QUICK THROTTLE® MAGAZINE - SOUTHWEST EDITION
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READER FEEDBACK

Listen Up, Pinheads!

Last month in this rag there were two things that really chapped my hide: 1) a letter to the editor about a dealer telling customers that aftermarket parts will void the bike’s warranty; and 2) another ridiculous argument on “helmet laws.” Why do these two topics get my primary chain in a knot? Because they serve as proof of the almost complete dumbing-down of the American Biker.

Look, Pee Wee, manufacturers tell you to ONLY USE Harley/Honda/Victory/BMW/etc. parts/oil/cable lube/wax/chrome polish/filters/nose hair clippers/etc. because THEY MAKE MONEY ON THEM! If you buy an aftermarket brand, the factory doesn’t make squat! The same goes for service. Your owner’s manual and factory service manual are fond of telling you on every other page that you should NEVER DARE think of changing your own oil, adjusting your own belt/chain, replacing a burnt-out bulb or fuse, or tighten ANY nut, bolt or screw by yourself. Why? Because they want you to take it back to the AUTHORIZED service department at the dealer, who will then make a huge profit on labor fees, as well as a gigantic markup on all of the FACTORY AUTHORIZED parts and chemicals. This not only brings in more profits for the factory’s parts and accessories division, it keeps the dealer happy, and a happy dealer buys more crap from the factory. It’s just one big circle of capitalist love.

But what about the warranty issue? Well, there ain’t one. You see, one of the things the Feds have meddled in is manufacturer’s warranties. They got LAWS, you see. One of these laws is called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The Act states that a manufacturer cannot void a warranty for using non-factory parts/oil, etc., unless the manufacturer makes the part/oil, etc. available FREE OF CHARGE to the consumer. Is Harley offering you free oil, spark plugs, filters, cables, etc.? I didn’t think so. As to stuff like aftermarket pipes, air intakes, cams, et al, the Act also states that the manufacturer has to PROVE the part CAUSED THE FAILURE. Not easy to do, Buck-O. So if you install a shiny new Vance & Hines on your FXRDAFLCIOLSMFT and it then throws a rod, the Motor Company can’t just tell you the pipes were responsible and void the warranty; they got to PROVE IT.

Bottom line: If your dealer is telling you that aftermarket parts, or ANY parts installed by someone other than the dealer, will void your warranty, he’s a lying S.O.B. and it’s time to find an honest dealer (they ARE out there).

Now, Sweet Cakes, about those helmet laws: Every time I hear some inbred baboon trying to make the asinine argument that helmets are LESS SAFE than a doo rag, my blood pressure rises, my fists clench and that little vein in my temple starts throbbing to the beat of Ricky Ricardo playing “Babaloo” on the congas! “I knew a guy once who had a friend whose boss’ gardener’s dry cleaner’s neighbor went down on his bike and died from a broken neck and the ambulance guy said he might have lived if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet.” Yeah right, Wimpy. And IF the dog hadn’t stopped to piss he MIGHT have caught the rabbit. I guess the blow to the helmet that broke his neck wouldn’t have crushed his skull like an egg under your big brother’s boot on Easter morning.

Other moronic arguments against helmets include:
“They restrict my peripheral vision!”
“I can’t hear traffic and approaching emergency vehicles!”
“They’re too heavy and my poor little pencil-neck will snap!”

Uh huh, right. Funny how the MANLY guys who race bikes don’t have these problems. Today’s helmet manufacturers spend lots of dough to make these things fit the human head comfortably. Of course, HUMAN is the operative word here. Maybe you should try actually WEARING a helmet before making such idiotic statements. And by the way, after Ms. Cell-phone Addict blocks your frontal vision by turning her gigantic SUV into your path, you probably won’t hear the emergency vehicles coming to take your picture and drag your sorry dead ass to the morgue anyway.

EVERY motorsports sanctioning body on earth requires the use of a helmet and EVERYONE knows this. It doesn’t take a nuclear scientist to understand how your little pea brain might just fare a little bit better in the event of an impact if it’s surrounded by a shock-absorbing protective shell. Do helmets save lives? Yeah, they do.

But what’s that, Sunshine? You say you just don’t LIKE wearing a helmet when you ride? Well congratulations, Nimrod, you’ve just stumbled upon the ONLY valid reason to do away with helmet laws! And it’s a damned important reason, too.

You see, my Little Muffin, the Constitution of this great land of ours, and hence, the nation itself, was founded upon the precepts of personal choice and individual responsibility. The Feds actually don’t have the right to force you to wear a helmet, but try telling that to them. The Constitution and Bill of Rights is only so much toilet paper to today’s Republicrats. We have ceased to be citizens and have become subjects. They once held a “tea party” in Boston over that very issue.

So, do you want to win this fight, or just make yourself look like a jackass with arguments about helmet safety? Win? Okay, here’s how:

File suit in EVERY state that currently has helmet laws on the basis that the laws are DISCRIMINATORY to motorcyclists due to the fact that drivers and passengers of ALL OTHER VEHICLES are EXEMPT. Sue to have the laws changed to INCLUDE drivers and passengers of ALL FORMS OF TRANSPORTATION, cars, busses, trains, airplanes, boats, jet skis, skateboards, bicycles, Segways, baby strollers, escalators… ANY and ALL modes of human transportation.

It should not be difficult to come up with data that proves injury and death from head trauma resulting from an accident involving any of these vehicles could be reduced by the wearing of approved helmets. Once John & Jane Q. Public realize they won’t be able to leave their house without wearing a helmet (and what about those nasty bathtub accidents?) you can bet the cards and letters will start pouring in to Congressman Dipshit’s office and Senator Dickwad’s poll numbers will start plummeting.

Well, Nancy, now that I’ve solved these problems for you, I still need to locate a chain for my Trumpet. Got a hill climb this weekend.

Signed,
The Angry Biker

Editor’s note – I know this guy sounds like our very-smart and very- opinionated friend PiR8, but it’s really not. I have seen many times that when you fire up a regular guy on a subject he’s passionate about, he becomes a regular William Freakin’ Shakespeare. And the brother makes some excellent points.

CD

The reason I ask is that I have a friend who was told by a dealership service manager that it would void her warranty if she put an aftermarket “Big Air” kit on her bike (pipes, air cleaner, module). No engine work, just the intake and exhaust. Now the dealership sells the kits inhouse, but if she bought anything but theirs, it would void the warranty. She then went over a list of things she was considering having done and got the same reply “if it is not a genuine Blank- Blank part, you WILL void your warranty”. She asked if I was concerned about the changes I had made to my bike voiding my warranty, and I said no. I was pretty sure the aftermarket manufacturers would not stand by and have someone telling the world that their parts “void warranties”. I am interested in what the aftermarket makers and the dealership have to say about this sort of practice and really would like some official word (maybe through your industry contacts) about what is allowed. She was pretty wound out that she couldn’t do the things she wanted (or I recommended) to give her Deuce some juice. The guy ACTUALLY sold her a set of slip-ons, telling her the Vance and Hines pro pipe and a K&N would not “really give her any more performance”. Notice, I did not call him a no-good lying f@*! of a dealer, I just want to help answer a question that nags people every time they crack open a J&P cycle catalog or cruise a bike event...

Dear Frustrated Enthusiast:
In an attempt to be objective, we will examine these issues from all sides. This letter would have come from someone else had you not written it, and your patronage of the sport is duly noted! Although this magazine was born long after the common acceptance of HD being in its current mainstream of popularity, we at QT have all been enthusiasts from birth. Some have franchise experience while others have been either self-employed, worked the aftermarket end or a combination of the above, yet all of us have been customers as well so we believe our opinions are educated and valid.

