great news Maricopa county AZ members

"Phoenix Motorcycles

In 2008, the Arizona Legislature passed House Bill 2280 authorizing the exemption of motorcycles from emissions testing requirements in the Phoenix area. The exemption required the approval of the U.S. EPA by July 2014 (as authorized by House Bill 2033 in April 2010 and extended by House Bill 2073 in 2012).) A request for approval of the exemption was submitted to the U.S. EPA on November 10, 2009. An addendum was submitted on January 12, 2011. Copies of the submittals are available upon request by calling the SIP Unit at (602) 771-2373. The U.S. EPA's approval becomes effective on June 21, 2013 (78 FR 30209; May 22, 2013). After June 21, 2013, motorcycles in the metro Phoenix area will no longer be required to be tested."


Yes, this time it is for real. June 21st. I got this directy fro the AZ ADEQ site.

Maricopa county was the only place in the whole country that had this ridiculous law. If your bike passes ok, then it is only money and inconvenience. But many old bikes won't pass for various reasons, and would not be worth trying to make pass, like my fuel injected LTD. Many people like me, that love to ride and work on old bikes were basically being held hostage by this law.

I also have a '72 Pinto that would not pass, even a good mechanic could not get it through. Low compression on one cylinder, though it ran fine. It sat for 5 years, until I finally got it insured and registered as a collector car, which exempted it from the test. Even CA only tests '75 and up vehicles, and no motorcycles. AZ goes all the way back to 1967. I bought my '64 Fairlane (which also runs great) because it was to old to require testing.

Yea! it passed again.
I sure hope you're right Jerry, 'cause I don't want to do that any more.

Mine idles perfectly, it will stay right on 1140 rpm on the digital tach for several minutes. But it still failed twice. Being fuel injected, and because it runs so good, I wasn't about to mess with it.

On my Yamaha XT225, I have two carbs, one set up for riding, and one for emissions tests. I had to swap out the carbs every year just for the test. It was virtually unrideable when set to pass the test.

Back when I was into air cooled VWs (I still am actually, I just don't own one at the moment) the owner of a local custom VW shop in Mesa had a bug with a souped up engine, and it wouldn't pass. He actually swapped out engines every year to get through the test. (not as big of a deal on an air cooled bug as it might seem, it could be done in less than a day by an experienced mechanic) but it was still a bit ridiculous.

And a guy I used to work with had a beautiful red '67 Vette coupe that he had owned for over 20 years. He came from either Washington or Oregon, where it was to old to have to be tested. In AZ, he had to spend about $300 a year to have a shop rejet and retune it to pass the test, then put it back the way it was, so it would be driveable. He finally gave up and sold it in disgust, and bought a new '07. A year later he could have registered it as a collector car and been exempt from testing.

Now that motorcycle testing has been eliminated, I only have one vehicle that has to be tested, an '01 Malibu, and it passes easily. It is a transportation only car, not a hobby vehicle like everything else, so it doesn't really matter as long as it continues to pass.

I would pay the $8 late fee. After June 21 there is no more test, so there is no test fee. The test fee is more than double the late fee. But money is not the main issue here, to me it is the principal of the thing. I let the registration on my XT225 run out in May, to avoid the hassle of switching the carbs again. I'll just pay the late fee.

I left my '72 Pinto unregistered for 4-1/2 years, just drove it up and down the street in front of my house once a week to keep it from deteriorating. When the collector car law took effect, I had it insured as a collector car, exempting it from the test, then went in and signed an affidavit that it had not been used on public roads during the time it was not registered, showed them the collector car insurance, and got it registered, for $45, $25 of it because it has personalized plates.

I took the Goldwing in twice, and it failed both times. Two different test places. And while you could smell the exhaust if you were standing right behind it, it wasn't that bad. Couldn't smell it at all from the seat.