MO Survey: Has Harley-Davidson Set a Precedent For Aftermarket Tuners?

Troy Siahaan
by Troy Siahaan

Despite the fact Harley-Davidson has sold its Super Tuners to be used for off-road or competition use and not on public roads, The Motor Company has reached an agreement with the EPA to stop selling its Super Tuners, which essentially reflash the ECU for optimum EFI performance. A byproduct of the Tuner’s installation is the motorcycle emitting higher emission levels than what was originally certified with the EPA.

Even though Harley-Davidson has said in a statement that it disagrees with the EPA and that the company has done no wrong-doing since the Super Tuners were sold for competition use only, it has agreed to stop selling Super Tuners as an act of good faith.

After the scandal revolving around Volkswagen and dieselgate, it’s understandable that the EPA is paranoid, but this agreement with Harley-Davidson could have started aftermarket tuners down a slippery path. Which leads to the question:

Troy Siahaan
Troy Siahaan

Troy's been riding motorcycles and writing about them since 2006, getting his start at Rider Magazine. From there, he moved to Sport Rider Magazine before finally landing at Motorcycle.com in 2011. A lifelong gearhead who didn't fully immerse himself in motorcycles until his teenage years, Troy's interests have always been in technology, performance, and going fast. Naturally, racing was the perfect avenue to combine all three. Troy has been racing nearly as long as he's been riding and has competed at the AMA national level. He's also won multiple club races throughout the country, culminating in a Utah Sport Bike Association championship in 2011. He has been invited as a guest instructor for the Yamaha Champions Riding School, and when he's not out riding, he's either wrenching on bikes or watching MotoGP.

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  • MadDog Jaxson MadDog Jaxson on Aug 25, 2016

    This is really all about Exhaust and air
    Harley wouldn't sell a single motorcycle if they sounded like a rice burner with a western accent, After market tuners live on!

  • Kyle Kyle on Aug 25, 2016

    I think everyone here raises some interesting points on the issue.
    My opinion: In the grand scheme of things, making competition-only vehicles not emissions-complient won't impact the environment much in and of itself. But the problem is that people looking for extra performance out of their ride tend to put competition-only stuff on street-going vehicles and think it's okay. It is here where the real issue lies, I think. The offender might say, yea but it's just one thing or one vehicle or whatever, but if people don't care about this stuff, it could be a big problem. I may sound a bit hippy-dippy, but as someone who rides his bike on both the street and the track, I'm not going to be blatantly putting a full system on my bike, removing my catalytic converters and other emissions equipment, or the like. Because if everyone did it, we'd have serious air quality issues and I dont want that. At all. What the EPA should be doing instead of saying that all of these products are bad is investigating how to regulate their dissemination so they only get onto competition/off-road vehicles. But then people don't like to be regulated, do they? Something about encroaching upon freedoms... But we all need rules, don't we? I think so. I won't comment much on the rule makers, but rules should be followed for the benefit. If the rule doesn't work when followed, it can be re-done through due-process, but we shouldn't ignore them because we think they're stupid.
    Kinda went on a rant there at the end... I'm done.

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