I’m not from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the California Air Resources Board (CARB). I know very little about the Federal Clean Air Act emission standards. But, I do know enough about marketing to be suspicious when I see “spin” coming from Harley about noise abatement and that “good” mufflers absorb and attenuate noise levels from the motor. Now I’m being told how I should drive while in my neighborhood or further risk increased regulatory measures to control motorcycle noise.
This all started a while ago, but I started to be suspicious a couple years ago when Harley discontinued manufacturing ‘Screamin’ Eagle’, non street-legal exhaust pipes and then started the subtle campaign against loud exhaust pipes. The first effort was directed at/through dealers, with posters and literature that attempted to educate dealers and riders about the negative consequences of loud pipes.
For me the Harley riding experience is the sum total of the Harley `Look,’ ‘Sound’ and ‘Feel.’ And one of the biggest parts of the riding experience is the classic sound of the bike. Harley’s challenges related to noise and emissions regulations may seem inconsequential to you as a rider, but more stringent European (EEC) noise limits and the development of future motorcycles need to meet lower future regulations and the end result of this debate, however, will directly affect how you shop or what you buy. Whatever technology manufacturers use to reduce noise emissions, it is likely to affect the power and price of equipment you will purchase in the coming years. The cost of compliance is high and in order to comply, all riders may have to sacrifice something in power and should be aware that the new regulations will inevitably lead to tradeoffs.
The primary business of the Harley Motorcycles segment is to design, produce and sell premium heavyweight motorcycles. Most all of the recent 96/96B motor displacement and transmission redesigns have been to maintain regulatory compliance in ALL markets. That’s a big deal as approximately a third of all new motorcycle sales are outside the U.S., with Japan, Germany, and Canada, in that order, representing the Company’s largest export markets and account for approximately 51% of export sales.
The U.S. allows higher noise levels for motorcycles than in other regions and countries. As a result, the ever so subtle marketing campaign Harley initiated about riders being “courteous” in neighborhoods and down playing the significance of 3rd party exhaust pipes. In fact they are discouraging 3rd party exhaust pipes. Are they doing this because they care about your neighborhood? No! They know government regulations have a materially adverse impact on their capital expenditures, earnings, or competitive position. Harley will have to make the lowest common denominator bike. Meaning they will have to comply with the most stringent noise emissions and sale that across the U.S. For example, last year Denver, CO passed legislation using label match-up enforcement. The police can ticket a motorcyclist if a bike made after 1982 has a muffler lacking a mandatory factory U.S. Environmental Protection Agency noise certification stamp.
Do you think Harley is really monitoring the growth of anti-noise ordinances that target motorcyclists or is this another way of gaining market segment share in the $2.8 Billion after market muffler, accessories and riding apparel market? The day is coming my friends where an enjoyable ride will sound like an idling Toyota Prius and people wondering if it’s running.
Exhaust photo courtesy of West Coast Choppers
At 7:00am this morning, a Sunday, someone started and revved their motorcylce engine below our window. It was my RIGHT to sleep in. After five minutes, I walked downstairs and the person on his bike had earplugs on while he was making the noise…oblivious to the rights of others.
Later in the day another set of bikers revved their engines while we were trying to relax on the beach. The riders don’t care about how that noise effects others and blood pressure.
Wearing ear plugs or having speakers in a helmet is dangerous for the biker and those driving or walking around them. I know someone who was driving a “Hog” and did not hear a pedestrian yelling at him to stop. He injured the pedestrian and slid a hundred feet taking all the skin off the right side of his body and broke his leg in 6 places.
My son had progressive hearing loss so we are very aware of noise levels . In Michigan, the legal 96dBA at 20 inches will cause hearing loss. Trust me. There is nothing COOL about wearing hearing aids or having to ask everyone to “Please repeat.”
There are inaccuracies in this article, including the statement that loud mufflers increase performance. Read the article from the COO of HD which says the opposite.
