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| WE ARE NOT JUST THE
"HELMET GUYS" ANYMORE!! |
| Why do you need ABATE ? |
Here are some
of the issues being discusses in Washington DC, and at the Ohio State Capital. ABATE of
Ohio monitors this potential legislation which can directly affects your right to modify
your bike, choose your look and enjoying your riding. These legislative issues affect both
on road and off road riders and the need to stand together to keep our “Right to
Ride”
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1) Anti-Tampering –
ALL motorcyclists love to tinker with their motorcycle and make the truly their
own. The most common forms of personalization are motor and exhaust modifications and
upgrades, mostly performed by the owner. Anti-tampering would prohibit ANYONE from working
on their personal vehicle and would only allow the manufacturer, through an authorized
repair agent (such as a dealership) to perform even routine maintenance. NO MORE AFTER
MARKET PRODUCTS! All parts would have to be OEM (Factory Parts). Anti-Tamper, coupled with
the high costs of a strict graduated license process and “end of life”
requirements would drive up the cost of motorcycling to such a level that it would become
expensive to maintain your sport bike.
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2) Clothing
Standards – The Federal government is considering putting in place
the much more stringent CE standards of Europe. This will mean high amounts of
“reflector zed” type clothing items. Do you really want to look like riding
street signs? Do you want to be forced to wear body armor type riding gear all the time?
Do you want to be forced to wear an “airbag” vest?
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3) Graduated
Licensing – On the National and State level there is strong
support to put in place VERY restrictive licensing requirements for beginning
motorcyclists called “Graduated” licensing. Under a graduated system, as a
novice rider, he/she would only be able to purchase up to a 200cc motorcycle and he/she
would be required to remain at this level till at least his/her 21st birthday. In addition
under the graduated system you wouldn’t even be allowed to move up to a 400 or 500cc
machine until you’d been riding at least 5 or 6 years. Before you could ride a 1300
cc machine would take about 10 years and thousands of dollars. There will be seriously
increased costs for insurance and training. This type of licensing will also restrict what
type of motorcycle you can purchase! You will have to prove qualifications before you will
even be able to purchase your new bike. No longer will you be able to purchase the larger
cc bikes when you want. You would need to “earn”, through a series of costly
steps over a period of several years, the right to ride a 1000 cc bike!
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4) “End of
Life” – What “End of Life” means is simply that an
item (in this case, a motorcycle) has come to the end of its usefulness and now needs to
be “recycled” or, in a more blunt choice of words, CRUSHED! The EPA and others
have advocated for this proposal as a way of rapidly increasing the number of
“eco-friendly” vehicles (motorcycles among them) into the transportation mix.
Discussions have occurred that would have some motorcycles reaching their “End of
Life” in as little as 5 YEARS! This proposal would also have an effect on
“graduated” licensing as it would increase the cost of purchasing a motorcycle
every time a motorcyclist wished to advance to a higher level of horsepower. Why? It would
dry up the availability of older, less costly but less efficient (by the EPA standards)
motorcycles.
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Join ABATE and protect your
right to ride!
We are not just the “Helmet Guys” anymore. |
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