Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. N. It's not a hoax or some kind of joke. The Environmen tal Protection Agency really can decide not to let you ride your motorcycle: In fact, they may have to. And there's nothing much that you can do .. The EPA is an Executive Agency, a Suzuki T-250, a Triumph T-120R and at the moment they are operating (650cc). and a Yamaha DT-IE (250cc). under a court order that requires them One notices that all the two strokes are to clean up the air in Los Angeles. The single cylinder Japanese dirt bikes. court order stems from a law suit· by the· David says that he'd like to see a ci ty 0 f Ri verside, wh.ich resides sampling of 100 different bikes. downwind of Los Angeles and gets all The second mistake that the EPA the crud blown out of Los Angeles. The made was that they tested the bikes as if smog in Riverside is consistently far the were driven like· cars. The LA-4 higher than what has been set a driving mode was used which allows for minimum safe level. certain acceleration times, certain So the court told the EPA to get amoun ts .of time spen t idiJing, certaiil LA's air clean. The didn't say how. So amounts of time-distance in city traffic, the EPA has one consideration only: get and certain amoun ts of time-distance at the air clean. They can do it without freeway speeds. But this driving mode going through the legislatures, too. If just doens't apply to motorcycles. Bikes they decided tomorrow to outlaw cars, don't spend alot of time stalled on the it would be so. freeway, and they accelerate at far They set standards for factories, cars, different rates. So the testing wasn't trucks, planes, and other sources of accurate. But it was done in a hurry. pollution. When they got to That the EPA went off haIf-cocked is motorcycles they found no working further demonstrated by the general examples of clean engines. So, in the lack of information about motorcycle abscence of technology, they decided miles traveled in the LA basin. The that the estimated 30 tons a day of . Southwest Research Institute concluded pollutants that bikes produce could be their report to the EPA as follows: eliminated by eliminating the source. The air pollution impact ofmotorcycles on That's where it stands. The indiv;dual metropolitan areas is not known at motorcycle industry is hoping that they this time. Nationwide and regional emissions can convince the EPA that they can are only rough indicators of the actual air quality impact of any source on an urban produce a clean motorcycle - quickly. area. The Japanese can. Honda has already demonstrated that their CVC system is It should be recognized that the subject effective in cu tting down the study is only iii first step toward a real understanding of motorcycle emissions, and emmissions produced by a four-stroke, that tests on a great many more machines are but the most shocking news is that a needed to obtain an accurate baseline two-stroke can be cleaner than a emissions estimate. It has likewise been four-stroke. impossible in the subject study to gain There are a n umber of ways that a knowledge at all about emissions variability two stroke can be cleaned up. What it from one machine to another of the same has going for it is a lower operating type or about variation in emission levels with temperature and lower cylinder age. Additional attention to possible control technology ideas and the development of a pressures which don't produce as much better:suited chasses dynamometer nitrous oxides (NOx). What they do specifically for motorcycle operation are two produce is a great deal of hydrocarbons. more. items which have been entirely But, we learned while talking to Dennis neglected thus far. These comments give some David of Kawasaki's Technical Services indication .Df the direction in which future division the hydrocarbons are relatively motorcycle emissions work should proceed in easy to deal with. It's simply a matter of order to maintain a reasonably quantitative getting the fuel-air mixture to burn evaluation of a potentially important emission source. more thoroughly. This can be done by The next thing that manufacturers, more thorough atomization on the particularly the Japanese, want to do, is intake side, by fuel injection to keep the convince the EPA that technology does raw gas from escaping the cyHnder