We are not in the wild west any more, and the population density is always increasing. Louder than stock mufflers are illegal for a very valid reason, and loud mufflers do not add to safety according to all authoritative organizations.
Please respect others peoples rights to pursue their activities without being forced to listen to intrusive, illegal, and harmful noise.
UPDATE: I seem to get a lot of posts like the above one from people who want to make “noise”, but don’t want to leave a legit email address and join in the discussion. Unfortunate, but my viewpoint is that Harley (and the executives) have a vested interest in supporting a noise abatement stance. It’s superficial in my view and they are doing this for monetary reasons… if they don’t they expect a ground swell of city/state government trying to place sanctions on the cycle industry. We see it all over from city legislation to muffler stamps. Harley was contradicting themselves and why they had to get out of selling after market (Screamin Eagle) pipes.
Read this article from June 11th where the Oakland Police department is changing out all the motorcycle pipes and putting on louder ones.
Mac
P.S. many don’t but I do try and be respectful of neighbors.
I completely understand the safety aspect of a loud bike on a highway or busy roadway. What I fail to understand is the need for loud pipes in a low traffic residential setting. While it is true that loud pipes save lives, they also cause significant hearing loss. A biker with less than good hearing is a hazard to them self and others. Be sensible and responsible when riding. Ride proud not loud and join the majority of bikers who abide by that code.
@ Joe: like that “ride proud not loud” slogan! Thanks.
Check your facts, loud does not equal safety according to scientific studies. Read the Hurt study which says loud pipes help IF they are pointed forward. Please stop repeating this myth. Loud pipes violate rights.
@ Loud: I wonder if the Oakland PD mounted pipes facing forward…
I’m not advocating bikers be disrespectful and loud. I am concerned that my rights/choices are being taken away by legislative morons who don’t ride and are trying to mandate their view of a motorcycle all by themselves.
It’s not about legislating your rights away. It’s about legislating to prevent noise pollution.
The motorcycle “community” has done a 100% ineffective job of policing its own regarding noise. I respect riders and want them to do what they enjoy. Unfortunately the riding community has taken a “wink-wink” attitude toward the people who get some sort of satisfaction by creating noise pollution.
I live on a collector street in a residential neighborhood that’s part of a popular San Diego beach community. I’d say at least a good 25% of the Harleys that drive by are breaking the federal noise standards. It’s all about hammering the throttle and the idea that these riders are rebellious and tough because they don’t care about pissing off other people. I hear it a dozen times a day — some douche blaring by, leaving a trail of beeping car alarms in his wake while we rewind the DVD to hear the dialogue we missed.
The motorcycle community has been completely ineffective in stopping this, so the government is doing the right thing by stepping in and doing something to stop it.
And please, stop clinging to the Oakland PD being stupid. Most bike wrecks happen because cars in front of the motorcycle move in front of a bike they don’t see. The noise doesn’t help. It’s just an excuse to allow bikers who enjoy creating noise pollution to continue infringing on the rights of others.
Also, if being safe means infringing on the rights of others, then motorcycle riding is just dangerous. Making someone’s hobby safe does not outweigh outher peoples’ right to not be subjected to noise pollution.
to mac: Basically, I think too many bikers are exercising their rights/choices in ways that take away the rights/choices of others. We cannot choose to not hear you. And if it continues (and it is escalating like mad here in Western PA) and bikers cannot be considerate, then yes, I think the majority will rise up and restrict those rights. Essentially, rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. If people can’t be responsible, they will lose their rights, and bikers are, to be blunt, not being very responsible.
You talk about sound being part of the “Harley Riding Experience.” The trouble is that you are inflicting that part of the experience on hundreds of others, whether they want it or not. It strikes me as utterly self-centered. Frankly, I think most bikers secretly like the fact that they are annoying people, that it’s part of the rebel, F-you attitude that feels so manly. That’s how it comes across, anyway.
