Customs Live: Reports of Hot-Rodding's Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

CUSTOMS LIVE: Reports of hot-rodding's demise have been greatly exaggerated

If you believe everything you see and hear, performance-modified V-Twin streetbikes have just about rumbled to the end of the road. Very soon, due to stepped-up enforcement of evertightening emissions laws, making such motorcycles street-legal will be impossible.

Damn! Please say it isn't so. Okay, it isn't so. Truth is, it still is entirely legal to use certain non-OEM engines and high-performance engine U1!U.U'1IiI1II~[[i1IIII4~' for the manu dealer or distributor, no penalties or reqistra tion quan daries for the bike's owner. Neither does it involve end runs .`.. around the law or wink-wink, nudge nudge deals with DMV clerks, It's all legal and in complete compliance with the letter of the law.

Both the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and CARB (California Air Resources Board) have made some concessions that permit companies and individuals to build street-legal bikes with modified or non-OEM engines. Both agencies, for example, offer an Engine Certification Option that allows use of a complete motor that has been certified for another bike. This provision does, however, involve a strict installation procedure that must be closely fol lowed and properly documented.

The EPA also otters a Personal Use Exemption, which imposes very little in certification requirements and is available for individuals on a once in-a-lifetime basis. There's also the Display Exemption, which allows a bike of just about any specification to be ridden to and from locations

for display purposes (bike shows, dealer/distributor events, lobby exhibits, etc.). CARB has a Special Construction allowance that does not require kit bikes and customs to meet any emissions certification stan dards, so long as they are not built for resale.

Aftermarket engines and engine components can be legally installed if they have been EPA/CARB certified. Be aware, however, that an engine listed as EPA0rCARB`i'1iiIi1IE~1i11~IiDH the same as t'JiDlUT~11 is "certi •1~ compliant sell EPAand CARB-certified engine equipment. Just about any engine component can be certified if it does not increase a stock bike's hydrocar bon (HC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions by more than 10 percent and its carbon monoxide (CO) output by more than 15 percent. So, while you cannot legally use just any engine or performance parts in your two wheel hot-rod, you still have options. You simply have to be selective in your purchases and follow any man datory approval procedures.

You can get complete detailed information about these and other performance options by logging onto www.sscycle.com/regulatory/index. ph; www.epa.gov/otaq/roadbike.htm; www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm; or www.mic.org. -Paul Dean