Your views on the TRF

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

I'll be interested to read any dealings BCF off-road riders have had with the TRF. How many are members, or have been in the past - and do you think it was useful? If so why and how? Do you think you get - or got - your money's worth (what is it - 40 odd quid per year, then £15 local annual fees on top?)?

It sometimes seems like the TRF are the best way to find out about local "BOATs" and legal green lane routes - Ordnance Survey maps (whether of the 1:25k Explorer series or the 1:50k Landranger) can be somewhat shite at marking open, legal and used routes. I would guesstimate that only about 5% of the lanes that I ride are properly marked on the relevant OS maps. It may be argued that this is because the lanes I ride are somehow not quite legal, or fall in some grey area, or are perhaps contested in some way or other.

This however is not the case. My branch of the TRF knows fine well what can and can't be ridden - local farmers and property owners know too. The latter may not always be particularly pleased with the situation - however the fact remains that awareness is high, and legal routes are relatively well-known. Quite why they are not marked on the OS maps is therefore a bit of a mystery.

Arguably the most foolproof way to identify and locate routes is to contact the council. Appointments can be made to consult maps and clarify rights of way and access. In my more jaded moments I might even recommend this course of action over joining your local TRF. Although of course, at the local level, some branches will be more active, more supportive and informative than others. Problem is you mightn't be able to suss this out until you've stumped up 50 quid or more. Perhaps, then, the point is this: if your rural areas consist of a number of routes and lanes that are hotly contested it may well be useful to have the backing of an established organisation like the TRF to back you up.

However, if - like my area seems to be (and has been for quite a while afaict) - there is little in the way of disputation over BOATs and so forth, and relations appear relatively amicable, it becomes a little more difficult to grasp why anyone would join the TRF. Unless of course they're a sociable lot and quite active.

One final observation I'll make is that it's not always immediately apparent where or how your TRF membership fees are being spent. How much of a "fighting fund" is there? What percentage of it is used each year, and on what? Etc. etc. I may be wrong here, but levels of transparency don't appear markedly high.
____________________
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Fladdem]

I don't have much to do with the local TRF, it seems like a bit of a secret handshake club to me. Every time I try to interact, they don't want to know and won't tell me any details, I've given up now.

It seems like it could be a good idea but it's just not my cup of tea really.
____________________
Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[.....]

It's been a good few years since my greenlaning and TRF days but one thing I do remember is that there seemed to be a huge variance in activities/size/friendliness between the local TRF groups.

I joined for a year, went on and learned the local routes that never really bothered with them again.

I'm well out of touch with the whole world of greenlaning these days and no idea if the TRF have had successes with their legal side of things but it always seemed like they were fighting a losing battle.

[yen_powell]

They stumped up about 30 grand on me and my two mates' behalf when we were taken to court for trespass by a landowner who disputed our right to ride past his farm house.

The lane in question which at the time was a RUPP was later made a Byway Open to All Traffic by the County Council who had not bothered to classify it in the previous 40 years and still wouldn't have bothered unless the judge told them to bring it to the top of their list. The judge told them they should decide the matter rather than clog the courts up with it.

Those 30 grand costs were without actually losing a case, if we had lost we could have had the landowners costs on top. As it happens he appealed the County Council's decision and won, the lane is now a bridleway which he immediately asked to be diverted so he could put up a large building there.
____________________
Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[thx1138]

I'm a member, and very recently became a 'Rights of Road Officer' with Herts TRF.

I wasn't sure about joining, but did, and after a couple of years tagging along got more involved. I've found far more public access areas to ride since I've joined. Before, I was just looking on O.S maps for byways open to all traffic.

Started leading my own rides too now.

Whilst I consider Herts TRF to be my branch, I ride with other branches too. Last month went out with Oxfordshire TRF for a day.

Apart from the legal advice, and information on where to ride, I've learned loads about how to ride, and am never short of an organised ride out. Whereas before I only knew a couple of people with trail bikes, I've made a bunch of new friends with similar interests.

I walked away from MAG shaking my head in disbelief a few years ago. TRF is worth the money IMO.

[G]

Spent a bit of time (not much) with the Reading branch who seemed to be decent realistic people who knew a decent enough dirty route around the area.

Typically I prefer enduros to 'lanes given the choice.

Do think it makes sense for moral reasons as they're our "last best hope" for some slight 'rights' being stood up for.

[DRZ4Hunned]

I was going to post a topic almost exactly the same as this. I cannot decide if it's worth the £50 to join for there to be no active members or for them to all be whinging old men that would rather a moan than a ride. I probably also wouldn't pay it if it's going into mr TRF's back pocket but would be more inclined if it was to help sustain the byways.

I've realised I need to find people to ride with after last weekend antics of getting stuck in a ditch for half an hour. Anyone in East Midlands fancy it?

I'll have a look to see if East Midlands TRF do a similar thing, thanks
____________________
DRZ400-SM
FZS600

[G]

The local TRF in Reading was quite happy for you to go along for a first ride with them without being a member, to see what it was like etc.

[DRZ4Hunned]

[Fizzer Thou]

Interesting responses to this subject.Right from when I first joined back in 1987 I have found that the TRF is what you are prepared to put into it.Some people seem to think that it is a club,where the people at the top do what they think is best.But in the TRF,it is what the membership put into it.Far too many people are quite happy to sit back and think that just because they pay their annual subscription,that they have done their bit.But without proaction from the membership,the Fellowship would be nothing and the rambliers would win.This can be seen to have happened in the CROW and NERC Acts,brought in by Labour and very nearly shut down the rest of the vehicular network if it had not been for the TRF.

The Trail Riders Fellowship is what YOU make of it.
____________________
Just talk bikes.What else is there?

Always have a 'Plan B'