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switzerland - loud exhausts - customs officials?
hi all,
not sure if im posting in the correct area, please advise accordingly. in July, myself and 20 other bikers will be going to Italy, passing through switzerland. i drive a 750 v-twin cruiser with straight through pipes, it's LOUD ! and a few other guys drive harleys, they aint quiet either. i've heard swiss cops/customs can be quite fussy about noise pollution, with a fine of +/- €250 being issued for any breaches of their laws. i cant find anything on google with regard to motorcycle laws or acceptable noise levels in Switzerland. i was wondering if anyone has experienced this? what happened? and any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. cheers calypso |
I guess you'll probably get a lot more attention being in a group of 20, but i was there last year on a CBR600 and an SV650, both with pretty loud exhausts and we never got any trouble from police or border authorities.
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Hi there,
We met 6 English bikers in a campsite in Germany last year who had tried to get into Switzerland and had been turned away at the border as 5 of them had after market exhausts on with NO baffle. Whilst at the border they met another 2 english bikers coming out of Switzerland (who had no problems getting in!), who then got fined €400 because they had illegal / after market exhausts. The guys we met got the impression that as long as the exhaust is original or has a baffle that they would have been allowed in! This is all we've heard... think I'll put my baffle in when we go though just to be safe... wouldn't want to give them my travel cash! Beej |
My partner and I were stopped twice in Switzerland on our last trip through the Alps on the way to Romania a couple of years ago.The coppers were very pleasant and spoke good English and the only thing they wanted to check was that our silencers had E markings on them...that's all! Angharad's Pegaso 650 has aftermarket straight-through stainless silencers which although E marked are a lot louder than the modified WR450F silencer on my XL600LM...which at the time didn't have any markings on it.I bluffed and said the E marking was on the side facing the ally sidecase, which i pointed out was hard to dismount (it isn't really) and they took my word for it. Since then i've made my own E marking plate on mine....number and letter punches from Ebay! The tricky bit is getting the E marking inside a circle to resemble a proper one but i overcame this by using a piece of steel tubing sharpened at one end, as a punch.
If you've got straight through cans it might be advisable to make-up a temporary device that you can shove up the end and wedge in just to get you through Switzerland without attracting unwanted attention.One trick i use occasionally on the Enduro bike is to shove an old handgrip up the exhaust as far as you can. It'll quieten things down a lot for a while if you don't give it a fist-full, the it'll blow out when you open it up later. |
I had a gpr can on mine. I stayed off the swiss Autobhan and crossed quiet border posts. I made sure I brought my baffle along but in the end didn't put it in. I was never stopped.
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So let me get this straight. You've got an exhaust system which is illegal in Switzerland. Do you want to keep on making an illegal amount of noise, despite the apparent fact that this Swiss, your hosts, do not want this? This seems to me rather rude, and in such a case I'd have to root for the cops in the hope that they'll catch you, fine you, and then perhaps catch and fine you again as you head for the border. Or maybe confiscate your bike and put you on a train back home. Seems reasonable.
Or are you looking for advice on how to make your pipes either legal, or quiet, or both for at least the period you'll be in Switzerland? Have you noticed how much some folks, not limited to myself, dislike straight pipes? Mark (in possession of a totally stock exhaust system--and the bike it's attached to--here in Central Brazil) http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...c/progress.gif |
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Bully for you. The "E" mark is based on ECE regulations issued by the Economic Commission for Europe, which is based in Geneva. It is an organizational part of the UN and the members are EU countries and many others. Therefore, the acceptance of approved components is much broader, especially in the eastern part of Europe. It is necessary to confirm whether a particular country has accepted (signed) the application of an ECE-regulation; as the application it is not mandatory for the countries. E1 - Germany E2 - France E3 - Italy E4 - Netherlands E5 - Sweden E6 - Belgium E7 - Hungary E8 - Czech Republic E9 - Spain E10 - Yugoslavia E11 - United Kingdom E12 - Austria E13 - Luxembourg E14 - Switzerland E16 - Norway E17 - Finland E18 - Denmark E19 - Romania E20 - Poland E21 - Portugal E22 - Russian Federation E23 - Greece E24 - Ireland E25 - Croatia E26 - Slovenia E27 - Slovakia E28 - Belarus E29 - Estonia E31 - Bosnia and Herzegovina E32 - Latvia E34 - Bulgaria E37 - Turkey E40 - The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia E42 - European Community E43 - Japan The "e" mark is the proof of compliance with directives (laws) required by the European Union. The Council of European communities in Brussels issues these directives and all members must accept approved products. I get the same bull in Austria everybody saying Remus are illegal even though Remus is an Austrian company :rolleyes2: Most of it is hearsay. I reckon if you leave your bike as stock (even if that is straight through in the case of the 750 v-twin cruiser) or put the baffles in on your aftermarket and show the e numbers I reckon you won't go too far wrong. |
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By international agreements (including the Geneva Treaty), if a vehicle is legal in the country of it's registraion it is permissable to use it as a tourist in other countries in that condition. It therefore seems quite unreasonable to me for local police to ignore international agreements signed by their own country - assuming the vehicle is legal in it's 'home' country. |
Forgive me if there are bits and pieces of EU cooperation which I don't understand. As I gather, the Swiss have a rule about either 1. noise, or 2. straight pipes, or 3. both. Are they forbidden from having such rules by EU agreements to which they are party? If so, never mind.
