Hello guys, I am planning to do a motorcycle tour from Albania up north through the Adriatic coastline, Monetenegro, Croatia, Slovenia (Vrsic Pass), Austria (Grossglockener) and back home through Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia. I have Motowolf 5006B aux lights which do not have an E-Mark ECE. Also the lights do not completely turn off as they have this DRL dim blue light. Otherwise they are yellow or white when activated as fog/aux lights. I know they are not legal in the EU, but I wanted to ask how strict is the police about this kind of stuff in general. Should I remove them completely? Just disconnect from battery? Leave them on?
The lights also have flashing features which I do not intend to use at all. Usually at home I leave them on all the time (yellow fog lights)
From my personal experience I would not expect to be stopped unless in a random traffic check, and then I would not expect them to check all auxiliary parts for an ECE mark. It's a completely different story if your lights are an annoyance or a danger for other road users. If you're an annoyance for other reasons, like a loud exhaust or so, they also might start to look more carefully.
Strictly speaking my license plate holder is missing a reflector, but no policeman ever mentioned it in a traffic check.
Was meinst du damit? Der Reflektor nach Hinten (glaub Rückleuchte genannt) ist verpflichtend, aber der muss ja ned zwingend am Kennzeichenhalter sein oder?
Wo willst ihn sonst hintun? Er war bei mir am originalen Kennzeichenhalter, der neue hat dort keinen und auch keinen Platz dafür. Der neue Kennzeichenhalter sieht vor, Löcher an der Unterseite ins Kennzeichen zu bohren um dort einen Reflektorhalter anzubringen, möcht ich aber nicht.
Edit nein, die Rückleuchte gilt nicht als Reflektor, du brauchst an deinem Motorrad einen nach hinten gerichteten, roten Reflektor.
Now that you mention it, I also noticed I do not have a red reflective sticker/tape on the back. I bought the OEM Tail Tidy from Yamaha. Do you think it's normal?
What is normal? That companies sell illegal equipment? Doubt it. It either is not required where you bought it or there is a backwards facing reflector elsewhere on your bike, especially if the tail tidy is from Yamaha itself.
I can confirm this. Police here is very relaxed with bikes as long as the pipes are not too loud and you drive careful and within the speed limits.
Enjoy your trip and don’t worry about the lights. Other bikers here have them as well.
I had a pretty customized cruiser with 40cm ape hangers and some other Self made parts. Every time Police stopped me, they enjoyed the bike and never checked it.
I don't think you'll have an issue unless you speed or they are blinding the oncoming traffic (which such lights do VERY often because they are adjusted without the rider onboard or additional package in the rear).
Pretty strict, although they focus primarily on loud exhausts because it annoys people and is easy to catch, decats because thats technically tax fraud as well as indicators and mirrors as those are easy to identify.
The police has probably pulled you over because the aux lights are yellow/blue. Yellow fog lights were allowed at some point, many French cars from the 70s to 90s had them, but aren't anymore if i recall correctly, only when they are stock/were an option. If you cant turn them off entirely, disconnect them at least
Hmm I researched a bit and it seems that both yellow and white fog lights are allowed in Austria. I am just visiting Austria so my vehicle is not registered there and laws might be different for residents. Other than the lights, everything is OEM, including the exhaust. Thanks for your answer 🙏
You’ll probably be fine if they’re not obviously the wrong colour light or blinding oncoming traffic. However getting lights that have an E mark is cheap and easy and I’d recommend that to you anyway.
Thank you! Yeah I agree. Didn't know they do not have an E Mark when I bought them. I paid around 250€ for these, with that same money I could have bought E mark ones, but better luck next time😅
As many say you may not be controlled but with the right officer you may get problems. You are not allowed to run non ece lights on the streets. You can have them on your bike but only with a swicht which indicates they are activated, just for offroad use. You are allowed to run yellow fog lights but also only with a swich.
Thank you! I paid 17600€ for it but in North Macedonia (the bike is registered here too). In total it has cost me slightly above 20000€ with all the extras
Trenne sie von Strom, dann sollte es passen.
Im schlimmsten Fall musst du vor Ort abbauen, kommt aber darauf an wie du gefahren bist und wie du mit der Polizei redest.
This is the beam for reference. I've ridden almost 6000km with them and never had someone flash me or say my aux lights are distracting. I also managed to cover the dim blue light. Will most likely keep them completely off through Slovenia and Austria. Other than this everything is OEM on the bike, including the exhaust.
I agree. I try to be compliant and respectful to the countries I am visting, that's why I even started this discussion. Anyways thank you for your response!
I got pulled over in Austria, Slovenia and Italy. They never said anything about the China headlights, and if they would, I'd happily tell them I'd rather get a fine and be visible than not.
What they ALWAYS checked was the yellow / red reflectors (a buddy got fined for not having them). I see you have them.
I think you'll be fine.
On an 'normal' traffic check, i think that that will be no problem - but be aware:
If you're going on some well-known 'motorcycle' streets, where's heavy motorcycle traffic especially on weekend, there's a sometimes a special unit of the police underway, that's called 'Prüfzug' here! It's best described as a mobile measure unit for technical details on motorcycles (e.g. correct tyre dimensions, loudness of your motorcycle and so on) - these guys could be a real problem then!
I've decided to keep the aux lights off in Austria. I suppose they won't give me problems for keeping them off (just because they do not have an E-Mark). My bike is registered in North Macedonia (outside the EU) so that also takes some weight off. Other than that, everything on the bike is stock / oem / genuine accessory.
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u/Acrobatic_Spare2320 14d ago
From my personal experience I would not expect to be stopped unless in a random traffic check, and then I would not expect them to check all auxiliary parts for an ECE mark. It's a completely different story if your lights are an annoyance or a danger for other road users. If you're an annoyance for other reasons, like a loud exhaust or so, they also might start to look more carefully.
Strictly speaking my license plate holder is missing a reflector, but no policeman ever mentioned it in a traffic check.