Up Front

UP FRONT

Dear Arnold

MARK HOYER

BECAUSE MOTORCYCLING HAS BEEN so maligned over the decades and, even at its most popular, has never been Truly Huge, we generally cheer and applaud any person of note who has the sense to enjoy one of the very greatest activities devised by humankind: motorized movement on two wheels.

And so it was to some degree with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger-—Mr. Olympia, action hero, politician, motorcyclist. We welcomed his personal interest in motorcycling as a fellow enthusiast and cautiously hoped his work in our state politics would be of some support to our two-wheel cause. It was even enough for most of us to let the whole crashing-a-sidecar-without-a-motorcycle-license thing go, so we forgave and let him back in the club.

But now, there’s this.

This past September, then-Governor Schwarzenegger signed into state law Senate Bill 435, otherwise known as the “Motorcycle Anti-Tampering Act,” introduced by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills, Calif.). The first part of the law did not deviate from current federal requirements in place since 1983. That is, street motorcycles registered in the state and built on or after January 1, 2013, must have an exhaust-system label certifying that it meets federal sound limits.

What’s different is the next bit, quoted here: “This bill would make it a crime for a person to park, use, or operate a motorcycle, registered in the state, that is manufactured on and after January 1, 2013, or a motorcycle, registered in the state, with aftermarket exhaust system equipment that is manufactured on or after January 1, 2013, that does not have the above label, and would make a violation of this provision punishable by a specified fine, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.” Excessive noise from motorcycles is an important issue, but this attempt to control noise singles out motorcycles unfairly; automobile exhaust systems, for example, are not subject to similar labeling requirements. If you take your car to a muffler shop, you can put on any muffler that fits, no EPA sound-emissions label required. Also, consider the size of the motorcycle industry and the very low volumes that some models represent.

If you crash your bike and smash the silencer, your only recourse in the future may be to replace it with an expensive original-equipment piece. If aftermarket pipe manufacturers choose to negotiate the new bureaucracy and pay to have their pipes certified, costs for aftermarket systems will likely increase substantially.

The less-bad news is that violation of this new law is a secondary infraction, meaning that riders can’t be pulled over on suspicion of a non-compliant pipe. It’s also a “fix-it” ticket, so the first-violation fine of $50-100 (repeat offenders pay up to $250) can be dismissed if the individual rectifies the situation and has the bike checked and signed off. Most important, though, is that the original efforts behind SB 435 were for it to be a smog-check bill, but it never made it to the Governor’s desk. It had been known as the “Clean Air Equity Act” and would have required 2000-model-year-and-newer motorcycles to undergo biennial smog-check inspections beginning January 1, 2012.

With the passing of the current version of SB 435, smog checks are off the table, but it seems unlikely that will be the case for long. And, make no mistake, this sound-requirement-based law is an effort to keep motorcyclists from removing factory-fitted catalysts, never mind the number of slip-on mufflers available that would violate the labeling law but would leave the cat intact.

While we shouldn’t blame Schwarzenegger for the flawed nature of the bill, we can blame him—especially as a motorcyclist—for signing it.

But we can blame ourselves—riders and members of the industry alike—for the fact that SB 435 exists at all, and for the fact that there is a very high likelihood that similar or more-severe legislation will be coming to a city or state near you. For decades, various organizations and publications such as this one have campaigned against excessive motorcycle sound. But pipe makers kept on manufacturing loud pipes, and we kept on buying them.

As Senior Editor Paul Dean put it during our conversation on the subject: “We motorcyclists have been warned time and again about the possible outcome, that if we didn’t fix the problem ourselves, someone would do it for us, and that we probably would not like the result. But we didn’t fix it, so someone else did.”

“Loud pipes” will continue to be one of the ways in which motorcycling will be attacked in the future because noise is an easy target. Which is one reason both the AMA and the Motorcycle Industry Council support stationary sound testing.

As an AMA press release issued in response to this legislation stated, “The AMA has long maintained a position of strong opposition to excessive motorcycle sound. In September, 2009, the AMA developed model legislation for use by cities and states seeking a simple, consistent and economical way to deal with sound complaints related to on-highway motorcycles within the larger context of excessive sound from all sources.

“The model legislation offers an objective method to evaluate motorcycle sound based on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) J2825 standard, ‘Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles,’ which is a stationary test.”

Is the potential for roadside sound checks or taking your bike to a soundcheck station better than what is now law in California?

The message here is that we should pay close attention to our government, especially as it relates to motorcycling, and participate in any way we can to help influence decisions that may have a profound effect on this wonderful, efficient and entertaining form of transportation. In the meantime, consider quieting your aftermarket-piped motorcycle, no matter which state you call home, or, as we have seen here in California, somebody else will do it for you. And if they do it, it is bound to be far more costly and complex.

Last December, the AMA named Schwarzenegger “Motorcyclist of the Year,” an award given to the person “who has had the most profound impact on the world of motorcycling, for better or worse, in the previous 12 months.”

He certainly deserves this “award” for signing SB 435. But we need to blame ourselves for the fact that there was anything to sign in the first place. □