Want your kids to ride? Read this ASAP.

[Casper]

This was posted on our district site, the letter is from Greg Robinson, Owner of Unadilla...

Good Afternoon...forget the good, as our country has descended into lunacy.

I have spent most of the day on two conference calls relative to the subject line above, and I must say I am rather concerned about the fate of our sport and industry. Not to mention our local communities for the further loss of jobs and $$ that our industry brings in each year. It is certainly that dire..believe me.

As of yesterday, all the OEMs had to pull for sale all new youth minicycles and atvs for those under the age of 13...this under order of the CPSC due to lead content of plastics and certain metals. As of yesterday, a dealer or private individual can no longer provide parts or service, to these affected machines, in which there is a possibility that those same parts may contain lead...no oil changes, plastic, levers, engine cases, etc, etc..goggles, helmets, clothing, knee braces..you name it. You may think that is just for new machines, but it is for everything new and used.

The CPSC also ruled that machines under 85cc are considered toxic to the health of young children.

Effective yesterday, Honda has pulled replacement parts from their service system for these machines pending lead certification...this takes 400 days. KTM, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha are doing the same thing. If you have a 1,2,3 year old machine, you won't be able to buy most parts for it very soon.

Yamaha is sending out restrictions to its dealers saying that an 85cc bike can only be sold, and should only be operated by someone over the age of 13.

Now to the fun part for us as a race promoter.

Because the manufacturers are now issuing these guidelines, we as promoters cannot allow a youth under the age of 13 to participate for two reasons.

We are allowing someone to participate in a sanctioned activity on a vehicle that has been determined by the manufacturer and the CPSC to be unsafe for that age level.

We are allowing someone to participate in a sanctioned activity on a vehicle that the CPSC has determined is a toxic substance.

If you think I am joking, consider the following

MX Sports is considering removing youth classes from the Loretta Lynn's program, GNCC, and ATV Nationals...we run all three of these series and I can tell you that these classes make up over 1/3 of our entries and more than half of our attendance.

The AMA will be forced to ban youths under 13 from any AMA amateur or pro competition due to legal ramifications. The same will apply to local districts and sanctioning bodies, as insurance will not be available to cover this exposure. The lifeblood of our sport are these kids..if they cannot participate, they will find something else to do, and we will not get them back. They will not race, watch, or buy products. That means Mom, Dad and older brothers/sisters won't be there either.

Unadilla would most likely not participate in any form of amateur racing..with only half or less of the entries left, it wouldn't be financially possible.

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION YET!

There are two efforts going on right now to get a temporary stay granted by the CPSC for "Off Road Vehicles." The MIC (Motorcycle Industry Council) and Missouri State House Rep Mike Sense(#4 in line in the MO st govt) are both developing grass roots letter campaigns through websites to develop a ground swell of support for this stay. Keep in mind this is only temporary, and unless a Federal injunction or legislation is developed, this isn't going away.

There are several opinions floating around on this subject saying that our thinking is flawed and that only the sale of new units is affected...if that is the case, why are helmet, goggle, sneakers, sunglasses, OEM parts and accessories, and dealer service being pulled for these units???

I will leave you with this..if indeed this is overblown, and we are right that we shouldn't be affected by this, it still doesn't mean that we can't/won't be sued by someone using this logic, and worse yet, convince a jury that the above is true. If it gets that far, you will have spent nearly a million $$ in your own defense, just to prove you were right all along.

IS IT WORTH THAT TO YOU?

I will get you info on the two websites, and I encourage you to beg everyone you know that rides, owns, promotes, or attends an off road sporting event to get everyone they know in the same manner to fill out one of these letters...Every Mom Dad and Kid should individually enter their name. Then they should contact their local representatives too.

Thanks for listening, and please do not think you can't make a difference..contact your local representatives as well..explain the economic impact this will have..educate yourself on this subject as quickly as you can.

Greg Robinson

VP Marketing

Unadillla Motorsports

© 315-725-9537

http://capwiz.com/amacycle/issues/alert/?alertid=12661926

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=745348

http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/rapidresponse.asp

[Disclaimer]

Exactly how much lead is in those little bikes, if a bike weighs 100lbs, you can have 0.06lbs of lead in it?

Solution: Just add unnecessary weight to the bike until it weighs enough to make lead content below the 600PPM threshold. 400lb, 85cc kids dirtbikes - hot sellers right there.

Quick someone think of a really heavy relatively cheap metal that would accomplish that... LEAD! Ohh wait...

Seriously though, the kids are RIDING these things, not gnawing on them. Fix the legislation!

Edited February 13, 2009 by JRMMiii

[redbarron77]

wow.......just when I thought the stupidity couldn't get any worse.....

"We are protecting you children from harm.......but you are completely unable to use corporeal punishment on them"

[jon_SV650]

i just dont understand where this shit comes from!! people need to just not sue everyone for their own stupid faults.

[Moto-Brian]

First and foremost, the casual and race apparel is NOT affected. They only are concerned over units right now. There IS an ongoing issue with the apparel side, but there has been an extension until 2010.

So, there's a LOT of confusion as even seen in the letter. It is only concerning OEM units for children under 12. That sucks. It REALLY sucks... It causes issues in the industry that is going to be problems for a long time!!

[ReconRat]

Yeah, apparently somewhere, a 12yo ingested an 85cc motorbike...

