The rule requiring painting the head light center area still exists...whenever cops need to book cases or earn for the Govt., only then these things will crop up...
To-day read of a man in a car being charged with traffic offense for not wearing HELMET INSIDE A CAR.His co-passenger was also included in the challan for not wearing the Helmet in a car. This had happened in Hissar...
So you see cops are innovative and the next time you are walking on the road ..wear a helmet

Thank God, they didn't file a challan for biker not wearing his seat belts

The rule of keeping a black sticker/paint in the centre of the headlight still exists. I have paid fine for this during my early days in Chennai.

1. Changing the color of your ride - legal (but involves a lot of trips to the RTO, I remember dad running around the RTO agents like mad when we repainted our old car)

2. Engine mods - Not allowed legally.

3. Additional/louder horns - Not allowed legally.

4. FFE - A strict NO! [it far exceeds the DB levels even with the limiter plus it increases pollution due to absence of the cat con]

5. HIDs/ colored headlights - Not allowed legally.

In short, anything that poses danger to you/public is not allowed. After all, with all these mods people turn into Rossi and start thinking that the IT Expressway is the Donnington stretch and go WOT! - its an example from Chennai.

Why dual horns & HID's are illegal?? Few manufacturers are providing them as stock.

loder horns create a nuisance to other riders and as far as the hids are concerned they blinden the person coming from the opposite direction.

is upgrading brake illegal?? if not please help me with this

OEM dual horns are loud, but not as loud as air/pressure horns.
But after market dual horns (other than OEM) are way too loud!

HIDs on bikes? Which bike in India has HID as stock?

No no HID's (with projectors) on premium cars mostly used as dipper.

Hope this clarifies the air a bit - The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 relating to Alternation in Motor vehicles reads as - ( http://www.tn.gov.in/sta/mvact1988.pdf )

Alteration in motor vehicle. - (1) No owner of a motor vehicle shall so alter the vehicle that the particulars contained in the certificate of registration are at variance with those originally specified by the manufacturer :

Provided that where the owner of a motor vehicle makes modification of the engine, or any part thereof of a vehicle for facilitating its operation by different type of fuel or source of energy including battery, compressed natural gas, solar power, liquid petroleum gas or any other fuel or source of energy, by fitment of a conversion kit, such modification shall be carried out subject to such conditions as may be prescribed

Here we can see that the modification is not permitted provided it is related to engine or power system.

The act further clarifies as -

(1) No owner of a motor vehicle shall so alter the vehicle that the particulars contained in the certificate of registration are no longer accurate, unless.-
(a) he has given notice to the registering authority within whose jurisdiction he has the residence or the place of business where the vehicle is normally kept, as the case may be of the alteration he proposes to make; and
(b) he has obtained the approval of that registering authority to make such alteration.

Provided that it shall not be necessary to obtain such approval for making any change in the unladen weight of the motor vehicle consequent on the addition or removal of fittings or accessories, if such change does not exceed two per cent. of the weight entered in the certificate of registration.

It clearly specifies that if the modification is for addition or removal of fitting or accessories provided the modification does not cross 2% of weight of vehicle. If we assume a bike's weight at 150 kg, you can safely modify it upto 3 kg without any issue.

Modifying ur vehicle's chassis or swapping the engine completely with a engine from a different vehicle is illegal. Other than than everything like body kits, paintjobs etc is legal.

Great thread.

My question: Some bikes come with 55w HIDs others with 35w. Some bikes have dual horns and others don't. So if the ones that don't get the same make and model of HIDs and Dual Horns from ones that do, how is that illegal in any sense ?

And what is the point of allowing cars to have loud horns but calling the same horns illegal on bikes ?

Moreover, ALL bikes should come factory fit with Dual Horns and 55w HIDs as a safety feature and this should be made a RULE, considering how dark our cities are at night without any street lighting. Without dual horns vehicles become really dangerous to drive on highways. Atleast they should impose the rule that you should have one horn for city use and another for highway use. Full DC electircals should be compulsory as well for safety. For the manufacturer, using 55w HIDs with projectors instead of normal lights and fitting highway and city horns on a bike and providing full DC electricals cannot increase cost by more than Rs. 1000 which can easily be passed on to the customer (the way they pass on tax hikes of 2-3k). And Rs. 1000 is a tiny amount to pay for added safety.

I think, if we mod the bike with Projectors, New Exhausts (Not free flow) and a custom paint job before sending it for Passing to the RTO, it shall be legal for that specific bike, since it has been approved by the RTO...

Oh no,I have just ordered Joel's FFE! I can use the DB Killer though,for the cops.

around the cops ride your bike below 3k rpm (even with a DB killer, your bike will be way louder than stock) else get ready for the fine.

Hi ,

I plan to modify my RE Thunderbird Twinspark to a Vardenchi Type II cruiser . Is this Legal??

...Any help will be welcome ..