Someones interested in buying my Bike!!

You could own a bike that put out five thousand horsepower if such a
thing existed. You just couldn't ride it on 'la voie publique' (public
roads).

Yes. You'd have to get it insured by a French insurer. To do so, a
certificate from the 'Service des Mines' would be required, and they
wouldn't give one out unless it had been shown to produce 106 BHP or
less.

Why the **** no one has taken this to Strasbourg yet, I don't know.

D.

 

~ 65%, if a bloke on a Sprint whom I met a while back, is to be
believed.

D.

 

Tsk. You should be ashamed .. .

D.

 

Not quite. All vehicles driven on French roads need to be 'approved',
and if the thing puts out more than 106 bhp, then it's not approved.

It's a grey area. When I had my FJR, I was thinking of getting it
derestricted, but held off for that very reason. Then someone told me
that the simple fact that it was derestricted, would _not_ invalidate
the insurance, but should I wipe someone (or myself) out and it could be
proved that the extra power had caused the accident, _then_ the
insurance companies would be in their right to refuse to pay up.

To simplify it, let's say you're waiting at a zebra crossing on your
derestricted R1, like mine was .. *cough* .. and you're not holding the
brake. Someone rams you from behind and as the bike punts forward, it
hits and kills an old woman who just happened to be crossing in front of
you. There is _no_way_ that the insurers could claim that the extra
power caused that accident, and therefore they'd be forced to dig into
their pockets.

It's like when I bought my FJR, and everyone predicted that the power
was too much for me, and that I'd bin it. Of course, I _did_ bin it,
but it was due to over-zealous use of the brakes on a wet road, and so
the power of the bike had sweet ****-all to do with the accident.
Naturally enough, that didn't stop the 'I told you so', idiots from
gloating, but then that's UKRM for you.

I've spent a long time with my nose in the Code des Assurances, and I
really can't be arsed anymore. My (uneducated) guess would be that if
you lived in France, and if you bought a bike _in_France_ that you
subsequently had derestricted, then your insurance would only be invalid
if the power, post-derestriction, were a cause of the accident.

Just don't quote me.

D.

 

It's also like radar speed trap detectors. Lawful to own, to sell, and
to transport. Just illegal to use.

D.

 

It's not illegal to own a bike over 106BHP but you won't be able to
register or insure it. Bike shops incur very stiff fines and
penalties, if they sell a bike that's knowingly over 106BHP.

If you bring a bike from outside France into the country with the
intent of registering it here, it'll have to be restricted and go
through the "service des mines" to prove that it's no longer over
106BHP. It's a nightmare to do (ask Dog with H's 400, which wasn't
sold in France or over 106BHP). If you could keep the UK plates and
keep the UK insurance over in France, then you'd be fine. However,
I've not seen nor found a UK insurer that would insure me for a bike
whilst being resident in France (Should you find one, please let me
know).

As for tuning, yes, you can buy the parts, but if the parts are not
type approved, then Plod can confiscate your bike at the side of the
road. Even things like the non-standard indicators can cause you to
fall foul of the law.

Going back to the elections, this is one part where I hope Sarko will
keep his word and check the whole subject of power issues out.
However, the article I posted back up there ^^^ was worded very well
and I think he'll ignore the issue, unless groups like the FFMC pile
on the pressure. Even then, it won't be done tomorrow...

 

I wasn't even aware that he had mentioned it, but then I didn't pay any
attention to what the **** was claiming to be able to do.

I shall be très surprised if it happens, though. Once a restriction is
in place (whatever that restriction is), it's very difficult to go back,
because minorities with vested interests are adept at making enough
noise for such changes to be politically dangerous. Take the handgun
ban in the UK, for example. Even before Dunblane, the UK had _very_ low
levels of gun crime, and there is no reason to suspect that if handguns
were once again allowed to be bought and kept for the purposes of club
shooting, then murders would rise. Yet if any politician were brave
(and stupid) enough to suggest such measures, then that is exactly what
numerous pressure groups would claim: authorise guns, and there will be
'carnage'. There wouldn't be, of course, but people are stupid, and
people get to vote, so politicians don't take chances.

The death penalty, the 70mph speed limit, the ban on fireworks in some
American states, the necessity to carry ID wherever you are in France
(despite _no_cunt_ever_ having shown that it has contribued to
preventing crime), whatever you like. Impose a restriction or a
penalty, and it is _very_ difficult to get rid of it.

