[Closed] Any TRF members on here?

Not a member but was considering joining when I owned a TTR250 (recently sold).

I think it's an organisation with good intentions but my exposure was mainly their forum and did seem to be a fair amount of political infighting and disagreement.

I felt it was trying to do some good work but like many of these groups that set themselves up as the defacto "voice" representing something (ie the CTC) they actually don't represent the whole community they are trying to serve and lose sight of their orginal objective which is to bring people together to enjoy trail riding (or cycle touring in the CTCs case).

Probably worth joining just to get access to their experience of good routes.

Rich.

There seems to be a much more focused effort now, they do a lot of good work on rights of way so probably worth joining.

A lot of it depends on the group, the lads I knew in Wales were all good blokes and knew there stuff, layed on events and were quite competition orientated. Very helpful and good people to know, the lot I met in Wiltshire were like a closed group just about the total opposite 😆 they did do LDT's but that is seriously weird 😉

Good to join for the legal help they give.

I think the old guard are disappearing slowly and it's becoming more open and sharing of information is improving.

I was a member a while ago. It worked for me(well my group did) - mates, routes and weekends away.

In terms of trail riding I rate it as the best/most enjoyable/fun hobby I have ever had. However, at this point in time I no longer own a trail bike as during the ROW reclassification that went on the amount of BOAT/RUPP[legal]tracks went down from about 5% total tracks in England and Wales to about 2.5??%ish - and where I lived LOTS of tracks became non legal. Initially I compensated for this by joining 'abroad' holidays (Spain, Crete, Greece, France etc) however ultimately I owned a motorbike that wasn't really getting used enough to justify MOT/tax/insurance etc costs (*but I must admit to really being on the fence about this and I still keep my eye out for serows and beta alps - and coming to retirement I might crack if the right bike/price appears).

Well I live between the north york moors the dales and south of Durham and Northumberland so still have lots of trails, we have lost a lot of trails but we also have Alan Kind of the byways and bridleways trust who is very good at fighting for trail horse and mountainbike riders.

I'm a member and always will renew even though I'm not out riding at the moment due to time constraints. Can't wait for my lad to turn 17 so he can come out with me. Still have a Gasgas EC300 in the garage just waiting to go.
The TRF do a great job fighting to keep RoW open.

I think the TRF, Byways and Bridleways Trust, LARA don't get enough credit when it comes to fighting for public rights of way

We should start a singletrack TRF section - my God that would take the electric mtb "discussion" to another level

Member of the TRF here *waves*

All I do nowadays is trail ride, no time for MTB.

I heard they were all ditching the Moto's and buying E-bikes 😀

Towzer - or a beta evo with the long range tank/seat?

I've always fancied some trail riding but never had a bike so don't really know my way around. I'm just north of Durham with easy access to Northumberland. I gather there's a bit of a 'scene' but I wouldn't know where to start. Looks bloody good fun though!

hi

no just after a low seat,fully legal trail 4t (as opposed to trials or enduro), had a fantic trials for a while - bloody useless for what I wanted, nowdays you need roability as the lanes are further apart.

I know a fair bit about the TRF. They do fight a lot for green lane users however only when it suits them to get use for motor bikes. They also do trail maintenance but again only when it suits them for their motor use and even then the work they do is merely a drop in the ocean to the damage that they cause to lanes all over England and Wales. They put in applications to record rights of way (most often to change a designation from bridleway to byway so they can use it) but as soon as it is clear that rights are no higher than bridleway they stop doing any of the work.

I guess it’s difficult to know how they and I could co-exist when I feel fundamentally that there should be places that are special, like National Parks and upland areas where we need to be able to go, on bikes, foot or horses and escape engines, the noise and smell of motorbikes. The TRF think there are no such areas. I can remember when the Yorkshire Dales was blighted all over by motorbikes but now that problem has been reduced a bit as ambiguity was taken away from many lanes and now motorbikes generally stick to BOATs (where they have rights), to UUCRs (where they have no recorded rights however the police presume they have rights), or are on clearly illegal routes where the police can more easily prosecute them. In contrast in the Dales, the Park actively promotes mountainbiking. It is a great place.

As for 2.5% (or whatever) of the network being open to motors, that’s a red herring. If you want to count the network, and argue green lanes are really roads, then count the percentage as part of the overall road network. And for Alan Kind, again he only presses cases for motor rights. He is employed and paid by LARA (the motoring group) and TRF (the motorbike group) and only deals in cases that he believes have motor rights or will set a precedent for motor rights. He certainly is not batting for cyclists or walkers!

C

ChrisE - That's not entirely true, lots of members of the TRF are ramblers and cyclists too. They fight for access to the countryside for all.

Live and let live and all that eh?

