In the UK, The British Motorcycle Action Group says they’re “encouraging motorcyclists to respond to proposals from the Department for Transport (DfT) that would restrict owners from modifying their bikes.”
The proposals would make it a crime - of one consequence or another - to ‘tamper’ with ‘a system, part or component of a vehicle intended or adapted to be used on a road’.
And this proposal has motorcyclists hopping mad.
According to Colin Brown, Director of Campaigns and Political Engagement for MAG, the proposals include some under-the-radar provisions that motorcyclists should find concerning.
Photo: Brand X Custom Exhaust
"I was expecting the lack of motorcycle focus in policies for the charging infrastructure, but the anti-tampering proposals came as a real sucker punch. As the owner of a motorcycle with less OEM parts than aftermarket ones, you can imagine my reaction. This renewed attack on the right to do what you wish with your own property is not something that I can see many motorcyclists welcoming," Brown says.
The reasons for the proposed changes are aimed at locking in emissions standards for motorcycles following their manufacture and forcing them to conform to standards to make them compatible with autonomous vehicles.
At this moment, no standards exist in the UK to test a motorcycle’s emissions following its production at the factory, and lawmakers find that a problem when it comes to meeting Ultra Low Emission Zone levels in London.
The problem for them comes in when a Euro 4 compliant bike has parts such as a catalytic converter removed or the engine remapped for performance.
Photo: Brand X Custom Exhaust
Authorities also worry that motorcycles won’t be friendly with the onslaught of autonomous vehicles soon to hit the roads in the UK.
The lawmakers are hoping to address the eventuality that someone might modify the hardware or software of such vehicles, and it seems motorcycles are just in the wrong place at the wrong time in this regard. The government is hoping to stay ahead of such modifications and making modifications illegal is thought to be an important component of regulating self-driving vehicles going forward.
But the most alarming elements of the proposed measures seem aimed at bikers. Critics say the UK government - and numerous manufacturers and private companies like Uber and Google’s investment in autonomous vehicles is at the center of the issue. Those entities say that since motorcycles are capable of moving erratically through traffic, are smaller targets for sensors and can change speed and direction more quickly than other vehicles, they pose a problem for software and sensor design.
This type of anti-tampering legislation has been proposed in the past and similar measures were considered by the EU as far back as 2012. The provisions of Euro4 were set to include prohibitions to modifications such as changing air filters, exhausts, catalytic converters and engine mapping, but that legislation was beaten back and never became law.
Photo: Giovanni de Angelis
"Clearly the Government has some good intentions with these proposals and we wouldn’t want to oppose those," Brown said. "However it’s clear that the knock-on effect of what they’re suggesting would be ruinous for the motorcycle industry. It would be some of the most draconian rules around vehicle modification we’ve ever heard of."
And if you’re into customizing cars, rest assured that these kinds of measures would affect your ability to make the changes you’d prefer to your car or truck as well.
While the measures might seem broadly targeted at cars - which emit more harmful gases - motorcycles are currently targeted as well. With cities - and riders - increasingly likely to be adopting electric vehicles to meet the requirements of a soon-to-be emission-free world, the entire argument may well end up being moot.
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