EPA & RPM Act

[Douma]

Fun Police Alert!
Seeing a lot about the EPA and its push to ban street cars (including trucks and motorcycles) to be converted to racecars in the U.S. on YouTube lately.
Enforcement against performance parts. Petitions circulating to support the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act).
Scary if/when this starts getting really enforced in Canada.

 

[TK4]

Fun Police Alert!
Seeing a lot about the EPA and its push to ban street cars (including trucks and motorcycles) to be converted to racecars in the U.S. on YouTube lately.
Enforcement against performance parts. Petitions circulating to support the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act).
Scary if/when this starts getting really enforced in Canada.

Its a crackdown on all the stuff that's sold and stamped 'not for highway use' to skirt the existing requirements.
Take note - a lot of the aftermarket exhaust system manufacturers have cut way back on what they're making since Harley was slapped with big fines a couple of years ago. Either conform or face consequences. MAC exhaust for one is no longer making motorcycle products, expect more of this kind of thing in future..

 

[Katatonic]

Its a crackdown on all the stuff that's sold and stamped 'not for highway use' to skirt the existing requirements.

This.
If people would play by the rules, or close to them, there wouldn’t be the need for any of this.
Stop putting obvious race parts on cars/bikes that are driven on the street - problem solved!

 

[Brian P]

^ The problem is that a good many of these companies, even if they do sell parts to "legit" racers, do not have a viable business model if that's their only market. (Local case in point: Hindle Exhaust)

This isn't an easy situation to address.

Making it easier to get a CARB "exemption order" would help some, but for late model vehicles, no aftermarket "full exhaust system" (without catalyst!) could possibly get an exemption order ... any such thing is black-and-white non-compliant.

Power Commanders, Bazzazz fuel injection controllers, Woolich or FTECU reflashing of stock fuel injection modules, etc are all off limits. If those are off limits ... the only option for actual race bikes if you don't want to have all the stock emission control equipment in place AND be stuck with the speed limiters and power limiters and so forth, will be a full stand-alone MoTeC or Magnetti-Marelli fuel injection system. $$$$. Keep in mind that the company you bought your non-catalyst racing exhaust system went broke, so you can't get one of those, either.

 

[GreyGhost]

^ The problem is that a good many of these companies, even if they do sell parts to "legit" racers, do not have a viable business model if that's their only market. (Local case in point: Hindle Exhaust)

This isn't an easy situation to address.

Making it easier to get a CARB "exemption order" would help some, but for late model vehicles, no aftermarket "full exhaust system" (without catalyst!) could possibly get an exemption order ... any such thing is black-and-white non-compliant.

Power Commanders, Bazzazz fuel injection controllers, Woolich or FTECU reflashing of stock fuel injection modules, etc are all off limits. If those are off limits ... the only option for actual race bikes if you don't want to have all the stock emission control equipment in place AND be stuck with the speed limiters and power limiters and so forth, will be a full stand-alone MoTeC or Magnetti-Marelli fuel injection system. $$$$. Keep in mind that the company you bought your non-catalyst racing exhaust system went broke, so you can't get one of those, either.

I guess the upside is the Motec or MM systems price could conceivably come back down to expensive from crazy as there volume shot up because they were the only game in town.

On the car side, lots of businesses have stopped selling downpipes but still sell the tunes (that require an upgraded downpipe). It looks like the crackdown is on black and white emissions defeating hardware at this point and they are avoiding the greyer area of pixie wrangling (for now).

I suspect the next part of this (if it hasn't already happened) is dealerships only selling bikes with stock exhaust. Feel free to go to another shop to get it changed if you want. That is a big part of their profit though. HD corporate would not want an EPA hammer where although the dealers are "independent", every single one inspected was in violation. A truly independent shop with no ties to a corporate overlord has a better chance at fast and loose (both less scrutiny and less repercussion as they can just fold, rebrand and reopen).

 

[Katatonic]

^ The problem is that a good many of these companies, even if they do sell parts to "legit" racers, do not have a viable business model if that's their only market. (Local case in point: Hindle Exhaust)

This isn't an easy situation to address.

Making it easier to get a CARB "exemption order" would help some, but for late model vehicles, no aftermarket "full exhaust system" (without catalyst!) could possibly get an exemption order ... any such thing is black-and-white non-compliant.

Power Commanders, Bazzazz fuel injection controllers, Woolich or FTECU reflashing of stock fuel injection modules, etc are all off limits. If those are off limits ... the only option for actual race bikes if you don't want to have all the stock emission control equipment in place AND be stuck with the speed limiters and power limiters and so forth, will be a full stand-alone MoTeC or Magnetti-Marelli fuel injection system. $$$$. Keep in mind that the company you bought your non-catalyst racing exhaust system went broke, so you can't get one of those, either.

This is what I was trying to get at. Why do you need to de-cat a street bike/car? How many people on this forum are riding around with a full exhaust system and race tune who will never ride on a track? There is no point to doing this to a street bike. For those that want to flash their ECU for smoother power, better fuelling...whatever, all that can be done while keeping the cat in place.

 

[GreyGhost]

This is what I was trying to get at. Why do you need to de-cat a street bike/car? How many people on this forum are riding around with a full exhaust system and race tune who will never ride on a track? There is no point to doing this to a street bike. For those that want to flash their ECU for smoother power, better fuelling...whatever, all that can be done while keeping the cat in place.

Well, the next part is, it's fun to make a track bike faster, but nobody on this forum is making their living with a bike. If all of the bikes were required to have factory emissions, things would change a bit but people would still be having a hell of a good time on the weekends. At some point, somebody decides the rules and everybody races within them the same as on the road.