Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Emission controls Four-wheeler controls ~~me first, now maybe It s our turn ... By lane Campbell Soon, my friends , we will really begin to feel the weight of emission controls on our motorcycles. Oh, didn't you know? Since January 1,1978, the U.S. has had emission standards for new motor- Formulated for dilution ratios up to 80:1 cycles m anufa ctu red after that da te, W e've known a bout th em since 1975 , They apply to any motor vehi- · r-- --- - - --- --, I ~ eUL.T~CC .r...q~ I ~~ ~ I ~~.O . --'-- I Com petit ion Motorcycles I Sales - Parts - Service I I Mail Order Service I I a Specialty SALES OF DALLAS l II l • , 0 II Try us first for the hard to find Bultaco parts 1176 M ississippi. Dallas. TX 75207 ________ . (214) 638-2010 ! .J\ I:ULlmntE AiFG. lONG TRAVEl FORK KITS FOR All MADE OF 60 60 rT6ALLOY mARZOCCHI FORKS AVAIlABLE IN 9 -10 - 11-12 " Call 513-3n-760 7 COMPETITION '~E';.~A"'O':.?STH ACCESSORIES INC. Is t here any cure fo r gra ve l rash? WORK 'S PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS ~D Motocro s. Workstand $49.95 Avail. bl. at: Newport RV 1916 E. Mc Fadde n Ave. Santa An a. CA 714·558..Q064 Honda dOc. ~a7.ku,j, Triumph Motorcycles Try us for Triumph parts 16 BMW UPS same day 2509 Broad way Sacramento. CA 95818 91&452,5491 .............._ .. cle with : a) two or th ree wheels; b) engi ne d isp lac em ent ove r 49.5cc ; c) to p speed. loa ded. over 24 .9 mph ; d) head , tail and stop lights; e) d ry weig ht u nde r 1499 pounds , In th e fo regoing, the re ha ve been a few changes since the first alarms went out. T he sco pe goes beyond purely st reet-legal ro ad bikes to encompass some m odels which a re nominally offroad , Mo peds are, obviously, exem pt, Anythi ng over 1499 pounds in weight could be considered a car. and that's worse . The new " clea n" m otorcycles are rest ricted by EPA and California Air Resources Boa rd (C A R B) to a "sl iding sca le" of emission levels that varies wit h d isp lacement. The ac tual numbers a re n 't th a t important any more, tho ugh we a rgued m ightily over the m in 1975. W h a t is important is that most a ny sto ck four -stroke moto r ca n ea sily m eet them , whi le few (if any) two-strokes can . We ca n "live with the m " we're told . T ha t rea liza tio n didn't see m to bother m any pe ople , except a few d ie hard two-sm oker frea ks. The fo urstro ke Su pe rbike is a live and well in 1978. And as if to und ersco re the point. each of the Big Four ha s come out wit h its own barn -burner , over 1.000cc displacement , under 12 seconds in the quarter m ile . Yam a ha is still marketi ng a n RD400 st reet bike , and even the DT 250 / 400 end uros are still carried in street-legal trim . Did I lie in 1975 ? Look deeper. Dro p by you r Yamaha dealer and squ int hard at o ne of the pretty silver RD400 " E" models. Big and bold as life , you 'll see " 19 78 Model " marked on the manu facturer's ID plate a ttached to the steering stem . Look closer, in the u pper ed ge of that place, a nd you'll see the actual date of manufacture stamped in , It will read "617 7". or maybe, "817 7" or " 1017 7" . W hat it all m ea ns is this : W e have yet to see on the showroom , floo rs many mot orcycles (if any) built after J a nu a ry I , 1978 . T he current floor stock of " 1978 m odels" has yet to com e under forma l control. T ha t stock is made-in 1977 bikes. No one knows how big the backlog is o r how lo ng it will last. Until spring ? Unt il su m mer? W hen th ey arc go ne , it will either be a four-st roke world , o r we will see som e as-yet -unguessed engine eri ng breakthro ughs . But that's not a ll. H aving go tt en us this far into th e net , the bureaucracy has a cou ple more tricks in sto re fo r us. One is ca lled "em issions warra nty ," The other is ca lled " a nti -ra mper ing ." T he first follows fr om det ail cha nges m ad e in fed eral law d uring 1977 . In essence. it m eans th at not only m ust th e bike builder honor wh a tever no rm al wa rranty he mi ght have - he must a lso warrant t hat you r b ike will m eet or beat th e proper emissi o n standa rd througho ut its " usefu l life " , That latter term is a nother thing we argued vigorous ly with bo th th e Feds and the CARB staff. It , too , varies with displacement , ranging from about 7,450 miles to just ove r 18.000 mi les. Tha t means , if your bi ke sho uld flunk an emissions check somewhere , your dealer m ight ha ve to fix it under warra nty. Rig ht away , you must be aski ng yourself, "em issions check? What em issions check?" W ell , rig ht now, there's no su ch animal , except in Arizona , wh ere they're inspecting m otorcycles for po llution . usin g a procedure whi ch doesn't correlate at a ll to federal standa rds , Lu ck ily, t he test is sa id to be loose e no ug h to pa ss anythi ng t hat's hitt ing on a ll its