I have been considering fighting back by beeping my horn incessantly whenever I’m sharing the road with an excessively loud bike. It’s my right to make that noise, isn’t it?
Brian
Please read the laws. Bikers don’t have “rights” to install illegal mufflers. It is just that the laws are generally not enforced. Do you think that it is your “right” to violate the rights of other people to a degree of peace and quiet?
It is your right to honk your horn, that is not an illegal muffler. Please consider what a horn is designed to achieve (alert others) versus what a muffler is designed to (muffle noise, not produce noise).
A street legal motorcycle muffler, per federal regulations, will have a clearly visible EPA label on it, which police can use for enforcement depending on how local law is worded. Happy reading.
EPA Title 40, Part 205, Subpart D (motorcycles) and Subpart E (motorcycle exhaust systems)
Subpart D—Motorcycles
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=9d2dcc1c4ab65a26531fdd1d7bf8e83d&rgn=div6&view=text&node=40:24.0.1.2.11.4&idno=40
Subpart E—Motorcycle Exhaust Systems
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr;sid=9d2dcc1c4ab65a26531fdd1d7bf8e83d;rgn=div6;view=text;node=40%3A24.0.1.2.11.5;idno=40;cc=ecfr
Long before I ever started riding, I loved to hear the of a loud bike rolling by or simply starting and idling. If it woke me up, I didn’t mind either. It makes me smile every time.
I also fight wildfires, and it cracks me up how people who decide they are capable of living near, or in the forest will complain about the air quality, and how the fires stir up a lot of harmful smoke.
Maybe I’m getting off track here, and I can hear some complain that the two things are unrelated, but it seems to me, that after the fire season is over, and I have to get back to civilization, I return to find it with even more complaints, and laws to patronize the complainers. I believe the process is called homogenization. Whatever.
I feel like a character in an H.G. Wells book. The Time Machine, I believe, with the super-soft, Utopian society above, and the dreaded “Morlocks” down below. But don’t worry. If I come rolling through your town, the rumble is just my bike, and no one is going to eat your children.
I love all of the naysayers that come on here stating that loud pipes do nothing. You can bet that all of these people are not motorcyclists.
Ask any motorcyclist how many times they have been cut off by another vehicle because the car did not hear them or see them.
Scientific study – what a crock. These same people state that there are no statistics pointing to the fact the loud pipes do help get motorcyclists noted. Well now the only way for this to have statistics is for an accident to happen where a rider goes down and a police report is taken. I can’t tell you how many times a car has moved over and 1/2 way through the lane change hear the pipes and realized that there was a motorcyclist there.
If I didn’t have pipes like these – I would not be here today due to no fault of my own.
I especially love those commercials for the vehicles where there is a construction site and it is loud and then they close the window of the car and you can’t hear anything outside anymore.
If you going to legislate noise – do so across the board – nail down all of those big diesels that make tons of noise. What about all those locomotives? How about those planes? Fire trucks and their sirens? Police cars and their sirens?
I work in an acoustical laboratory and can measure sound output from anything. I have tons of measurements from each scenario I have described above.
I sure wish people would wake up and use common sense.
Nick, I call you on your BullSH*t.
Diesels travel on thoroughfares, and that’s fine, they’re doing a job. So are firetrucks. So are cop cars, etc.
The Harleys (and Glasspaks) that go through my residential neighborhood are 99 percent recreation. They make noise because they think it’s fun to make noise.
It’s attitudes like Nick’s that will give all Harley riders a bad name — and yes, original poster, you are being told how to ride in your neighborhood. We’re sick of hearing the noise. Police yourselves. I’d hate for a good guy to get noise ticket, but if you stick up for all this “we-can-do-what-we-want” crap, you’re on the side of disrespecting your neighbors.
What it comes down to is respect. And there are too many Harley riders who don’t exercise it.
