Friday, January 10, 2014

Today in motorcycle history, January 10, 1998


   



    






   Formed from the merger of the Federation of European Motorcyclists (FEM) and the European Motorcyclists' Association (EMA), the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA) is created in Brussels, Belgium. 




  From its inception FEMA has been headquartered at Rue des Champs 62, 1040 Brussels, Belgium, in the offices previously used by its forerunner FEM.  FEMA's first General Secretary was Simon Milward who had previously served since 1992 as the General Secretary of the Federation of European Motorcyclists.  The main driving force behind the amalgamation of FEM and EMA into FEMA was Neil Liversidge, the ex-National Chairman of the UK's Motorcycle Action Group known as *MAG (UK) Ltd.
  The merger created a pan-European riders' rights organization ranging from Scandinavia in the north to Greece in the south and from Ireland in the west to the Czech republic in the east.  It also brought together national organizations who continued to compete with each other for members within their own territories such as MAG (UK) and the British Motorcyclists Federation of the UK, and BVDM, Kuhle Wampe and Biker Union of Germany.


  FEMA currently represents over 350,000 riders.




  *John Mitchell is the current National Chairman of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG).
  At the time of this writing John rides a Roulette Green Triumph T509 Speed Triple, after finally curing his addiction to Kawasaki shaft-driven fours (though he's passed that onto his wife!).