D.

 

<fx: small voice>

Sorry...

 

As Ace and Cab have said, this law _is_ flouted. The thing is that the
safety nazis (along with the feminists and the 'pro-Arabs' [1] and the
anti-cigarette lobby) make enough noise, that disobediance of this law
(despite the fact that the world, his wife and their dog know that i) it
is unfair to bikers when cars can produce > 500 bhp and be legally sold
and driven, ii) 70% of car - bike accidents are the fault of the car
driver, and iii) it has never been shown to have prevented one single
accident) is 'socially unacceptable'. So in the back of every
motorcyclist's mind, is the thought, 'if I derestrict this thing, and
kill someone, my in-laws are going to think I'm a murderer' [2]

There are two main ways to make a law enforceable. 1. Make the penalty
for violating it so horrible, that no one would dare break it. The
Greeks tried this (look up the etymology of the word 'draconian'). Or
2. ensure that the finger-wagging of the moral minority is sufficiently
humilating, that no one wants to risk it.

Drink driving is a good example. If the _only_ penalty that a driver
who took the wheel whilst pissed, risked were a fine and/or
imprisonment, then a lot more people would do it. But drink driving now
is 'socially unacceptable'. Do it, and you're considered a ****. This
is a _much_ more effective deterrent than a fine or gaol.

If you ever have occasion to go to any of the mairies (**** me, I'm
doing too much Hebrew .. I was typing that word and mentally asking
myself if the plural was 'mairoth' or 'mairim' !) in France, you'll see
the names and addresses of convicted tax dodgers, prominently displayed
on the notice boards near the entrance. This is out of order, IMHO, and
borders on violating the constitutional ban on 'double peine' (~ 'being
punished twice for the same crime'), but the point is that whilst a fine
really doesn't put people off (for by definition, some people will
always get away with it), the thought of their neighbours, friends and
colleagues seeing their names and saying, 'you're a thief!', is
considered more effective.

Human beings are basically little more intelligent than sheep, and
almost as easy to manipulate.

D.


[1] read 'the anti-Semites'
[2] a deliberate caricature ..

 

just about any garage will derestrict your bike for you, however they will
notify you that it will invalidate your insurance and make the bike
not fit for purpose should you decide to sell it.

no. but you wouldn't be able to sell it, legally, if it didn't match up to
the certificate of homologation, which for france, includes the stipulation
that it doesn't make more than 100cv (or whatever the actual figure is),
since that certificate is the basis for you having the carte grise (that,
and having paid all necessary taxes. and you couldn't insure it with a
french insurance company without a carte grise, and you can't take it on
a public road without insurance.

however, if you were normally resident in france but also resident abroad,
you could register the bike at your foreign (e.g. uk) address, under the
laws of that country, and insure it there assuming that your insurer was
happy about the arrangement. some brits in france have had their vehicles
registered in the uk for years while they lived full time in france.

 

No, it won't invalidate your insurance (unless my 'source' is wrong),
except for the cases I mentioned.

I'll do that when I win the lottery, and have a full-power K1200S. ;-)

D.

 

MWHID

 

French bike mag I bought recently said more or less the same. Plus for
some bikes, like the Hayabusa, if it's in a smash the inscos will pull
it apart, looking for tuning bits.

 

You'd be right, but it can only be a few months before someone offers a
chip or ECU upgrade.

 

Suggest it to Auntie Carole.....

 

Hmm, not thought about that.

Mind you, I have thought of a cunning plan. I need to see if it's
feasible. If so, I could be riding on an unrestricted bike _and_ be
100% legal, quite soon...

 

Yup. Given the 600 makes 80 one could argue that make it the better
bike as it's lighter.

Really the 1250 should be putting out 120-130.

 

Nearly. I'm going to ask my BiL to legally own the bike and insure it
in Spain, with me as a named rider.

I just need to see if it'll pass.

 

Too powerful for that.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..89059../..24376.../..31896.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 05 Pts:0100 Miles:0367

 

Agree 100%. And the 100bhp limit has been killed in other countries -
Germany, for instance.

What amazes me is the hypocrisy and illogicality of a power limit for
bikes anyway. There's no similar restriction for cars..