Terms of Service

About these terms

These Terms of Service ("terms") are a legally binding agreement between you and Throttle ("we", "us", "our"). They cover your use of Throttle at https://www.throttle.social, including the installable web app and any other way we let you use the service (together, "Throttle" or "the service").

These terms also include the documents they refer to, which apply to you as well:

• our Privacy Policy, which explains how we use your personal data;
• our Cookie Policy;
• our Community Guidelines, which set out what is and isn't allowed;
• our Marketplace Rules, which apply when you buy or sell;
• our Copyright & Intellectual Property Policy.

By creating an account, or by using Throttle without one, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.

Who can use Throttle

To use Throttle you must:

• be at least 16 years old. If you're under 18, you must have the permission of a parent or guardian, who agrees to these terms on your behalf;
• not have been banned from Throttle before, unless we've agreed in writing that you can come back;
• not be prevented from using the service by the law that applies to you.

You may only have one personal account. If you create an account for a club, business or other organisation, you confirm that you're allowed to act for it and that it agrees to these terms.

Your account

When you sign up, give us accurate information and keep it up to date. You choose a username and display name; please don't choose ones that impersonate someone else, mislead people or break our Community Guidelines. We may ask you to change a username, or change it ourselves, if it does.

You're responsible for keeping your password secret and for everything that happens on your account. We strongly recommend turning on two-factor authentication in Settings → Security and keeping your recovery codes somewhere safe. Throttle doesn't currently send emails, so if you lose access to your account we can only help if you can show us that it's yours.

If you think someone else has got into your account, change your password straight away, use "Sign out of other devices" in Settings → Security, and tell us at [email protected].

The service we provide

Throttle is free to use. It lets riders share posts, photos and videos, show off their garage, send direct messages, run and join clubs and buy and sell in the marketplace.

People who aren't signed in, including search engines, can read public content such as public profiles, posts, clubs, rides, routes and listings. You can choose not to appear to them in Settings → Privacy. Our Privacy Policy explains who can see what.

We're always improving Throttle, so we may add, change or remove features. We'll do our best to keep the service running, but we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors, and we sometimes need to take it offline for maintenance. If we make a change that significantly affects how you use Throttle, we'll tell you in advance where we reasonably can.

Your content

"Your content" means everything you post, upload or send on Throttle: posts, comments, photos, videos, your profile and garage, messages, clubs, rides, routes, listings, reviews and anything else.

You own your content. We don't claim ownership of it. But to run Throttle we need your permission to use it, so you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, adapt (for example resize, compress or convert photos and videos, or create thumbnails), publish, display and distribute your content on and in connection with Throttle. This includes showing public content to visitors and search engines, in link previews when someone shares it, and in notifications. We only use this licence to operate, promote and improve Throttle, and in line with your privacy settings.

The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except that:

• content that other riders have already reshared, quoted or replied to may remain where it was reshared, quoted or replied to;
• copies may remain for a short time in backups and caches before they're overwritten;
• we may keep a copy where the law requires it, or where we need it to deal with a report, a dispute or a legal claim.

When you post content, you promise that you have the right to do so, that it doesn't break the law or anyone else's rights (including copyright and privacy), and that it follows these terms. Get permission before posting photos or videos in which other people can be clearly identified, and don't post anyone's personal details without their consent.

We don't check content before it's published and we're not responsible for content posted by other people. We may remove or restrict access to content that breaks these terms or the law, as explained in Reporting, moderation and complaints.

If you send us ideas or feedback, we can use them freely without paying you or crediting you.

Rules for using Throttle

You must follow our Community Guidelines. In particular, you must not:

• use Throttle for anything illegal, or to post, share or encourage illegal content;
• harass, bully, threaten, intimidate or abuse anyone, or encourage others to do so;
• promote or show dangerous or illegal riding on public roads, such as street racing, stunts or riding at dangerous speeds;
• impersonate a person, club or business, or mislead people about who you are;
• send spam, run scams, or post content mainly to drive traffic elsewhere;
• collect other riders' personal data, or contact them for purposes they haven't agreed to;
• access Throttle with bots, scrapers or other automated tools (other than search engines that follow our robots.txt) without our written permission;
• try to get round our security, privacy controls, blocks, rate limits or moderation, including by creating new accounts after being suspended;
• upload viruses or malicious code, or do anything that could damage, overload or disrupt Throttle;
• copy, modify, reverse engineer or resell any part of the service, except where the law allows it.

Riding safety, routes and group rides

Motorcycling carries a real risk of serious injury and death. Information on Throttle is shared by riders and clubs: ride reports, routes, maintenance tips, reviews and advice may be wrong, out of date or unsuitable for you. We don't check it.

You are always responsible for your own riding and for:

• riding within your ability and the law, and following the Highway Code;
• holding the right licence, and making sure your bike is roadworthy, taxed, insured and has a valid MOT where one is needed;
• wearing suitable protective clothing and equipment;
• checking that any road, route or venue is suitable, open and legal to use before you set off.

Nothing in this section limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our own negligence.

