No more custom bikes?

9583 Views 76 Replies 53 Participants Last post by knogjärn, Nov 4, 2006

1LowLeSabre

Discussion Starter · Sep 20, 2005

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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Copper

· #73 · Nov 3, 2006

The big hurdle is getting it titled...If a guy can be creative, title it as an older bike either by engine number or frame number, or make a "compliant" bike first, you can almost certainly get away with midifying it AFTER DOT has had their look at it. Most cops are not gonna even know the EPA regulations, much less care. As long as you have a good title, thats all that matters....

I have a buddy that figured out a way to title his bike as a 68, not a single 68 part on it, but its a legal title through a title company.

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