NSW MCC June Meeting

I manage to actually do a report....

Although there's not a lot happening at the moment.

Protective clothing
---------------------
Recently the NCC got a grant to investigate protective clothing, with
the idea of supporting appropriate labelling, so consumers know what
they are buying. The protective clothing of the Positioned For Safety
website (www.roadsafety.mccofnsw.org.au) will be launched with media and
politician involvement.

This is both to help riders choose gear that's fit for purpose, and to
avoid mandatory clothing regs.

Wire rope barriers:
------------------
see separate post.


Anti-theft
----------
The MCC is arranging to sell anti-theft microdots to members of MCC
clubs at a reasonable discount. The idea is that you put these on your
bike in various places, say over the frame number and compliance plate
and engine number (as "standard" places to look) and on the saleable
bits. They can be found with a simple blacklight viewer, and the number
can be read with a powerful lens. You register your number with the
company, if the bike's nicked and you report it to the cops, they will
also tell the company. Then if it or its bits come on the market, you
have a good chance of it being pinged as nicked.

Exhaust noise
-------------

And the story of the week! The chairman of the MCC's exhaust noise
committee, Chris Coote, got stopped the other day.

The policecar followed him for about 3km along the Mona Vale Rd in St
Ives, and pulled him over. The first thing the cop did was look at his
pipes, and saw the CAN kit sticker. Which apparently annoyed the hell
out of him! "Where did you get that?" he asked. "Came with the bike"
said Chris.

The cop then walked around the bike a couple of times, looked at the
sticker again, walked around again, poked the sticker, picked at it,
tried to rub the info off it... Chris says that he was obviously annoyed
that his easy $200 fine was toast.

So he says the bike's too loud. Chris asked how loud he thought it was,
what dB. The cop refused to give a number, just "very loud". He
eventually said his experienced ears put it at over 100dB. So he
defected the bike for "insuffucient silencing".

Chris *knew* the bike was legal. So took it to Crash Test Engineering,
and was able to get it tested within a few hours. Legal OK. So now he
has to get the defect notice lifted.

And there was the problem... several places refused to *touch* a noise
defect, even though he had an engineer's report. It's not clear why, but
it apparently felt a bit like they'd been leaned on. One even said
aftermarket pipes were illegal!

He is, of course, taking this bust to court. Stay tuned for
developments.

The important things for bikers though are:
- get a sticker on your aftermarket pipe on any post-86 bike in NSW.
- if you do get tagged for "insufficient silencing" or equivalent, get
it tested ASAP. Same day even if you can. Crash Test Engineering
will do it. Because if you are going to fight it, you need to show that
the pipe the officer heard was the pipe you got tested, and the test was
done a reasonable time after. And contact the MCC when you have had it
tested.
- If you have any problems with noise related issues at a rego
inspection, please contact the MCC. Ring Ray on (02) 9833 7794


Zebee

 

Judging by the number of noise placards being attached to noisy aftermarket
pipes, this system will quickly become discredited.
Chris

 

What about bikes registered in other states? Do we need to get these
stickers to go through NSW?

--
Cheers
Dave (Mojo67)
FZR600 >> ZX6R Brisbane
http://users.bigpond.net.au/mojo67/mojo67.htm
I used to never be able to finish anything but now I

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 9 Jun 2004 17:11:26 +1000

Now that is an interesting question that hasn't officially been
answered.

A strict reading of the regs would indicate that yes, you do. Consider
the problems of the bods with Vic trailers.

A letter to the Minister of Transport, saying how you are
not going to risk a fine, and will take your tourist dollars elsewhere
might help. Copy it to the Minister for Tourism and Recreation just to
help create dissention in the ranks

Minister for Transport
The Hon. Michael Costa MLC (or is it Scully now? the websites outta
date...)
Level 31, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place SYDNEY NSW 2000
(02) 9228 5665


Minister for Tourism and Recreation
The Hon. Sandra Nori MP
Level 34 Governor Macquarie Tower 1 Farrer Place SYDNEY NSW 2000
(02) 9228 5055

No email addresses for either I'm afraid.

