BajaNomad

BUGGIES and BIKES Get Em While They're Cheaper

DavidE - 7-26-2013 at 01:14 PM

A Cut n Paste
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles sold in California will have to meet tough new anti-smog requirements beginning with 2018 models.

The state Air Resources Board on Thursday approved rules that could reduce fumes seeping from gas tanks and fuel lines by 70 percent — but also could add hundreds of dollars to the price of new models, U-T San Diego (http://bit.ly/18FVCNO) reported.

Organic reactive gases such as cancer-causing benzene are emitted from off-road vehicles even when they're in the garage. The new regulations would limit them to 1 gram a day instead of the estimated 10 to 15 grams the 2018 models otherwise would release.

By comparison, passenger cars would be limited to no more than about a third of a gram.

Off-road vehicle manufacturers are expected to need design changes and make use of newer materials to meet the cap — and that's expected to raise prices.

The requirements will be phased in over four years beginning in 2018. The regulations will cover vehicles such as dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and sand cars. Professional racing motorcycles, snowmobiles, gas-fueled golf carts and go-karts are exempt.

California had some 850,000 registered off-road recreational vehicles at the end of last year, according to a Department of Motor Vehicles.

Regulators say stricter rules are necessary as the state struggles to meet federal clean-air standards.

However, the changes could raise the cost to 2018 buyers 4 percent to 9 percent, potentially adding hundreds of dollars to the vehicle price.

"This will put pressure on dealers already struggling to stay in business," off-road enthusiast Bob Ham of Calexico said.

California off-road sales dipped in recent years but rebounded last year, with more than 14,000 motorcycles and ATVs sold.

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sancho - 7-26-2013 at 03:49 PM

Not too many of us look forward to smog checks, etc.
in Ca., but the air pollution has greatly improved over the
yrs., so the regs have worked, when are regs too much?
who knows

chuckie - 7-26-2013 at 04:46 PM

Where is California?

DavidE - 7-26-2013 at 05:04 PM

The Second Word In "Baja ......................"

Ken Cooke - 7-26-2013 at 09:03 PM

Is it smart to prefer a bike or buggie that emits toxic benzene over one (which costs $500 - $700 more) that does not?

willardguy - 7-26-2013 at 09:51 PM

well its hard to understand how improved fuel lines will add hundreds of dollars to the cost of a motorcycle, but if thats what it takes......if you grew up in the LA basin in the 50's and 60's you'll understand!

[Edited on 7-27-2013 by willardguy]

DavidE - 7-27-2013 at 09:34 AM

This from the people who wanted to force cows to eat food that did not produce as much methane, and to ban sales of barbecue lighter fluid.

FORCE the installation of 100% computer controlled traffic intersections to reduce idling time? Oh hell no, that would be intelligent.

Go to the dump sometime and look at the waste. Those one-time new products took a lot of energy and resources to manufacture. Think anyone is interested in providing tax inducements (that means tax reductions for the single syllable inhibited) to produce longer lasting products...?

What gobernacion wants is usually a doppelganger of what is intelligent.

vgabndo - 7-27-2013 at 10:03 AM

For those of us who live in places where we can virtually NEVER see the air, the idea of living in some hole like Los Angeles is sad and regrettable. That we have to be dragged around by the nose, where we live normally, by 15 million people living in a cesspool of their own creation, is upsetting.

Even here, however, the air is vastly cleaner now than it was in 1875.

If people in places like LA could develop the maturity to develop adequate public transportation, and use it, the LA freeway experience might be changed from the 85/0 rule. (Everyone drives 20 mph over the speed limit, or sits idling at a full stop.)
Both of the above driving habits is a negative for the rest of our culture.

I can't imagine living someplace where visitors would gladly spend hours driving around it, to avoid being in it, and being forced to experience it.

You folks are welcome to visit us up here. Just, Please, if I don't burn rubber the instant the the left turn arrow turns green, please don't lean on your horn. We are trying to outgrow the attitude that..."if it's tourist season, we should be able to get a license and shoot them."

DavidE - 7-27-2013 at 11:00 AM

I say "Hunt 'em and eat 'em.

When I lived in urban areas, I forgot about "the cah".

Taking the bus to centro was so cheap and convenient using a "cah" would have been stupid. For too many their transportation is an extension of their personality and they wouldn't dream of slicing off a sliver of their ego.

So legislation penalizes them and those of us who NEED a car to get to the doctor up there get screwed in the process. Something is REALLY wrong when a patient sees a Crown Victoria parked in a doctor's parking slot. There "should be" a 7-series BMW or 6-series Mercedes there, so the doctor must be a failure, right?

Freud would commit suicide if he had lived long enough to see the mass neurosis that is mislabeled "American Society" today.

msteve1014 - 7-27-2013 at 12:19 PM

Why are YOU still living in California? Move 50 miles to Oregon.

Really, if you don't like it, leave.
Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
For those of us who live in places where we can virtually NEVER see the air, the idea of living in some hole like Los Angeles is sad and regrettable. That we have to be dragged around by the nose, where we live normally, by 15 million people living in a cesspool of their own creation, is upsetting.

Even here, however, the air is vastly cleaner now than it was in 1875.

If people in places like LA could develop the maturity to develop adequate public transportation, and use it, the LA freeway experience might be changed from the 85/0 rule. (Everyone drives 20 mph over the speed limit, or sits idling at a full stop.)
Both of the above driving habits is a negative for the rest of our culture.

I can't imagine living someplace where visitors would gladly spend hours driving around it, to avoid being in it, and being forced to experience it.

You folks are welcome to visit us up here. Just, Please, if I don't burn rubber the instant the the left turn arrow turns green, please don't lean on your horn. We are trying to outgrow the attitude that..."if it's tourist season, we should be able to get a license and shoot them."

Ken Cooke - 7-27-2013 at 12:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE
Something is REALLY wrong when a patient sees a Crown Victoria parked in a doctor's parking slot. There "should be" a 7-series BMW or 6-series Mercedes there, so the doctor must be a failure, right?


My Doctor drives a Civic. :!: