While several quad bike manufacturers have announced their withdrawal from the Australian quad bike (ATV) market, claiming they can’t meet the new standards applied by the Australian Government in October 2019, one Australian distributor says it remains 100 percent committed to supplying quads into the Australian market.

Melbourne-based Mojo Motorcycles, which has been the Australian distributor of CFMOTO importer since 2005, says it will meet all the requirements under the Consumer Goods (Quad Bike) Safety Standard – which are being introduced over two stages – to continue selling its eight-strong ATV range in all Australian states and territories.

Last year manufacturers including Honda, Polaris and Yamaha announced they would be pulling out of the Australian market due to the new safety standards being introduced by the Australian Government.

From October 11 last year the new standards required all new quad bikes display a warning label alerting riders to the risk of rollover.

They also require that by October 11 this year all new quad bikes must be fitted with an operator protection device (OPD) at the point of sale.

The regulations followed the recommendations of a report into quad bike safety by the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission (ACCC) and were supported by numerous health and safety entities and farmer groups, including the National Rural Health Alliance and the National Farmers Federation (NFF).

But they were opposed by a number of ATV manufacturers who argued that rollover protection devices would not improve safety and the focus should be on better operator training.

At the time National Farmers Federation (NFF) chief executive officer, Tony Mahar, said it was disappointing that established manufacturers would rather leave the Australian market than adhere to new safety standards for quad bikes “that will without a doubt save lives”.

However, he said the decision was up to the manufacturers, but farmers would still be able to purchase quad bikes from other manufacturers.

“The demand for quad bikes isn’t going away and other manufacturers will no doubt fill the demand left behind by those departing the market,” he said.

The stage one deadline was October 11, 2020, while the more substantive stage two framework – which requires the introduction of an operator protection device (OPD) on all general-use quad bikes – must be completed by October 11, 2021.

Mojo Motorcycles has this week reinforced its committment to remaining in Australia, and said that to help facilitate a smoother transition for customers and dealers, it has already completed the stage two requirements ahead of time, with OPDs now standard fitment across its entire model range.

“We want to reassure Aussie farmers that CFMOTO quad bikes are here to stay,” said Mojo Motorcycles Director, Michael Poynton.

“By introducing a new quad bike range that complies with stage two of the Consumer Goods Quad Bike Safety Standard requirements well ahead of the mandatory timeline shows our commitment to remain in the Australian market.

“And the response from customers has been phenomenal, with record sales for CFMOTO over the last 12 months and not one reported incident since the OPDs have been fitted.”

The mandatory legislation which applies to all new ‘general-use’ quad bike models sold in Australia is outlined below:

Stage one (by October 11, 2020)

• All quad bikes must meet the specified requirements of the US quad bike Standard ANSI/SVIA 1-2017 or the EN 15997:2011 Standard;
• All quad bikes must be tested for static stability using a tilt table test and display the angle at which it tips on to two wheels on a hang tag at the point of sale; and
• All quad bikes must have a durable label affixed, visible and legible when the quad bike is in operation, alerting the operator to the risk of rollover and must include rollover safety information in the owner’s manual.

Stage two  (by October 11, 2021)

• All general-use model quad bikes must be fitted with, or have integrated into the design an operator protection device;
• All general-use model quad bikes must meet the minimum stability requirements of lateral stability (a minimum tilt table test of 28.81 degrees) and front and rear longitudinal pitch stability (a minimum tilt table test of 38.65 degrees).

Mr Poynton said independent tilt angle testing is performed for Mojo Motorcycles by the Sydney-based Crashlab, and all CFMOTO quads easily exceed the minimum requirements.

To meet the OPD requirements, Mojo Motorcycles has engaged the services of Quadbar, an Australian manufacturer located in Clifton (Qld), on a tailored solution. The OPDs are then installed by CFMOTO dealers during the pre-delivery process.

“Quadbar was one of two OPD manufacturers listed in the government standard,” said Mr Poynton.

“Being an Australian-made product with 13 years of research and development invested in its design, we viewed Quadbar as a good partner to work with for the supply of OPDs to meet the requirements of stage two.”

Source: CFMOTO