The founder of the motorcycle exhaust company that brought music to the ears of many riders, Luigi Termignoni, has died, aged 75.
Luigi founded the Termignoni exhaust company in 1969 in Predosa, Italy.
Luigi Termignoni
His exhausts were made famous in the Paris-Dakar rallies of the ’70s and ‘80s and even the Le Mans 24 Hours Race for their performance, light weight and strength.
Termignoni exhausts have won 10 MotoGP championships, 16 World Superbikes and many other titles including cross country, enduro, trials, motocross and road racing.
Police are allegedly fining riders who remove the catalytic convertor or cat from their motorcycle, according to several motorcycle dealers.
While the replacement of the muffler or exhaust system may contravene noise rules, removing the cat has nothing to do with noise, but with air pollution.
The cat is that ugly metal box often underneath your motorcycle.
It burns red hot to reduce toxic gases and the size of pollutants in the exhaust gas.
Some actually claim it causes more asthmatic reactions because it reduces the size of the airborne carbon which infiltrates the lungs easier.
Despite exhaustive legal research, he says he can find no mention in the ADRs of removing a catalytic convertor being illegal.
However, there remains conflicting views over whether it is illegal to remove the cat.
Mark Barnett, Product Manager for Link International which distributes Arrow exhausts says the gaseous emissions laws under ADR 79.04 do not apply to scooters, motorcycles or trikes.
“Some of our dealers have said they know of riders being prosecuted for removing cats,” Mark says.
He says the Federal Department of Transport and Regional Services told him that ADR 79.04 would never be applied to motorcycles as it was “too difficult to enforce and the numbers are too small to make it worth their while”.
However, Motorcycle Council of NSW exhaust expert Brian Wood says bikes are also subject to environment laws.
“Once registered, a vehicle becomes subject to the ‘in-service’ regulations that apply in the state in which the vehicle is registered,” he says.
“In NSW, most ‘in-service’ regulations are administered by the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
“In the case of exhaust emissions, it’s the NSW Environment Protection Authority.”
He says that under the NSW Clean Air Act, it is an offence to remove, disconnect or impair a system.
The offence for an individual is 200 penalty units. A penalty unit is current $110. So 200 penalty units would be $22,000.
Similar rules apply around the country.
So while you may be able to remove the cat under ADRs, you may run foul of environment laws.
Aftermarket exhausts
While on the subject of aftermarket exhausts, Mark says the ADRs override local state rules.
“We’ve had TMR officers in Queensland going to dealerships and saying every bike on the plot fitted with an aftermarket exhaust is illegal and the fine is $550,” he says.
“This is not true. A European homologated exhaust is legal under ADR and therefore is legal in all states and territories in Australia.
“I had an email from a TMR policy office agreeing that an aftermarket exhaust is legal providing it complies to ADR 83.00 and that for a LAMS bike it does not improve the engine performance.
“That’s a ‘gotcha’ for LAMS as most aftermarket exhausts will give an improvement, albeit in Arrow’s case only slight with the dB killer in place.
“However, for some bikes this may break the 150kW-per-tonne LAMS power limit.”
Brian also points out that the ADRs only apply up until the bike is registered and rolls out of the showroom.
Conclusion?
Sorry we can’t be more definitive on the legalities of removing a cat.
It seems to be a grey area that is exploited by police and transport officials to penalise motorists.
Stay tuned for Levente’s challenge to the laws. He is hopeful of a win that will set a legal precedent for all riders.
We will have the verdict on his case as soon as it is available.
The end appears to be coming for noisy motorcycle exhausts as noise detection devices are being trialled in the UK and Paris while Australian authorities monitor the trials.
Both the UK Department of Transport and French noise pollution agency Bruitparif are trialling devices that detect the noise, identify the culprit, take a photo and can even automatically issue a fine.
While they are set up to detect any noisy vehicles, the Parisienne devices are specifically targeting motorcycles with one set up in Saint-Forget, a hilly rural area near Paris popular with riders.
These “noise cameras” or “noise radars” are still under trial and no fines have been issued fines yet, but it may not be long before they are being used in Australia and other countries.
When the UK trial was announced in June, we contacted police and road authorities in each state to gauge their interest in the noise cameras.
We received mainly non-committal replies saying they monitor the development and introduction of all traffic enforcement technologies around the world.
WA Police were the only ones to admit they were actively monitoring the UK prototype noise cameras and said they would “seek information on its operational effectiveness”.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads say they have trialled other equipment but only to detect noise levels of heavy vehicles.
“Although the technology can potentially be used for detecting noisy, modified or defective exhausts in light vehicles and/or motorcycles there is currently no plan to extend the trials or legislation to include those vehicles in Queensland,” a spokesperson told us.
How the systems work
UK Department of Transport drawing
The UK DoT could not supply us with any images of the camera or details of how they work, but they did provide this tiny drawing showing a camera pointed at an oncoming car.
Surely the camera should be behind the vehicle!
They say the camera function will identify the type of vehicle and its legal sound level (decibels or dB) to assess whether to apply an infringement.
In Europe, motorcycles have maximum noise levels of 73-77dB, depending on engine size, while cars are about 82dB.
Australia has much more lax levels of94dB level for motorcycles (100dB if built before 1984) while it’s 90dB for cars (96dB before 1983).
But since the requirements for testing noise levels are so complex and prone to inaccuracies, we wonder about the accuracy of a device positioned up a light pole.
However, French noise pollution agency Bruitparif says their device is very accurate.
It has four microphones that measure decibel levels every 10th of a second and triangulates the source of the sound.
The device displays a picture of an “acoustic wake” as a trace of coloured dots trailing a vehicle.
The UK Department of Transport will test the prototype cameras in the coming months, but will not fine offenders.
Yet!
Noise cameras
“New camera technology to be trialled by the government aims to measure the sound levels of passing vehicles to detect those that are breaking the law on noise limits, and could use automated number plate recognition to help enforce the law,” the UK Department of Transport notice says.
“Research commissioned by the Department for Transport, found that a noise camera system could help tackle extremely noisy vehicles which breach legal noise limits.
“It could also help to catch those who rev car or motorcycle engines beyond legal limits, making life a misery for those who live close by.”
While the UK DoT could not supply us with any images of the camera, they did provide this tiny drawing showing a camera pointed at an oncoming car.
However, the noise cameras would take away the subjectivity and provide authorities with a method of fining offenders like a speed camera.
Police conduct roadside noise test at Mt Tamborine
Australia is watching and listening
We contacted police and road authorities in each state to gauge their interest in the noise cameras.
We received mainly non-committal replies saying they monitor the development and introduction of all traffic enforcement technologies around the world.
WA Police were the only ones to admit they are aware of the UK prototype noise cameras.
“While there are no current plans to trial such a camera in Western Australia, as with all emerging technologies, WA Police Force will monitor the activity in the UK and seek information on its operational effectiveness,” a media spokesperson told us.
UK Motorcycle Industry Association CEO Tony Campbell supports the trial.
“With growing pressure on the environment, including noise pollution, illegal exhausts fitted by some riders attract unwanted attention to the motorcycle community and do nothing to promote the many benefits motorcycles can offer,” he says.
“All manufacturers produce new motorcycles that follow strict regulations regarding noise and emissions and we welcome these trials as a potential way of detecting excessive noise in our community.”
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