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No more custom bikes?

9557 Views 76 Replies 53 Participants Last post by  knogjärn, 
1
From the Hamb.

http://www.mrf.org/pp-epa-for-the-layman.php

California has passed a law/legislation that WILL almost completely eliminate custom bike building and essentially destroy the kit bike industry. We will give you a brief overview of the short of it.

For the direct link click here http://www.epa.gov/otaq/roadbike.htm and scroll down to Final Rule for Cleaner Highway Motorcycles (published January 15, 2004).

1) As of Jan. 1st 2006 Californians will only be allowed to build ONE custom motorcycle in their lifetime that is not E.P.A./D.O.T. certified.

2) If you have a "custom built motorcycle" titled/registered before Dec. 31st 2005 it will be grandfathered and will not count against you as your 1 in your lifetime.

3) If you sell, wreck, or lose your custom built bike (grandfathered or your one in a lifetime) due to accident, theft or anything.TOO BAD! NO REPLACEMENT!

4) Custom Shops, Professional Bike Builders, legitimate builders can build 24 bikes a year.here's the kicker..you can't ride them anywhere except from your home to a legitimate "show" and straight back home. If you get caught "cruising" on your CM stamped bike, it is gone!!!

5) Any bike that is not a Manufactured Vehicle, 100% D.O.T. compliant with title, will not be available except for the 1 in your lifetime.but there is a catch.

6) Within 5 years all motors must be fuel injected, E.P.A. compliant, no exhaust will be allowed that are not E.P.A. approved and NO MODIFYING PARTS to carburetion, air cleaners, custom exhaust will be allowed to be used if it alters the exhaust or emissions of a manufactured vehicle or on "custom built bikes".

7) If you build an Non-E.P.A./D.O.T. compliant bike and then you die, your estate cannot even sell your bike for .5 years!

Here is the bigger worry. The rest of us might also suffer this fate along with California. The Federal government, D.O.T. AND E.P.A., want to adopt this on a national level!!! If this happens, it will kill just about everyone in the kit bike business as well as a lot of exhaust, air cleaner, carburetor, performance manufacturers and others. Custom Chrome was smart enough to see that they can stay ahead of the curve and get their kits to Manufacturer Status so that once you are built with a title you will still be able to build your 1 custom in your lifetime, build as many of their bikes as you want, modify them easily to "custom" status but still play by the NEW rules. No other major kit bike distributor has pursued this. For those of you in CA (and probably the rest of the USA) by January 2006 if you have NOT BUILT YOUR CUSTOM BIKE BEFORE THIS you may only get one chance in your lifetime and you may only get to build one. And it will have to be the way the government wants it to look and run and maybe not how you want it to look and run. SO IF YOU'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT BUILDING YOUR OWN BIKE OR YOUR DREAM BIKE, YOU'D BETTER BUY RIGHT NOW! REMEMBER, WHATEVER YOU BUILD AND GET REGISTERED NOW WILL BE GRANDFATHERED IN AND WON'T COUNT AS YOUR ONE CUSTOM.
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P
What next !....... Of all the troubles this state has .....
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fouraceswes
you can thank Boyd Coddington and The Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company.
Boyd for bragging on TV how he titles a newly manufactured car (RodBods body Chevy Smallblock engine) as a 1932 Ford and

THE HDMC for all their lobbying to legally eliminate their competition.
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Polock Joe
Good riddance...I'm so over this custom bike thing.
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Ryno
Next thing you know, we'll all be eating granola, organic veggies, and driving around in some stupid electric/hydrogen/hybrid cage!!!

oh...wait....
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A
from my understanding, the rules only apply to 2006+ bikes?

So building from anything earlier should be okay i think. My bike is chopped from a '00 that's already registered and insured. I hope to be done by spring of 2006, and I'm not too worried about the EPA rules.
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T
aj650 said:
from my understanding, the rules only apply to 2006+ bikes?

So building from anything earlier should be okay i think. My bike is chopped from a '00 that's already registered and insured. I hope to be done by spring of 2006, and I'm not too worried about the EPA rules.
Click to expand...
what about old bikes like stone age pre-1970 machines, flintstone?
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A
i'm not sure, my ride got totalled under a side of dino ribs...
but i'd imagine it's the same deal.

