In defence of the EU

I’d like to take issue with the letter you published in your November issue from Ian Smith, concerning Euro5 engine emissions.

He makes a sweeping statement; “as bikers, we’ve always been suspicious of every phase of EU Law.” I can confidently advise that not all bikers are suspicious of EU laws or the EU in general, and many appreciate all the good that the EU has done over the last 50-ish years. I would expect bikers share views as per the country as a whole, i.e. we are not all suspicious or anti-eu and about 50% of us are in favour of the EU.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that it is possible to lower overall emissions, even if the MPG of a particular bike drops. The overall emissions requirements for Euro5 are lower than for Euro4. That is a fact. If this is not the case in reality, then this is possibly down to manufacturers gaming the system and/or failing to comply.

So I would kindly request that, in future, (and after publishing this letter!) you keep what are quite clearly political views out of the letter pages and the magazine in general. Particularly what appear to be quite emotive political views for some.

Hi Mike, we’re totally politicsfree on RIDE, but equally, we’re free to criticise something if we think it is wrong — as should be our readers. For example, it’s entirely possible to have voted ‘remain’ but still criticise the EU on their motorcycle policies. Right now, it seems the big issue for the environment is climate change and the fact that the latest rules don’t reduce (or even record) the amount of greenhouse gasses that new bikes produce seems wrong, as is the fact that they might end up producing more CO2 than before. As I said in my reply to Ian’s letter, the EU has done some good things for biking, like safety ratings for kit, but this doesn’t make much sense to us. MW