The other thread was closed because people were talking about street riding which is against rules here, as it should. So let me start by saying, "watch what you say!" This is an important topic, though.
I do believe this thread is important to prevent us and us (globally) from losing our pocket bikes. I live in PA, USA where in my state, NJ, and NY, amongst others, passed a law that allows officers to confiscate our bikes if caught riding it on the street. The law is suppose to be for enforcement of people riding in the streets, only. This is illegal, but it is not illegal to own a pocketbike nor work on it on your own property. If your engine is running and your neighbor calls the police because your bike is too loud than I see how they could give you a warning or disturbing the peace citation but only if they have a sound decibal reader. Otherwise, it will not hold in court.
An arguement to keep your bike is that it is no louder than when the gardners come and do their landscaping, or a GSXR with a vance & hines pipe.
I was wondering about if their is a law that prevents us from keeping our bikes in our houses or apartments since they run on gasoline.
Watch the rules on here, but the more stories people hear, the more cautious we will become. If any of you own a $3000+ Euro bike, you have to be just as nervous as me knowing cops are coming to houses to confiscate our bikes, even if we have never driven them on the street. I am petrified just to start my bike now to make adjustments in the driveway.
I agree with compman, you should be able to ride your PB on your own property as long as you are not disturbing your neighbors.
I'll let this thread continue but keep in mind if your reply talks (or even hints at) riding on the street you will get a free 7 day vacation from Pocketbike Planet.
The deal is that if the police get a complaint from someone 2 blocks from your house about a PB running up and down the street they will come out and investigate...your sitting in your driveway wrenching on your pocket bike...who do you think will be the target of harassment or questioning ? Same thing happens in other situations too when you think about it...picture it...the 711 on the corner was just robbed, your running down the street full tilt to meet up with a hottie...police see you running, your T shirt is the same colour as the robbery suspect...sadly your now a person of interest. What bothers me about all the media and legal hype happening lately with regards to pocket bikes is that if it's such a problem why are the cities and local governments not doing something more constructive than issuing crackdown commands to law enforcement. I mean they build skate\bmx parks, dog walking parks, pedal bike trails ect...hows about letting pocket bike owners use abandoned parking lots or that local go kart track that went bust and was siezed for back taxes. Whats happening all over is the typical knee jerk reaction of conservative fuddee dudee's who's daily excitement consists of pulling weeds from their rose garden and watching reruns of Law & Order....
We as individuals CAN help stop the madness ! Be proactive instead of reactive in your area...find a safe and legal place to ride\race, start a club or something, advertise it and get other local enthusiasts involved, promote safety, see if you can get the media or local businesses involved...it's easy to do...I've done it and it's working...you have to have patients though, things don't ever happen overnight
The deal is that if the police get a complaint from someone 2 blocks from your house about a PB running up and down the street they will come out and investigate...your sitting in your driveway wrenching on your pocket bike...who do you think will be the target of harassment or questioning ? Same thing happens in other situations too when you think about it...picture it...the 711 on the corner was just robbed, your running down the street full tilt to meet up with a hottie...police see you running, your T shirt is the same colour as the robbery suspect...sadly your now a person of interest. What bothers me about all the media and legal hype happening lately with regards to pocket bikes is that if it's such a problem why are the cities and local governments not doing something more constructive than issuing crackdown commands to law enforcement. I mean they build skate\bmx parks, dog walking parks, pedal bike trails ect...hows about letting pocket bike owners use abandoned parking lots or that local go kart track that went bust and was siezed for back taxes. Whats happening all over is the typical knee jerk reaction of conservative fuddee dudee's who's daily excitement consists of pulling weeds from their rose garden and watching reruns of Law & Order....
We as individuals CAN help stop the madness ! Be proactive instead of reactive in your area...find a safe and legal place to ride\race, start a club or something, advertise it and get other local enthusiasts involved, promote safety, see if you can get the media or local businesses involved...it's easy to do...I've done it and it's working...you have to have patients though, things don't ever happen overnight
well said...
we need to promote safe and responsible pocket bike use. say, if you see some irresponsible kid riding down the street, no gear etc...STOP him/her and steer him/her in the right direction, dont yell and hound, them and tell them of the proper places to ride, promote your local race club if you have one, tell them were to get proper gear. and hey, if they dont listen, atleast you tried, and hopefully they WILL eventually learn and become a more safe/responsable pocket bike rider/user.
i can't stress this enough guys, KEEP IT OFF THE STREET...PERIOD, find somewhere to ride, get some buddys together, make a club and go to your local kart track. and ask about it, ask if you can they can make some time for you, once you realize how much fun it is riding on a track, you wont ride on the street anymore.
if you dont have a local kart track, talk to some business owners and get permision to ride there, if the owner is concerned about liabilty issues, make your participents sign waivers, and make them wear proper safety gear!
sorry if i was basicly rephrasing steveg's post, but i think we NEED to get this point accross.
but something to also consider is y wont the county or state make more tracks for these bikes they complain and complain but they dont seem to do anything about it so they go to the extreme.and confiscate our bikes.this is a popular and growing sport and they should make it more avaliable in more areas more local not 300 miles away
I may be a bit older than most of you on here, but I remember the same situation when I was skateboarding as a kid. They got stricter and stricter until there was nowhere for us to ride. But then the skateboarders fought back until they opened skateparks. Once this happened, Tony Hawk and friends showed the world how much skill and talent was involved in riding and in time the X Games happened and made skateboarding a real extreme sport where the top athletes in the sport were making crazy money from sponsorship.
This all happened by putting up a fight(and I mean a legal one) get the sport exposure, and hopefully there will be more tracks built and more participating ones that already exist. If there is money to be made from the sport than it will blossom. Clothing companies, shoes, part companies, and maybe even more American minimoto companies like Giannini will develop.
I may be a bit older than most of you on here, but I remember the same situation when I was skateboarding as a kid. They got stricter and stricter until there was nowhere for us to ride. But then the skateboarders fought back until they opened skateparks. Once this happened, Tony Hawk and friends showed the world how much skill and talent was involved in riding and in time the X Games happened and made skateboarding a real extreme sport where the top athletes in the sport were making crazy money from sponsorship.
This all happened by putting up a fight(and I mean a legal one) get the sport exposure, and hopefully there will be more tracks built and more participating ones that already exist. If there is money to be made from the sport than it will blossom. Clothing companies, shoes, part companies, and maybe even more American minimoto companies like Giannini will develop.
Discovery channel had one too. The thing about those types of networks is that thankfully they're giving positive exposure to this sport which it really needs.
You lucky dog. I watch that channel all **** day waiting for a minute of minimoto racing and I get bupkus(nothing!). All the time that channel has and I have seen these things that are half dune buggy-demolition car-trackcar-dirt buggy- enormous wing, looking cars barely racing around a track bumping into each other, but no Minimoto's!
This thread for me is all positive and I'll tell you why. Yesterday, I was doing some tuning and I had a quick thought that went through my mind to do something that is wrong and then I remembered this thread and it straightened me right out thinking of the possibility of having my GRC confiscated.
If anyone else gets an irrational thought with your bike than think about this forum and how in a second your bike and/or life could be gone.
