This isn't really a "paperwork" question, but I'm putting it here because it involves rules and regulations.

Anyway, I heard from a Russian rider on ADVrider that all aftermarket HID lights are illegal in Russia, and the penalty is that you lose your license on the spot! (He went on to say that the cops are totally corrupt, so you can pretty much pay your way out of trouble, but still... that's kind of a scary prospect.)

Can anyone give me some information about how strictly this rule is enforced, especially outside of the big cities? Some friends and I are taking the ferry from Hokkaido, Japan to Sakhalin Island in Russia this summer, and I'm wondering if I should go to the trouble of converting my aftermarket HID lights back to stock.

My hunch is that since Sakhalin is relatively sparsely populated and we will be riding mostly dirt in the countryside during daytime, not asphalt in cities at night, no one is going to notice or care what kind of lights we're running. On the other hand, if there is some sort of official customs inspection of your bike when you bring it off the ferry (I don't know -- is there?), the inspectors might be checking for HID's. But still, even if they check, how would they know if our lights are aftermarket or stock?

FWIW, our low-beam HID headlights are not blindingly bright. I use mine all the time in Tokyo traffic and never get "flashed" by oncoming drivers. Of course my high beam might be annoying, but so would a halogen one. And I have some auxiliary HID lights that are way too bright to use around oncoming traffic, but they are wired to a separate switch and I keep them turned off unless I'm alone on a dark road at night.

Any advice or personal experience on this situation would be much appreciated. It sure would suck to get all the way there and then not be allowed to ride!

:confused1:

Thanks.

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1997 Honda X4 ・ 2009 BMW R1200GS Adventure ・ IBA #42657