AFAIK the mandatory cat fitment only applies to new bikes at the point of manufacture. Once they're sold you are still allowed to modify. They tried to stop it a few years ago but backed off because of the economic damage it would do the the major aftermarket parts industry in Europe. If that situation remains the case you can bet they'll soon try again.
Same here, only ever had two claims in my life though, one in 1991 and one in 2006, both write offs. Both had full systems and straight through end cans; not a question was asked by the insurance in either instance & I got fair cops for both machines.
We have had this discussion numerous times on here. 99% of the time, even in an accident, it will not be an issue. But have an accident with either a serious injury or a fatality and all the vehicles will be impounded and looked over by both police and accident investigators and that's when the problems will start if the vehicle is not road legal.
It depends on the bike and what’s being added, whether ‘silencers’ or a full system. I just did a quick check on the configurator, looked at a Hypermotard V2 (the subject of this thread), a Panigale V4 and a Multi Pikes Peak. They all have silencer options which have homologation in various places, eg EU, California, Japan, Australia, but all the ‘full systems’ have this attached to them, including the ubiquitous ‘full’ Akrapovic for the Pikes Peak such as you used to have I believe.
That's not correct. if you remove emissions-related equipment that was part of the vehicle’s original type approval and that causes it to no longer meet the emissions performance it was designed for then operating it on a public road is an offence under Regulation 61A of the Construction & Use Regulations Ref: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/61A Section (3) of the doc covers points 1 & 2 above, but in verbose language. Point 3 is the result.
Interesting, it raises a question, are motorcycles tested for emissions at MOT in the UK? My understanding is not. Thus a decatted, but not obnoxiously loud, exhaust system could still pass the MOT.
No formal emissoins test - just visual check for smoke: Appendix 3: Grounds for refusal > The vehicle emits substantial quantities of avoidable smoke. Very 1960s. Noise is up to the MOT tester. You would expect it would be easy to formally test, but there is no defined decibel limit. Therefore I reckon you're correct on decatted bikes. Still doesn't make it legal of course.
The official The official manufacturer-authorised decat systems like Termis and Akras are type approved. That's why the big auto manufacturers lobbied for so many years for type approval in the EU, so that anyone wanting to change any part covered by type approval would have to buy one of theirs. However, that's a separate issue from UK MOT noise testing. If a UK government wants to introduce noise limit testing it won't make any difference whether the exhaust system is type approved or not. Currently there are no noise tests as part pf the MOT but I can't believe they won't be introduced soon. I imagine it's only a question of adopting fraud-proof testing equipment which can send results to the DVLA or produce an indelible digital record. A simple hand held decibel metre like they use on tracks wouldn't be any good because the result can't be corroborated. They'll surely be working on it as we speak and it'll happen at some point as part of the war against the internal combustion engine. Having said that, as things stand there's also no reason why a UK government couldn't outlaw decatted exhaust system for bikes independently of Euro type-approval legislation. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. Technically it's illegal to remove dpfs from diesel cars, yet lots of specialist firms offer that service on cars that have knackered dpfs. Short of cutting the exhaust system open and having a look there's no way of telling whether the matrix is still inside the canister or not. The same is true of cats. But anti-tamper ECUs will soon make deletion impossible on new cars and bikes. If you've got an older one you'll get away with it but all vehicles have a finite life span so it will operate on the basis of natural wastage. It will happen until we give up personal transport and sit in our 15 minute cties and do as we're told.
Type approval on exhausts means it has to meet noise and emissions regulations. Race exhausts meet neither so cannot be type approved.
That’s what this warning comes up when trying to configure any Ducati on its website. If you don’t tell your insurer when taking out the policy then you leave them the option of cancelling the policy. Once a policy is cancelled the whole industry will know you have had a cancelled policy and getting insurance in the future will at best be very expensive if possible at all. We all know the risks so everyone has to make their own judgement.