We will take the stance that the ‘BEST’ dealership behavior peaked in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s as the Evolution motor placed its reliability footprint firmly across the roads of America and beyond. The Motor Company was improving image, new and existing models were receiving long overdue R&D, magazine ink flowed in a positive direction for the first time in many years, and franchise dealers were stepping up past the Neanderthal stance of the ‘tail light warranty’ (good until we couldn’t see your tail light!). Basically, a bright horizon brought pride back to HD and they did their best to slowly weed out the many Cro-Magnon dealers in hope that they could re-attract former owners who had justifiably turned their backs on a company who, at the Shovelhead’s end, no longer appeared to care to even defend its lack of quality product.

Now fast forward to current time and the state of those purchasing bikes REQUIRING a positive franchise relationship well beyond the sale date. If this is you then honk so all can hear you! We are now entering 50,000 square foot showrooms, speaking to once-again-hungry sales people (who may not know much about bikes or the industry let alone people who have more tenure in it than they do), trying to correctly fit ourselves and our bikes through some seasoned, but many times unknowledgeable, parts personnel, then get our mechanical needs met through sometimes modestly trained service (no, I did NOT say circus) departments. This tends to smack of reality for a vast majority and righteously so.

In their defense, it is a rapidly growing sport. So much so that hiring competent staffing is often the most difficult task. Never before has HD sold so many bikes and all businesses certainly would love this problem. But, growing pains they are, with no quick relief in sight. This has new buyers and previous owners desperately seeking alternative sources for satisfaction, and The Motor Company must scramble to compete…with themselves! What a problem to have!!

Enter…the AFTERMARKET MAN! As seemingly evil as the franchises paint him to be, he is in fact essential. Without this end of the industry, ALL must rely on, and implicitly trust, the HD factory for parts, accessories, modifications, mechanical needs, and advise. While they had been the ‘authority’ for all things HD, owners demand, and expect – options, thereby NECESSITATING aftermarket.

Segue back to your question, and a stout dealership service manager brazenly stating the ‘official’ factory voice of what will or will not comply with warranty regulations. We see it as a firm and ‘unofficial’ slant on turf protection. Budweiser and McDonald’s are at the absolute top of their respective markets, but they’re at every sporting event, race, charity and promotion possible keeping their name on the tip of our wagging tongues. Without us hinting at desperation, because it is not, this is H-D doing a best effort at the dealership level to foster the belief that “nobody can do it like McDonald’s, er, I mean, Harley can.”

If you view the accessory catalogs beginning back several years, there have been coded listings of what performance modifications would in fact void warranties. For the most part, these have consisted of all items that increase rpm’s past factory settings and ignition curve modifiers. Primarily, re-configured exhaust (sans straight pipes), high-flow air filter assemblies, and modest cams have been deemed acceptable. It should be noted that K & N probably makes the filters, Andrews has long made Screamin’ Eagle cams, and Kerker first, then Vance & Hines are the manufacturers of the SE mufflers. With this knowledge, how then to determine what other non-HD part ‘passes or plays’? Why, whatever the dealership recommends perhaps? In the end, we all have our favorite flavors, right?

An industry journalist wrote a dealer-only magazine article nearly twenty years ago that still rings true. He stated that the warranty isn’t between the bike owner and factory. What’s that, you say? It exists between the owner and service advisor, for it is through his eyes, voice, and judgment that the factory claim specialist or service contract company actually gets all the information from necessary to make a decision! He may have little or no previous information regarding a certain customer or motorcycle, yet it is HIS perception, HIS language, and HIS delivery that gets a thumbs up…or down, thereby changing forever the service you or your bike receive on the factory’s tab! Think about it, for you cannot un-ring the bell!!

