What effect will the new rules have on our industry.
Harley Emission & EPA LawsDiscuss What effect will the new rules have on our industry. in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; We all have a tendency to ignore Government mandates unless we are directly affected. For example, tax law changes get a lot of attention every year. The EPA rules going ...
What effect will the new rules have on our industry.
We all have a tendency to ignore Government mandates unless we are directly affected. For example, tax law changes get a lot of attention every year. The EPA rules going into effect in 2006 are going to effect each and every one of us whether we like it or not. Sure, we can talk about "I'll dang well do what I want to my property etc, etc". But tell that to the cop as they haul off your pride and joy on a hook. We need to take this seriously as it is going to make a big difference in what we can do to our bikes. It is going to put some shops out of business and about the time some EPA twit slaps a multi thousand dollar fine on an on line store at 10k for each violation.... Get the picture? By 2010, the EPA rules will be the same as California. By then, California may have new rules outlawing motorcylces and of course, the other 49 will follow suit. Join the MRF, ABATE, write letters but don't just stand by and let it happen.
We haven't had a helment law in my state for 30 years and a couple of years ago they were trying to sneak one through because the friend of a politician decided to wrap himself around a telephone pole when he was half in the s@*tter! We beat them on that and we will do what we have to do to stop this virus called "CARB" from infecting the rest of us!
We were all asleep at the switch with this one, but I think we can work out an arrangement with the EPA so we can still enjoy our sport and lifestyle. After all, these bikes are not a major source of air pollution! So why wipe out an industry to accomplish, what? I think once we have presented our concerns and some alternate ways of protecting the enviroment, the EPA will allow us some concessions that will work for all concerned. At least, that's what we're working towards.
The main thing right now is to get as many riders and shop owners as possible to fill out the EPA Action Form that's on this site and mail it into the MRF. This way, the MRF can show the EPA officials they talking with that the MRF is truly representing a large group of businesses and people that have not been heard as of yet.
Hi again, Just read "Taking AIM January 2006". Are you f'ing kidding me? Can we email the form to the powers that be or does it have to be in snail mail (Post Office)? I just spent $2000 some dollars and I DON'T plan on taking it off. I thought Hitler was dead!
One of the first things we have to do is to make sure they don't align these rules with highway funds! If they do, we're all screwed! States will never give up highway money no matter how dumb the law is!
I just picked up the March AIM amd as I was reading the article on the TC88 hop-up a couple things came to mind.
One is that this is exactly the kind of stuff I love. Nitty gritty info on the Whats and Whys of making a HD go like it should have in the first place. Of course if the Company had built a good product in the first place there would be no need for such info. 68 hp in a 650-800 lb bike is puny and ridiculous to say the least. Now I see they have just miraculously found a way to sell a 95" or even a 103" engine over the counter. The point I'm making here is that Harley Davidson created this aftermarket for soup up parts by purposely building dogs and then selling you the fix for their suspicioulsy poor engineering. All this was done knowing all the time that what they were doing was against 1978 EPA regs from the very start. In my opinion this brought undo attention to the art of souping up bikes. Flaunting the law (of which I am a big fan) is best done in small doses. So here we are watching the mindless heavy hand of the EPA try to squash a perceived threat to their authority.
The second thing that came to mind after reading the March AIM was that this kind of reading is dying before our eyes. If the EPA rules go into effect as planned along with state wide enforcement most of that kind of info will be useless and most of the advertisers will be gone which means that most of the bike mags will bite the dust in the process. I'm hoping AIM is one of the survivors.
How things actually shake out is yet to be seen as is the nature of enforcement. However, while over at a local Northern California HD dealer last month the owner of the shop told me that one Bay Area dealer (which he wouldn't name) had already been fined $600,000 for modifying emissions stuff. He also said that his shop absolutely would not work on modified bikes, period. That's the kind of stuff that would do the most damage to the industry. I mean exactly who are you going to get to work on your bike if it has pipes, a carb kit, or ignition module? I guess we'll see soon enough.
milindh, Strange isn't it? The same people that modified these bikes are now refusing to work on them! They may not like whats coming out of our exhausts but i can smell a class action lawsuit in the air!
What effect will the new rules have on our industry. 
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