They say you can’t choose with whom you fall in love. That adage has hit me more than once in my life. On a group ride down the California coast, all of us swapped bikes. In a span of 250 miles, I got to ride seven different bikes. Seven different bikes. Some were painful. Others were painfully boring. One was jaw-dropping fun. That bike was the 2010 Triumph Speed Triple. The problem was I was in a long-term committed relationship with a 2003 V-Strom headed for 100,000 (One V-Strom: 100,000 Miles) miles together. I honored that commitment and got to 117,334 (Celebrating 117,334 Miles) miles with the V, but my mind still drifted to that Triple from time to time.
After I sold the V-Strom, I knew the GS was the right move (Chapter 3: Gelände Straße). I was a long-distance tourer. BMW set the category of adventure bikes with the GS. The aftermarket community was prolific. It was the perfect extension and premium experience that the V-Strom tried to be. Every so often though, my eyes would wander looking for that Triple. Eventually, I found one. But not anyone, a 2005 low mileage bike that looked MINT.
I was over the moon. You could say my mind was completely sleepless in Seattle, having fallen in love with a British golden black beauty I couldn’t get my mind or my thoughts off of. You see, we’ve had a love affair for over 15 years. It started innocently enough. And then it sold out from under me. I was majorly bummed.
The Seattle dealer knew how bummed I was. A few days later he called again. As fate would have it, another black Triumph Speed Triple showed up. How does that even happen? It was a 2007, so two years newer and only had 1200 miles on the odometer. This bike was babied. WOW. What started as a fling (to the behest of my monogamish relationship with a 2003 V-Strom) on a 50-mile ride down Highway 1 became a long-term/what if curiosity that always sat in the back of my mind. I was shocked at how much I loved riding that British beauty.
I can repeat it: I loved the 2010 Triumph Speed Triple. The perfectly round dual headlights always caught my eye. It is such an enduring design in my opinion. When riding it, the power band is perfectly smooth compared to the “I’m totally going to explode at 3500 RPM” V-Strom cry for help because the EPA-mandated limits are too lean. And the bike is just wonderful in the corners!
With perfection seared in my mind from 15 years ago, I always wanted to find my way back into a Triumph Speed Triple 1050. It just so happened the one I fell in love with was in Seattle, with out-of-state tags, and under 7500 miles. The problem is, that particular motorcycle is still considered new by the state of California and she doesn’t take kindly to bikes not initially registered here.
By law, all new motorcycles in California must comply with California emission standards. Unfortunatley for me, my Triumph while well over two years old still has less than 7500 miles on it and is still considered new by the state of California.
Over the years I’ve read motorcycle forms with registration horror stories. They always follow a patter with an innocent question on how to register an out-of-state bike in California. The poster doesn’t understand the law and they get schooled by the forum members. Eventually the original poster tells a sad story about how their bike got blacklisted and forced to to sell the motorcycle out-of-state or acquire a plate from out of state. Year after year, horror story after horror story, the prevailing guidance was to buy a bike already registered in California or one that was more than two years old and had more than 7500 miles on it.
But I fell in love with this one. Sure, he was a 2007. Not new by any stretch in that department. However, he only had 1200 miles on him. The bike was effectively brand-new. The headlights were tack-sharp and blemish-free. This bike has been a garage king for the past 18 years! How do I do battle with the DMV to get this bike registered? The key was a small sticker that noted California emissions compliance. Some bike were made to be 49 state compliant with a specific California model. Other manufacturers just built one bike for all 50 states. No one locally seemed to know what Triumph did in those days.
To make matters worse, there was no common location for manufacturers to place the emissions compliance sticker. Some put it on the frame. Others put it under the seat. And others put it under the gas tank on top of the airbox. I asked the dealer if he could find it. He promised they looked all over the bike and could not find it. Ugh.
We reached out to Triumph Corporate to see if they might have any answers. They did. Score! This bike was manufactured to California emissions standards at the time of manufacture but didn’t tell me if the owner disabled the emissions control equipment on the bike (somewhat common). The dealer didn’t know where to look to confirm that the evaporative control systems were still intact. Plus, if I didn’t buy the bike, there were 3 others ready to buy it out from under me. Ugh.
I made the plunge and decided to buy the bike sight unseen. Worst case, I’d stick my tail between my legs and send it back to Seattle for resale. Now that the bike was coming to California on a truck, I needed a plan. I needed to do five things:
- Schedule a DMV appointment
- Fill out form 343
- Pay fees
- Prove emissions compliance
- Verify the VIN.
