Handlebar height.

2067 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by joe c, Feb 20, 2007

ascentofstan2

Discussion Starter · Feb 18, 2007

So I had a buddy that tried to pass his old suzuki with some standard clubmans and they wouldn't pass inspection. Some silly Texas law involving a gas tank, but I cant find it online. Is this always the case or is there a way around this. I was thinking of just taking the bike in with normal bars then doing a swap. Is that the standard for running cafes? Or do most of you guys know somebody who helps you pass... for a case of beer... or something... not a bribe...just a thank you case. anyways, that thought just re-entered my mind as i was about to order some bars and i figured you guys would know. (and yeah im trying to make it as street legal as possible)

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Geeto67

· #5 · Feb 19, 2007

I am not sure I follow, they did not pass the bike because of the clubmans? Is it because the clubmans hit the gas tank? If they do then the guy was right to fail your friend because they were installed improperly. Not only is it a crappy install but if they do hit the tank then there is the real risk of the bar puncturing the tank in an accident (another reason I advocate clipons). Doesn't sound so silly to me. It is not a standard to cafe racers, but it is common sense.

Before you go and get your self in a heap o' trouble trying to bribe a public official with alcohol, how about you actually look up and understand the law and see how it might apply to your and your friend's situation.

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Geeto67

· #12 · Feb 19, 2007

texas has a stat law that the bars cannot be more then 15" above the seat. This is the "ape hanger" law. nothing that says about how low they are, but the number of times state inspection is referenced in their vehicle code leads me to belive that inspectors have carte blance to fail a bike for anything that doesn't look safe.

Austin may also have it is own rules reguarding bars. they cannot prevent a state inspection from happening but they can ticket the crap out of you. Given the amount of car and bike culture in austin I would imagine they are pretty liberal, or as liberal as texans can get, but still you never know.

as for ribbing you about bribery, yeah i knew it was a joke but you never know. Ask me sometime about my high school friend who brought a bottle of JW black label to the DMV.

AMA has a good start on a summary of the laws:

http://home.ama-cycle.org/amaccess/laws/result.asp?state=tx

as always though, get a copy of the vehicle code and read it - your library should have one on file in reference. Like any code book there should be a few examples as to how to interpret the laws too. A little research goes a long way.

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