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[Maiden]

I guess this is a question aimed at the Canadian members. I'm trying to get information on this subject so that I can begin to fight a good fight against ridiculous new rules pertaining to the odometer change from miles to kilometres when importing a Harley into Canada.
Background quickly, I have imported 4 Harley's from the U.S. and it use to be that 'Canadian Tire', the official import inspection station, would simply place 3 little see-through stickers on your speedometre. A 50 over the 30, 80 over the 50 and 100 over the 60(mph).
2 years ago this all changed. Now we are required to completely change the physical odometre/speedometre on motorcycles we import to one which reads kilometres per hour.
On a side note, only newer and only SOME of them have a button you can push to switch back and forth so I don't need to be advised about that.
What I've heard and would like to confirm is that Trev Deeley, who is Canada's importer of new Harleys, petitioned our federal government on the basis of safety, to abolish the stickers and if this is true how can I prove that in order to begin my fight?
As to the problem:
Let's get this straight, for one thing, apparently we are all too stupid to know the difference between going 100mph and at 60.
#2 Who in the heck wants to adapt an original motorcycle in the first place, especially a classic or antique!?
#3 Without turning this into a political thread I'll just say that 'they' have allowed a corporation to dictate what is safe and what isn't, not surprisingly allowing Deeley to gain control over the used Harley market by making it more difficult for we Canadian citizens who chose to purchase a used bike in the U.S.
If anyone has any information or links that will help me I would appreciate it.
In order to fight anything federal I will need facts and paperwork. Thanks a bunch, ride safe.
Maiden

[2k]

If you save a good bit of crunch, just swap the speedo, most for under $300. This way you wouls have both instruments. Fighting a well connected company like Deeley in court would be a long, expensive & losing exercise. And BTW welcome to the site..........or are you just here to stir the pot?

[Maiden]

Wow you're a bit cynical aren't you? I've been really active in the motorcycling world in the past having a direct effect after petitioning our province to post 'Watch for Motorcycles' on highway compass signs and I like to think I did I pretty good job of fighting a Bill (117) that would have made it illegal for anyone under 14 to ride on the back of a motorcycle here in Ontario.

So now that we've straightened that out....I'm not going to fight Deeley I'm going to petition the government to abolish these new restrictions but in order to do that I DO need to know if it was a corporation with a specific intention to deter competition and corner a market in order to fight this thing.
I need to know if they were the cause or if it's just a rumour. Any other information that anyone knows as facts will help me as well.

[tweeter13]

You must be a lawyer.   In my humble opinion,  we have some really stupid people here in the states.  I would think just buy ordering a new speedo head would be a lot easier in the long run.  If you should sell the vehicle with a speedo that is reading incorrectly and that person was to get injured, her in the United States we have people that would sue the person that sold the vehicle to them.  Not to say they would win in court or not I have no idea.  But not worth the headache to me.  You could add the price of the speedo head in the cost of e bike.  Give the customer the old speedo head.


My time is worth a lot more to me than fighting something that some may find as a safety issue. 

You have stated you have imported 4 Harley's over the last few years.  I understand your frustration but it's not that hard to replace a speedo head to make it correct.

If your worried about antique vehicles.  Keep the old one then get in inspected and titled then switch it back.

Don't know if this would help you much or not but good luck either way.


Todd

[Chains]

How about going to Dakota Digital. Clean looks and I believe solves the issue without a long battle that you may not win.

Just my opinion.  Welcome to the site. If you are a lawyer that's fine with me.   

[Maiden]

  No I'm not a lawyer, I'm a professional driver actually. Maybe I just need something to fight for every once in a while I dunno but just giving up on an injustice isn't my thing.
The speedo only needs to read mph for the inspection, they never look at it again so yes you could certainly change a classic motorcycle back once you've brought it into Canada.
It's an added expense that we have to pay for and up here the cost is more than double what you'd pay in the U.S. I'm sure, everything is.
Use to be it was illegal to mess with the odometre because of scam artists of course would roll them back to cheat a buyer...but now that's suddenly acceptable because Deeley wants to stop people from finding a far better deal south of the 49th parallel.
Ok thanks fellas. I'll keep on with the research, write my letters and garner support as I go along. I'm in no hurry.

