Date Set For Introduction Of ULEZ

Black cabs are one of the most polluting they use old Diesel transit engines

Surely if you take the cat off and bang a nice aftermarket can on, it’s back to pre euro anything? So should we expect emissions testing at MOT? Indeed, if whichever authority was out with a sniffer and our exhausts obviously don’t comply, what then?

anyone want to buy a 2008 tuono now?

I read somewhere the days of off the shelf mass produced road going sports bikes are numbered. Seems as if performance enhancements become very difficult within Euro 4 regulations and nigh on impossible within Euro 5. I also read somewhere of an idea to include an upper bhp limit for road going vehicles within the Euro regulations.

I’ll give you a Mars bar for it

Of course! If the environment was really what they care about. Since its just a revenue scheme, they only looking at manufacturing year. There’s not even an option to allow a catalytic converter should you like to fit one.

If it were a revenue scheme, they’d surely charge you for a yearly emissions test as well & then charge you the daily charge if you’d taken the cat off. I presume that it’s just a fluke of history (because euro emissions controls came in much later) that there’s no MOT emissions test for bikes as there is for cars

I doubt anyone would want to go the expense of converting a 15 year old  bike to comply with Euro 3 anyway. I suspect that it’s not as simple as just sticking a cat on the exhaust, what about the lambda sensor/ECU?

but how do you know the bike doesnt comply already?  why is that automatically a non compliant vehicle in the first place?  nobody even given the chance to check it at the MOT centre as you said.

i wont fit a catalytic on the R6,  but if i had lets say an old tmax or something i might do.

I think most of us will continue with the same attitude to emissions as we have to noise when it comes to exhausts.
As in, fuck everyone else, if I can get away with it, I will. Long may this continue.


but how do you know the bike doesnt comply already?  why is that automatically a non compliant vehicle in the first place?  nobody even given the chance to check it at the MOT centre as you said.
i wont fit a catalytic on the R6,  but if i had lets say an old tmax or something i might do.
silveR6
I'm not pretending to know a lot about it but I believe that the lambda sensor in the exhaust feeds back to the ECU to control the fuel/air mixture to keep the emissions under control (or something like that) so just sticking a cat onto a bike without one wouldn't work on its own.

Again, I don’t know what the emission data for a pre Euro 3 Tmax might be but if it complied without the cat, why would Yamaha have added one? I imagine it’s all but impossible to comply without a catalytic converter.

One of the things being protested by I Ride London tomorrow at 1pm. If I can sneak out the office I will

You don’t necessarily need a catalytic convertor to achieve Euro 3 regulation emissions, most early adopters achieved Euro 3 emission regulations with no more than an electronic fuel injection system monitored by airflow, manifold pressure and oxygen sensors.

Bottom line is carburettor fuelled engines are what they are and they will never achieve the lower emission levels required by the Euro regulations.

Just need to point out this is for a tiny square footage of the UK. Bike and car exhaust fumes account for a tiny amount of the uk’s co2 output. But then again taxing big business doesn’t… about to get into a big rant I’ll stop here. Point is it doesn’t make any sense to penalise a tiny amount of vehicles in a minuscule area.

Just need to point out this is for a tiny square footage of the UK. Bike and car exhaust fumes account for a tiny amount of the uk's co2 output. But then again taxing big business doesn't... about to get into a big rant I'll stop here. Point is it doesn't make any sense to penalise a tiny amount of vehicles in a minuscule area. Changyammi
It doesn't have any effect on CO2 output indeed, but that isn't really the point. The ULEZ is supposed to target localised air pollution (which arguably has negative effects on health) within London though, and in that situation it does actually make sense. 

Where it doesn’t make sense is its’ approach to targeting bikes and the cost parity, given the massive disparity in number of PTW’s vs. other petrol / diesel driven vehicles on London roads and the time they sit idling in traffic.

I don’t think Euro emission standards even specify CO2 do they?

Sit behind an HGV spewing black diesel smoke at a set of lights (or even an old car or bike) and tell me it doesn’t make sense to penalise polluting vehicles. Air quality in London is pretty poor and is said to be responsible for significant numbers of health issues, I’m no doctor but that seems pretty logical.

There may be some argument for reducing the cost of the charge applied to bikes based on reduced congestion/journey times/idling but I don’t think it has been convincingly made and it’s a tricky one since the Euro restrictions on bikes are pretty lax compared to those for cars.

Just need to point out this is for a tiny square footage of the UK. Bike and car exhaust fumes account for a tiny amount of the uk's co2 output. But then again taxing big business doesn't... about to get into a big rant I'll stop here. Point is it doesn't make any sense to penalise a tiny amount of vehicles in a minuscule area. Changyammi
A point, and not the only, is to set a precedent and have other cities following suit.
I don't think Euro emission standards even specify CO2 do they?

There may be some argument for reducing the cost of the charge applied to bikes based on reduced congestion/journey times/idling…

monkimark
Correct, Euro 3 only puts limits on carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogeon oxides.  The recent Euro 4 standard increases those limits as well as limiting particulate matter.

But air quality is an issue of localized build up which affects tiny square footages and is damaging to personal health.  The standards are meant to address that rather than global warming.

On the second point cars will still have to pay the congestion charge in addition to the ULEZ, whilst bikes will not regardless of age.

I thought originally this was just based on year of manufacture or when 1st registered? But my 2009 carbed bike won’t cut it will it surely…

according to the TfL checker, it will…

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/check-your-vehicle

What’s the bike?

Really a carbed bike in 2009