Having been in all places dealership, car and bike, it has been overheard by certain service personnel “Mr. Smith has never been back here for a scheduled service,” leading the factory rep to conclude that the bike has NOT been serviced according to manufacturer’s schedule, CLEARLY voiding the warranty! Now, Mr. Smith may be an airline mechanic, well-qualified to service his own bike. Or his brother, or uncle or whomever, or he simply chooses another dealership, independent, or other possibly-qualified place. As for the modest modifications we ALL do upon purchase, it has been common knowledge that dealership employees have put a twist on the fact that if they do it, it’s good, but if it is done ‘outside’ of HD, it is not. Doesn’t EVERY franchise dealer have a Kuryakyn wall? Huh? Oh, yeah, they make some of HD’s stuff too.

In the end, your ‘responsibility’ consists of servicing according to the manufacturer’s schedule, confining your modifications to bolt-on non-ignition altering exhaust, ‘approved’ K&N style air cleaner kits, HD big-bore kits, and ‘reputable’ fuel processors, and you will have a justifiable case for warranty repairs from the H-D factory or most service contracts (but – read the fine print to be certain) to back your bike. They can, and sometimes will ask for service records to ensure you are doing your part, but who doesn’t want to take care of their baby? And do you really want anyone other than the one making the payments to choose what goes on your bike, other than you? I think not!

CD

SEPTEMBER 2007

Hey, Quick Throttle,
I just saw a listing in Thunder Press for “The Patriot Ride” presented by Corona H-D. Weren’t you guys doing this ride for years? I didn’t see your name mentioned at all.
Bob Carson

Yes, Bob, that’s our event. We started it in 2002, and held it on 9-11 for as long as we could each year. We did it to remember the tragedy, to recognize the heroes of the day, the Fallen and Unsung. And each time we’d send the listing for this purely charity event into Thunder Press, they’d OMIT our name from the ride entirely. This year we partnered with Corona H-D to put the event on, and the listing that Corona submitted to TP clearly said it was presented by “Corona Harley-Davidson and Quick Throttle Magazine.” QT omitted again. It’s funny - when they covered the event a few years ago, they were very positive, yet again, completely left out any mention of who put the ride together. Oh well, I guess when you’re under a huge corporate umbrella, and it’s all about profits, you have to try and keep your competitors down, all while appearing to support a charity - even when your actions are petty and unethical.

But this is not about us - the important thing is that everyone continue to come out for the ride ( this year on Sunday, Sept. 9th) and to celebrate our Heroes, our Patriots. One of my heroes this year is Corona H-D for stepping up to support the ride. I hope you’ll do the same.
CD

*

Dear Quick Throttle,
I was appalled by the July articles concerning Denver, Colorado’s enactment of their restrictive noise law. I’d think very seriously about going to jail before being forced to red-line my engine to see if it’s louder than a lawnmower at 25 feet, with a fine of $500. I’ve decided to write the Denver City Council and tell them I’m keeping my $ out of their restrictive town. All the bikers in America need to do this! Please write to: Council@bouldercolorado.gov care of the Mayor: Mark Ruzzin, Deputy Mayor: Suzy Ageton, Council Members: Robin Bohannan, Crystal Gray, Shaun McGrath, Richard Polk, Andy Schultheiss, Jack Stoakes. While our military fights for our rights and freedoms around the world, it seems our rights and freedoms are being taken away by city, county, state, and federal governments from within. This Is Not Good!
Tim Barnett

*

Dear CD,
I read your mag every month and enjoy it. In the July 07 issue I read the article about Denver’s new law regarding noise reduction. It seems to me that if this is bill is directed toward motorcycles. That being the case, then maybe the riders in Denver should approach the Counsel with a new bill that covers all equipment, IE; big rigs, cars, lawn mowers, forklift back up alarms, fire trucks, ambulances, construction equipment, leaf blowers, saws, factories, well, you get the idea. In other words all noise making equipment or factories. If that does not get the Council’s ear, then once filed with the proper number of names, if they are inclined to deny the proposition or stipulate that this is for motorcycles only, it would be good grounds for a class action suit against the city for every rider. This use to be a free country, however for those of us that has served this country know, it ain’t free. This Bill will be used as a precedent for any entities that will see this bill go through and try to implement it in every State, especially California which has already done it and is on the book to enforce as well as the many Cities or areas that we ride through. Seems to me that we should all get off our asses and stop our freedom from being stripped away.