Simple enough, right? Not so fast in California. I’d thought about going to one of DMV’s “authorized partners” to just get it done. The obvious answer was AAA. But, AAA does not work on motorcycles. I looked at a few places that looked expedient in the right ways but it was going to add 200-500 dollars to the transaction. After trying one authorized partner and getting kicked off the schedule as the vendor didn’t want to deal with me and a firm talk from my partner about doing it at DMV, I resigned to going to DMV.
Scheduling an appointment was surprisingly easy. With DMV forcing all the routine transactions online or to an authorized partner, I was able to score an appointment 2 weeks out. Additionally, I still had checks so I could pay fees without a large wad of cash or pay more credit card transaction fees.
Now the challenge of proving emissions compliance. I had the letter from Triumph with the bike’s VIN. I didn’t have that letter it on official letterhead and stock, but hopefully my inkjet printer would do a good enough job. My partner pushed me to locate the sticker. The most obvious place to find it was under the gas tank. That meant removing the seat cowl, seat, and tank to find the sticker under the airbox. All relatively easy (or so I thought).
Once the tank was off, I found that glorious sticker. This bike complies with California Emissions in the year of manufacture. WOOOOOT! When I went to put the gas tank back on the bike, it didn’t fit. None of the holes lined up by any considerable margin. Lots of four-letter words were screamed Fu()*&%^&*%$^%$#^&%$&*ck! How does a gas tank not fit back onto a bike?
Ethanol, apparently. After some googling, I found out that the bike has a plastic tank and that plastic expands in the presence of Ethanol. This issue was so common with Ducatis that the owners launched a class action lawsuit. Not so with Triumph. After some pleas to my buddy, who is a motorcycle mechanic, he told me to force/encourage/demand the tank back into place, and it would eventually get there. More four-letter words like Sh()*&%^&*%$^%$#^&%$&*it!
Please DMV don’t make me take the tank off. Pleeeeeeease. I even took pictures of all the things you wanted to see.
I got to the DMV right on time. Like any DMV it was packed with people (what happened to all the people who did business online?). After a 30-minute wait I was called up to the counter. Now was the moment of truth. Please don’t blackball me. I literally did everything I could to get this bike registered. My mind was pacing and my heart was pounding. He was a Japanese man a touch older than me with a wry smile and a soft voice. He was the guy who was between me and my black beauty.
I handed him the stack of paperwork and walked him through all of the documents I had for him. He didn’t say much. He looked at the forms. He’d type some things into the computer. He looked at different forms. Typed more things into the computer. Didn’t ask me a single question. What was he doing? DId I have the right forms? Was he entering things into the computer that would deny my new bike access to all things California? What was going on?
I decided to keep quiet as I figured asking questions wouldn’t help me. After an agonizing 10 mintues he asked me “So, tell me about your bike? What kind of Triumph is it?” I broke a smile and told him about the Speed Triple. I noted that it was made to British emission standard which exceeded California emissions. He chuckeled. He talked about riding his Honda back in his younger days. He then handed all the paperwork back to me and sent me to wait in the outside queue for VIN validation and emissions certification. I still wasn’t through this process.
After another 20 minute wait, I met the vehicle certification guy. He just wrapped up with another difficult customer who didn’t have their paperwork together and was hoping he’d not take it out on me. First the VIN. Turns out my bike has a VIN sticker and the VIN etched into the frame. He taught me where to look for both. 👍🏻 Secondly, we needed the engine number. I pointed that out to him. We both laughed. One for one!
Then he asked for the emissions compliance sticker. I instantly slumped. I let him know that it was under the fuel tank and that I had a picture of it, a letter from Triumph, and it would be about an hour of his time to show him. He squarely looked at me and asked, “so it’s inaccessible, right?” I nodded, “Yes.” He sent me back to the office noting that my fate would be up to the Japanese man who worked with me at the start.
I handed back all of my paperwork to him for final processing. Again, he didn’t say much. Nor did I. After a few minutes, he looked at me and said, “We’re done!” I quizzically looked back, “You have my check…. Do I pass? Do I get plates and stickers?” He replied “No”, with a long pause and a blank face. As all the emotion was building up in me he let out a burst of laughter that echoed across the room. He handed me my plates and stickers and noted that we were done. Nothing like getting joshed around by the DMV. What a long, complicated, bureaucratic journey. But I was done.
I had plates!
As I was leaving the DMV, I ran into a much younger man with what looked to be a nice Ducati. He mentioned that he was looking to register his bike from out of state. His bike had a different engine from a deceased dirt bike and the frame VINs didn’t match and no emissions sticker as the engine didn’t match either. I wished him well .
Now I know where all the sob stories online about the blackballing DMV come from. To new adventures!
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