[tweeter13]

Good luck,  you could pick up a speedo in the us when your down here and take it back with you to save some $.   

Here in Ohio when I would do out of state vehicle inspections.  We just told people that came from Canada that they would need to change there's over to mph.  But really all we do is verify the vin number for the BMV. 


I hope you can get it over turned. 

Todd

[CVO2FIXUP]

  Good going Maiden. Glad we have folks who take up these fights to keep the feds a bit honest. With out guy's like you these small rule changes will multiply over time until there is so much red tape and hassle importing would be impossible.

  Imagine the feds in the US making incremental changes to the gun laws where you could no longer import guns in to the US from other countries.  I think you will fight to.

[barrhill]

the big problem  is that on most CVOs the tail lighting is not correct so this means  new fender , upper ugly taillight ,reflective turn singles and reprogram the ecm to the third light 

[dayne66]

the big problem  is that on most CVOs the tail lighting is not correct so this means  new fender , upper ugly taillight ,reflective turn singles and reprogram the ecm to the third light 

......all having to be done by a dealer and costing somewhere around $3800

[Big Dog]

Yep, Dayne hit it on the head, what you'd save buying a used bike in the US, and there are great deals to us Canucks, you'd spend making it DOT approved and able to register, to me it's not worth the hassle and extra costs of speedo and "pig's nose" brake light install, unless you've found something extremely rare, JMHO. Hope you get the results you're after.

[CVO2FIXUP]

 Speedo is cheap. Can get that done here at your local shop. Used speedo, or even borrow one for a few days. Probably 2 hours to change it out. Take it to Crappy Tire for inspection.

  The rear tail light issue only applies to the Street Glide.  Many other models to import.  I brought over a 2010 CVO Ultra in 2010. Cost me $28,600.00 At that time from a dealer in Wisconsin. Had 4000 miles on it. That bike in Canada with low mileage would of bin in the high 30's  Probably saved close to $10,000 on that one. So spending even $300 to make it pass is nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Giving it to the man is sooo worth it though.

[senorjeem]

  You can all say what you want, but for my $.02......you go Maiden!  I am sick of the strangle hold that Deeley has on us Canucks.  I bought my wifes 13 Heritage Softail, south of the line and I can gaurantee you that I saved $5k and I don't give 2 shats if I have to trailer it south of the border for warrantee wok or not.  I'll do it just on principal.  I hope you break this little piece of pork barrel corruption Maiden.  Good Luck to ya, I just wish that I could help you out.

[Skwatch]

I realize this is an old thread but...

Maiden, have you made any progress in your fight?

I agree that this now "not so new" law is BS and wouldn't be surprised in the least if D's had a hand in it!

So far the law hasn't changed and we still have to swap out the speedo for the inspection which IMO is ridiculous as...it's never looked at again by anyone but the rider, so one could easily swap it back and no one would be the wiser. Same goes for the aftermarket mufflers that we're supposed to get rid of and "swap back to original" for the inspection. We all know that the "aftermarkets" are going to be re installed 5 minutes after the inspection.

I'm in the process of doing this very thing and in regards to the speedo swap.... D's told me it would take 6 weeks to get the CVO speedo. I tried to run the bike through the inspection without making any changes, everything passed (including aftermarket pipes) except the speedo. I ended up ordering a metric one from a US stealer and it's supposed to be a week away. (we shall see)
The cost of the speedo after current exchange rate worked out to slightly cheaper than D's. I plan on doing the swap myself so shouldn't incur any costs for that.

[Grizzly]

I'm surprised at today's exchange rate that a good deal (for us Canadians) can still be had south of the 49th. 

I was recently told than there are a number of bikes now going the other way... CND bikes being sold to US customers.

I know that importers here are hurting these days.