Non-EC or Non-cat UK exhausts and riding in the EU

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TigerBob
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Re: Non-EC or Non-cat UK exhausts and riding in the EU

Post by TigerBob »

I'm sure I've read somewhere, in the last year or so, of Brit bikers being heavily fined in Switzerland for nosiey exhausts. There was also mention of bikes being impounded for the same at the border crossings.
Réné Artois
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Re: Non-EC or Non-cat UK exhausts and riding in the EU

Post by Réné Artois »

I can only reply for France as, despite what the UK seems to believe there are still many many differences in rules and regs of european countries, specifically relating to transport. The French police ( not the Gendarmerie, but the Police) have been having a crackdown on decibel levels for bikes and have been seen to use roadside decibel meters to stop and test this. the locals who like to ride with loud pipes remove the baffles from the end can, but carry them with them. In practice, if you can refit the baffle there and then you will be allowed to go with no further action.

The reality is that the Police and the Gendarmerie have different "zones de competence" ( jurisdictions?) with the Gendarmerie being more prevalent in rural areas and the Police more in larger towns and cities, so the risk of such a control is limited pretty much to larger urban places, add to that that not all the brigades are equipped with or trained to use the sonometre, the risk is pretty much (but not exclusively) limited to Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and a couple of other majour cities like Strasbourg or Lille. Outside of these places the probability of a noise level check is slight to say the least. I live out in the boonies of Burgundy and have never been tested with a sonometre in the last 28 years...

As someone mentioned above, "les Flics" will be more concerned with papers then mechanics. be polite and they're fine, be they Gendarmes, Police National, or CRS.
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