PIGLETS CAN'T LEGALLY RUN WITH HOGS, PATROL OFFICERS WARN MINIMOTORCYCLES BANNED ON PUBLIC STREETS, SIDEWALKS.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Buzzing like high-pitched chain saws as they zip hunched riders through neighborhood streets and parking lots, minimotorcycles - also known as pocket bikes - have become the hot new toy for teens and young adults.

``It's like being on a real racing bike but without the danger,'' said John Ujueta, 22, of Canyon Country, who owns several pocket bikes. ``I could get on a 600-cc bike and kill myself, but with these, you just scrape yourself up.''

Still, the little racing-bike replicas - each less than 2 feet tall and 3 feet long - are a nuisance for local law enforcement. The California Highway Patrol has declared the vehicles illegal on public streets or public sidewalks.

``They are not street-legal - period,'' CHP spokeswoman Wendy Moore Hahn said. ``They were never meant to be street-legal. They were meant to be on race tracks, off-road property types of things.

Officials said they are difficult for drivers to spot on the road, and the lack of standard equipment and identification numbers on these bikes has made vehicle code enforcement uncertain.

``They're extremely small,'' Hahn said. ``Basically, they have no safety equipment on them - meaning no brake lights, no headlights. ... If they're on the street by themselves, they're extremely hard to see on the road.''

On a recent weekend, the CHP cited three people riding the bikes on a remote stretch of the Templin Highway in Castaic. The county Sheriff's Department has ticketed 15 riders over the last three months, caught with the bikes on public streets, Sgt. James Anderson said.

``They're hard to catch,'' he said. ``They run from us all the time. ... Now that school is out, it's going to be a bigger problem.

``The reason these things exist is there is a racing venue for them. But now it's moved onto the roadway, and it's just not safe. That's not what they were designed for.''

Pocket bikes first emerged on racetracks in the mid-1980s in Europe, where they have become the focus of a whole culture complete with professional racing leagues. These scaled-down racers can hit speeds of more than 70 mph and retail at more than $1,500. Some found their way to the United States in the 1990s.

Scott Beckman began stocking them in his Canyon Country lawn mower repair shop in the late 1990s and has watched the fad take off. While the initial European imports were pricey novelties few could afford, the bikes got a boost in recent years when the Chinese began manufacturing low-cost models, he said.

``It's hard to get them, and they're hard to keep,'' said Beckman, owner of A Lawn Mower and Chain Saw, who sells several of the pocket bikes each month. They can reach speeds of 30 mph, but cost only about $375. ``For regular Joes like you and me, we come in here and we can buy them.''

They remain popular despite their illegal status on public roads, Beckman said.

``It might (kill the fad) if they crack down on them,'' he said. ``But I think people are going to do what they're going to do.''

Ujueta, who said he usually rides his bike on empty parking lots or to visit neighbors, lashed out at a potential CHP crackdown.

``I think it's ridiculous,'' he said. ``It's just taking things away from us. ... Nobody's going to take it on the street. Nobody's going to take it on a freeway.''

Still local law enforcement officers were prepared to tackle any violators of the street ban - to prevent injuries and deaths.

``They would be dead,'' Anderson said about riders hit by cars. ``There's no ifs, ands or buts about it.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Mechanic Richard Morales tests a miniature motorcycle behind a Canyon Country lawn mower shop that sells them. Riding them is illegal on public streets and sidewalks, officials say.

(2) Mechanic Richard Morales and shop owner Scott Beckman are off the ground - barely - in tests of minimotorcycles.

(3) Miniature motorcycles or pocket bikes are lively sellers at a Canyon County lawn mower shop. Patrol officers warn they can't be legally ridden on public streets or sidewalks.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer