plans to increase motorcycle tax, please sign petition to register your opposition.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/motorcycle-tax/

[northwind]

Another one of these petitions founded in hysteria and misinformation... (no offence!)

What's actually happened is that small bike tax is frozen next year, so it gets a real-world cut. The 150-400cc class goes up by ?1 to ?33. Unfortunately some idiots at eta.co.uk misread this and thought that the 125cc tax was going from ?15 to ?33

I hate these petitions, there's some good ones but of the top 5, 3 (with literally millions of signees) are total, total rubbish. It's very sad when you look at the number of genuine and possibly important ones that nobody signs.

Please folks, don't sign up, or at least do your reading first- all the government will take from this is that people will sign up to anything, and that we're best ignored. With the real issues facing biking that can't be good.

Well you may well be right about the figures but the general theme of the petition is a good one dont penalise motorcyclists by increases in tax because generally speaking there carbon emisssions are much lower than cars. I'm all in favour of these petitions especially the good ones, as they offer a good way of getting your view point across. But you are right its best to be choosy about which ones to sign.

[dyzio]

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=111465

[ogden]

Originally Posted by evertheoptimist

Well you may well be right about the figures but the general theme of the petition is a good one dont penalise motorcyclists by increases in tax because generally speaking there carbon emisssions are much lower than cars.

I'm not even vaguely convinced that's entirely true. Since the carbon in question comes from the fuel in the tank, there's a very close relationship between fuel economy and carbon emissions. A new VW Lupo will give you something like 75mpg. When was the last time you saw that from an SV?

Of the three vehicles in my stable, I get the best mileage from the big bike, the worst mileage from the small bike, and the car (a not-too-sluggish 180bhp turbo) sits about halfway between, even with my lead foot.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by evertheoptimist

Well you may well be right about the figures but the general theme of the petition is a good one dont penalise motorcyclists by increases in tax because generally speaking there carbon emisssions are much lower than cars. I'm all in favour of these petitions especially the good ones, as they offer a good way of getting your view point across. But you are right its best to be choosy about which ones to sign.

Ah, but bikes are not eco friendly are they. Thier emmisions may be lower (Know one really knows) but they carry, 1 or possibly 2 people. A car emmiting the same Co2 could carry, 4 or 5 people. So per person, they may not be as green as they seem.

As for the tax, SV riders have been sitiched up from day one. You can tax a Gixxer for less then the SV all because of the extra 50cc.

I think theres a strong relationship between carbon emissions and engine size as well as fuel economy, generally speaking bikes have smaller engines and more M.P.G than cars and therefore less carbon emission. True there are cars out there now with less than 100 c/kg and therefore no tax disc required, but these are few and far between. And when was the last time you seen 4 or 5 people in a car go and look on the M6 they are virtually all single occupancy, only time cars are full is when families go to supermarket or out on a jolly.

How can they really do this to us? We creat much less pollution then these 1.5TDi's that already pay less than us for tax. Stupid if it is anywhere near true.

Since when was tax a green tax anyhows? Surly fuel tax more than takes care of that issue. A feckering car does MUCH more damage to roads than any bike so should pay more tax. This government needs to get a clue imo.

[ogden]

Originally Posted by evertheoptimist

I think theres a strong relationship between carbon emissions and engine size as well as fuel economy, generally speaking bikes have smaller engines and more M.P.G than cars

Engine size is a complete red herring. It just means that the amount of fuel/air mix consumed per cycle is less, but as bikes generally rev 2-3 times higher than cars a 500cc bike engine is conceivably on a par with a 1.2 litre car engine. A Smart car, with its low weight, is going to show up anything this side of a CG125 as the gas-guzzler that it is. Ridden a Honda lately?

Fag-packet calculations and gross generalisations over, here's a prime example: my 250 does 27mpg on a good day and gets through a litre of oil every 350 miles. My old 2 litre pug did better mileage than that and didn't get through nearly so much oil.

Bikers have no reason to be smug - we ride over-tuned over-thirsty machines, we rack up unnecessary miles just for fun, we get through tyres at a prodigious rate... the list of environmental crimes committed is far longer than the list of semi-tangible benefits. I just hope we continue to get away with it!

I did Norwich to Wigtoft near Boston Lincs on the bike the other day and at speed limit most of the way did not stop once just slowed for static traffic and went down the outside. The car is 1 hour 40mins bike 1 hour 10 mins. Surely 55mpg running at constant speed is much better than sitting in a car with the engine running going nowhere snarled up in traffic even if the car does 75mpg!? How can this government get everything so back to front?