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29 Posts
Comments like this are part of the problem. When motorcycle riders call environmentalists "enviro-nazis" and resort to name-calling such as "Ozone Al" it just widens the rifts between environmentalists and motorcyclists and other recreationists.
I consider myself to be an environmentalist first, and a motorcyclist 2nd. I don't ride off-road, but I'm not totally opposed to doing so. What bothers me is when people have this attitude that it's either/or. Either we worry about the environment, OR we can have our off-road fun.
We know that we can do both. In your above post you gave a good suggestion, which is to create quieter bikes. There are plenty of other things that can be done, such as making cleaner bikes (less emissions), more fuel-efficient bikes, and most of all, by encouraging riders to do their part to help to not destroy the land they enjoy playing on.
The same thing is going on with snowmobiles and jet-skis. Sadly, what happens is that both the manufacturers and the users decry any plans to try to create cleaner machinery. Then environmentalists are left with only one option: ban them, since they won't voluntarily clean up their act. I can't blame them (and like I said I'm actually one of them). I hope motorcycle manufacturers will be more proactive and will do what they can to minimize environmental impacts of the sport. I think Honda is leading the way with their cleaner bikes that already meet California's 2008(?) tough air-quality standards. This is the kind of thing that will keep it from being an us vs. them battle. There's no reason we can't all work together.....
I consider myself to be an environmentalist first, and a motorcyclist 2nd. I don't ride off-road, but I'm not totally opposed to doing so. What bothers me is when people have this attitude that it's either/or. Either we worry about the environment, OR we can have our off-road fun.
We know that we can do both. In your above post you gave a good suggestion, which is to create quieter bikes. There are plenty of other things that can be done, such as making cleaner bikes (less emissions), more fuel-efficient bikes, and most of all, by encouraging riders to do their part to help to not destroy the land they enjoy playing on.
The same thing is going on with snowmobiles and jet-skis. Sadly, what happens is that both the manufacturers and the users decry any plans to try to create cleaner machinery. Then environmentalists are left with only one option: ban them, since they won't voluntarily clean up their act. I can't blame them (and like I said I'm actually one of them). I hope motorcycle manufacturers will be more proactive and will do what they can to minimize environmental impacts of the sport. I think Honda is leading the way with their cleaner bikes that already meet California's 2008(?) tough air-quality standards. This is the kind of thing that will keep it from being an us vs. them battle. There's no reason we can't all work together.....