If they're permitted to make their own policy about noise or straight pipes, then you're obligated to do as they say when riding in their country. If you don't, I don't feel sympathetic if you get popped for it--particularly if you're doing something (e.g., making a lot of noise) which irritates me as well as, on the evidence, a substantial percentage of Swiss people. Probably this is one of those subjects, like gun ownership in my own country (and oil grades and changing intervals throughout the world), which doesn't really lend itself to rational discussion. Probably I should just stay out of it, and let the Swiss do as the Swiss wish--and let those who get fined complain about it, or not. Safe journeys! Mark |
Noise and the EU
Firstly, a correction...Switzerland is not a member of the EU. They are not considered part of Europe because of this. To make a short story long... I'm an American living in Belgium. Two years ago, I flew to Alaska, bought a Harley, rode to Fl, and shipped it here. I have to take the bike out of Europe every 6 months to keep the Alaska plate valid. Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway are the ONLY options. A swiss Autoroute tax paper is the only proof I need. However, Germany has strict noise laws, the cops carry db meters, and the bike is not allowed to be moved from the place it's stopped until it's made quiet...carry a package of steel wool...works great. Good luck.
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Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. True. But it has other links with various states in Europe (both EU and not). For example it now is part of the Schengen Treaty Zone which means there are open borders and passport free travel (but you must carry your local identity cards or equivalent). Furthermore for many non Europeans there is now Visa free travel in Switzerland once you have a Schengen Visa issued by any Schengen member state. Switzerland has recriprocal health arrangements with numberous states (Schengen or not - EU or not). Switzerland is a member of EFTA which is (err...) The European Free Trade Area! EFTA has a number of bilateral customs agreements with other countries including EU member states. Back to the topic... Look again at post 7 above.What Everywherevirtually is saying is the ECE regulations (on marking on exhausts to show they to comply to their standard), are made by an international organisation, part of the UN and based in Geneva -which happens to be in (err...) Switzerland! The ECE regulations mean approved componants are accepted by all states that have agreed to them - including no E14 which, according to the list is (err... yet again) Switzerland. He says the ECE regulations are nothing to do with the EU except the EU accepts them - as does Switzerland and many other countries! Even countries as far from Europe as Japan accept them but, for some reason I am unaware of, the USA does not. Strange. Especially as the most noise for least speed seems to come from the chrome and tassel bikes originating in USA, or styled on them. Commercial before environmental considerations? |
There are various types of non-permanent exhaust baffle inserts that will quiet your bike down !!
Most require you to drill a small mounting hole but this can probably be side-stepped if it's just for the border crossings etc. http://www.toolparts.co.uk/acatalog/baffle-2.jpg |
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firstly, i did not say the pipes were illegal in switzerland, i am trying to establish whether or not they are, and what the acceptable noise level in switzerland is. secondly, i would very much appreciate constructive input instead of beligerrant ramblings about what you hate about certain bikes, i honestly could care less whether you like loud pipes or not, i like them and its my bike, ever hear the saying "loud pipes save lives" ? you have a nice day . |
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"i would very much appreciate constructive input instead of beligerrant ramblings about what you hate about certain bikes, i honestly could care less whether you like loud pipes or not, i like them and its my bike, ever hear the saying "loud pipes save lives" ?" Y'know, this being the internet I suppose you might expect that posting something about how much you like the racket made by your bike is likely to draw a response from someone--me, in this case--saying how much they dislike the racket made by your bike. It's pretty predictable. And this being the internet, I suppose I should expect that you'll come back and call me needlessly critical, and off-topic as well. Also very predictable. Which is why I don't normally waste my time on this particular topic. Sorry to have made an exception here. I've heard about the purported connection between loud pipes and lives saved. Safe journeys! Mark |
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