Industry Updates

violentvintagecycles wrote:

I got laid off last saturday.. Is that bad enough? Im scared shit, theres nothing out there..

It's tough when it happens. 6 years ago it happened to me, my organization was dismantled - there were no prospects for me in this area. I used it as an opportunity to start Z1 Enterprises.

I was fortunate that I had a good idea it was going to happen 6 months before it did, so I could do a little planning to get the company moving.

It isn't easy going through things like this - but you have to be positive, persistent, and look at all opportunities. There is money to be made out there. But you have to go and get it. Far too many people laid off retreat into a shell and hope a job will land on their doorstep - it doesn't.

Without going off on a tangent, but before anyone starts thinking that we're safe because we ride older bikes, we're not. The least they could do would be to restrict the yearly miles or purpose the bike is used for as a condition of registration. At the extreme they could refuse to register any vehicle manufactured prior to X date. And don't assert that it can't happen because it most certainly can and probably will someplace.

Well, Nate, lawmakers CAN come up with some weird stuff but I've gotta disagree with you on this one. If they went ahead with something like this they'd also have to include old cages as well....and I'd bet that's not going to happen.
A lot of lawmakers and other influential citizens have old cars and it'd be a long time before they'd vote their own hobby out of existence or, at the very least, regulate it so that it's not any "fun".
Old motorcycles may NOT be an "acceptable" hobby in the eyes of most folks BUT old cars certainly are.
In the overall scheme of things, old bikes and old cars are such a miniscule portion of the total vehicle population that they're not even on the pollution radar screen, IMO.
My .02 worth...

now iremember why ileft california after i got out of the army in late 80s!

H2RICK wrote:

Without going off on a tangent, but before anyone starts thinking that we're safe because we ride older bikes, we're not. The least they could do would be to restrict the yearly miles or purpose the bike is used for as a condition of registration. At the extreme they could refuse to register any vehicle manufactured prior to X date. And don't assert that it can't happen because it most certainly can and probably will someplace.

Well, Nate, lawmakers CAN come up with some weird stuff but I've gotta disagree with you on this one. If they went ahead with something like this they'd also have to include old cages as well....and I'd bet that's not going to happen.
A lot of lawmakers and other influential citizens have old cars and it'd be a long time before they'd vote their own hobby out of existence or, at the very least, regulate it so that it's not any "fun".
Old motorcycles may NOT be an "acceptable" hobby in the eyes of most folks BUT old cars certainly are.
In the overall scheme of things, old bikes and old cars are such a miniscule portion of the total vehicle population that they're not even on the pollution radar screen, IMO.
My .02 worth...

Having just gone through the CA hoops with an offroad bike, all I gotta say is the craziness knows no bounds. I put a "meets regulations" engine in a "doesn't meet regulations" frame and they wouldn't even give me a title, despite the fact that frames have no bearing on emissions (other than weight). So I switched the engine to a frame that "meets regulations" because it is one, read that ONE (1), year older and was within the cutoff and now my bike is considered "meets environmental regulations" and certified with a title and a year round off-road sticker.

Just saying that you shouldn't rule out any government action no matter how stupid, worthless, hypocritical, one sided, etc. Bureaucracy only breeds bureaucracy, except on TV where watching people stumble around in a bureaucracy is considered "must see TV".

Rules and regs with no real benefit will be enforced because it feels like it should do something and because it looks like they did something. Like with off-road/race bikes in CA, rather than do emission tests on new bikes they just restricted the use and purchase of all 2-stroke engines, and all race bikes because they are "unsafe" and mainly used for racing. Hence I see a time when sport bikes get restricted because their intended purpose is racing.

H2RICK wrote:

Well, Nate, lawmakers CAN come up with some weird stuff but I've gotta disagree with you on this one. If they went ahead with something like this they'd also have to include old cages as well....and I'd bet that's not going to happen.
A lot of lawmakers and other influential citizens have old cars and it'd be a long time before they'd vote their own hobby out of existence or, at the very least, regulate it so that it's not any "fun".
Old motorcycles may NOT be an "acceptable" hobby in the eyes of most folks BUT old cars certainly are.
In the overall scheme of things, old bikes and old cars are such a miniscule portion of the total vehicle population that they're not even on the pollution radar screen, IMO.
My .02 worth...

Ahhh, here is where the USA differs from the rest of the world. The rest of the world looks at old vehicles and agrees that they're not worth taking off the road. Here in the good ol' USA the do-gooders know no boundaries and will work to remove a fun hobby because deep down they resent anyone having any fun at all.

Our whackos aren't tempered with any shred of common sense. And now they believe that they have been empowered for change after the recent elections and will work diligently to achieve their goals. That's what sets the USA apart from everyone else and why I'm not as optimistic as you can be.

damn epa cops!

PLUMMEN wrote:

damn epa cops!

:laugh:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

N0NB wrote:

H2RICK wrote:

Well, Nate, lawmakers CAN come up with some weird stuff but I've gotta disagree with you on this one. If they went ahead with something like this they'd also have to include old cages as well....and I'd bet that's not going to happen.
A lot of lawmakers and other influential citizens have old cars and it'd be a long time before they'd vote their own hobby out of existence or, at the very least, regulate it so that it's not any "fun".
Old motorcycles may NOT be an "acceptable" hobby in the eyes of most folks BUT old cars certainly are.
In the overall scheme of things, old bikes and old cars are such a miniscule portion of the total vehicle population that they're not even on the pollution radar screen, IMO.
My .02 worth...

Ahhh, here is where the USA differs from the rest of the world. The rest of the world looks at old vehicles and agrees that they're not worth taking off the road. Here in the good ol' USA the do-gooders know no boundaries and will work to remove a fun hobby because deep down they resent anyone having any fun at all.

Our whackos aren't tempered with any shred of common sense. And now they believe that they have been empowered for change after the recent elections and will work diligently to achieve their goals. That's what sets the USA apart from everyone else and why I'm not as optimistic as you can be.

Huh..here comes another big ol KZR group hug.