Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

-, I MOTOR CO., INC. HARLEY-DAVIDSON WI 53201 • 4' 4/ 342-4680 O Box 653 . Mllwauk.ee. 3700 W . Juneau Ave., P. . Subsidiary 01AMF INCORPORATED January 5,1978 Dear Dealer: 1978 must meet Federal EPA ids motorcycles built after January l 't the standards result in better" H ley·DaVl on ds Ch nges to mee . d adr C I' r mia emissions standar, a , . ns The changes inclu e: an a 110 ell as lower emlss lO ' smoother perfonnance as w I "A":y manufacturer, dealer or other ' ']J section 203 (~) shall be subject to a ci~frson who VIolates paragraph (3) (A) of person who VIolates paragraph (5) (B of pen~lty of not more then $10,000. Any penalty of not more than $2 500 A ) :c::tI~n. 205 (a) shall be subject to a evil ,(3) or (4) ~fsection 203 (a) ;hall'co~=~e~o atron with respect to paragraph (1), motor vehicle or motor vehicle en";" separate offense with respect to ecch o·ne. . ',10 • A new high.capacit~ air .c1eaner Iity control, high and low idl~ feature , • A new carburetor with tlghtehrql;'a • . ved choke rnec antsm and a~ ImJ;lro breakerless ignition system ·Translstonzed , .Closed crankcase breather system ld like to caution you, howe~er, that We wou . . . ns certified vehIcles. modifications to emissio The Clean Air Act establishes I. ' ---J dealSeer a'.'d up to $2.500 for eac~no~;~~no~up ~o $IOd ,OOO for each violation iy a etc. cnon 205 reads: y m epen ent mechanics, speed shops, it will b e illegal to make certain , A' Act prohibits: Section 205 (a) (5) (A) of the Clean ir 011 Th~ "devices Or elements of desi " em' , rq components such as the~ist~ns 1SS1~~;e1ated ~omponents) include basic Intake mamfold and carburetor Th '1cynn Iers, cylinder heads, valves cams and mufflers. Modifications 'to t';i'- a so me ude the air cleaner, exhau~t piTP~ "Tampering" d Id ese COmponents may b id ran cou constitute a violatio f h CI . e consi ered as not e ean AIr Act. .. ~ngme . ' . device or element of desIgn ~n' or render inoperative any, ine in compliance WIth " any person to, remove r vehicle or motor vehl~le engi he ultimate purchaser , stalled on or ~ a :o:i~le prior to its sale and delIvery to: render inoperative any regulations un e; t 15 r or dealer knowingly to remov~ °delivery to the ultimate or for any manu acture f design after such sale an such device or element 0 purchaser; or i The .Clean Air Act does not prohibit re airs t UI repairs , or replacements must not resul;' . 0 ~otorcycles. However, adjustmenti to any emissions related components sigm cant (out of ~pecification)chang~ replac::ements to emissions related com~n~n~e~era\anr adjustments, repairs Dr mamt~nance literature can be considered besc:' ed m .Harley·,oavidson service ~ct. Adjustments , repairs or re lac to e in complIance WIth the Clean Air literature should be approached with ca~~~~ not covered in Harley.Davidsm I; a- . -, . servicing, selling , ed in the business of repaln~~, ines knowingly to r fElt' "(B) for any ~.rson ;n~~~or vehicles or mtor v~~~c~:Si:inst~J1ed on or i~~ leasing, or tra In~ :perative any d~c~ or e eml.e~ce with regulations under t These regt1lations do not ap I to . ' ~ I' ve or rend er In . I I71ne In comp ia " should b~ aware that it m!/no:~~o~j(c~~ ~utlt beforeJanuarv 1,1978. But I remo hide or motor vehlc. e engi h ultimate purchaser. motor ve . . le and delIvery to t e modifications on the motoreycl b iI f eg or you or your employees to ma~ title folloWlng us sa EPA- Enforcement group will ~e aUct~ a/er Janu~ry I , I~78. It is expected that the and .w~ urge you to become thorou hive y ~~rchll~g for instances of "Tamperin : unwittingly place yourself in the pos~ti~ fa';"!la ~th the Clean Air Act SO as not ~o{ no VlOlr atlng any of Its provisions it ' " · b S mcerelY'J ',- JOHN A, DAVIDSON Another "Less than tolerant viewpoint'; By Lane Campbell It's Panic City in Hawg-land. You see, during January, HarleyDavidson dealers began receiving copies of a letter, signed by John 12 Davidson , that began , " H a r le yDa vidson motorcycles built after January 1, 1978 must meet Federal EPA and California emissions standards . .." . Truer words were never 's po ken , In fact, everybody's motorcycle built after January 1 must meet those standards, if it is to be used on the road. H ·D goes on to cite the carburetor, air cleaner, breakerless ignition and crankcase breathing changes they've cranked into their