California

[luoma]

isn't it odd that the state with some of the worst air and water quality problems has the most rules? Guess you can't legislate mother nature.

[LinerHead]

In general, the days of an air cooled engine with a carb are numbered.  Emissions are going to kill them.  No new air cooled Beetles being made or sold.  We will all be riding water cooled fuel injected systems soon enough.

It's easier to control emissions when you can keep the temperature down (water cooling) and precisely control the mixture (fuel injection).  You can lean out the mix via the computer as required to keep it within specs.

Advantage to the FI, I can drive anywhere in the country without adjusting the jetting.

Downside is that it isn't as much fun to re-map the FI as it is to poke at the carb.

I think that most places will probably exempt, or continue to exempt, motorcycles from emissions test, just based on the low mileage that most bikes get used, and the relatively lower percentage of motorcycles relative to cages.

[scoTTy]

hhee. heee.. I live where ther is no emissions tests..

 when I lived in southern cally so many years ago I got stopped by a police officer in Hollywood.. I lived in Burbank a the time  and said He had noticed my ky plates on my car for quite a few months.. gheezz i thought I was invisible a 2 seater that was black with white racing stripes   he said If u are going  live here.U got to get inspected , so I did.. and opend my hood and the inspector's eyes bugged out and said SoN, You are illegal from the air cleaner down.. I said well put your smog machine pipe on the exhaust.. he said doesn't matter if your engine is cleaner than it came from the factory.. U can't change anything.. so I sleuthed around a ew more months and movd to Houston Texas,, where my headlights made me flunk their tests.. what a funny sight  on the guys face when he put the machine on my headlights and it buried the needle..  I had european halogin lights..  I could see forever.. so i had to tak out those lights and put inferior sealed beams in to pass.. and then.. well , Yall know how long it took for me to change back to good lights..

so now I am in KY once again in an area that doesn't have a clue

[dewjantim]

I've got an idea. Why dont all the manufactures say screw the CARB standards and just keep making vehicles that adhere to the Federal Govt guidelines. I think that the people of California would be pretty mad if they could no longer buy new vehicles there. The rules might even be changed. I think it is crazy that California thinks they can, in effect, be their own country and make their own rules reguardless of the federal government. Yeah, I know, states rights and all that crap. I just think the laws should be uniform from state to state......Dew.

[RagMan]

You are not the only one, that wished California was not so annoying.  I moved from there because of their crazy regulations.

[DaveG297]

They don't much mess with you in Michigan and that goes for noisy HDs too.   We ain't holding our breath either cause it will happen soon.     How about electric bikes with speaker and recorded sound.............not far off..........dg

[DaveG297]

How do I post a new topic..........dg?

[doxiedog]

What i find strange, is there are NO smog testing on motorcycles in calif.
  But if your 49state model has 7500+ miles you can get tags.

[1 Thump]

Or if the bike was registered in your name in a different state, it can be registered in CA.

[raderj]

I'm gonna give a bump for this because it may be helpful to someone.  Some Triumph dealerships in SoCal sell Enfields now.  I got mine from Rocket Motorcycles in San Diego.

[1 Thump]

Interestingly they do not smog test motorcycles in CA.

[jartist]

They tried to pass a bill to smog test bikes but it got watered down to be a noise pollution bill. I read somewhere that part of the problem was the infrastructure required to install dynos for the smog test. The harley lobbyists probably saved our butts too!

[GreenMachine]

If they did install dynos, maybe us iron guys can re jet and tune our carbs while they check for smog. Why would states continue to waste taxpayer money on smog testing, new cars and I would say, cars that are 10 years old or even older probably would past their test anyway with a few that might not due to a defective sensor or check engine light on...Cars, bikes today are nothing like the lead sleds of yesterday..Gasoline has morphed into a chemically enriched alcohol..Isn't the car/motorcycle industry manufacturing vehicles to meet or exceed fed guidelines.. Clean air is a good thing, it seems to me that doing it at the front end is the way to go vice dragging everyone to the smog testing center every year.. I brought two different gas powered leaf blowers from home depot over the past 3 months, one was a midprice ryobi and the other a cheaper home depot brand model..After using one time and using the manufacturer 50-1 mix  (mind u new gas ), they wouldn't start. Good spark (ouch) but neither unit would start.   My neighbor and I took a plug out of older model that happen to use the same size and still it was a no go).. I can't explain it...I personally think they are set up very lean or Sunoco is providing inferior fuel. I ended up emptying the gas and taking both back within the 30 day purchase and got my money back. They are now very fuel efficient and emit little to no pollution....Is fuel changing again? Sorry for the rambling but eventually I'm going to need a leaf blower that works...GM

[Arizoni]

Arizona requires testing but for the most part it just involves testing your ability to reach into your wallet and pull out a $20.

When I bought my new license plates for my RE this year I didn't even have to take it to the test station.
My '99 Miata on the other hand has to go in but their idea of testing it consists of plugging in their computer scanner, shaking their heads and grabbing the $20.

My old '78 GMC truck on the other hand has to get sniffed with the probe while it's idling.
They would try to run it up to 40 mph on their rollers but it is a full time 4 wheel drive truck so it would just climb off of their machine and charge off down the road if they tried it.

Some of the low cost lawn equipment isn't made for the new gas/alcohol fuels and it will mess up the carburetors.  That's probably what happened to your leaf blowers.

[LarsBloodbeard]

I was told at the inspection place I was illegal from the air cleaner down..

Curious what year this was....  '68 is exempt from smog testing and has been for a while.
It is true that you're not allowed to modify exhaust on any vehicles (including motorcycles), but everyone does it anyway.  Also not allowed to tint your windows, yet you see window tinting shops everywhere.  Oh, and it's illegal to put any other tires than the size and type that the manufacturer specified.  /sigh

Once in a while you'll get a cop that just wants to be obnoxious or has to fill his quota and will ticket you for that stuff, but it's pretty rare.  And it's usually a fix-it ticket, which means you have to prove you changed it or you can't ride it on the road any more.  This is the reason I'm keeping my stock muffler in the garage.