Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I By Keith Bush any off-road enthusiasts are feeling th reat e ned in the Golden State, as indicated by a larg e number of letters and faxes crossing the ed itoria l desks at Cycle News. "Are two-strokes dead in California?" one begins . -The cause of all this concern is a set of state regu la tions which dic tate exhaust lim its for off-road recreational vehi cles, incl uding mo torcycles. While the con troversy is centered on Ca lifornia for the time being, people such as AMA Wes tern States Represent ative Dana Bell see potential for a chilling effect on the entire U.S. mo torcycle community. "Depend ing on how it's ha nd led in California, you can expect other states to watch," Bell says . "Generally w hat happens in California gradually moves across the United States. We' re kind of a test state." Kawasaki Motors Corp. USA Government Relations Manager Jeff Shetler • says, "It's highly possible that we 'll see national regula tions in a few years. The Ca lifornia Air Resources Board (CARB) is the state agency responsible for d evel oping ve hicle emission standa rds that meet Fede ral Enviro nmenta l Protection Agency s tandards . Accord ing to Bell, env iro nmental interes ts in California sued the EPA to force them to ma ke the state comply with federal s ta ndar ds. As a result , the EPA proposed a Fed eral Impl ementation Plan of w hic h Bell says: "It wo uld ha ve been devasta ting to all motorcyclin g in California. If a person moved to Cali forn ia t hey wo u ld not be allowed to b ring their motorcycl e wi th them ." The CARB regulations were approved by the sta te ' legislature in 1994 and accept ed by the EPA in 1995 as an alternative to the federal plan. M NOT EASY BEING GREEN Off-road mot or cycling outside of a closed co u rse is ill ega l in Ca lifornia un less the bike has specific d ocumentation, com mo nly referred to as "g reen stickers," w hich in di cate th at the bi ke meets EPA noise limits. The CARB regulations req uire mo torcycles manufactured a fte r January 1, 1997, to m ee t s ta te emission s ta ndards in order to receive a g reen s ticke r . Bikes with e ngine d is pl acem e nts u n d er 90cc would not have to meet the sta ndards u ntil 1999. CA RB Air Res ou r ces Engineering Associate Charles Emme tt ta kes issue with the portrayal of the regu lations as a two-stro ke ban . - The rul e is for all new motorcycles " produced after Janu ary 1, 1997," Emmett says . "So if you have an old one you can d o whatever you wa n t an d not hi ng is going to cha nge. Begin ning w he n ou r requirements start... the manufacturers . have to produce motorcycles that meet a standard. Now we didn't tell them how to do that, we just said here' s the standard and it's up to you to decide what's the best, cost-effective way to do it." While the regulations do not specifically prohib it any s pecific typ e of engine, it is the two-strokes which will be mos t directly affected. "The problem is two-strokes are a lot dirtier than the four-strokes, " Emme tt says . "Tha t's because of the engine operation. The intake and exhaust po rts are open a tthe exact same time, so you've got all this gas co ming in tha t's u nbu rn ed into the cylinder, and it just goes rig ht ou t of th e exhaust por t so t h er e' s a lo t of hy d ro carbons . Now tha t's not to say th ey can't mee t the s tan da rds by m a yb e fuel inj ectio n, may be port prim ing like Honda's doing, may be even adding a catalytic conve rter." "At this po int it wo uld be darned near impossible to meet the standards with a two-stroke," American Honda Motor Co. Prod uct Evaluation Manager Dirk Vandenberg says. "We're pursuing new tech no logy , bu t it won 't be ready by 1997." Yamaha Mo tor Cor.pora tion USA Govern men t Rela tion s Manager Mik e Schmi tt ag rees that the new limi ts present a challenge. "They put a 2.5 gram per kilometer ca p on hydrocarbons , w hic h no twostroke on the market can meet," Schmitt says. "In the '80s the Ya maha RD350 had two catalysts and it could almost meet those standards, bu t putting a catalytic conve rter on an off-road bike is kind of like putting a sad dle for a horse on an elepha nt." Em me tt says t ha t other p rodu ct s sho uld evolve to take the pla ce of tw ostrokes . "We think, and w ha t the ma nufac turers tell us, is tha t there' s go ing to be a full line of equip men t out there and it will ge t peo ple into the 21st centu ry gettin g better a nd higher-performance four-s tro kes," Em me tt says. H e co m: pares the curre nt situation to that whi ch arose w hen street bikes first faced similar regul ations. "About 70 to 80 percent of them we re probably two-strokes then, and th ey sa id it wo ul d n' t wo rk. Look w ha t's happened - we've got bikes that a re mu ch more high-perfo rma nce and everything." AMA Dis trict 36 Legis lative Officer Bill Da h rt, wh o se d ist ri ct incl udes No rthe rn California, sees it so mewhat d ifferently. "A 250cc ino to crosser has power characte ris tics you' ll never be abl e to re plica te with a fo ur-stroker," Dahrt says . "The way th ey build the re vs quickly so yo u ca n snap the bike u p over jumps an d obstacles - four-strokes just don't work the same. So there will be a big resistance to maki ng the switch. "A four-stroke is always going to be heavier an d will have -less power for a given d isp lac emen t. On a s tree t bike weig ht is not as big a factor . It's not the sa me as wres tling a dirt bike