Rex,
When they changed the Learner law in 1971 they put the age of riding a motorcycle up to from 16 to 17, this coincided with a change in the Law to do with the School leaving age in 1972, in which as a 15 year old you had the option to stay on at school till 16, or leave & get a job. I was in the first cohort to have this option. This left 16 year old School leavers the only option of a 50cc moped licence & gave birth of the "Sixteener" special era.
By then of Course 1973, the Compulsory lid, (helmet) Law had come in too, in the UK.
In the early 1980s,(1983), I saw the value of my second back-up machine I had @the time. plummet to half of its value , it was a CB250RS, I was not impressed. It was Mark Williams of Bike Magazine, who first to my knowledge pointed out that the 16'r Law would lead to a lack of choice, standardisation of manufacture & increased control; next, as already mentioned, in 1983, they (the "knowing" ones), limited learners to 125cc, what they should have done is put a performance limited of say 17bhp & left the capacity up to 200cc, the "Trade" generally embraced the new capacity like a mother with a new child, more new machines, more profits, but it is my opinion that this was the beginning of the end as more & more control & Legislation has ensued see
http://lightningpass.com/changes-motorcycle-learner-law The cost of trying to run a motorcycle & getting your test is today is quite frightening for young teenagers, the choice out there of Learner machines is limited & quite appalling in my view & I believe people generally & the Young eventually do not respond to a Nanny state dictum, "of its dangerous so We will restrict & Legislate" ...soon they are going to push the Legal age for leaving Compulsory Education up to 18 for economic & political reasons.... more legislation will therefore ensue to do with personal transport & individual freedoms.
Smokers are now deemed pariahs, Drinkers, the Young, Motorcyclists & Car drivers too, produce \cvo2& poison the Earth? & yet the nation of ours is awash with potentially lethal illegal drugs & many of our young teenage citizens die annually , along with often their parents & their Grandparents, wasted on addiction & yet no serious action is done Nation-Wide to stop this insidious trade & Human tragedy, where does the money come from & who's controlling it?
This happens...& yet, " We" often let petty control go by unnoticed, if motorcycling was more of a valid option for young men in particular & not a State controlled parody, other less helpful activities controlled by big money & Gangs may have been overtly so prevalent over the last 25 years leading to many premature deaths.
I cry "Wolf" Rex, but I do not expect many to respond, so underneath my tunic I have a big Viking Woodman's axe to hit the bugger with, alas yet......another thing controlled by Law!
Skol
JBW
