When is a dirt bike dangerous, even when its not moving?
If you believe the Consumer Products Safety Commission its when it is the hands of someone 12 or under! It has nothing to do with the speed it can travel, and everything to do with the new lead legislation.
Selling youth model atv's, dirt bikes, even snowmobiles is now illegal and if you already own you might be out of luck as well!
Great Escapes Motorsports in Grand Traverse County has followed the manufacturers guidelines and actually moved at least a dozen dirt bikes and atv's back to a warehouse,
Owner Rob Goepfrich says "it is illegal for us to sell them, the manufacturers have instructed us to remove them from the showroom, to not offer them for sale to remove all brochures."
He goes on to say "the small items we are talking about are intended for youth, 12 years and younger, smaller dirt bikes, small atv's, things of that nature and a lot of these dirt bikes are electric start so they have a battery there are other components of metal that have some lead content."
Its the lead that might be in the paint, battery leads, tire stems, in any one of the thousands of little parts that make up motorcycles that has the CPSC outlawing the bikes. Its all part of the same lead legislation that has toy stores pulling products from their shelves.
Goepfrich says "we had heard about it last fall, through the manufacturer making us aware of the new legislation that had gone in place, they were at that time hopeful they would have some kind of exemptions or something in place by the time the law went into effect that it wouldn't impact are business unfortunately that hasn't been the case, but it does impact our business quite significantly."
Significantly on many different levels. First Rob has paid for the bikes which are now illegal for him to sell, and second, it doesn't stop with these outlaw bikes.
He says "it actually goes 1 step further than that, we can't even sell parts to repair products that are in the customers hands right now."
So if you already own one, dealers can't order you parts to repair it! You are out of luck.
But there may very well be a bigger safety concern than possible lead exposure. With smaller bikes geared towards younger riders off the market, its inevitable some parents may look to putting their children on more powerful, bigger, harder to handle machines just so that they can get out to ride.
Goepfrich says "that certainly could be a concern and we have to be careful we don't offer something that is to big for a rider that could put them in a bad position and tell them time and time again the story why we can't sell them something that might be appropriate."
So how you can tell if your bike or the one you looked at purchasing is outlawed. If its a youth model with a 90 cc or less engine chances are its on the list.
