My 2013 F800GS has been in my garage undergoing long needed repairs (forks, new seat, etc.) and I thought it was time to go get it legal to ride here in Texas. It had been registered at my other house in Albuquerque but since my wife will be riding it sometime soon it needs to be registered here. She has been rather jealous since I got the R1200GS last February. I got the insurance transferred over yesterday, fairly painless. Today I took it out for the first time in many months to get it inspected. After some frustration finding a place near me that inspects motorcycles I finally found a place. Everything is fine except my front turn signals. The bike was kept outdoors for several years out in the desert, rode to work almost daily, and parked in the open sun. The stems on the lights long ago snapped. I fixed this cheaply by putting a split piece of poly pipe over them, then taping this in place. It didn't really look that bad and they never gave me any problem. Until today. I was told the state inspection specifically forbids tape being used to hold the lights. So I rode home, and got the bright idea to just use hose clamps. I bought the camps, put them on, then went into the house to get ready to go back to the inspection place. When I returned to the garage both lights had fallen off. The stem material had crumbled to pieces.
This afternoon I went to Cycle Gear and purchased two universal fit lights. They look good and put out plenty of light. I will return tomorrow and see what happens. I would not be surprised if DOT requirements are not brought up. This kind of makes me mad since people around here put purple lights on their cars and all sorts of crazy lighting systems are used on the street with little sign any enforcement is taken. Car inspection amounts to plugging into OBD and looking for fault codes. Motorcycle inspection seems to be the third degree. The guy even looked at my brake fluid (which he commented was very clean).
Is this normal or did I just get a guy who is doing everything by the book and others don't? I can't wait to get to the county tax office and spend a day only to be sent home for something. The R1200GS, Tacoma, and the wife's Equinox were purchased here in Texas so we didn't have to go through that experience with them.
This afternoon I went to Cycle Gear and purchased two universal fit lights. They look good and put out plenty of light. I will return tomorrow and see what happens. I would not be surprised if DOT requirements are not brought up. This kind of makes me mad since people around here put purple lights on their cars and all sorts of crazy lighting systems are used on the street with little sign any enforcement is taken. Car inspection amounts to plugging into OBD and looking for fault codes. Motorcycle inspection seems to be the third degree. The guy even looked at my brake fluid (which he commented was very clean).
Is this normal or did I just get a guy who is doing everything by the book and others don't? I can't wait to get to the county tax office and spend a day only to be sent home for something. The R1200GS, Tacoma, and the wife's Equinox were purchased here in Texas so we didn't have to go through that experience with them.