IN
THE
WIND
P30
CARB'S RED STICKER PROPOSAL WORKSHOP
A
s announced earlier this
year, the California Air
Resources Board (CARB) has
proposed "sun-downing" the
California Red Sticker program,
which would effectively end
the current Red-/Green-sticker
designations assigned to off-
road motorcycles (CARB calls
them OHMCs) sold in Califor-
nia. The program applies to all
dirt bikes—trail bikes as well as
motocross bikes—making this an
all-encompassing issue and not
just something off-roaders need
concern themselves with.
SOME BACKGROUND
The California Red Sticker
program was originally designed
as a competition exemption
for dirt bikes—Green Sticker
vehicles currently meet strin-
gent emissions standards while
Red Sticker bikes have none.
A Green Sticker registration tag
means you're allowed to ride off-
road year-round, while the Red
Sticker means limited use off-
road (mostly restricted from trail
areas during summer months).
It's a fairly light restriction and not
a vast difference to the end user,
which resulted in consumers
leaning toward the lighter, faster
red-sticker models. As green-
sticker standards became even
more stringent in recent years,
rather than invest in further
development (which would, in
turn, raise prices), manufacturers
started putting red stickers on its
smaller trail bikes (such as the
Yamaha TT-Rs and Honda CRF-F
models).
CARB wasn't happy with either
of these trends, especially when
they did some research of their
own and came up with the star-
tling statistic that more than half
of OHMCs sold in the U.S. are
red sticker bikes with a full 75%
of red-sticker motorcycle owners
confessing that they have never
raced. They since concluded
that the red-sticker program was
not being utilized for its intended
purposes, and are now in the
process of coming up with a
replacement program. (Cycle
News report, May 2017: "CARB
Considering Ending Red Sticker
Program").
If you're thinking "I don't live in
California so this doesn't affect
me," think again.
The sheer volume of OHMCs
sold in the Golden State means
the manufacturers will likely build
to the California spec, rather than
complicate their model lineup
with separate designations. Plus,
CARB and the EPA are working
together to align their regula-
tions into one that will apply to
the entire country, rather than a
separate standard for California.
These two will soon be on the
same page, and that page will
likely be the plan CARB pro-
posed on Tuesday, October 23
at their El Monte headquarters.
THE PROPOSAL
Industry, manufacturers and me-
dia attended the Red Sticker Pro-
posal Workshop to see the latest
plan from CARB. The revealed
proposal outlines two separate
emissions regulations: evapora-
tive and exhaust (evaporative
meaning the chemicals that seep
from your motorcycle even when
it's parked, like through the gas
tank and fuel lines). Evaporative
emissions are laid out on a three-
tier basis (with another three for
youth bikes). The corresponding
implementation schedule desig-
nates the percentage of models
that must meet each tier and by
when.
Exhaust emissions also have
an implementation schedule,
but rather than tiers, it is simply
tapered down to more stringent
Another representative at the
hearing referred to the proposal
as a "two-stroke killer..."