This is already happening all over the country. I am a Former Marine, and a Former Fire Fighter. I shoot competition rifle and pistol. It is getting so bad here in Ca. that most of us have to keep our equipment in other states so we can compete with out of state shooters. Those of us that have ‘pre ban’ rifles and guns have to register with the DOJ which has cost very expensive equipment to be confiscated without warning or reimbursement. How do you feel about having you bike taken with no recourse?
Barry Rice

*

Chris,
I want to thank you and your writer Mike Sayer for the terrific article in the July issue about West Coast Thunder VIII. It seems Mike really knows the true meaning of Memorial Day and his article expressed his feelings and the way many of us regard this national holiday. We’re all volunteers who have learned by trial and error how to run an event like this and it warms our hearts to have a man like Mike appreciate our efforts and give a great review.
Pat Delahunty
Founder and co-chair West Coast Thunder

*

And sent in by a QT reader:

Biker fails to notice missing leg
Tue Aug 14, 2007, TOKYO - A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for more than a mile, leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb. The 54-year-old office worker was out on his motorcycle with a group of friends in the city of Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo, on Monday, when he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road and bumped into the central barrier, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction, the paper quoted local police as saying. The man and his leg were taken to a hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision, the paper said.

AUGUST 2007

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

It was a beautiful So.Cal day, and what better way to spend it than to take out the ‘58 Panhead and put her through her paces. Working a 2 & 2 schedule enables me to be free for 2 weeks at a time, and when the chores are caught up, I religiously get in the wind. Anyone who rides the roller coaster byways of Fallbrook and DeLuz, knows the peacefulness one achieves cranking through the back roads and winding around death grip curves being one with the road. I’d always taken for granted that I pay taxes for the right to use these roads and accepted that as a fact, and I have been very, very wrong.

As usual, the ride was exhilarating and the ‘58 kept up with the 52-year old. After cruising through Old Town Temecula I decided to take the 15 Hwy back to Fallbrook. I was minding my own business when I saw a Highway Patrol pull in behind me. As always, he was probably going to ticket me for my lid. As I sped over the hill waiting for the inevitable, I saw a convoy of twelve armored personnel carriers going south. I sped up to catch them and as I approached I was saluted by a fist held high by each and every man and woman in the convoy. I returned the salute with my fist to my heart. We all had smiles on our faces for those few brief moments. I was deeply honored!

This is to the soldiers and all military personnel who protect this country with their lives….I salute you! I passed the convoy with a tear in my eye realizing that these men and women were the reason I ride the back roads, why I can feel serenity, and most of all feel the freedom. I believe the man in blue saw it the same as I, and he waived at the rider as he passed me by. I hope all these courageous men and women are safe today and that they all get their chance to be in the wind. They fight for our freedom, we as bikers, ride for our freedom. To all the people serving in our armed forces, WE THANK YOU!

Keith Spoales
Fallbrook, CA

*

We live in Phoenix, and the other day we were turning left into traffic in my truck, and just as I was merging into the left lane I saw a bike coming in the left lane, so I went back into the center turn lanes to give him room to go on. He went by me cussing and flipping me off (though I never got in his path). He then proceeded up the street and I merged into traffic behind him. I sensed he was up to something when he reached into his left jacket pocket and slowed to let me pass him. Once I passed him he threw a lug nut he had been carrying with him, hitting my tire and bouncing up next to the cab of my truck.

He proceeded to cuss at me, all pissed off (I guess the fact that I saw him in time to avoid him and not cause an accident wasn't enough). I am a biker, too, and I didn't know that was how bikers were supposed to act, not only to other bikers but people in general. He had his colors on from a local biker group, and I had a doo rag on, beard and mustache, tattoo's showing, etc. and he didn't seem to care.