I'm not 100% on the rules, my ultra-ADD kicks in when I read, any clarification is welcome.

the Harpoon said:
what about old bikes like stone age pre-1970 machines, flintstone?
Click to expand...
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Scorcher
Ryno said:
Next thing you know, we'll all be eating granola, organic veggies, and driving around in some stupid electric/hydrogen/hybrid cage!!!

oh...wait....
Click to expand...
You'll only be allowed to eat stuff with California Warning labels on it......All others will be destroyed.

-Jason
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baytowngreaser
So will there be a major exodus of California Bike Builders? I bet Nevada is looking pretty tempting!!


-Eddie
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B
And yet people still have the balls to scoff when I remind them that corporations are trying to take over the world and succeeding. Remember fellas, revolutions aren't just for engines. ;)
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Polock Joe
baytowngreaser said:
So will there be a major exodus of California Bike Builders? I bet Nevada is looking pretty tempting!!

-Eddie
Click to expand...
or maybe PHX....I know a guy with a clever avatar looking for a job.
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Django
That is fucking scary.

So isn't this going to backfire on the suits? Won't sales of 2006 and newer bikes go down when the value of pre '06 bikes goes UP cause no one wants to deal with this beaurocratic bullshit?
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S
Harpoon, according to the Summary

These regulations are only applicable to new bikes manufactured in or after 2006. Per the EPA:

"As noted above, our highway motorcycle standards are only applicable to new highway motorcycles and new highway motorcycle engines manufactured after the applicable dates of the standards. These standards do not apply to those manufactured prior to the applicable dates of the standards. Further, our authority to regulate the emissions from highway motorcycles comes from the Clean Air Act, which limits our authority to the regulation of new motorcycles and motorcycle engines. We are not requiring existing motorcycles to meet new standards or prevent the sale of used motorcycles."


the Harpoon said:
what about old bikes like stone age pre-1970 machines, flintstone?
Click to expand...
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G
Remember fellas, revolutions aren't just for engines. ;)

You said it! Welcome to the New World Order! I'm tired of watching people cow down to these fucking politicians! Every motherfuckin day, we lose more of our rights and no one seems to be fighting back. We voted these assholes in, now its time to get them out! And it aint just the custom bike thing, its all of our rights. I'm not a political cook by anymeans, but I'm the age where this stuff is really starting to matter and hit home. We stay on the path were on, we sink to 3rd world country status. just my little rant. sorry
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KnuckleBuster
Grease Monkey said:
Remember fellas, revolutions aren't just for engines. ;)

You said it! Welcome to the New World Order! I'm tired of watching people cow down to these fucking politicians! Every motherfuckin day, we lose more of our rights and no one seems to be fighting back. We voted these assholes in, now its time to get them out! And it aint just the custom bike thing, its all of our rights. I'm not a political cook by anymeans, but I'm the age where this stuff is really starting to matter and hit home. We stay on the path were on, we sink to 3rd world country status. just my little rant. sorry
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more. Every day I see another of my interests coming closer and closer to extinction. I'm getting to the age where I'm making enough scratch and am aquiring enough knowledge to start making cool stuff and the MAN steps in and cuts me off at the pass. I'm almost in tears....
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yard man
stevekzo said:
Harpoon, according to the Summary

These regulations are only applicable to new bikes manufactured in or after 2006. Per the EPA:


THANK THE LORD!!!!!
Click to expand...
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Richie
It IS scary.

EVERY DAY now I find myself thinking, "What is it going to take before people have finally had enough of the bullshit."

Someone from the HAMB had brought up (and this stays with me daily as well) "The Boston Tea Party was touched off by less."

I think that's my favorite quote ever.
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Bugman
Sure it only applys to 2006 and newer special construction bikes. But what if I want to build a Knucklehead chopper and want to start with a custom frame and repro motor?
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X
Bugman, that would be considered your one special construction bike..you would have to build a bike for the ages, cause it would be the last you built going that route. Now, if you built a bike with an original frame with title, or motor that has a title, and replace the "missing" part, be it the motor or frame, you might be able to skirt the regs...People are going to start getting more creative it think because of this... You will almost Have to start off with a titled piece in order to build another bike I think... Ahhhh, but what the hell do I know..

XCS
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