Zebee

 

I don't think the Vic Trailer problem is a good example. The unregistered
Victorian trailer has virtual registration in Victoria because registration is
not required, however once it crosses the border it becomes an unregistered
trailer in NSW, where it does require registration. When a motorcycle
registered in Victoria crosses the border into NSW, it becomes a Vic
registered bike in NSW, not an unregistered bike.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

Then why do the unregistered trailers not get fined for being unregistered
when they enter NSW?

Hammo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 09 Jun 2004 17:57:36 +1000

No, but it is a bike without a sticker, and nothing is said about
registration. In other words it's about roadworthy or not...

Zebee

 

I would have thought that one could reasonably argue that as Victorian legislation does not require
a noise sticker on the exhaust to be considered roadworthy, it is unreasonable to be fined for lack
of same on a Victorian registered and residing vehicle when travelling through another state.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 9 Jun 2004 22:59:58 +1000

I agree it is unreasonable.

That doesn't mean it won't happen.

I don't know if there are other things that are required in one state
and not in another, the only thing I can think of is the trailer
business and they were certainly fining people for that.

Zebee

 

Victorian legislation does not require

unreasonable to be fined for lack

travelling through another state.

The Australian Constitution, section 92.

"92. On the imposition of uniform duties of customs, trade, commerce,
and intercourse among the States, whether by means of internal
carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely free."

If it's legal where it lives, it's legal where it travels.

Doug Cox.
Work to ride, Ride to work...
http://toosmoky.d2.net.au

 

That says that you don't have to pay import duty on goods manufactured in
another state.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 10 Jun 2004 08:34:30 +1000

So why is a trailer/car combo legal in vic and not in NSW?

Zebee

 

Show where it isn't, and show me the paper that supports your comments on
brain stem separation too.

Border Town Hammo

 

X-No-archive: yes
Zebee Johnstone wrote;

EH?!!?
I haven't heard that one before!
Sure different rules apply in the two states and a legal Victorian trailer
towed behind a NSW car would become illegal (as far as I can discern) but a
Vic car & trailer can circumnavigate Australia and be quite legal (so long
as they stay together).
......as far as I understand it.
Clem

 

Uniform road rules - Not!

On the other hand I am glad we (in NSW) don't have the Victorian speed
camera tolerances.

Stan

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 10 Jun 2004 17:59:36 +1000

I meant that a car-trailer setup that's legal in Vic is not legal in
NSW.

THe point about the EPA sticker silliness is that the EPA believes that
aftermarket pipes are *already* marked as required.

You see a few years ago, the RTA (who were the first ones to try this
labelling game) leaned on the local manufacturers to mark their pipes.
They think about imports, presumably due to incompetence.

This information was passed onto the EPA, (along with the information
that rego people checked for these markings, but not, apparently, the
information that they were told to stop doing so shortly afterwards) who
now seem to believe that all legal pipes are so marked. Therefore any
pipe not marked is illegal. And that includes non-NSW pipes.

This is why the EPA didn't make stickers available, they didn't think
they needed to, they thought it was all done by the manufacturers!

Given this thinking, they will quite happily do interstaters.

Zebee

 

X-No-archive: yes
Zebee Johnstone wrote;

And again I say "EH?"
As far as I'm aware there is no problem with taking an unregistered
Victorian trailer (which is what I assume you're referring to) into NSW
provided you still comply with the Victorian rules (i.e. have the towing
car's numberplate details displayed on the back of the trailer).

(If you're saying that NSW and Vic have different rules governing trailer
use/rego then I agree with you, but that's not what Doug said with his "If
it's legal where it lives, it's legal where it travels")
Clem
(I wonder how it works if you're towing your Victorian trailer with a
NSW-plated rental car in the two states..... Or if I borrow my brother's
bike-trailer and tow it back to Qld ....)

 

Or if your Victorian registered trailer is fitted with an illegal exhaust...


Postman Pat

 

Catching up...

There's no such thing as a NSW plated rental car - the rego is so much
dearer they're all Vic or SA or WA or etc plated.

JL
(go on prove me wrong, I dare you ;-)

 

So, what is a taxi or Limo?

Hammo