Hey Nick,
Do you realize that the EPA labeling is actually a federal law which is well considered. Do you realize that the sounds you mention, like sirens, are not illegal, but noisy motorcycles are? You mention you work in an acoustical laboratory, but yet you seem super ignorant about this type of noise. Are you aware of the harmful effects of the noise generated by motorcycles in particular – look it up, there are a number of studies that describe the physiological effects of your illegal noise.
In what direction does the sound from your loud muffler travel? Backwards, not forwards which would actually lend a bit of credence to your argument. Do you think that people should have any rights not to hear your noise within their homes, people with kids, people who work at night and sleep during the day?
What a moron, like your motorcycling friends. Why don’t you start thinking about other people and the harm you are constantly causing.
You don’t have to ride a motorcycle, if you are so concerned about safety then you would not ride one at all. Simple common sense, start taking responsibility for your actions, PLEASE.
http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/newsandupdates/motorcycle_noise_problem
…offered the “loud pipes save lives” argument, although safety researchers at the Summit reportedly produced research that shows that is not true, and that just the opposite appears to be the case.
http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/newsandupdates/harley_davidson_motorcycle_noise
Some motorcyclists profess to believe that “loud pipes save lives,” although research tends to contradict that popular axiom.
http://www.virginiawind.com/byways/loud_pipes_save_lives.asp
“Loud Pipes Save Lives” or The Madness Behind the Myth
http://www.motorbyte.com/mmm/pages/safety/safety40.htm
Pat Hahn of the state of Minnesota’s Motorcycle Safety Center says he understands individual expression. But he says the idea that loud pipes save lives is a myth. Hahn says there’s a problem with the safety theory because the pipes direct the sound backwards.
http://www.noiseoff.org/pipes/section.07.01.php
The EPA also considered the issue of “noise visibility” as popularized by the slogan, “loud pipes save lives”. This is the theory that a small group of motorcyclists believes that they are making themselves more conspicuous to other motorists in traffic by modifying their motorcycle exhaust systems to produce an excessive level of exhaust noise. The EPA concluded that the proposed noise emissions regulations would have no effect on rider safety.
http://www.lowertheboom.org/links/v02_loud_pipes.html
Riders who believe that an ear-shattering exhaust note actually increases safety are either kidding themselves or rationalizing self-indulgent behavior. It’s rooted in physics. The pressure wave emitted from an exhaust pipe is pointed away from and behind the motorcycle.
Why do most Harley riders need a loud exhaust to enjoy their bikes and use safety as an excuse? BMW and Gold Wing motorcycle riders do fine without excessive exhaust noise.
Exhaust is about personal expression – just like chrome wheels and outlandish paint jobs. Instead of assailing the eyes, it assails the ear…
It’s not only relegated to bikes. There’s nothing like the sound of a big block Chevy or Mopar with that lumpy idle.. music to some, raucous noise to others.
Nobody stands around and waits for you to fire up (start) your BMW or Goldwing. They are engineering marvels for sure…. but they don’t fire the blood.
When I fire up my bike, I get a grin on my face…. every time… People probably think my ride is insane… and maybe it is… but what a ride!! ;p)
Someone said somewhere that if I have to explain it you won’t understand – or something along those lines.
Exhaust is about personal expression. In other words, your personal expression is more important than respecting other people. You sound like a victimized punk-ass 13-year-old wearing a “Skating is not a crime” shirt. Not sold on the Harley contingent here about why the cops shouldn’t nail you guys for making your racket …
Motorcycle Sucks,
You summed up your pathetic argument in your title.
You have an issue with motorcycles so you feel it necessary to cause as much difficulty as possible for the owners that ride. You will find anything and everything wrong with motorcycles just because you do not like them. Sorry to inform you that the glorious world does not revolve around you or what you like / dislike.
How narrow minded and what a way to waste a life. Motorcycles will be around a lot longer than you will so to make your life a fraction happier….get over it!
If you really want to make your points and facts heard to all bikers, please copy all of your material and hand those copies out at Sturgis while wearing a “Motorcycles Suck” tee shirt. I’m sure you will be well received and warmly welcomed. Who knows, you might even win the Darwin Award this year for your efforts.
