Proposed Youth Bike Ban

A lot has already written on the current ban on the sale of OHV's for younger riders. OHV stands for Off-Highway Vehicles and they cover a lot of things including youth motorcycles and ATV's (All Terrain Vehicles). At issue is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). Once this act went into law it basically made illegal the sale of youth off-highway vehicles.

The Act itself was meant (or so we were led to believe) to help reduce the level of lead in children's toys and other items that might cause lead poisoning in children—a worthy endeavor, to say the least. But, of course, the Act was manipulated by special interest groups and within it were placed severe restrictions on other items such as youth motorbikes.

According to section 101(a) of the enacted legislation, all youth products containing lead must have less than 600 parts per million (ppm) by weight. The CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission) has since interpreted the new law to apply to various components of youth OHV'. These components include the engine, brakes, suspension, battery and other mechanical parts. Even though the lead levels in these parts are small, they are still above the minimum threshold as set forth in the Act.

Because of this, it is now illegal to sell youth motorcycles or ATV's designed for use by children 12 and under. In hopes of increasing public awareness, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) has created an informative video related to the ban. The video is short, less than one minute, and in it AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman talks about the ban and how the public can help change the law by contacting their Congressional representatives as well as the Consumer Products Safety Commission to end the ban.

For more complete information on the ban itself, visit:
www.amadirectlink.com/news/story.asp?id=629&s=banner