cylinders a nd hold ing a ll its oil. Ca lifornia however , is actively proposing a new in - use insp ect ion progTam , So a re New York a nd New J er sey, with p rograms so co m p lex tha t even the sum mary a bstract ru ns sever a l pagesl A nd there's m o re to com e. Wha t it boi ls down to is this : In the very near future , o n a time scale ra nging fro m a few mont hs to a few yea rs, many of our more bureaucratic st ates a re going to sta rt running th eir own emission tests on motorcycles eith er a t time of sa le or at random o n the highway - with no two state progTams the same, This will sta rt a trickle , then a sm a ll torrent , of cu stom ers retu rn ing to their dealerships wit h "fix-it" citations tha t will have to be ha ndl ed under their parent manufacturer's warranty progTam , Deal ers at-la rge . who were jus t beginning to find out about all this at the Anaheim T rade Show, we re ( to say the least ) a mazed . Nor were they a t a ll sure whether this would be good or bad for busin ess. It 's hell wh en you don't know whe the r to co u nt you r futu re p rofits or wo rry abou t yo ur futu re survival. It a ll de pe nds on t he . various states, . and ho w they eac h decide to ha nd le em issions ins pec tio ns , Bu t there's eve n more! Not o nly d o new rul es on emiss ion wa rra nty a p p ly to new moto rc ycle they a lso a pply to "aftermarket parts". T he aftermarket is that portion of t he m o torcycle trade wh ich su pp lies repair. replacement . add -on . m odi fied performance , and / or cus to m parts. Things a re not so cu t -a nd- d ried , however. First , th ese ru les only apply to pa rts. "em issio n rel a ted ". of wh ic h the government has given us a suggeste d list . Among th em are pistons, valv es, ca ms exhausts , ca r bs, ig n ition p arts a nd cylinder hea ds . T here m a y be m or e . but in California , th e CA R B staff said they'd wait a nd let the co urts add th em , N ice guys. Then th ere's the business of "a ntita mpering" , T his is a set of ru les intended to ensu re that em issio ncontrolled ca rs and bikes stay co n tro lled . T he car folks al ready know a bo u t this; Ca lifornia takes this jazz seriously, and seve ra l ca r dealers have been na iled for di ddling their cus to mers' mo to rs so they'd run properly. T he m a x fine is SIO,OOO per vehicle. T hat's bad eno ug h fo r a dea ler. Suppose an aftermarket supplier (distributo r or factory) kno wingly m arketed , say , 100 exhaust syste ms that violate d this sa me statute , T hat's - uh - a m illion d ollars. Now, the way th e m ot orcycl e emissions regs are wri tt en , the bikes ha ve got to pass the tests wit h little or no adjus tment or m a int enance during th e speci fied m ileage , Anti -tam perin g m eans they 've got to stay tha t way , W hich is to say th at ca r bs will have "fixed" jets which ca nnot be cha nge d ; idl e air sc re ws will ha ve " lim it caps" o n , the m so they m ove only a q uarte r-tu rn ei the r wa y; ignit ion timing will also be l fixed . R ea lize tha t because the " m adein ·19 78" '78s a re n 't here . we've' not! see n this hardware , yet. However. that's the wa y ind ustry sp okesmen tel h us they will be, Hmrnrn . Well . if you wa n t to pu t a! set of those neat 29m m tuneable! M iku ni smoothbores an d a co llector! exh aust on you r emiss ion- co ntrolled Jmodel four-piper, tha t's tamper ing .. Oh , there's no law against you doing it , pe r se (alt ho ug h if you r bike's inspected wherever and however, a nd. if fl unks, you' ll get a " fix-it" ticketc). T he re is a law against you r dealer doing it. There is a law against your1 dealer sell ing you th e pa rts to do it without tell ing you plainl y that th ey're for co mpetition onl y. There's a law against his distributor selling hi m rh parts without doing likewise, T he, lawyers are go ing to have a field day, Soon , a ll the trick engine parts yo ul see will be la beled one of two ways T hey 'll either "conform" to cu rrenr em ission standa rd s and be labeled as, such ; o r they'll be labeled as raci ng ;J only. Rea lize th a t if a part-make r says, ; in writ ing . that his p art co nfo rms, he's go t to be prepared to prove it when th Ma n co mes kn ock ing . The proof-testsjj a t lat est esti ma te . cost $6 0,000 per engine fa mily. Need less to say . th e fo lks wh o sell. service , a nd tri ck-ou t your m o torcycle feel no ne to o sec u re at t his poi nt. Nei ther do g uys in m y profession (the wo rld's second o ldest) wh ose l ivel ihood~ u ltima tely derives fro m advert ising' revenue . One doesn't need to ad vertisi tha t whi ch o ne ca nnot legall y sell . Oh , yea h . I almost forgot. THe standa rds wh ich ou r industry' spokesm en sa id we co uld " live with " in 1978 - th ey're due to be tightened in 1980 . And aga in in 1983 . •

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