venerable design to meet the current standards. The finn then cautions dealers that it will be illegal to make certain modifications to the new emissions-certified bikes. They even cite chapter and verse of the Clean Air Act. It's all true. According to federal law , it is a violation (called tampering) to "knowingly remove or render inoperative" an emissions control device, design or system. Further, any dealer caught doing it can be slapped with a $10 ,000 fine for each violation. (T h ankfu lly, the bike's owner is not subject to this provision . The worse you can get hit with is a fix -it ticket if your bike ever flunks an "emission test" - something the bureaucrats haven't got figured out how to do yer.) However, the H·D letter doesn't stop there. The law refers to "elements of design" or emissions-related engine parts. Harley-Davidson has spelled out what those are : pistons , cylinders, cams, heads, valves, inta ke manifold , carburetor, exhaust and mufflers . "Modifications to these components, " says the letter, "may be considered as tampering and could constitute a violation . , .". The key word, here, is "may." The typical dealer rea ds th e letter , and he says to himself, "jeez, if I put Alphabet headers and a Mikuni carb on one of. those '78s, I could lose my shirt." So he calls up his friendly local trick parts supplier and starts cancelling orders, Ah, needless to say, the trick parts suppliers are none too happy about this , What's happening here? Is this another "less than tolerant viewpoint" from Harley-Davidson"? More to the point, can any motorcycle builder use the Clean Air Act to force dealers to use only stock, factory -supplied parts on their motorcycle? The answer to that last question is " no" . You see, the H ·D letter did not quote the paragraph in th e Clea n Air Act tha t says (in effect) "Nothi ng in t hi s law says you must us e OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts in repair or replacement" ; or the one that says nobody can make the use of such standard parts a condition of warranty. The politicians and the bureaucrats didn't write those provisions into the law out of love for trick parts builders , They did so because without those provisions, the whole Clear Air Ac t might have been overturned as unconstitutional. Why? Because these provisions are in there to prevent " restra int of trade", which is illegal under other. older federal laws. And if one law conflicts with another, then it 's usually the newer law that gets canned, Hence the wording. It means that aftermarket and modified parts have a kind of anti-monopoly protection against unfair competition; although they must (under other parts of the law) not make the bike's exhaust any dirtier than it was when stock. Does all this mean that HarleyDavidson's letter to the dealers was illegal? Not really, according to MIC President Alan Isley, in whose opinion , "It is legally and technically correct . . .the words are right, even if they only tell one side of the story. (T hey used "m ay" and "might" in all the righ t places. ) Isley added that he has written John Davidson, asking that Presiden!~ ... ,n he be a little more fair with the, aftermarket in the future . So , apparently it's an old scenario . , .Harley pulls a slick trick: sticks it to the. modified parts makers,1 gets knuckles lightly rapped , End ofr story? Not lIuite. What's happened; here is indeed an old story. NearlY. every bike- builder in the business has , at one time or other, tried to badger its' dealers into using factory parts i preference over someone else's. without overtly breaking the law . Th "less than tolerant viewpo int" is not i' H ·D exclusive. ,'lI , What is new , and rather dangerousil is that never has a government action given a factory such a wide -openopportunity to spread panic withou t breaking the law, Yet this is exactly what federal and state emissions regulations have done, Moreover , this had not been any harmless snafu. People have lost sales and lost money over this. Who is to blame? Is it Hartey-Davidson, for doing what any red- blooded motorcycle factory would do in d leir place? Or is it the government for saddling us with this mess in the first place? Is this a sign that these regulations are going to set dealers , parts- makers and factories flailing away at each others? I hope not. •

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