Reaps
“Retired LE” exemplifies so much that is wrong with the world: the “it makes me happy so go to hell” mentality.
Loud bike riders fail to understand that their “rights” end where the rights of others begin.
I’ve ridden for years (five bikes) and I ride only for enjoyment. I never felt the need to impress others (although a couple of the bikes were really sharp) and never had the urge to disturb others.
The loud pipes = safety argument is bogus. The majority of bike wrecks involving another vehicle are “car turns left in front of an oncoming bike” collisions. Unless the pipes project their noise forward, they make no difference. Lane incursions occur but smart bikers keep their time in a driver’s blind spot to a minimum.
If these guys cared about safety, they’d ride with full-face helmets and with headlamps on.
Personal expression is not a right when it infringes. If I choose to express myself by playing loud music next to LE’s house in the middle of the night, I’m confident that he won’t smile and marvel at my expression.
“cruiser lifestyle” motorcycling is laughably cartoonish.Grown men posing in harley -davidson approved costumes and flaming skull graphics?What are you guys-twelve years old?Open pipes are an insult to your neighbors and proof that you are over-compensating for being bottle fed.Besides,we Ducatisti know that it is loud CLUTCHES that save lives.
I’ve noticed more booming stereos playing foul and offensive rap music in my daily travels than overly loud motorcycles. I agree that some bikes are purposely made a little too loud for some prick to show off and get noticed but for the most part the rest are close enough to factory sound to be acceptable and legal. There are people who just need an excuse to grumble and if its not this it is something else. To me, some 17yr old booming foul rap music at 3 AM is far more irritating than a loud bike driving by. Both are disturbing yes, but one is truly offensive to me and my young kids. Also, the white wanna be black rapper crowd seem to have the bikers outnumbered about a 500 to 1. Lets get a forum started about the boom cars and young punk disrespectful kids blaring that rap crap and leave the bikers be. Oh yeah, that might be somones kid so lets exclude them……attack the loud exhaust instead.
Nope Mark,
I hear both. I hear the “boom cars” as you call them and they’re nowhere near as loud as the Harleys I hear. It’s not even close.
So sorry, don’t blame car stereos for some Harley riders being jerks.
Recreational noise pollution( motorcycles, car stereos, Nascar wannabees, guitar and drum heros etc., Oh yea, the guys that use chain saws on pussywillows) is what it is. People who like the loud motorcylces either don’t realize, or don’t care what effect it has, or enjoy the effect of interrupting someones sleep, conversation, tv, radio, or just trying to enjoy a day that was nice until one of them showed up. Motorcycles are fun to ride but don’t make every one have to listen to it. If you need the noise then record your bike and listen to it while you ride with headphones and get a good muffler. I know that doesn’t sit good because the reason bikes are blareing in such public places is they want to be noticed. “The bike is loud so I must be awsome”or “the bike is loud and I have an attitude so suffer” Seems to be what’s going on to me. Same thing for folks with car stereos, boom boxes, house stereos, amplified music,etc. 300 million live in the USA, we have to respect our neighbors. We shouldn’t dominate air with massive decibles noise. Loud sound does to ears what a hog farm does to the nose. As far as sounding cool I can take the muffler off of an escort and join the crowd, but I would get a ticket. I’ve had fun on my friends motorcycles but away from the public. Highway, creek jumping, hill climbing, stunts, but not anoying my neighbor. Don’t ride at all now. To dangerous and expensive to keep up ( my buddies had to shell out some bucks every time the dumped). Had to make sure I didn’t get injured. Have a family to take care of. Please think of your neighbors, and fellow citizens. We all live together and it is getting more cramped every day.
