pocket bikes

Children may as well be riding ground-based missiles. This is the message being sent across Huron County about miniature motorcycles, known as pocket bikes. One critic is Andy MacMillan, owner of Goderich Power Centre. "It's just like buying a chainsaw. That is basically what they are. You are basically giving your kid a chainsaw to play with . . ." Goderich Power Centre sells motorcycles, ATVs and scooters, but McMillan said he would never sell pocket bikes. "I can't sell stuff like that to people. I am a parent and have a responsibility to my customers," McMillan said. "They have no purpose in life. They've met no safety requirements. Everything in this shop has met all the safety criteria." Pocket bikes aren't legal on Ontario roads. Huron OPP Const. Don Shropshall said parents have already been hit with fines in Goderich, Clinton and Exeter. The OPP is cracking down, Shropshall said, because "we're looking at potential injuries that could affect the rest of their lives."