on the trail. Guys wa nt to bu y state of the art performan ce, which is light we ight, qui ck han dling, th e best brakes, the bes t mot or resp on se, and I don't see those things on the horizon for fou r-strokes." MONEY MATTERS "This is a very big economic issue," California Motorcycle Dealership Association Executive Director Hy Weitzman says. "It is an issue that will affect dealers, aftermarket sales, accessories, riders - particularly off-road competitors - and eventually other industries. Off-road is 35 percent of our business. People who are into off-road would really suffer for a w hile. They ' d have to find so me thing new to take the place of what they're losing." Cliff Glid den is dep u ty d irec to r of the California Depa rtme nt of Parks and Recreation and runs th e o ff-highway ve hi cle d ivision , which comm issioned u ni ve r sit y stu d ies of the eco no mic impact of OHV activity in the sta te. "These things were really professionally done," Glidden says. "They weren't hokey dea ls. The report came back from th e Un iversity of California Berkeley saying tha t we have 47,000 jobs directly attached to OHV activity, and there was a $3 billion effect on the California economy every yea r because of off-road." "We think it's going to have a serious im pact," Dahrt says. "We think people are going to buy in '97 and they' re going to quit bu ying for qu ite a few years and they're going to nurs e those two-strokes along as long as they can. I d on't think th e ri ders are co nce rned abo u t wha t kind of m otor it is; what the y want to bu y is s ta te of th e a r t p erform ance motorcycl es. Th e manufa cturers have mad e some strides to make better fourstrokes, bu t th ey're still nowher e near th e techn olog y of th e two -strok e motocross bikes. "When CARB did their an alysis they estima ted that it would cost $25 per unit to comply with th ose regul ati on s. All you've got to d o is reca lib ra te a fours t roke m od el. But if yo u 're r iding a CR250 tod ay ou t in th e wood s yo u're not going to be too excited about sw itching off for an XR400. It' s a grea t bike, but if's not th e same bike at a ll . Th e ma n ufac tu re rs d on 't really ha ve products to fill tha t void . That' s going to cost way more th an $20 per unit to d o. We think there's going to be a hole in sales for seve ral yea rs and CARB d id not take that in to a ccou nt. Th ei r ec o no mic impact data is way ou t of whack. They a lso di d n't ad dress th e aft er m a rket ind us tries that will be im pacted as well. Pipe ma nufacturers, silencer manufactu rers, guys like Answ er, FMF, Pro Circu it, those guys are going to tak e it in the sho rts on this de al. "The typica l hard-core MXer wants to buy a new bike every year, and that' s going to be predicated on him bein g able to sell his bike at a dece nt price to someone who's probab ly going to pu t it on public land. Even those MX ride rs go p rac tice so mewhe re , a lot of times on pu blic land, w hich is going to be illegal." . "Many of our recreation tw o-strokes started ou t as competitive closed-course bikes, like a Honda CR," Bell of th e AMA says. "Even un der this regulation, that bike still may be sold by the de aler and ma y be raced in a closed -course motocross. But at no time may that bike be rid d en under the regulation outside of that closed course. Now, we all know th at many of the co mpetition bikes, probably 75 percen t of the competitive bikes used in both Northern and Sou thern Ca lifornia AMA district competi- . tions on the BLM land s, the desert lands and forests , are those same two-s trokes . So let's say a person buys that CR. They can n o longer use it for recreation. They can sell it, but the person w ho bu ys it can only use it for closed course. They can never take it ou t there and use it in the desert. Again, you look at a serio us compe tition bike, how many years is it really used for competition ? Genera lly it' s so ld and the person w ho bu ys it is going to use as a recreation bike and not on the track. So th at whole market of used bikes is going to be very serious ly impacted." Glidden confirms that the market for used off-road motorcycles ma y be adv erse ly affected . "Most used motocross bikes are definit ely sold to a trail rid er or somebody who co m petes in so me o ther type of green-stickered fu n ," Glidden sa ys . "Wit hout a gree n sticker, you won't be able to ride yo u r vehicle in a ny sta te veh icle area like Ocatilla Wells or Quill Canyon. Our motocross tracks w ill be closed: Unless it's a special event, you won't be a ble to co m e p r actice . You won't be able to rid e in any Ll.S, Forest Servic e land or the BLM desert, and you won't be ab le to ride in any city pa rk th a t green s tic ke r money has p u t togeth er ." The fin an cia l impact of the regu lati on s wo uld be felt in other areas as well, accord ing to Dahrt. "In Californ ia we have the OHV fund whic h co mes from the green s tic ker sales as well as so me gas tax mo ney," Dahrt says. "It's a $30 million a year M torc o ycleand ATV emission levels in grams ~r kilometer Average off-road two-stroke Average off-road four -stroke Off-road stand ard for 1997 Curren t street bike stand ard He' 15.0 1.5 1.2' /2.5 1.0 CO' 20.0 32.0 15.0 12.0 I. Hydrocarbons. 2. Carbon Monoxide. 3. Represents corporate average. Other standards are for specific engine families. Table prepared with information provided by the California Air Resources Board.

• Cover