I hope the "biker" (and I use the term loosely) that threw that lug nut at me reads this. In my opinion he is no more than a criminal on two wheels, not a biker.

What a way to show society that bikers deserve a bad rap!!

Sincerely,
Fed up in Phx.

Dear Fed Up,
That's a real shame. Ya know the Biker world is just like the real world - sometimes you come across some Grade A jackasses. That guy just didn't get it. And I don't think it mattered whether you were tatted up or not. Now I'm sure he was "fed up" too - fed up with cars and trucks not seeing him, fed up with buddies dying from those drivers, fed up from law enforcement not caring, and enforcing a double standard. But, he made a big mental leap, from fed up to F'ed up....
CD

JUNE 2007

Here in Reader Feedback we sometimes print "internal" letters, too. This one's from Linda Dahl, our Phoenix rep, regarding her winning "abilities" in the weenie bite competitions:

CD,

I'm learning more and more about my job with QT every day—I discovered that articles I write may appear on the World Wide Web. You got me in trouble with your addition of the "Deep Throat" title to my byline (Yuma HOG Rodeo, April issue)! Who'da thunk it—that my uncle would have gone to the web site to check out my new job and, of course, that was on the web!!! @#$!! He was less than impressed at my new designation and did not see the humor. He called my mom (who also did not know about my new designation) and so, last night I had to spend my American Idol time throwing icewater on my mother (figuratively, of course). "Mom, it's just for fun...don't worry, Mom, the world does NOT think I am a porn star...Mom, chill out...it's okay, no one will think less of me..no, Mom, Grandma doesn't know anything...yes, Mom, my husband is OK with it... I should have just given her your home phone number!

Oh, and did I ever mention my grandfather was a Pastor?

APRIL 2007

The C.A.R.B. Issue

Chris,
It does not come as a surprise to me to learn Jesse James was fined for bikes he produced that did not meet CARB standards (QT, March issue, page 19) or that they wanted the dinero instead of compliance. I have been told that a Los Angeles based Harley Davidson Dealer (Harbor?) was fined and shut down for 30 days for “tampering” with EPA approved bikes. It appears that the new CARB standards are a revenue/profit center for CARB more than being a “protector” of the environment.

I didn’t think too much about it when I first read about the new EPA/CARB rules for “kit” bikes and “custom” bikes. I don’t own either and I don’t plan to add a kit or custom bike to my collection of “stock” Harley-Davidsons (if I added another bike to the garage my wife would boot me out to the dog house or worse!). But these new rules home to roost when I asked my local HD Dealer to “customize” my new ’07 Electra Glide. Basically, they wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole!

Sure, I could customize my bike with any array of chrome, paint or other doo-dads. But forget about customizing any engine or exhaust component. The threat of $10,000 - $25,000 CARB fines for “tampering” was too great and too real. “Tampering” is defined as “removing or rendering inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle in compliance with regulations under this title prior to its sale and delivery to the ultimate purchaser or AFTER such sale and delivery to the ultimate purchaser.” Sure, I could step my ’07 FLSTCU up to 103 inches but I had to also purchase HD SE high flow, HD SE CAM and HD Catalyst mufflers. Hey, I want a K&N high flow air filter, a Crane Fireball CAM and Vance & Hines true dual headers and exhaust so that stock ’07 performs better and actually SOUNDS like a Harley for Christ sake! “No can do” says the friendly HD Service Manager. “It’s our way or no way”. So NUTS to CARB! Gone are the days of porting and polishing heads and adding any go-fast fun stuff. If we let CARB have their way we’ll all be riding bikes that sound alike and perform alike (hell maybe even look alike). That sucks!

How did this happen? Where were the motorcycle advocates when this crap went down? Were we all asleep at the wheel thinking it would only apply to custom builders? Where was Harley Davidson? (Actually, I think HD is part-and-parcel to these regulations as are the Jap bike dealers; what a better way to maximize your after sale accessory sales than to run Vance & Hines, Sampson, S&E, Patrick Racing and all the independent bike shops out of town).

