{QUOTE: JUSTIN 85ATC350OX}I ride around the corner from my house for the last 7 years on powerlines and no one has said a thing to me maybe because I am respectful of others like the neighbors, clean up the place when an idiot litters when Im not out there and make sure it is kept low-key. That is why I have a spot, it may not be legal but its a spot that i havent had a problem with.}



I travel the powerlines too but a lot of folks do to who litter are loud and just plain ruin the right I have to use the power co land.

 

Blahh

 

I remember back in the 80's there was a slogan for street bikes called "Loud Pipes Save Lives." There was quite a movement to try and allow motorcycles push the sound level limit in the name of safety for bikers. Well, the city of Brockton, Massachusetts banned motorcycles from its streets!! The American Motorcycle Association did a lot of work to reverse that ban. The city banned motorcycles because of all the noise complaints. As we all know, there are lots of people who run street bikes with straight pipes or some sort of aftermarket pipe. Well the same with ATVs. Like a previous post, get 50 more cc's but keep your stock muffler. If everyone can't hear you, they probably won't care what you're doing. Why do you think horses can go just about anywhere? They don't make any noise. After all, the injury rate for horses is much higher than ATVs. Just do a Google search on horse riding fatalities.

 

Thanks for the title of this thread; because those 4 words pretty much sum up our sport today.

The problem as I see it doesn't lie in the idiots who ruin things for us........it's in the rest of us who stand idly by and let them get away with it. Who doesn't think that 'most' of the groups who oppose us; would be more than willing to work 'with' us............... if we took care of our own and/or publicly worked to make the penalties for ignorance that much stiffer?

Call the ATVA(AMA) and ask them what they think should be done about areas such as Windrock; where literally tens of thousands of people flock every year because it is now one of the few places left where you can still act like an idiot! Fact: Even the people we have fighting for us NOW don't have the stones to come out against even the most HIGH PROFILE problems we have sitting right in front of us!

Ask them about the area where they testified at the latest CPSC hearings in WV. and why some of the people standing up that day on "our side".......are actually vehemently against the Hatfield McCoy Trail System because they might now have to (God forbid) follow some "rules" (with those involving safety being the most hated)?

Why don't ALL our atv clubs in this country proudly display any connection with law enforcement they have or should be cultivating; as not only a recruitment tool for the quality people they seek.........but to send a sobering message out to these violating idiots that "the law" has more eyes than they might think?

The answer to all these questions, as it most generally comes down to, is MONEY. These national atv organizations and most of these clubs don't give a rat's **** what your IDEALS are........as long as that membership money comes in when it's supposed to and they don't "upset" any other potential donors (and these are the only spineless defenders we have!).

Nobody has the Kahunas to stand up for anything anymore and that is exactly what we have been teaching these young people who are old enough "now" to buy and ride these orvs (how many of these kids do you think are out there right now, getting on their friend's or other youths about loud pipes?)
I've been saying for years now that we have to SPLIT OURSELVES UP; before . Yet a lot of you have been insisting that your association with these people or your not wanting to "upset" them; is much more important than the sport itself or your children's future.

Then I say quit complaining if you don't want to hold anybody accountable for standing by and watching all this happen (you should see the crap these motorcyclists are trying to pull up here in Michigan that nobody has had the nuts to call them on).

John

 

BLAHH,
WTF, Its people with that attitude that screw things up for the rest of us. Check out the anti atv website if you dont believe me.
anti atv terriorists
Because of a few people, with a so what attitude, went where they werent supposed to, and this group was all over it. Just because they dont catch YOU, dont think its harmless. They banned atvs in Duluth MN because of 3 people. Whether you want to or not, you ARE speaking for all of us when you ride. If john q public sees you acting irresponsibly, they think ALL of us act irresponsibly.
My rant, thanks for reading.

 

Another reason why our atv laws are "not surprising"............When all of you were asked to sign the latest petition to the CPSC (last year)...........why wasn't there any language presented in that document about "helmets" for one; but more importantly, in regards to what the actual specific <U>solutions</U> to our problems should be?

Two reasons: One has to do with the fact that these large organizations believe that the people they serve should be the LAST people "in on" their overall policy (in other words, what issues they should be <U>required</U> to fight for).............and the fact that these national "representatives" don't have the nuts to go after or upset the people who need their attitudes adjusted in the first place (in order for our sport to truly survive).

John