Just been reading the thread on Speed Twin Vs T120 and there’s a mention in one post of de- catting the exhaust. I know some do this, but would it void your insurance in the event of an accident, or, could someone (Customs & Excise) stop you and put a sniffer into your exhaust and then fine you? Do motorcycles pass MOTs without a cat in the system? Cheers,Ken.
I would say if the bike was manufactured with a CAT and you removed it and didn't tell the insurance company then just like not telling them of a modification they could refuse a claim. However, as motorcycles do not have to be tested for emissions (yet) i can't see why any roadside checks would be done.
I think it can’t be far off until bikes are included in emissions testing, after all they are all fuel injected now and a very high percentage on the road are FI. Bet ya any money the cost of “road tax” would drop if bikes were categorised according to how much they polute. ( and is probably the reason it hasn’t been done yet)
My insurance allowed slip on exhausts with no need to declare it. I think there's a few that do this now, but it will differ between various companies. The cat is removed if I put on a slip on exhaust, but there's no mention of a catalyser in the insurance. I believe they're there to reduce emissions (not very well most of the time) rather than actually being stipulated as a legal requirement, so it may be a bit of a grey area.
Not sure about English laws but I'm pretty sure insurance company's are the same the world over. Any excuse to deny a claim.
That has not applied for years. Insurers can no longer use that as a reason reject a claim unless they can prove that the modification was a contributory factor in any accident.
Yes but they could use the fact that you have made a modification and not disclosed it. It's their call wether a modification requires a premium loading or is even allowed in the first place. Most polices stipulate faliure to disclose mods could jepordise a claim or invalidate the policy. You're effectively agreeing to that when you take out the policy. One thing's for sure, they'll try harder to reject a claim than they will settling it or am I just being cynical.
It’s entirley possible that I am ignorant, but I have not seen a section on US policy’s that says anything about modifications other than documenting accessories if you want them to be insured. I did remove the CAT on my Scrambler and no one ever cautioned against it who knows better. Obviously I could be missing something or it’s a difference between the US and the UK.
Every policy I have had for cars and motorcycles states that failing to declare mods with render the policy void.
If you have some skill with tools and a TIG welder you can de-cat your exhaust without anyone being the wiser. I've seen this done with the exhaust on the Scrambler 1200's; mainly to reduce exhaust temperature on the inside of your right leg. You simply cut open the end of the cat with a cut-off wheel (make your cut along the existing weld bead), pull the platinum core out, place a baffle in it's place (this will illiminate the need to reflash the ECU) and weld it all back together. Aside from being lighter and running much, much cooler nobody will ever be able to tell if your exhaust has been de-catted.
Great point. TEC has a handy video on YouTube showing this very thing. Though your description is quite good as well.
I would be extremely surprised if someone from an insurance company would be sent out to examine a bike in great detail following an accident, unless they felt something dodgy was going on, such as a fraudulent claim. All my dealings with insurance companies over 40+ years of biking have been very straightforward. All my bikes have been modified in various ways (shocks, exhaust, lights, indicators, seat, wheels and more) and I can't recall ever informing my insurance company. Has anyone actually had a claim rejected on the grounds of an undeclared (but generally accepted) mod? I would also be surprised if an insurance assessor (or whatever they're called) could actually tell if a cat had been removed or not because it isn't obvious unless you are specifically looking for it.
I've seen TEC's YouTube video on their Tail Tidy (I have one on my Scrambler, and they insist on the consumer watching the video prior to installation), but not on the cat removal. If it's the same gentleman, he has a very good presence on camera, and is easy to follow/listen to.
I had a chat with an MOT car tester some time ago, as I was thinking about getting a stainless exhaust made up for the car I had. He said that no matter what the emission test shows, if the car should have a cat, and it's obviously missing then it fails. I've heard that this has been applied by some bike MOT testers. If the bike should have a cat then it should be there, if not, it fails. Depends on your friendly neighbourhood MOT tester I suppose. Same as straight through zorsts, put the baffles and/or cat in for the test. Best bet is get one that doesn't need an MOT.
This is assuming that the chap doing the MOT test knows whether or not each bike passing through his (or her) shop should be fitted with a cat. And then that they actually know what to look for on each model (bearing in mind that on some models the cat is hidden inside the exhaust and pretty much invisible), and can spot the difference between the cat and the range of X-pipes on the market. To be honest I think failing a bike MOT on the grounds of a missing cat is bollocks. I would like to see an MOT tester try to justify it. There are no emission tests on bikes at the moment. It is not illegal to swap standard exhausts for an after market system, which usually means goodbye to the cat anyway. My bike, minus cat and with a whole bunch of mods, has been MOT'd at 3 different stations, including a Triumph main dealer, and never had a problem. I reckon some people like to worry just for the sake of it.
I ditched my catalytic converter for an h-pipe this morning (a course of action inspired by this thread). While I've been able to mitigate the heat coming off the exhaust on my Scrambler 1200XC by just putting my left leg down at stops and leaving the right leg on the peg (and wearing tall leather engineer boots), the radiant heat was actually blanching the dye out of the inside of my denim trousers leg (yeah I know, Levi's are supposed to be salty-looking). According to my digital infrared thermometer, the exhaust pipe in that area is a full 40 degrees Fahrenheit cooler.
According to Free Sprits (the manufacturer of the h-pipe), no remap of the ECU is necessary. When I fired it up to verify the integrity of my work (basically making sure I had no exhaust leaks), I let it do it's ECU recalibration thing talked about on this site and others. Afterwards I took it out on a shake-down run and it ran as great as ever, but with a slightly "snappier" throttle response. To me the exhaust seems to have a throatier note with the less restrictive h-pipe, but that might just be in my head.
