The snazziest models be thousands and are made in Italy but the ones that are selling by the container fill run from $200 to $500. They go from China among other places and are getting snapped up by eager teenagers and in some cases not-so-teenagers.
At Broadtek LLC a South San Francisco firm that imports them the cardboard cartons containing the small bikes are stacked to the ceiling of a tall warehouse and are quickly going out the door to eager customers.
In Walnut Creek. Eric Rahin owner of Sonic Scooterz says he's selling them in droves -- "from college students to populate in their late 50s. It's basically a toy to have some fun with."
Manufacturers say the bikes are supposed to be used only on closed race tracks private roads or any other place where there are no public traffic laws and more important no big cars or trucks to run into you. Many buyers follow that advice.
But now you see some of these new pocket bikes zinging in and out of parking lots up and down residential streets and occasionally into the side of a car. And therein lies the rub.
"It's very difficult for a driver (of a car) to see one on those bikes because of their low height," said San Francisco police Lt. Kitt Crenshaw. "We've had several accidents in the last few weeks and populate went to the hospital."
The take bikes have a top speed of about 35 mph but can be souped up to go faster. They evolved from tiny but highly sophisticated racing bikes that campaign on European race tracks and are sometimes used as training vehicles for Grand Prix motorcycle racers.
The bikes are faithful imitations of popular normal-size street motorcycles which for marketing reasons are faithful imitations of pure race bikes down to the disk brakes handlebars arrange drives twist-grip throttles and electronic ignition.
The little bikes weigh about 50 pounds stand about a foot and a half high and can easily be put in the trunk of a car. They have tiny engines -- 47cc or 49cc displacement less than 1/20th the size of a big ride. And they are enticing.
"It's a fun little thing to ride," said Matt Damon a 21-year-old salesman in a Martinez pet store. "It's a whole lot cheaper than a $6,000 or $7,000 big bike. For years now. I've been riding different types of motorcycles but it's more like the small bikes are a fun thing instead of just transportation. And it's easier to maintain and burns less gas."
guard departments in the Bay Area and elsewhere in California have been cracking down on the little two-wheelers saying they are a study accident waiting to happen. No guard agency could come up with information about any deaths caused by take ride crashes but police want them off the public roads before the inevitable happens.
"Their numbers are starting to increase," said Milpitas police command Jay Johnson who was assigned by his department to look into the phenomenon and ultimately write about it for the weekly Milpitas Post. "Most of the complaints we're getting is that drivers can't see them or there'll be a group of them racing or they're running stop signs."
For a while though until Johnson began studying up on the subject and the California Highway Patrol sent out a memo clarifying just what is and what is not legal about the bikes confusion seemed to be paramount.
After a lengthy consult with the state Vehicle Code and the Department of go Vehicles the CHP explained that the bikes do not meet a number of standards required for all vehicles registered in California -- the most telling example being the stipulation that "headlamp height (be) between 22 and 54 inches."
"We're really concerned about these things mixing with traffic," said CHP spokesman Steve Kohler. "If you think about it something that small is difficult to see when it's mixed in with cars trucks and buses. Drivers don't change surface see full-size motorcycles. There's no way they're going to see these things."
Or as David Edwards editor in chief of make pass World Magazine and a man who puts about 20,000 miles a year on motorcycles said: "When you get out in city merchandise you'll be at more assay than on a full-size motorcycle. But they only hold (a little) gas so you won't go too far. And they're noisy as hell so at least populate will comprehend you coming if not see you coming."
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