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Posted on Wed, Apr. 30, 2008
Popping a wheelie may cost you an arm and a leg
BY LAURA FIGUEROA
Pop a wheelie, pay a grand.

The Legislature, in a crackdown on reckless driving, passed tough love Tuesday for daredevil motorcyclists.

The fine for popping a wheelie, if Gov. Charlie Crist signs the bill, will be $1,000 for the first offense, $2,500 for the second and $5,000 and the possibility of five years in prison for the third stunt.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Miami Republican, and Sen. Rudy Garcia, a Hialeah Republican, also turbocharges speeding fines for all vehicles: $1,000 for traveling 50 mph or more above the speed limit.

Second and third offenses get the identical treatment as wheelies, including the potential prison time.

Lopez-Cantera, who has ridden with Florida Highway Patrol officers on Miami-Dade highways, said he has seen riders pop wheelies -- lifting the front wheel and riding on the rear -- and speed as fast as 136 mph.

Motorcycle lovers don't like the bill; one blogger threatened to ''kill and eat'' Lopez-Cantera. Capitol police are investigating.

Lopez-Cantera shrugged it off. He's just happy colleagues didn't kill the bill.

''It's not often that bills of these magnitude pass in their first year,'' he said.

Will the ban diminish sales?

''Probably not,'' said David Alvarez of Palmetto Motorsports in Hialeah, which sells about 150 a month.

But he said the fines are likely to discourage stunts.

''The Evil Knievel days are kind of over,'' he said.

 

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Motorcycle lovers don't like the bill; one blogger threatened to ''kill and eat'' Lopez-Cantera. Capitol police are investigating.



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I'm gonna have a -5 rear sprocket...

 

stopping is not an option!

 

The cops are soooo pumped to catch stunters, they are spendind thier own money to supe up their rides to nail us.It's getting too psycotic out there

 

They think that people are really gonna pull over now cause they raise the price, they were better of leaveing it the way it was, atleast sometime someone might stop, but now forget just knowing you have to pay a stack for a power wheelie lolololol, yea right.

Run Forest Run!!!!!

 

I somehow think a felony flee is cheaper...

 

''The Evil Knievel days are kind of over,'' he said.

What a tard

 

I personally called Lopez Cantera and Garcia to try and drill the fact that the 2 wheel society has determined that fleeing is now manditory,and they will be putting the public at greater risk.I would personally like to thank the psyco bikers of Dade county for causing the whole rest of the state to pay the price for your insanity.I spent most of last summer working in south Miami,and the things I saw while riding down there,Blew my mind apart.You guys have titanium nuts and ride like a bunch of Freddy Kruger's on ecstacy.Absolute whackos.So, I can kinda see why the lawmakers who live there full time,raising their little kids are terrified of the sportbike crowd.But what a ****** nightmare law.Life just keeps getting better and better.

 

what THE ****?

thats is ****** retarded

thats like getting a ****** DUI

 

... almost makes you want to buy an R1 and hit up I-4

almost

 

my last wheelie I stopped for was over 2 grand all said and done, but that was 3 years ago.....the last time I stopped for a pig.

T