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

For the direct link go to 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.

Hopefully this won't come our way.

 

Nobody follows the rules anyway....lol

It will diff. hurt business in the motorcycle industry. I wouldnt think the Govt would want to effect that many businesses do to the economy at this point.

 

Move outta Cali. that state is soooooo fu(ked with emissions anyways. What happens in cali stays there. I saw it happen with all the major emission chnges in the 80's.

 

Yeah I know what you mean B. I saw them too. But it will still suck if that did go country wide.

 

California is a country within this country. Their laws and regulations are on a different level of the rest of the U.S. There is a lot that our gov't and EPA isn't telling us about the quality of air in the major cities within California. The reason for the crack down on the custom bike industry is that most independent fabricators who build, do not comply with EPA rules and regulations for emissions. It is technically a one off project built to a consumers request. Therefor, not enabling the American market to purchase mass quantities of the same product. If these were mass produced motorcycles like a Harley Davidson, or a Big Dog (just examples) than as a manufacturer, they will have to meet specs that are required for noise ordinance laws and or emissions laws set for each region. Because motorcycles are not a mandatory means of transportation, they are still technically considered a recreational vehicle. So, until our gov't passes a law saying that every motorcycle needs to meet low emission standards that every other manufacturer does, such as cars, trucks, and commercial vehicles, than it will stay the same for time to come. Year by year the regulations for productioned vehicles that burn combustable fuels gets more and more strict. Hence the generation of vehicles being produced as "Hybrids." Yes, it only goes downhill from here, but with the vast technology offered now and in the future, we will still have our toys. It will not be eliminated. I'm done rambling for now.....

 

This guys good!!!!

 

I swear, he's gotta be copying this s*** from a book!!!!

Good thing he doesn't talk like that at home

 

Yeah, you'd have to commit a hate crime...nerd beating.

 

I couldn't find anything from your first post in any of the articles in the link that you posted. Some things stating the opposite of what you posted but nothing stating or relating to what you wrote.

Did you copy and paste all of that from somewhere and not bother reading the articles?

 

hessogood,

This is the outcome of the ruling of the new law, it's what should have been posted in the begining.

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/roadbike/420f03044.pdf

 

I hate California... Always trying to ruin a good thing... Imagine a West Coast Choppers new price, before they were like 120k what will they be if this law is passed? 10mil?

 

I am going to say this now...

Because of the regulations upon us and in the next year or so, these custom bike builders and related fields will have to be using present day modern drivetrains to power their creations. So in other words, you could have West Coast Choppers build you the bike you want and power it with emission passing fuel systems that use the fuel evap systems that remove the hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from the exhaust. It still going to cost you big $$$. So your custom could be powered instead by a Honda VTX 1800 motor(example) that in which Honda spent all the money in research to get there engines and fuel management systems compliant with these regulations. Yes, you will be able to still get aftermarket parts, performance parts and exhausts. Think of it as upgrading a present day sports car. Just now with motorcycles. "Hybrid (as in drivetrain swap) choppers" and other custom motorcycles are only a little ways away. To keep costs down on research from the smaller independent companies. It's not the end of anything. Just stricter rules on emmisions. Thats all. You will see manufacturers of engines like S&S designing there v-twin engines to be fuel injected with an Evap fuel return system. Which sends the unused fuel back to the tank. There will be electronic valves maintaining pressure in the fuel system and fuel tank at all times, therefore much like any car on the road today. The system is designed not to release any unburned fuel vapors into the air. I deal with these emissions things on a regular basis, so I understand it. Every six months I take an online course through Volvo about these fuel/emission systems. It is just now being adressed so you can be aware of the changes being made to motorcycles. But the EPA has set these guidelines a long time ago for automobiles, and it's just now evolving to the motorcycle end of transportation. Anyone who works in the automotive industry, in either service, parts, or as a technician will understand exactly what is taking place. Again....Nothing to worry about.
It's just protective means to help the environment, not to destroy and entire industry of a very necessary invention.

Ride on biiitches