Does any of you know what are the requirements to be able to use an aftermarket headlight on a motorcycle?
I have a Kawasaki Z300, and the stock headlights suck. I was thinking of buying an aftermarket kit from Amazon ( link ), but since these are made in the US I have no idea if I am allowed to use them here. I tried searching online for any law but couldn't find anything.
I would think that, if the bulb is placed correctly and doesn't blind other drivers, it should be fine. But then again we live in Switzerland, where everything is highly regulated and you never know if you are doing something illegal or not.
Something in that statement does not compute. Perhaps because it's highly regulated you can find out exactly if it's illegal or not.
Ask your local mechanic, or drop by the Stva and see if they can answer.
Perhaps I should have said that in Switzerland the laws are always enforced, while in other European states people (police) doesn't care about them as much . I am planning to give my mechanic a call next week but I was hoping somebody would know the answer already, since today is Sunday and tomorrow is holiday (at least here in Tessin).
Rule of thumb, "if it's not stock, it's not legal" any changes to the function of the bike have to be approved by the MFK and if your little lights are not in the MFK's meagre list of allowed after market add-ons then you can't have them regardless of what your mechanic says, check with your local MFK first.
I know a few bikers who simply remove aftermarket parts before an MFK and install them back after. I'm not sure what happens if you cause an accident and it comes to light that you had illegal modifications, but barring that, it looks like you won't get hassled by police.
Caveat, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not advising you to do it, just saying that you can get away with some stuff.
Make an educated guess: Insurance companies have entire departments dedicated to "find a reason why we don't need to pay" and that's an ideal playground for them.
On the "you don't get hassled by the police": I have personally seen ZHs finest fining bicyclists on Uetliberg for not having a lock (!) on their bikes, because as per law a bike needs one...
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zuerich/...story/30941116
That ZH police spokesman implied that they use the no-lock penalty as a way of punishing people for riding off-piste. This would highly questionable practice from a legal point of view - smacks of arbitrary application of the rules (Willkür).
There is at least one thing very much likable about Switzerland - useless rules and laws are eradicated, too. The article you quote is without base since March 2012 (see
https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classifi...165/index.html - Art 248)
Now, the true backdrop to that mess is that police are using tactics to fine (to the letter of the law!) misbehaviour, sometimes as a proxy for or in addition to behaviour deemed / codified as being worthy of fining / "Verzeigung".
This is a grey area, but I tend to support the notion in the context of the culture of Switzerland.
Well, the fine was by the letter of the law. So? As mentioned in my other posting, there is that fine line between Willkür and policing for social rest.
For the record: The Waldgesetz and Waldverordnung of Kanton Zürich would offer additional - much more expensive - ways to police acceptable behaviour. If I recall correctly, any violation there would imply a "Verzeigung" which then would result in at least administrative costs (on top of what might only be a nominal fine).
Come to Malta, no stinking MFK here, anything goes...
If you are looking for a bulb forget that amazon crap.. cyclops motorsports has a lifetime warranty on lights and they are a dream to deal with.
I have the led bulb and it's great.. nice clean cut off.
Actuallly, the laws are more relaxed here than in Italy, for example.
Here, I can legallly remove my signals, not possible in Italy.
Tom