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Motorcycle commuting is a commuting alternative to buses, trains and cars. The term includes a number of two wheel motor vehicles including scooters, minibikes, monkey bikes and motorcycles.
In London, England, powered two wheelers (PTWs) increased by 40% between 1997 and 2007. About 16,000 PTWs rode into London by 2007. [1]
Due to revenue raising objectives, Westminster Council (London) began charging motorcycles to park by 2007. [2] Many groups stand for the motorcyclist and PTW users and they are actively lobbying Westminster Council to try and persuade them not to pursue charging for motorcycle parking. [3] [4]
In the United States, many individuals commute by motorcycle. Ride To Work Inc. is a national organization that encourages motorcycle commuting. Its annual Ride To Work day, the United States' largest motorcycle event by number of participants, is designed increase awareness of motorcyclists amongst other road users.
A motorcycle, often called a motorbike, bike, or cycle, is a two- or three-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long distance travel, commuting, cruising, sport including racing, and off-road riding. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and related social activity such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies.
A motorcycle helmet is a type of helmet used by motorcycle riders. The primary goal of a motorcycle helmet is motorcycle safety – to protect the rider's head during impact, thus preventing or reducing head injury and saving the rider's life. Some helmets provide additional conveniences, such as ventilation, face shields, ear protection, intercom etc.
Carpooling is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves.
The Suzuki Hayabusa is a sport bike motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of 303 to 312 km/h.
A sportbike, or sports bike, is a motorcycle optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on paved roads, typically at the expense of comfort and fuel economy by comparison with other motorcycles. Soichiro Honda wrote in the owner's manual of the 1959 Honda CB92 Benly Super Sport that, "Primarily, essentials of the motorcycle consists in the speed and the thrill," while Cycle World's Kevin Cameron says that, "A sportbike is a motorcycle whose enjoyment consists mainly from its ability to perform on all types of paved highway – its cornering ability, its handling, its thrilling acceleration and braking power, even its speed."
There are many systems for classifying types of motorcycles, describing how the motorcycles are put to use, or the designer's intent, or some combination of the two. Six main categories are widely recognized: cruiser, sport, touring, standard, dual-purpose, and dirt bike. Sometimes sport touring motorcycles are recognized as a seventh category. Strong lines are sometimes drawn between motorcycles and their smaller cousins, mopeds, scooters, and underbones, but other classification schemes include these as types of motorcycles.
Motorcycle safety concerns many aspects of vehicle and equipment design as well as operator skill and training that are unique to motorcycle riding.
State motorcyclists' rights organizations (SMROs) exist in about 32 US states, 25 of which call themselves "ABATE of ," the rest going by various other names. SMROs advocate for a point of view in motorcycling that is, in general, opposed to mandatory helmet laws, required motorcycle safety inspections, mandatory rider training and licensing, and other similar regulation. Instead SMROs favor optional or voluntary motorcycle rider safety education, training, and licensing, and greater public awareness of motorcyclist safety issues. They also favor stronger penalties for car driver infractions such as right of way violations, or when drivers are at fault in accidents that harm motorcycle riders. SMRO activities include lobbying legislatures, letter writing campaigns, and paying for public service announcements and political advertisements. To carry out lobbying at the national level, a coalition of SMRO's created the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) to lobby in Washington DC. The SMROs and MRF are often allied with the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) on legislative issues.
Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous countries, including India, China and Indonesia.
Motorcycle training teaches motorcycle riders the skills for riding on public roads. It is the equivalent of driver's education for car drivers. Training beyond basic qualification and licensing is available to those whose duty includes motorcycle riding, such as police, and additional rider courses are offered for street riding refreshers, sport riding, off-road techniques, and developing competitive skills for the motorcycle racetrack.
Bristol is a city in south west England, situated near the Bristol Channel coast, approximately 106 miles (170 km) west of London. Several factors have influenced the development of its transport network. It is a major centre of employment, retail, culture and higher education, has many historic areas, and has a history of maritime industry. The city has a population of 400,000, with a metropolitan area of 550,000, and lies at the centre of the former County of Avon, which includes many dormitory towns, and has a population of one million. Additionally, it has the seventh highest population density of any English district.
The Motorcycle Riders Association of Australia, also known as MRAA and since 2008 as MRA (Vic), was founded in Melbourne on May 16, 1978, at the St Kilda Inn by Chris Stalwell, Mark Conner and Damien Codognotto at the suggestion of the Hell's Angels then secretary "Ball Bearing". It was founded as a non-profit organisation representing the interests of motorcyclists in Victoria, Australia. The aims of the MRA (Vic) were the promotion of road safety, fair and sensible laws, and a better image for motorcyclists. MRAA membership soon surpassed an existing association called the Federation of Australian Motorcyclists. The slogan of the US ABATE group "let those that ride decide" was adopted by the MRAA.
The Mustang was a lightweight motorcycle built by Gladden Products Corporation in Glendale, California, from 1946 to 1965. The second production version, the Mustang Model 2, was among the first motorcycle manufactured in the United States to have a telescopic fork.
Electric motorcycles and scooters are plug-in electric vehicles with two or three wheels. The electricity is stored on board in a rechargeable battery, which drives one or more electric motors. Electric scooters have a step-through frame.
David L. Hough is an American writer on motorcycle rider safety, education and training. He has been a columnist for Motorcycle Consumer News, Sound RIDER! and BMW Owners News magazines. After his first book Proficient Motorcycling was published by Bow Tie Press it became one of the best selling motorcycle books. He currently has four published books and one 2nd ed. He has been recognized twice as a writer by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's (MSF) Excellence in Motorcycle Journalism award.
Lane splitting is riding a bicycle or motorcycle between lanes or rows of slow moving or stopped traffic moving in the same direction. It is sometimes called whitelining, or stripe-riding. This allows riders to save time, bypassing traffic congestion, and may also be safer than stopping behind stationary vehicles.
The Highwaymen Motorcycle Club is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club. The club was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1954. The club has undergone a number of large-scale police and FBI investigations, most notably in 1973, 1987 and 2007. In the early 1970s several members were convicted of bombings and raids of the homes and the clubhouses of rival motorcycle clubs.
Motorcycle hooliganism includes street racing, street stunting, and games of tag on public roads, or simply cruising, often in very large numbers, against local ordinances.
The Westminster motorcycle parking charge is a charge that Westminster Council makes for parking motorcycles in designated on-street and off-street motorcycle parking bays in the City of Westminster. It was introduced in August 2008 as an Experimental Order made under the authority of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Experimental Orders may not, under the Act, last for more than 18 months, but do not require the formal advertisement and objection procedures of permanent Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) made under the Act. In June 2009, Westminster Council gave notice that it was to turn this into a permanent Traffic Regulation Order.
The following outline is provided as an overview of motorcycles and motorcycling:
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