Anyway Chris, I guess I had to vent instead of taking it out on my local HD Service Manager. It just goes to show you better keep a close eye on your liberties & freedoms because someone in Sacramento or Washington DC is always plotting and planning on how to take them away from you and TAX you at the same time! I think the Dealer’s hands are tied. I still think HD (Corporate) is part and parcel to the new problems we face customizing our bikes.

Love your mag. Keep up the good work. Ride On!

Randy Tiffany
&Otis”
Mission Viejo, CA

California H-D responds:

Dear Chris,
First, California Harley-Davidson/Buell has never been cited or shut down by either CARB or the EPA, so let’s put that unfounded rumor to rest.

Franchise dealers today have too much at stake to risk flaunting anti-tampering laws and rules that have been on the books for more than a quarter of a century. Just because tampering may have been tolerated by less stringent enforcement in years past, that doesn’t make it legal.

CARB is mandated to examine every industry, large or small, to try and eke out every last pound of smog savings in an effort to reach ozone reduction goals that are probably unattainable. For example, not only Jessie James was fined over a quarter of a million dollars recently; Husqvarna was just fined $282,000. For uncertified off-road motorcycles? No, for power weed trimmers with uncertified engines mistakenly sold in this state.

Riders must become more politically involved so that even more stringent restrictions like motorcycle airbags don’t become a reality, and even legal emissions parts modifications disappear. Join motorcyclist rights organizations like A.B.A.T.E. and the AMA today and make your voice heard in Sacramento and Washington.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Ruffalo, President
California Harley-Davidson/Buell

And in response, another point of view…

CD,
First and foremost, where was this guy and riders like him in 2003 when us “motorcycle advocates” were busy trying to educate the riding public and motorcycle shops about what was coming down the “pipe”? The rules have been on the books for more than 30 years courtesy of the EPA; CARB just choose not to enforce it. Why do you think pre 2006 Screamin Eagle slip ons and air filters stated “For off-road” use only? If this reader had been a member of A.B.A.T.E., AMA, or the MRF, he and many like him would have “heard the rumblings” about this. These same type of “ostrich” (head in the sand) riders will also be the ones complaining the most about “motorcycle advocates” when smog check for motorcycles start up.

It is my personal opinion that all the cities that are complaining about loud pipes has given CARB the support, backing and an excuse to crack down on something they COULD HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS! H-D has heard it; that’s why the new Screamin Eagle stuff all meets EPA, CARB, and Federal sound & pollution limits.

This writer has the attitude that since it doesn’t affect me, I don’t care. Hence, his statement “I didn’t think too much about it when I first read about the new EPA/CARB rules for “kit” bikes and “custom” bikes. I don’t own either and I don’t plan to add a kit or custom bike to my collection of “stock” Harley-Davidsons.“ This is why if you ride any type of bike, you need to be informed. What affects one group will eventually affect another. All one has to do is look at what is happening to the off roaders to see what could very soon be happening to road users; green stickers, limited riding areas, and limited riding days.

I would suggest that he use the money he was going to spend on aftermarket exhaust and get a membership to A.B.A.T.E., AMA, and the MRF. Then at least he will know what the “motorcycle advocates” are trying to do and maybe get involved.

Robert Cuthbertson
&Motorcycle Advocate”

And lastly…

This is exactly what the AB 829 bill sponsored by SMDA addresses...it closes the loophole so that dealers can install the parts when the bike is purchased...and include the installation in the financing and sell the bike...but...the parts have to be CARB approved parts...they still cannot install non CARB approved parts...but...it gives a bit more options without worry to the dealership... I don’t imagine it helps the aftermarket guys much...but then...their stuff has been illegal for 30 years...so nothing is changing that.

Jean Hughes

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