Just read some more articles. So being loud is being used as a need for being safe. So by those peoples own admission “the motorcycles aren’t safe as they are to be in traffic”. Only 2 wheels ( loud pipes aren’t going to help with a blow out), no doors, no top, no bumpers, no air bags, how about seat belts? So we have to SUFFER your BRRRRRAAAAPPPPP EVERY WHERE YOU GO? Come on think will ya. Look, these things are not by any means a safe vehicle for traffic at all and you know it before you even buy one so live with your choice. How do you justify being loud so everyone else has to listen to you do something that is hazzardous? You chose to buy it, Your chose to ride in streets and public places. Find a track for your riding experience. Options: Use your horn, ride or drive defensively, since it is supposedly a riding “experience” which is classified as recreational, then ride away from traffic and populated areas, learn evasive techniques, buy extra wheels, doors, bumbers, seatbelts, roof, trunk, or get a car. It’s bad enough watching you all take chances on those things without you trying to defend the right to be obnoxious with them too. Look, you are wrong, you have no good argument for noise,or racket. Try being responsible and think of others. I was being polite when I just called it noise pollution. It is. It’s also sonic abuse to others. Which in turn makes it sonic assault. Yes, when you cause distress, loss of sleep , and anxiety, you causing physical, emotional tension. If you think this is bull then imagine you hearing something you don’t want to hear at a certain time. You’re going to tell me you have never said “turn that down I’m try think,or sleep, I need to relax, I don’t feel good,I don’t like that type of music, your voice, mow later on, you kids be quiet”, but —you can rev that bike all you want any time you want and the rest of mankind is wrong to mention it to you? Why? Hats off to all of you that already have quiet mufflers!!!!!!!!!! You’re alright and cool!!!!!!!! God Bless you some more!!!!!!!!!!
If you need a loud muffler to be safe I would say you’re not a very good rider. I live in Milwaukee with lots of noise and had to move out of one of my homes because of the noise from a busy intersection. I also am a biker, only the peddle type and travel on rodes at average 20mph on the flat and much faster going downhill on training rides and am always aware of my situation and the threats from other vehicles and ride very defensively. Harley riders need to ride defensively since you are vulnerable and not subject the rest of us to the noise. Also those of you who are courteous to your neighbors aren’t doing much for us that happen to live a little farther down the street. I was also at Bastille days a few years ago and at one of the stages that happened to be near where cyclists were parking you could not even hear the performer over the noise. You guys just need to grow up.
I live on an important byway in my town, meaning its one of the major north south accesess in town. I live in a single story house. There is not five minutes that go by without motorcyclists in going in both directions from the lights on either side of my block dont rev their bikes into the red zone, Harleys and the rest. We have children and old people on this street, btw, and we see these motorcyclists racing eachother from light to light, or even popping wheelies. If this wasnt so dangerous and nerve destroying, itd be funny. I dont what buzzes around in a bikers brain when they do these things, but Ill tell you from the standpoint of a resident, pedestrian, parent and the son of two elderly parents who need to walk everywhere, you bikers have no idea whatsoever what bullies and goons and neanderthals you seem to the rest of use. You complain the loudest about your rights and safety but will weave through tight traffic endangering not just yourselves but others and putting everyone in utter dread of accidentally knocking you down while you carry out this foolishness. I cant scream at these b*st*rds that roar down out street making our neighborhood a misery. Weve talked about it and figured itd just invite the kneejerk activists to come out and make our lives even more miserable. I just wanted you to know you that for all your “guts” and bravado on your HARLEY! MAN! you sound like a sniveling whiner.
Regarding motorcycle noise….
Freedom. One of our most cherished rights. “How cherished ?” you may ask. Men have fought and died to protect this right for for people they didn’t even know. But there are strings. It’s called responsibility. In an age where there are a growing number of “uninforcable” laws and regulations, our individual freedom is really only as good as or willingness as individuals to be responsible to one another by not trampling on each others rights. Put another way, my rights end at that line where your rights begin.
