,snip>...up here in Quebec every day where a Concours 14 is plated as a 'regular' bike and a ZX14 is charged as a 'high risk' sport bike - to the tune of some $520 extra per year (which will rise to a DIFFERENCE of almost $2,000 per year in a couple of years). Same difference between the BMW K1200GT and K1200S;
If it has bags, a center stand and a fairing with a 'significant' windshield it could have a thousand horses, but it would be charged the same as a 500cc cruiser.
WOW...! That link is sobering.... I'm having difficulty assimilating the Big-Brother-ism and all that it portends....
Are the motorcyclists readily accepting this?
Not political, just a description of how it is:
When they introduced the concept of tiered registration they invited public consultation. I prepared a brief and sent it in and was invited to present it formally when they came to Montreal.
I donned a suit and went down to the hall I'd been instructed to go at the appointed time and saw a few rather scruffily dressed people, some of whom made unstructured bleats to the board (comprised of three people; a doctor, an actuary and a politician).
When my turn came up it was the last before their lunch break - and when my presentation and their Q&A of me ended they invited me to join them for lunch and explained that they were impressed by my presentation, but very disappointed in the public's reaction - they wanted *more* people like me to come across with proper arguments.
The members explained that beyond trying to predetermine the public's reaction to their proposals, the government had three agendas;
First of all, they projected a shortfall in the provincial insurance fund (which is only because they illegally raided it to the tune of a bunch of billions of dollars about a decade ago) and they wanted to refill the coffers so that it will be at the mandated minimum amount . . . to which they had no answer to my question about why not reduce that minimum, since they didn't need the money for payouts according to their own figures.
Secondly, they wanted to get baby boomers who had inherited their MC endorsements off the road (because they had no training and often got themselves into deep trouble when they passed 50 and bought big, powerful bikes that they promptly crashed).
And third, they wanted to keep young kids off lightweight, high powered machines that likewise did those people in.
I countered the kids issue with a flip comment about improving the collective genetic stock of the province, which got a couple of wry smiles from the group, but I do understand where they are coming from with the latter two points.
So, along with making bike registrations (plates) and MC endorsed driver's license fees more expensive, they are also tightening up licensing and training rules for newly licensed riders. Now they're talking about graduated permits like they have in Europe to keep newly licensed kids off these 'high risk' machines until they turn 25. That last bit makes a lot of sense, unless you own an MC dealership. (Or maybe it will simply create a class of smaller used bikes that dealers can trade around?)
I gather that they have issues with dealing with more senior licensees, because bikes used to be included automatically in licensing in 'the old days' and they can't just yank everyone's privileges - something to do with our constitution. Then there's the question about guys like me who have been riding forever? How do they determine who is experienced and who is not?
So, being short of cash in this and other areas, the solution is (as it seems to be everywhere) to install red light and speed cameras and to tax us out of the market with license fees that are further graduated by accumulated points (aside from those $300 tickets they are cranking out).
Besides, the riding season is relatively short (compared to points south), so I guess they figure we just won't mind.
But think about the fact that those plates and insurance are for half years - if you cancel your plate or policy for the winter you get nothing back. We essentially pay double what you see because it is amortised over the period when the machines sit idle, waiting for the snow to melt - WAY TO GO GLOBAL WARMING. In a few tens of years we'll be able to ride year 'round.
Local bikers have been staging rolling protests, but the government sees them as not having enough of a voting block to justify listening to them. Besides there's nothing about what appears to the public to be a few thousand straight-piped Harleys ridden by people who have forgotten to shave, get haircuts and wear clean clothes. Little sympathy from the public, I suspect that the average voter would be just as happy if someone steamrolled many of the worst offending bikes.
So unless someone elects me to be the Premier of Quebec, things will likely remain as they are and the progression will continue.
OK everyone. Back to the topic at hand.
(Edited to remove somewhat inflammatory text at the start of the post.)
