NJ residents will be buying Fireworks AND Quick Release Hubs in PA

It looks like the State of New Jersey is trying to pass a bill that would outlaw Quick Release Hubs. This is a recent event. Now the electronic signs at the Pennsylvania Border will be warning about arrest and fines for both Fireworks and Quick Release Hubs.

This is a new development. I first noticed the article on the website of one of the cycling clubs I am thinking of joining. The idea is to protect children but the bill will apply to adults as well. I did not even know this was a problem. However, since I ride a single speed I do not have to worry since my bike does not have quick release. Now everyone will be carrying a Dog Bone Wrench.

Here is the link: http://courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070619/NEWS01/706190376/-1/news0301

Here is the article:

By MEG HUELSMANCourier-Post StaffDEPTFORD
Local bicycle owners are upset and confused by a bill recently passed in the state Assembly that would prohibit selling bikes equipped with quick-release wheels, a tool-free mechanism to change front-wheel tires.

The legislation, sponsored by three Democrats, would require bikes equipped with the specialized wheel to have a secondary safety device intended to prevent the front wheel from falling off.

If passed, the law would prohibit the sale of quick-release wheel bikes to children, citing more than 100 accidents related to the tool-free wheel mechanism.
The bill was altered before it passed with a 77-3 vote on June 14, requiring adult bikes equipped with the quick-release wheel to have a secondary safety mechanism to prevent the front wheel from falling off.

Patty Woodworth, owner of Action Wheels on Route 45 in Deptford, said she is confused about why adult bicycles are included in the legislation.

"I would never sell a child a bike equipped with a quick-wheel release," she said at her store Monday afternoon. "If we are required to only sell bikes with the new mechanism, the bike industry won't make it. Manufacturers are not going to make a special bike just for New Jersey."

Fred Clements, executive director of the National Bicycle Dealers Association, said the legislation as it is written now might seriously harm the bike retail industry in New Jersey because bicyclists would simply purchase their bikes in neighboring states.

"This is technology that has been around a long, long time," he said of quick-release wheels. "If this is implemented, it's going to be a real serious problem to bike shops in New Jersey; it might even be something that they won't be able to overcome."

The bill is sponsored by Assemblymen Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, and David Mayer, D-Camden, and Assemblywoman Joan M. Voss, D-Bergen.

The secondary safety mechanism would activate automatically if the pin intended to hold the wheel failed, according to the bill.

The intent, Moriarty said, is to increase bike safety and prevent children from sustaining life-altering injuries after falling off bikes with quick-release wheels.

"There is safer technology out there and I think we should use it to prevent accidents to children as well as adults," Moriarty said. "As we find safer technology for cars, we put it in there. If it were up to some car companies, we still wouldn't have seat belts or airbags."
Bicyclists gathered Monday evening for a regular weekly ride through Gloucester County disagreed with the potential requirement.

"Bike geeks know how to use the bike and ride it safely," regular bicyclist Eric Phares of Cinnaminson said. "Anyone who buys bikes like these, the ones with the quick-release wheel, know how to use them."

Reach Meg Huelsman at (856) 251-3345 or mhuelsman@courierpostonline.com