...on youth ATVs and motorcycles in this country.
As I'm sure all of you heard, the United States placed a ban on products containing lead in them from being sold in the United States as toys and such. Basically, it is a law that was made so that cheap toys with lead parts don't get sold to unsuspecting parents and given to children.
That's a good thing. It's a good idea and a good law.
HOWEVER...
...and why is there always a "however" when talking about something good that the government has done...
A side effect of this has been that the lead parts used in youth ATVs, jet skis, motorcycles, dirtbikes, snowmobiles, and other like products caused these items to be put on the banned list. So now, if you want to buy a 50cc dirtbike to get your child out on the trails or to get them some experience on a motorcycle before you buy them a big bike, you can't. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM, Kawasaki, Polaris, and every other manufacturer of these types of products has instructed dealerships to no longer sell them. Not only that, but if you already OWN one of these bikes, you can't get parts for them anymore.
Apparently Congress thinks that our children are going to go out and start gnawing on the battery terminals of the bike...or the spark plugs...or the springs on the rear shocks...or something.
From what I understand, this was actually the work of a "concerned group" of people that felt that dirtbikes and ATVs should not be allowed in federal parks. They weren't really getting anywhere with that, so they used this as an underhanded way to get some of their agenda fulfilled. It worked.
So I ask, if you read this blog, take a moment to go to this website:
http://www.mic.org/letters.cfm
All you have to do is enter your name, address, and e-mail address and it will automatically send an e-mail to all of your local senators and representatives, along with e-mails to several national addresses so that you can express your displeasure with this bill. It also sends faxes to some of the offices. From what I've been able to tell, the information is ONLY used to send the letters to those senators and representatives that you would actually be a constituent of. It only takes a minute, and could help to turn around a really poor decision regarding these youth ATVs and such.
Thanks.
2 comments:
Man, I am so torn on this one.
As a kid I litterally grew up riding mini bikes. In fact, to this day when I think of motorcycles, I tend to like the smaller, striped down ones which have a closer resemblance to mini bikes, instead of the big road bikes most folks around here like.
Though, there is nothing quite like a Harley.
Then, on the other hand; the environmentalist in me knows that ATV's and National Parks do not mix. If I go out to the wilderness, I go out there to enjoy the wilderness and get away from the negative human influences on the environment. ATV's certainly (IMHO) fit more into the negative influence than not. In fact I even have a disdain for video games when camping. But I digress.
Environmentalists tend to be a bit radical or single minded at times and it appears that this is certainly a good example of their slightly radical and single minded nature. By thinking outside the box and getting this passed, they have achieved their goal of keeping these bikes out of national parks. However, their method has also done away with much more than just that. But they don't care because their goal was achieved.
I would have to see how all this is written up. Don't all bikes have lead parts, batteries and such? Or are they considering small motorbikes toys?
Hmmmm....
But hey, WOW - Good Post!
Well, it is my understanding that they were able to convince the consumer protection agency or whatever it is that the motor vehicles are "toys," which I don't believe that they are.
The biggest thing with this is that they have done nothing other than create a more dangerous situation for the kids that DO want to ride. Now, instead of being able to buy a small 50cc motorcycle for a kid, many parents are just going to go ahead and get a 100cc dirtbike...which is a VERY different machine in terms of power and speed.
So instead of making it so that there are LESS bikes on the trails, they have just succeeded in making it so that there are MORE people out there on bikes that they really shouldn't be on.
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