[wolfman]

Yeah, apparently somewhere, a 12yo ingested an 85cc motorbike...

Seriously, what the shit does lead content have to do with dirt bikes? I must be missing something...

[robhawk]

How many progressives does it take to change a light bulb?

Why change it when you can ban it!!

Hahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!:lol::lol:I like that one

[jermattak]

my mom might lose her business because of the new rules, its a kids resale store, she cant sell clothes....she put up a fight, and is still fighting it, it got her on the front page of the LA times

[12oclocker]

How many progressives does it take to change a light bulb?

Why change it when you can ban it!!

exactly, this law was passed NOT FOR SAFETY! I have not read one story of a kid dieing of lead from a motorcycle, etc. This bill was passed by people with an alternative agenda (maybe some companies that do lead testing) paid lobbiest money to get the bill passed.

Go try to find legitimate reasons for this bill. I can't the bill is obviously going to cause more people to lose jobs and money. some of my wifes friends have to close down their stores that sell kids cloths because they cannot afford to do the lead testing on kids cloths (fabric!!), now they are out of a job, this bill is indended to fatten the wallets of the lead testing companies, or futher destory small businesses, or both.

[that dude]

thanks obama

[Disclaimer]

Srsly?

[MadMax33]

I read about this yesterday and I became depressed for awhile. Hello Nanny State. I truly hate where our country is headed right now. Let's cause even more people to lose their jobs because Big Brother knows best. Of course alot of people care more about American Idol than living in what used to be a free society and if Oprah is ever assassinated, we will descend into anarchy.

[12oclocker]

my mom might lose her business because of the new rules, its a kids resale store, she cant sell clothes....she put up a fight, and is still fighting it, it got her on the front page of the LA times

same with my wife and many of her friends, this new bullshit law is putting more americans out of work faster than you can say "The CPSC was bought and paid for by lead testing companies"

[12oclocker]

I noticed today when I tried to call my state represenative, he had disconnected the answering machine. They have not answered the phone in days. Looks like he could care less.

[Disclaimer]

Here's the article from hellforleather...

Republican pedantry costs motorcycle industry $1 billion

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/03/republican-pedantry-thwarts-le.html#more

According to Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), one of the chief proponents of the bill, Congress never intended for CPSIA-- a knee-jerk law intended to stop the sale of lead-heavy toys from China -- to ban items like motorcycles, ATVs and handmade crafts from places like Etsy. Instead, it intended for the CPSC to grant common sense exclusions for items that clearly didn't carry a risk of ingestion. But the CPSC isn't granting those exclusions. Why? Because Nord has decided to interpret the bill's language in an extremely pedantic way, thereby forcing any changes to take place by having a further bill passed by Congress, an incredibly complicated and laborious process.

Nord is using the following to passages from the bill to justify her obtuseness:

"Absorption of any lead into the human body...."

"Nor have any other adverse impact on public health and safety"

It's the "anys" that are causing the problem. No matter the level of lead content (the bill elsewhere makes reference to 660ppm), a part that contains even faint traces of lead can potentially transfer it to the human body through direct contact. It doesn't matter if the amount of lead transferred is less than that absorbed by drinking a glass of clean tap water or taking a breath of air, Nord is interpreting "any" as literally that. Any. She'd ban air and water if she had the power. And sincee absorbing any lead can be considered to have an adverse impact on health, even if that impact is so minute it's scarcely quantifiable, Nord is refusing to budge.

This has exasperated the motorcycle industry and Congress alike, forcing the industry to lobby Congress for a new bill, a move Congress never intended and which is likely to be time consuming and problematic. The Motorcycle Industry Council estimates that the ban will cost the industry $1 billion in lost revenue during 2009.

Democrats in Congress are now calling for President Obama to replace Nord with someone who will interpret and enforce CPSIA in the common sense manner that they intended.

Want to do something about this? Click here to visit the MIC's site to make your voice heard.

[Dweezel]

Holy fuck. As someone who works with the removal and disposal of LEAD BASED INDUSTRIAL PAINTS found on bridges and above ground water storage units, yes, you'd be amazed at how many above ground municipal water storage tanks have lead based paints lining the inside of them, but there's a reason you're all still alive and healthy, lead won't dissolve in water. I've had way, way more lead training than any one person could ever use in a lifetime, I've got an OH, PA, NJ, CA, NY, DE, and MD lead licence (several of which have expired, you have to re-train, and re-test yearly), it's all the same shit, oh my god, i get the point already.

That being said, lead can only be ingested one of 2 ways, through the digestive, or respiratory tract. for that to take place it must be in a dust, fine powder, vapor (buring) or other small, easily broken down form (think small dusty paint chips). If you swallowed a lead sinker, you would absorb no lead from it.

You cannot absorb lead through your skin. as ReconRat said, a kid would have to grind up, and ingested an entire motorcycle. This lady is just being a cunt and going out of her way to cause undue harm and stress to the American public because she can. She needs executed promptly for her role.

Lead is as dangerous as they say, but it's not as easy to ingest as they'll have you believe. Simply standing in a room with a box of fishing sinkers won't kill you.

Edited March 24, 2009 by Dweezel

[slowbusa]

thats shyt as hell

[slowbusa]

^

^

^

^

looks like im in trouble 18 mouths and all ready on a bike lol j/k