exist or can be made to in short order. before it's ignited, by changing the What they have to do is to convince shape of the transfer ports, or by them to set standards rather than various tricks in the exhaust system. impose a ban. This may impose In ciden t1y , an efficien t two-st;oke something of a problem for the smaller engine is a clean engine. That IS, a Kawasaki road racer running at peak . manufacturers, the British and Europeans, who don't have the vast power is probably cleaner than an technological and financial resources Allstate idling down the street. We will possessed by the Japanese. have a more complete discussi~n of If this fails, then both on- and what the major manufacturers are off-road two strokes will be banned. specifically doing about emissions and Four strokes will be restricted. the types of devices and systems that The' industry wants ermSSlOn you are likly to see next year - if there standards. They asked for them before are still any motorcycles - next week. this whole thing got out of hand. When In an attempt to forestall the EPA confronted with the situation, they ban, the MIC and its members :u-e didn't fool around. Instead, they said, submitting comments to and meeting "We'll build a clean motorcycle." Of with the EPA. They are approaching course, the motorcycle industry isn't from several directions. Firstly, they plan Detroit, they don't own any public to attack the testing methods. The officials. They can't raise the storm that SouGhwest Testing Institute only is going to rise if the EPA decides that . sampled seven bikes: a Harley-Davidson cars have to go. Maybe the EPA is FLH (900cc), a Honda CL350K3, a making this a prototype of an Honda SK.IOO, a Kawasaki F-6 (125ce), It~?o.q.~v~ J~~~~~.~~-t~:!~~~!~S . ,.;;---<' 2255 Harbor Blvd., Cost" Mesa, Calif. 92627 ! '1."'ii""aO.·liIal:l:mal:l:..III:I:...7i11il4.)16ii46-4655 or 646·2428 ( NEW * DODGe; * USED * VAN-TRUCKS4x4's - CONVERSIONS Discounts to cyclists * Ask for MHY Bigm~n 86R or John Knowles 0·37 Dependabl. Dodge 21514 Roscoe Blvd. Canoga ParI<, Calif, 91304 213-873·4095 2J3·883~9060. (LA) THE BIKE BAN: M - What's Going to Happen? ~ :l Ul W ..J tJ > tJ automobile ban. Cars are on their way out. They face three things that make them impractical: pollution, congestion, and fuel shortage. Detroit's ugly ducklings are the worst, of course. As they correct the emission problem, they use more gas. The '73 cars are averaging 14 MPH. An eight miles per gallon car is common from Detroit. T he cars are too big; it takes an incredible amoun t of energy to move a two-ton vehicle. And they stilI aren't real clean. (You may be aware of the recent case where a Detroit giant said they they couldn't meet impending federal requiremen ts. Honda took the Detroit car and, by installing their evc cylinder heads, met the requirements.) So cars present three problems. Motorcycle have three answers. They. are smaller and lighter. That will help the congestion situation. The technology exists to clean them up (although you may expect a ten percent power reduction). A smaller, lighter vehicle ultimately will use less fuel. Assuming that a clean motorcycle exists by 1974 or 75, one that's cleaner per mile than cars, the shift to cars from bikes by commu ters would have to be considered counterproductive. (Of course, bicycles present an even better answer to those three problerll, but they aren't as fast and the present freeway system can't cope with them. Bicycle lanes won't hurt anything. Rapid transit still ~eems distant in Los Angeles.) The problem doesn't affect only Los Angeles, however. Next week you may expect to hear similar EPA proposals made for other major cities across the country. There are only a few things that will stop the ban: 1) an agreemen t between the EPA and the motorcycle industry to create a clean motorcycle, 2) a rash of lawsuits that stops it in the courts, or 3) executive action. You might write a letter to those politicians that you feel listen. But mostly you can just wait. It won't be long. lNTERNATIONAL CAFE RACERS ASSOCIATION s ~t;\OIl~ t~~~ ~~ ~b ~q'c~t~ E Basqva..aa TJre:!!p ~ Iim.!W H@OAKA MOT0ItCY,:L_ "We have the parts" Desert and Moto-X Preparation Busqva..na Klocker's SALES & SERVICE. 785-4289 & welding shop' 8730 SOOur..da, sepulVeda Ca. 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