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If the Hawaiian government gets their way it looks like they will. They are even meeting in a special session to find ways to ban them all together
http://www.kgmb9.com/local/show_news.php?show_n_id=3080&clean=1
Mini-Motorcycles On The Move
Dateline: August 23, 2004 - Rob Young
(KGMB) : One of the newest fads to hit Hawaii has some people furious. Mini-motorcycles or pocket bikes are popping up all over the islands and some say they're an accident waiting to happen.
Pocket bikes aren't street legal. So riders are taking them to Hawaii's parks and parking lots. Although they're little riders say the bikes are loads of fun and Oahu teens and adults are making a mad dash to buy them up.
"We got into it because in the last 2-3 months we've been getting 3-5 phone calls a day...people asking if we have the bikes in or the safety gear for them," says Jason Baba, owner of Mililani's Bike Werx.
Friday Baba's shop got its first five bikes. Already they're in demand. Even at $500 or more per bike, it's a price teens like Nainoa Heffernan are willing to pay.
"Me and my uncle went to Waipio and it looked like pretty fun, so we got 'em about a week after," says Heffernan.
Heffernan's friends are also buying bikes of their own and until now they haven't been disappointed. As quickly as pocket bikes roared into park parking lots, they've rubbed park users the wrong way.
"They're running around, they're making noise, they're darting in and out of traffic, they're running around the parking lots and the bottom line is they're very hard to see," says Central Oahu Regional Park Advisory Committee member Marty Burke.
Central Oahu Regional Park's parking lot has been a pocket bike paradise. But now the city's marked it off limits because of public safety concerns.
"Our parking lots are full on the weekends," says District 5 Park Manager Glenn Kajiwara. "We have softball tournaments and baseball tournaments...it's just so congested we're afraid something's going to happen and that's what we're trying to prevent."
Without parks to cruise riders like Heffernan are wheeling around elsewhere...like city sidewalks and streets. Something city and state transportation officials are so worried about they've scheduled a transportation summit. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 24th at the Neal Blaisdell Center.
http://www.kgmb9.com/local/show_news.php?show_n_id=3080&clean=1
Mini-Motorcycles On The Move
Dateline: August 23, 2004 - Rob Young
(KGMB) : One of the newest fads to hit Hawaii has some people furious. Mini-motorcycles or pocket bikes are popping up all over the islands and some say they're an accident waiting to happen.
Pocket bikes aren't street legal. So riders are taking them to Hawaii's parks and parking lots. Although they're little riders say the bikes are loads of fun and Oahu teens and adults are making a mad dash to buy them up.
"We got into it because in the last 2-3 months we've been getting 3-5 phone calls a day...people asking if we have the bikes in or the safety gear for them," says Jason Baba, owner of Mililani's Bike Werx.
Friday Baba's shop got its first five bikes. Already they're in demand. Even at $500 or more per bike, it's a price teens like Nainoa Heffernan are willing to pay.
"Me and my uncle went to Waipio and it looked like pretty fun, so we got 'em about a week after," says Heffernan.
Heffernan's friends are also buying bikes of their own and until now they haven't been disappointed. As quickly as pocket bikes roared into park parking lots, they've rubbed park users the wrong way.
"They're running around, they're making noise, they're darting in and out of traffic, they're running around the parking lots and the bottom line is they're very hard to see," says Central Oahu Regional Park Advisory Committee member Marty Burke.
Central Oahu Regional Park's parking lot has been a pocket bike paradise. But now the city's marked it off limits because of public safety concerns.
"Our parking lots are full on the weekends," says District 5 Park Manager Glenn Kajiwara. "We have softball tournaments and baseball tournaments...it's just so congested we're afraid something's going to happen and that's what we're trying to prevent."
Without parks to cruise riders like Heffernan are wheeling around elsewhere...like city sidewalks and streets. Something city and state transportation officials are so worried about they've scheduled a transportation summit. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 24th at the Neal Blaisdell Center.