Clubs

Clubs on Throttle are created and run by riders. The club's owner and officers are responsible for the club: its rules, who it lets in, any fees or subs, the events it runs and the way it uses its members' details (for example in the club roster). Any fees or subs are a matter between the club and its members: we don't collect or handle payments and we're not part of that arrangement.

Club officers who download or export members' details become responsible for that copy under data protection law and must use it only to run the club. Clubs must follow these terms and our Community Guidelines, and we may remove a club or its content if they don't.

Buying and selling

The marketplace lets riders and clubs advertise bikes, kit and parts. We are not a party to any sale. We don't own, inspect or hold the items, we don't handle payment, and we don't guarantee that a listing is accurate, that an item is legal, safe or as described, or that a buyer or seller will go through with a deal. The contract is between the buyer and the seller.

If you buy or sell, you must follow our Marketplace Rules. Anyone selling in the course of a business must say so, and must give buyers the information and rights consumer law requires. You must be 18 or older to buy or sell.

Direct messages

Direct messages are private between the people in the conversation, but they aren't end-to-end encrypted. We don't read them, except where someone reports a message (moderators then see the reported message with a little of the conversation around it), where we need to investigate a serious breach of these terms or a threat to someone's safety, or where the law requires it. Messages pass through the same automatic language filter as posts.

Reporting, moderation and complaints

You can report a post, comment, message, rider, club, listing from its ⋯ menu. Our moderators review reports against these terms, our Community Guidelines and the law. We take proportionate steps to protect riders from illegal and harmful content, and we prioritise reports about threats to someone's safety.

If something breaks the rules, we may:

• remove it, or limit who can see it;
• give a warning;
• restrict an account, so it can browse but not post, comment, message or create anything, for a set time;
• suspend an account for a set time or permanently;
• block the email addresses or networks used to break the rules or to get round a suspension.

We'll normally tell you what we've done and why, unless doing so would put someone at risk, interfere with an investigation or break the law. We'll also let you know the outcome of reports you make, without telling you what action was taken against another rider.

Appeals and complaints. If your account is suspended, you can appeal from the suspension page. If you think we've made a wrong decision about your content or account, how we handled a report, or how we're meeting our duties under online safety law, you can complain through Help & support. We'll look at it, tell you what we've decided and, where we got it wrong, put things right.

Where we believe there's a risk to someone's life or safety, or where the law requires it, we may share information with the police or other authorities.

Ending your account

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Account. This permanently deletes your profile and the content you created, and can't be undone, so download a copy of your data first if you want one (Settings → Privacy).

We may suspend or close your account if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms, if your account puts other riders or Throttle at risk, or if the law requires us to. We'll tell you why unless we're not allowed to, and you can appeal or complain as described above.

If we decide to stop running Throttle, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice where we can, so you have time to download your data.

The sections of these terms that by their nature should continue after your account ends (such as those about content licences that continue, liability and disputes) will continue to apply.

Our intellectual property

Throttle's software, design, name and logo belong to us or the people who license them to us. You may not use our name or logo in a way that suggests we endorse you, or copy the service, without our written permission. Map data is © OpenStreetMap contributors.

If you think content on Throttle infringes your copyright or trade mark, follow our Copyright & Intellectual Property Policy.

Our responsibility to you

Throttle is provided free of charge, for your personal use. We provide it with reasonable care and skill, but otherwise "as is": we don't promise it will meet your particular needs.

We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of us breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it's obvious it would happen, or if both of us knew it might happen when you started using Throttle. We are not responsible for loss or damage that isn't foreseeable.

We are not responsible for:

• content, conduct or events of other riders, clubs, organisers, buyers, sellers or advertisers, including what happens on group rides or in any sale;
• websites, apps and services run by other people that Throttle links to;
• losses caused by events outside our reasonable control;
• business losses (such as lost profit, revenue, contracts or opportunities), because Throttle is for personal use. Where you use it for business, for example as a trade seller, we have no liability to you for business losses.

To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you for all claims connected with Throttle is limited to £100.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else the law doesn't allow us to limit or exclude. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.

If you use Throttle for business, you agree to compensate us for any claims, losses and reasonable costs we suffer because your business use broke these terms or the law.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time, for example to reflect new features, changes in the law or the way we run Throttle. Every version is dated and numbered, and the version history at the end of this page lists what changed.

If a change materially affects you, we'll give you reasonable notice before it takes effect (usually at least 14 days), unless we need to make it sooner for legal or security reasons. We may ask you to agree to the new terms before you can carry on using Throttle. If you don't agree, you can delete your account at any time.

General

• These terms are the whole agreement between you and us about Throttle.
• If a court decides that part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation, for example if Throttle is taken over. We'll tell you if this happens, and it won't reduce your rights. You may not transfer your rights to anyone else.
• Nobody other than you and us has any right to enforce these terms.

Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and any dispute will be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts. If you're a consumer living elsewhere, you keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live.

If you have a problem, please contact us first at [email protected]. Most issues can be sorted out quickly and informally.

Contact us

Throttle is run by Throttle.

You can contact us at [email protected], or through Help & support.