Well ChrisE you clearly know little or nothing about rights of way from the diatribe you've posted.
If fact you spout the drivel not dissimilar to the Ramblers, clearly the TRF fight for vehicular rights what's your point exactly ?
Trying looking at the injustice of NERC where every user apart from vehicular users had 25 years to apply for ROW to be confirmed, whilst vehicular users had minus 2 ?
Regarding damage - the Government commissioned faber maunsell to research damage caused by vehicles and guess what, they found that vehicular usage was in fact beneficial - which obviously didn't suit.

If trail Riders caused the level of damage walkers do then we would get locked up! I have always found it strange that a community of Users (TRF) with a mere 4000 members over England and Wales are lambasted for damaging green roads - yet no one had a problem with walkers stripping the pennines and lakes footpaths into 5m wide tracks! And let's not mention the creation of 4x (mx) tracks in forests

Best let him go . S*** stirring.

ChrisE. Go out and have look at the damage caused by MTBers and then motorcycles. The balance is such that as cyclist we need to keep our heads down. The FoD is now laced with tracks. Its like one of those glass sided ant farms. Not condemming that so much as saying that the cycling house isn't as clean as some would like it to be.
TRF are not everyone's cup of tea , just like any organisation. I gave them up as I was, at the time, over dosed on trail riding and NERC/CROW came along and buggered that.
As for the national parks bit. Might I suggest that as a visitor you show a few manners and respect the local residents interests.

I think it's fair to say Mattscm, that national parks are considered through their designation to be places where people, resident or not, should be able to enjoy peaceful enjoyment of the countryside. Hence the perception that their authorities are being overzealous is inaccurate, they're fulfilling their statutory purpose.

The old "the countryside is for peaceful enjoyment" line. I missed the referendum where that was decided.
Most TRF member bikes are well silenced and ridden by old duffers who tootle along.

Towzer, the new Beta enduro bikes have low seat heights, my lad (14) sat on a 300 and could touch the ground ok.
Have a look at the Beta X trainer.

The MTB fraternity could learn a lot from the TRF as MATTSCCM says MTB has more land damage issues than it currently accepts. MTB tracks make great waterways in forests and erosion (loss of top soil) is a big issue for the forestry

On the contrary, I have a great deal of knowledge of RoW. I was involved in the passage of part 6 of the NERC Act (from mid 2004 through to May 2005), in Winchester and last year at the Supreme Court (which was the last possible time that Winchester could have been set-aside). The TRF put in a DMMO on one of our bridleways (on our land to our farm) in 2003 however since that can now (due to NERC) never have public motor rights recorded they have no interest in putting any work into the application any more. That’s my point, the TRF have no interest in doing things that benefit anybody except themselves and gaining recorded motor rights.
I agree that anything at all that uses a green lane (including walkers and MTBs) has an impact or leaves a trace, however any sensible person can see that one landrover going along a grassy lane causes more impact (including surface, noise, visual and intrusion on the sense of peace and tranquillity) than does one motorbike. That in turn has more impact than one mountain bike and that in turn probably more than one pedestrian.
Mountainbikers are certainly not all angels however fortunately (for me), in the main, authorities and the public draw the line between those with motors and those without. I am sure you can cite examples where someone has argued against mountainbikes but in the main, that’s not the case. Certainly where I ride, in the Dales, the Lakes and in the Alps.
It seems to me that agreement will be difficult to reach however it boils down to whether you think it’s a good thing that there are areas to ride to be away from motors, to get a sense of wilderness and nature or not. I see enough motors in the rest of the country and hope for a peaceful countryside and grassy lanes to ride out on for fitness, pleasure and to recharge my mental batteries. The world moves on and things that we take for granted now would have seemed like huge aspirations just 30 or 50 years ago so I’m confident that in another 30 or 50 years we’ll be in a better place (not that I’ll be riding much at 100+ years old!)
C

Why would the TRF help other people, the Rmablers have and forgive the inflammatory language have always been perceived as the enemy. They dont have the funding to fight for access to all and would be misrepresenting their membership if they did.

Sounds like you have a personal grievance.

I think chrise makes some interesting points - I have watched and participated in motorcycle access to both green lanes and forestry commision land (motorcycle enduros) for well over 30 years - yet I have never encountered significant damage to either environment (in fact the restrictions/repair work we did in Hamsterley post enduro meant you would be hard pressed to tell by the following spring where we would have been)- in comparison the damage in Hamsterley now with the downhill route, 4x course and endless self cut trails is devastating in comparison - also the downhill course goes over a public road (doctors gate) at speed andone day an mtb rider is going to hit a trail rider or 4x4 at speed yet I would bet the legal trail rider on a legal road gets the blame