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Sometimes when faced with unreasonable demands, people reach a snapping point. Off-road icon and businessman Malcolm Smith reached his this week.

Most of you probably already know that some recently enacted legislation, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), prohibits the sale of youth motorcycles and ATVs deemed unhealthy for children under 12 due to supposed high-levels of lead content. Dealers had to pull affected bikes off of showroom floors, and couldn’t even sell spare parts.

Apparently the lead law left a bad taste in this li'l guy's mouth.

As far as most people can tell, this legislation was intended to help safeguard kids who might be using Matchbox cars as chew toys, not those who ride motorcycles for fun and competition. And while it sounds like there has been some progress in amending this issue, “fast” in Washington is often measured in months and years, rather than days. Malcolm felt the need to spotlight the topic, and show some defiance.

While chatting with Malcolm, he visibly choked up as he described having to tell a mom that he couldn’t sell her a bike for her daughter who wanted to start riding. We suppose that’s not completely a surprise, as he’s long supported children’s causes, like an orphanage at Valle Trinidad, in Baja California. (For more info, check out www.malcolmsmithmotorsportsfoundation.org/)

Bud Feldkamp and Malcolm handle the paperwork on an "illegal" quad transaction.

Recruiting friends to help out was easy. Longtime friend (and Glen Helen Raceway owner) Bud Feldkamp came down to buy a small quad for his grandson. Multi-time AMA Champion Jeff Ward, and TLD’s Troy Lee were both eager to buy new 65cc KTMs for their kids. Others, like multi-time champ Jeremy McGrath and Pro Circuit’s Mitch Payton came down to Malcolm Smith Motorsports just to show their support. While talking with Jeremy, he said, “This is unbelievable, because this is jeopardizing the longevity of motorcycle riding in general, and that means racing, too. That’s why I’m here today, is because of my racing. Look at all these little kids,” he said, motioning around the dealership. “We can’t do that to them.”

While a peaceful protest like this might sound like no big deal, Malcolm actually is taking a rather big risk. Penalties for selling the affected models are said to be about $100,000…each. And he sold three of them.

As far as raising awareness on the issue? Mission accomplished. Will the sales result in fines or other penalties? That remains to be seen.

While at the shop there was the opportunity to fill out forms that would be faxed to California state Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, as well as the CPSC, and Kawasaki also had some forms to fill out…and Malcolm’s store isn’t even a Kawasaki dealership. The industry’s pulling together in an effort to get this overturned.

When we mentioned that we thought it was cool that he was doing this, he unleashed his famous Malcolm Smith smile…but with a hint of nervousness thrown in, and said, “We’ll see how cool it is if I get fined or thrown in jail.”

If you’re looking for a way to do something protesting on your own, check out www.kidslove2ride.com. No, you don’t have to go all-in like Malcolm, but there are some good no-risk options.

Oh, and if he does get fined? We’ll be looking to purchase one of the “Free Malcolm Smith” t-shirts that Husky’s Scot Harden was sporting to help raise funds. As far as we’re concerned, Malcolm rocks.

Larry Huffman with Husky's Scot Harden.

What do you think?

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