Years ago, the occasional sound of a throaty V twin rolling through a remote canyon hardly bothered anyone. Today there are simply to many people driving these remote places, and to many people that may be visiting that canyon in search of quiet. The two simply aren’t going to be able to coexist in their current form. Same applies to neighborhoods.
There are laws on the books, (to damned many laws) that already make noisy exhausts illegal, and there are a growing number of advocate groups putting pressure on lawmakers and enforcement officials to curb this growing problem.
The motorcycle community has a clear choice. Assume responsibility, and respect the rights of others, or be the victims of growing negative public sentiment, increased regulation, increased law enforcement hassles (noise and emissions system tampering violations, etc.).
Be responsible – it is respectful of the rights of others, and probably the best way to protect your freedom to ride where you want without hassles.
Thank you very much for the responsible quiet riders, I greatly appreciate it. In fact it is almost shocking to see a quiet motorcycle, I have the strange urge to to shake the motorcyclists hand in thanks.
The above post, mentioning personal responsibility in place of laws and enforcement is simply not going to work, simple as that. What do you think about the actions of many Harley dealerships who clearly swap out stock legal mufflers for loud ones (this is called tampering and is supposed to make any business making these modifications subject to heavy fines).
Here is the advertisement from the Harley dealership near me, “Maybe you just want that awesome earth-quaking, window-rattling exhaust that sets off car alarms as you ride on by. Want to make men dive out of the way and women grab their children and head inside and lock the doors? We can help with that too!”; 2 out of 18 advertised “performance packages” are described as “street legal”.
I live next to the home of our first president, leading into a national park area. There are easily 200 illegal motorcycles that can be heard in any part of my home over any activity on a Saturday or Sunday. My home is over 200 ft. from the road, and we can’t hear anything else.
Is it any wonder that cities like NYC are considering a $1000 fine and impounding the bike for using mufflers that don’t have the EPA label. I wish we could simply ban motorcycles from neighborhoods.
It really comes down to one thing. Most people who ride motorcycles are attention whores. Is there any better way to scream “Hey look at me!” than to ride by on a really loud motorcycle?
I can empathize with the folks who are complaining here about loud bikes. I ride a sportbike (aka crotchrocket) – with the OE, EPA-stamped exhaust. I don’t need it to be any louder and I don’t need any more horsepower. The thing is already electronically limited to 300Km/h – I don’t need to go any faster than that. I avoid accidents by riding defensively and by staying away from packs of cars on the highway – what’s not near you can’t hit you. If that means I have to boost my speed up a bit to get to a clear spot, I do it – that’s alot safer than hanging out in a pack of cars.
In neighborhoods and on city streets, I watch my speed and I watch cars like a hawk, because it’s me that will pay the price in an accident. Thankfully, my bike has brakes that will throw your eyeballs onto the pavement in an emergency. I’ve had to use them more than a few times.
I believe that noise is no substitute for skills. I’ve been through an MSF course and the DOD course that’s required to ride on military installations. I ride with a helmet, a flak jacket and riding boots/pants even in hot weather. It sucks at red lights, but I’m trying to be safe as I enjoy what to me is one of the great joys of living – the freedom and the feeling of riding a fun bike on a beautiful day.
If loud exhaust noise makes motorcycles safer, then let’s make EVERYONE safer. Let’s let every vehicle make as much noise as Harley motorcycles do now. Bicyclists can put playing cards in their spokes and use amplified loudspeakers.
If I was a cop I’d stop every one of those HD gunning fuckwads and impound their piece-of-shit thunder turds.
Attention-starved egomaniacs .. inconsiderate primadonna shitsticks … micro penis compensating socially retarded pansies who think they’re “outlaws” because they can make more noise than a six year old who puts cards in the spokes of his bicycle wheels ….. nothing more .. hateful and ill mannered …
Have a nice day.
Closing comments on this post — we’ve heard all the viewpoints from both sides…it seems Denver is now a noise free zone at:
https://nwhog.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/the-perfect-venue/
-mac