BAKERSFIELD, CA (August 21, 2006.) The California Air Resources Board (ARB) recently became aware of the fact that some off-highway motorcycles may have been inappropriately converted to street legal registration by the Department of Motor Vehicles since new policies banning that practice were adopted in 2004. In mid 2003, new policies were issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles that blocked owner or dealer conversions of off-highway motorcycles. This was in response to ARB requirements that all street legal motorcycles must be certified by ARB that they meet street legal motorcycle emission standards. DMV policies had historically allowed conversions after appropriate lighting and safety equipment was installed, but those policies had not been updated to reflect newer ARB regulations adopted subsequent to the DMV policy development. After discussions among ORBA, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), DMV and ARB, a delayed implementation of the new policy until 1-31-04 was adopted, allowing owners who had already purchased or ordered motorcycles in good faith with the intent to utilize the existing DMV policy to complete the conversion to street legal status. After 1-31-04, no off-highway motorcycles were supposed to be converted and registered by DMV.

Currently, DMV and ARB are auditing DMV records to determine if off-highway motorcycles have been converted to street legal status inappropriately since the 1-31-04 cut-off date. Preliminary indications are that some motorcycles may have been inappropriately converted, and a more detailed audit is underway to determine if that is the case and if so, how many of them were done, and to whom they belong. Owners of any off-highway motorcycles that are determined to be inappropriately converted will be contacted by DMV by mail, informed their street legal license plates are no longer valid, and offered the opportunity to register the bikes as off-highway motorcycles.

The only motorcycles that are allowed to be street registered are models that are certified by ARB as meeting highway emission standards, those converted previous to the 1-31-04 deadline and motorcycles of model year 1977 and older. Anyone who converted their off-highway motorcycles to street legal status prior to the 1-31-04 date will not be affected, and their current status will not change.

For those California residents interested in owning a street legal motorcycle that performs well off-road, there are several good options. Until now, there have been few options for those buyers, and even those were not as desirable to some buyers as converting a lighter, higher performance off-highway motorcycle. Fortunately, a few manufacturers have responded by producing dual sport bikes that perform well off-highway and are lighter than traditional dual sport models. It is expected that other companies may follow this trend.

DMV registration procedures pertaining to off-highway motorcycle conversions can be viewed at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/advs/advs319.pdf

###

ORBA is a national trade association composed of off-road related businesses united to promote common goals that support the prosperity and growth of the off-road industry.