Blog We Fight
May 15th, 2006
"Spooky Tooth belongs to a larger social experience that affects us all. The issue is movement, and it has a potentially massive impact. With gas prices soaring, commuters are looking for creative answers to an endemic situation. This situation could be taking place in any community across the country. Nationwide, laws generally do not promote the advantageous use of alternative transportation."
We fight. We fight for a freedom against the regulation of movement. We fight for a line of logic. We fight for a dignified and economic mode of transportation. We fight for the freedom of ideas. Spooky Tooth participates in an enterprise of change that advocates mobility socially, environmentally, and economically. If one were to track our society's social and political problems, the trail would eventually lead back to our nation's addictive consumption of oil. This is our great struggle, to expand laterally from the convention of the status quo. But, will individuals who ride Spooky Tooth cycles and other alternative modes of transportation find acceptance in a community of contradictions?
Members of the Tuscon Police Department seem to be struggling with the concept of Spooky Tooth cycles, the law, and the "gray area" of state and local policy regarding alternative transportation. Spooky Tooth's legal problems have always been that they defy definition, but that's exactly the point. As major segments of our community fight an uphill economic battle with automobile dependency, another segment has branched out into alternative approaches to mobility. Our community in Tuscon is blurring the lines and definitions of travel. The machines themselves operate fluidly and productively within our community. They get people to work, they look excellent, and they are not expensive to buy, operate, or maintain. Spooky Tooth cycles average 150 miles per gallon. These machines are one of many actual solutions to the massive problems associated with oil consumption. So why is such a viable and thoughtful invention, that benefits our community in so many ways, being persecuted by local law enforcement? Hundreds of people in our community depend on motorized bicycles. Why then have they had to endure vehicle impoundments, hefty fines of $1500, and vindictive harassment by police? What are we allowing our leaders to say? If you cannot neatly compartmentalize a new idea, than it simply does not belong? That idea must be exterminated? This is simply unconstitutional.
Spooky Tooth belongs to a larger social experience that affects us all. The issue is movement, and it has a potentially massive impact. With gas prices soaring, commuters are looking for creative answers to an endemic situation. This situation could be taking place in any community across the country. Nationwide, laws generally do not promote the advantageous use of alternative transportation. In most states, like Arizona, moped statutes blindly encompass the smaller motorized bicycle, vilifying the energy-conscious commuter because their gas or electric bicycle is not registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles. Occasionally, if a municipality does recognize an alternative transportation device, there could be restrictive ordinances in effect under so-called 'play vehicle' bans.
Spooky Tooth is now facing an even grimmer situation, a possible city wide ban of motorized bicycles. The Tucson Bicycle Advisory Committee stands in opposition to HB 2796, the new law legalizing alternative transportation in Arizona, saying such ludicrous things as "we never see motorized bicyclists pedaling" or "pedal bicycling is so much healthier for you". Another complaint would be that motorized bicyclists are "hot-doggers", and most people who ride gas and electric bicycles "hot-dog". It is quite a sad irony that this is the group which has pushed for Tucson's image as a "bicycle friendly community". We find their voice to be an imposing type of elitism, a contradiction to their public mission.
The City Manager's office is also weighing in with opinions such as motorized bicycles should not be allowed on the streets because they will be unregulated when HB 2796 is enacted statewide. Will small children be rampantly and carelessly riding $600 electric and gas powered bicycles in the streets to save money on high gas prices during their daily commute to work? Funny, I can not remember anyone under 16 ever purchasing a Spooky Tooth bike, with or without a parent. Spooky Tooth does not have any policy regarding sales to youngsters, it's just that most young people do not normally have $600 for a handcrafted, gas-saving, alternative transportation device.
We are a unique community in America in that there is no other place with a higher percentage of alternative transportation riders. Because there is a centralized shop with full-time mechanics, people see the point. Motorized bicycle quality is up, prices are down, they are easy to use, and just as reliable as anything else in their price range. Bottom line — cheap, affordable transportation for people who use taxis, and an affordable alternative to high gas prices. And let's not forget, Spooky Tooth cycles are down right dignified.
The City Manager's office is also weighing in with opinions such as motorized bicycles should not be allowed on the streets because they will be unregulated when HB 2796 is enacted statewide. Will small children be rampantly and carelessly riding $600 electric and gas powered bicycles in the streets to save money on high gas prices during their daily commute to work? Funny, I can not remember anyone under 16 ever purchasing a Spooky Tooth bike, with or without a parent. Spooky Tooth does not have any policy regarding sales to youngsters, it's just that most young people do not normally have $600 for a handcrafted, gas-saving, alternative transportation device.
We are a unique community in America in that there is no other place with a higher percentage of alternative transportation riders. Because there is a centralized shop with full-time mechanics, people see the point. Motorized bicycle quality is up, prices are down, they are easy to use, and just as reliable as anything else in their price range. Bottom line — cheap, affordable transportation for people who use taxis, and an affordable alternative to high gas prices. And let's not forget, Spooky Tooth cycles are down right dignified.
