
leading cause of climate crisis is fossil fuels,” Tuvalu Prime Minister
Kausea Natano told his fellow leaders. The Pacific country is joining
with “other nations calling for a fossil fuels non-proliferation
treaty,” Natano said citing recent climate-related disasters. “It’s
getting too hot and there is very (little) time to slow and reverse the
increasing temperature. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize
fast-acting strategies.”
The idea of a non-proliferation treaty
for coal, oil and natural gas has previously been advanced by
campaigners, religious authorities including the Vatican, and some
scientists, but Natano’s speech gave the plan a boost in front of a
global audience.
WORLD’S BIGGEST BIKE SHOW BREAKS NEW RECORDS
Apparently,
2022’s iteration of the largest motorcycle show on the planet was a
resounding success, judging by the numbers; 1,370 Brands present,
representing 45 different Nations, and a 38% increase in attendance at
this year’s EICMA (acronym for International Motorcycle and Accessories
Exhibition) hosted annually in Milan, Italy where manufacturers debut
new models to crowds of over a half million.
Given the lineup of
marques, influencers and diverse ranges of advancing technology, it was
only natural that the build-up of anticipation would give rise to even
bigger attendance numbers.
“It is these numbers, the embrace
of the general public, the massive presence of exhibitors who have
emphasized their solid satisfaction and whom we thank for having always
believed in EICMA,” added EICMA S.p.A. president Pietro Meda. “…the
attractiveness and international centrality, the positive increase in
every performance indicator that affirm the unique value and
indispensability of our event…EICMA unquestionably remains in its place:
on the highest step in the entire international scene.”
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SUZUKI-POWERED DRONE TAKES FLIGHTEver
since watching ‘The Jetsons’ on TV in the '60s we’ve been waiting for
the future to get here so we can take to the skies in our flying cars,
so perhaps for now we’ll settle for a motorcycle-powered flying machine,
as a Suzuki-engined drone has been developed in Japan that can lift
150kg (330lb) and fly for up to six hours.
Utilizing one of the
most legendary sports motorcycle engines of all time, the Suzuki
GSX-R1000, the ‘Kunio’ AZ1000 “Super Drone” was developed by Arase
Aizawa Aerospace with the concept of the vehicle being to, literally,
have a flying engine, maximizing the performance of the aircraft and the
payload it can carry. The motorcycle engine was chosen due to its
lightweight, high-output design.
The quadcopter stands over a
meter tall (3.28 feet) with a length of over three meters (nearly 10
feet), and the mammoth 55-litre fuel tank can carry the unladen 110kg
(242.5 lbs) drone aloft for an impressive six-hour road trip, sans the
roadways.
George Jetson was born this year, on July 31, 2022 in
Orbit City, with Hanna-Barbera’s 21st-century cartoon series set a
hundred years into the future in 2062; so maybe the future starts now?
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!”
~ George Jetson (b. 2022-?),
Digital index operator at Spacely’s Space Sprockets
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THE
AIM / NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to
Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of
Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M.
Lester.
ABOUT AIM / NCOM: The
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) is a nationwide motorcyclists
rights organization serving over 2,000 NCOM Member Groups throughout
the United States, with all services fully-funded through Aid to Injured
Motorcyclist (AIM) Attorneys available in each state who donate a
portion of their legal fees from motorcycle accidents back into the NCOM
Network of Biker Services. If you’ve been involved in any kind of
accident, call us at
1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit
www.ON-A-BIKE.com .