Petition to Ban Imports of Dangerous Bike Kit Launched

Not a day goes by when I’m not bombarded with adverts on social media purporting to offer me so-called motorcycle clothing and safety equipment at prices that seem too good to be true.

And as my old man still says, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. The UK and Europe have some of the highest safety standards for motorcycle PPE in the world, with reputable manufacturers piling tens of millions of pounds from research and development budgets into making the kit we wear safer than ever. But for every by-the-book brand there is, countless more look to shortcut the legislation and flood the market with cheap, sub-standard, and in many cases downright dangerous, motorcycle clothing.

The reason is money. By building cheaply and not spending money on testing and regulatory certification, brands that make and sell knock-off bike clothing and equipment stand to make big profits, all while putting the health and well-being of bikers at risk.

That’s something that needs to change, and in this story, our knight in shining D3O is Mr Paul Varnsverry. He’s a well-known advocate for rider safety and an expert in motorcycle PPE testing and regulations. He’s also quite keen on holding those who make and sell dodgy gear to account. To help grease the wheels, Varnsverry has launched a petition, urging the UK Government to work harder to prevent unregulated and potentially dangerous motorcycle clothing from landing in the hands of UK bikers. But his petition needs your help to make it into the corridors of power.

Specifically, Varnsverry wants checks to be carried out on parcels emanating from countries known to be prolific in the production of counterfeit and potentially hazardous products. The UK motorcycle industry, which sells mostly from distributors or retailers directly to the consumer, already has layers of legislation in place to ensure that products are compliant. There is a new wave of retail outlets though, which target customers via social media and sell directly from the factory to the consumer. With most of these outlets utilising manufacturing bases outside of the UK and EU, many have been found to be uncompliant with the latest motorcycle PPE regulations, but the direct-to-consumer model they employ helps them to fly under the radar of the law.

The petition has more than 2,000 signatures and will require 10,000 to prompt a response from the government. For the petition to be put forward for debate it’ll require 100,000 names to be added, which is a tall order but not impossible. There are currently more than one million registered and licenced motorcyclists in the UK. And if just a small proportion of those take action we might finally see some change.

You can sign the petition here.

For clarity, the motorcycle clothing and products pictured in this article are all compliant with UK regulations - and reviews of them can be found here.

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