I am looking to replace my stock exhaust with Yoshimura Slip-ons and was reccomended to buy from the U.S as the Exchange rate is favourable. I have been quoted £854 and January delivery but the same pipes (for the US market) are available for £500 (excluding import duty and VAT).
Then I was told (by the UK distributor) that the US cans (TRC Dual Slip ons) are not EEC approved and not road legal. I am not certain if this is true…
What are the implications of riding with a non EEC approved exhaust system ? Has anyone had any problems and will the EEC approved pipes sound crap ?
The US has different laws and regulations to over here. They may very well not be EEC legal, even though they may be legal in the US.
Id still get the cheaper ones though.
A friend has two bikes running ‘Not for road use’ pipes and both passed MOT’s at different stations. They had the correct stamp on:
Replacements units, other than bikes registered before 01.Jan.1985, must have the BSAU 193 stamp
HTH…
You can buy little plates on Ebay that have all the correct BSAU markings on;)
Actually not true now, there is no requirement for a BSAU stamp or EEC stamp on an exhaust for MOT purposes. This was ruled as restrictive trade and removed from the requirements abnout a year ago.
The current MOT rules dictate that the exhaust must NOT be stamped “Not For Road Use” or equivalent and must, in the opinion of the tester, be no louder than other bikes of similar size.
Your US pipes will be fine
As for cost you need to factor in the import duty and VAT before you look too hard at the deal
Import Duty is anywhere between 3.5% and 25% depending on the class of product, I think when I got hit for some parts a couple of years ago I was charged 15% and then VAT is added. These charges are added to the total price including shipping
Therefore if your 500 exhaust has 70 shipping it would work out roughly
(570*15%)*17.5%= 770
Make sure you budget enough and check the duty rate before ordering
Yoshi Slip ons - carbon fibre £420 (U.S) www.mdracingstp.com Same pipes - JHS Racing £854 (U.K)
Only problem is the US pipes are stamped not for road use. MOT may be fine although slightly concerned about invalidating insurance…
Anyone had a problem with this ?
I’d ask myself if the performance improvement was really worth that much money… …and if that improvement could realistically be used or ever experienced on the road.
On the track, maybe, but then where’s your worry.
Sounds like a waste of hard-earned to me. After tax, to boot…
Sounds like you have your answer, ‘not for road use’ will get you into trouble over here. The police are wise to this, so if you get stopped becasue you are a biker and must therefore be breaking the law…you will be found to actually ‘be breaking the law’ and they will have been justified in stopping you…even if you have an MOT which you wont if its a new bike and less than 3 years old…
keep your money, IMO but if you are really that keen to change, then get the known legal ones…
Have since discovered that the pipes from the U.S are NOT stamped plus they have baffles. I am curious if the US slip ons and the slip ons made for the Japanese market are different in any way other than the price…Is anyone running pipes imported from the U.S ?
They will be fine, the stamp is a EU thing so if these are not stamped they will pass the MOT, if you have a baffle in then you’ll be fine with the police.
Actually my personal experience (stubby 105db exhaust on a VFR) is that you’ll have no issues with the police in town, can get tetchy if you are in the popular biker places on a summers weekend though
If you have cans on your bike which are stamped “NOT FOR ROAD USE” then they will not pass an MOT .
VOSA states the exhaust system MUST not have any markings indicating that it is not approved for standard road use, such as, ‘‘not for road use’’ or ‘‘race use only’’.
You will also invalidate your insurance and be liable to special attention from your local constabulary:cool:
As I said, the little tags on ebay are designed to cover over the “NOT FOR ROAD USE” text;)
depends where you get your MoT’s done mate 
I know that and you know that;)Just stating the facts:cool:
I had a ‘Not For Road’ use Akrapovic on my bike for months and never had any bother from the Police 
Right or wrong just do what you wanna do at the end of the day!
i’ve got uber loud cans on my TL that rattles fillings at 20 paces and never had a prob. BUT it depends on where you ride and how you ride too.
Exactly 
Time and a place
You would’nt get any bother from me,but I am a bit biased.It would have to be a Black Rat or similar to get any trouble.Most officers would’nt have a clue what they’re looking at,just like the rating on your visors.Traffic offences are’nt top of the list of things to be doing
Thanks all for the advice. As the cans are not stamped I’m going to take advantage of the weak dollar and import. Can’t believe the difference in price for the same product !
Bit of a plug for Matt Droker www.mdracingstp.com 001 309 526 3246 as he was really helpful.
Saw a few B-Kings at NEC yesterday. I hadn’t realised those two pedal bins sticking out the back are actually plastic:w00t:
There are some very sexy aftermarket cans that really tidy the back end up and make you realise what it should have looked like:cool:
Yep I saw quite a few - there are some nice pipes but I think the Yoshi look the best. Biggest problem with the exhaust is that it is so quiet. My girlfriends FZ6 with Scorpions drowns me out. Can’t have that !