macrev (03/29/83)
Anybody noticed that the NJ motorcycle inspection is a little different this year? Maybe it's just my local (Somerville) station. In the past, I've been ASKED to turn on the signal lights, blow the horn, and turn on the brake lights. This year, while I was sitting on the bike, one inspector manipulated all the switches himself while another gave my exhaust system a VERY close check. I wonder if they were just bored, or if this represents a new inspection procedure. Whatever, the bike passed. Speaking of inspections, and to make this article of more general interest, what sorts of inspections do other states subject MCs to? Mike Lynch BTL Short Hills, NJ mhuxi!macrev
rob (03/30/83)
Massachusetts has just gone to a new inspection system, which I am not sure how it will affect the motorcycle. In the past I have driven into a station, paid my $4.00 and been given a sticker. Never checked anything. My bike looks like new.
michael (04/01/83)
California does not have auto, truck, or motorcycle safety inspections and to my knowledge has never had them. Auto and trucks have to have their emission levels checked when ownership is transferred however (motorcycles and diesels exempted). There is also no helmet or eye protection requirements. Colorado had auto, truck, and motorcycle safety inspections until 1981 when the program was temporarly suspended. The program is to be reviewed in 1984. If there is a rise in equipment related accidents, the safety inspections will continue, otherwise the program will be permantly halted. Colorado repealed its helmet law in 1978, but has an eye protection requirement. An annual air pollution inspection program was started in 1982 for the populated areas of the state. When my motorcycle was inspected in 1980, the headlight, taillight, brake light, signals, horn, tires, brakes, etc. were checked. The emissions were not checked and I don't know if they check them now. Michael Schmitt System Development Corp. Camarillo, California ...!sdcsvax!sdccsu3!sdcvax!michael
logo (04/01/83)
California DID have emissions and equipment inspections. I was inspected in my fathers faulty car (panic!) shortly after getting my license in 1974. California law requires use of a helmet, among other things, when operating a motorcycle.
kar (04/02/83)
My last inspection (in New York) was a joke, but not as bad as some. The guy honked the horn, twisted the throttle (presumably to make sure it didn't stick [how'd he think I got there?]), and steered the front wheel back and forth. 3 minutes, 3 dollars, another sticker.
mike (04/02/83)
#N:zinfandel:4600008:000:2412
zinfandel!mike Mar 31 13:21:00 1983
What inspections? In California the DMV only collects the money. The
Highway Patrol and local Police enforce the regulations. The Highway Patrol
roadside inspection program was cut along with the budget and the local Police
don't have any regular inspection programs. If you are pulled over they can
inspect your vehicle and issue citations. However, used cars must have a smog
check done by an authorized shop before they can be registered by a new owner
or brought in from out of state and registered. Do you really have two people
just to inspect a motorcycle? I sounds like a good way to keep extra people
on the state payroll.
CARB (California Air Resources Board) is proposing that motorcycles be
fitted with catalytic converters and fuel vapor filters (for the gas tank
vent). One magazine claims that the proposal is being made because the L.A.
basin will NEVER be able to meet minimum federal smog levels, so the state
bureaucrats are (or soon will be) lashing out at EVERY type of motor vehicle.
Why? Maybe so they can say that they have done everything they can do, even
though they STILL don't meet minimum smog levels. Personally, I think
that the state should be divided in two. That way Southern California
can choke on their own dirt without taking everyone in Northern California
along for the ride. If the CARB proposal is adopted there probably will be
used motorcycle smog inspections as a prerequisite to registration (along
with all the other monuments to bureaucratic stupidity). I might even be
able accept the much higher initial cost (but not the lower performance) of
a smog equipped motorcycle if it really did some good, but it looks like we
might be be victims in a game between the state and the federal government.
Another problem is that smog equipment in motorcycles is usually designed
in rather than bolted on making it very difficult to effectively remove or
bypass it. The catalytic might be easy to unbolt but try to undo all the
other design changes that went into the engine just to support the
converter. I sincerely hope that this stupidity doesn't even get started,
but if it does it may eventually spread to other states.
One last question, does this article depress anyone else besides me?
Mike Blenderman
[...!decvax!sytek!zehntel!zinfandel!mike]
[...!teklabs!zehntel!zinfandel!mike]
Walnut Creek, Ca. (415) 932-6900berry (04/02/83)
#R:zinfandel:4600008:zinfandel:4600009:000:611 zinfandel!berry Apr 1 11:19:00 1983 Mike Blenderman says: "One magazine claims that the proposal is being made because the L.A. basin will NEVER be able to meet minimum federal smog levels." When I was working for the Statewide Air Pollution Research Center at UC Riverside (at the east end of the L.A. basin, where all the smog piles up) I learned that there was a smog problem from the Indian's campfires in the basin when Cortez (or whoever) arrived in the 17th century! (or whenever). I would not be surprised to learn that it will ALWAYS be smoggy! Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (decvax!sytek!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900
larson (04/04/83)
#R:zinfandel:4600008:sri-unix:4800003:000:477 sri-unix!larson Apr 3 02:11:00 1983 I recall hearing that the smog folks were beginning to blame the L.A. smog on fixed industrial sites since cleaning up the auto exaust did not do as much good as hoped. There was even implication that auto exaust might never have been the big contributer, but they were not quite willing to admit it. I heard this when I still lived down there. I, too, have heard that the L.A. basin was indeed the "valley of the smokes" (or some such) from the indian campfires. Alan