Two that jumped out at me in particular.

You noted that according to audiological experts, sustained noise between 90 and 95 decibels can cause hearing loss, which is irrelevent because the only one exposed to the sustained noise is the rider on the noisy bike. To ever one else it is a sparodic noise and not a health risk.

The other you talk about neighborhoods where thousands of noisy motorcycles per day pass by. Hoestly??? I challange you to find even one neighborhood were even hundreds of noisy motorcycles pass by everyday. I can’t even imagine it short of some houses surrounding a motorcycle race track.

As to earplugs, wind or earplugs I still can’t hear the engine over 40, so I depend on feel, under 40 I want to hear what is going on around me and I want to hear my bike. That is why I paid extra for the V&H pipes and the upgrades to compliment them.

I had been wanting to get a bike for a few years, first looking at economy, comfort and reliability I looked to the quiet smooth imports. Then I got thinking about what I really wanted. I wanted something fun, exciting even a little scary.

So I changed what I was looking for, a Harley, a hog, a chopper.

I started looking at softails and what kind of mods it would need to get to the vision I had in my head. In 2007 HD announced a new model, the Rocker C and it was instant love. Two years in the planning till I was ready.

I violated the saying that says you should buy a practice cycle before getting your dream bike. No regrets here.

One of the first things I did was order new pipes. It wasn’t so much that I wanted them loud as I wanted them deep and vibrant, I wanted a sound that fit the machine.

I don’t have them so others can hear them I have them so I can feel them, so I can enjoy them. I idle down my residential street early in the morning on my way to work. No desire to wake the neighbors. I feel the powerful low key bass thrum of the engine till I get to the main street. I wind her up through the gears feeling and hearing the power of the engine till around 40 at wich point I have to depend on the feel because wind noise drowns out the engine noise.

I don’t rev the engine for the sake of hearing it make a loud noise. At stop lights occaisionaly it will start making a fuel starved popping idle and I will roll the throttle just enough to bring it back to that deep bass rumble of a large predator.

In the week I have been riding I have had more than a couple of occasions where people in cars didn’t seem to notice me till they heard me and then thankfully decided not to pull into the lane I was occupying or turn to my path of travel.

I listen to the bikes when they go by the house, enjoying the deep sound of power over the shrill whine and rap of the crotch rockets.

It is a personal preference. I don’t think I am an obnoxious disrupter of the meditative peace of the other drivers around me. My bike is the sound of power and excitement and those that understand that nod, smile, wave or thumbs up. Those that don’t are unhappy souls who are looking for things to be offended about.

I ride this beast because I can.

But I also am not the only person on this planet.

Loud pipes get drivers to notice you, but if attention is what you’re after… be careful what you wish for.

I will gladly donate $10 a month to any lawyer working on anti-noise laws. I just haven’t found one yet.

Google “urban noise depression” to find studies proving that urban noise increases the occurrence of violence, depression, substance abuse, and crime.

Next time loud pipes ride past a group having dinner outside or a wedding, watch their mood change. Congrats! You just ruined the day of dozens of people!

i have asked my legislators for DRACONIAN loud pipes laws

respecdtrfull riders like myself are sick of jerks like you

we’re dealing you a deck of PAYBACK

The ways bills and laws get passed is through lobbyists that influence(favors and money for their state) politicians. Health insurance companies have 3 lobbyist per congressman or congress woman.
maybe that is why there is no universal health care or affordable health insurance. (hundreds of lobbyist for health insurance companies)
Not to get off track there is only 1 lobbyist in the entire nation for motorcycle riders rights. This does not look good for any other rights motorcycle riders enjoy in the future. There may even become a time in the future they outlaw 2 wheeled vehicles. All I know is as a motorcycle rider there is no level playing field when it comes to laws and rights. (until we have more lobbyists)

With the age of Text messaging, cell phone calls, wireless internet, email and surfing the internet on mobile devices……..not to mention the radio, cd player, ipod, etc all these things that can distract a driver……….I think loud pipes on bike is a safety feature.

(Harley Rider)
JAB

I made it to my legislators, urging them to take your loud pipes and stuff them up your butt

Think about it, 1 motorcycle using illegal mufflers is not a problem. 300 a week or more is a serious problem that affects the qualify of life and well being of residents. Think about constantly having your life interrupted within your home because people like you are on some macho trip which seemingly does not accommodate wimpy legal mufflers.

Loud mufflers do not contribute to safety, in fact the opposite is true. Check the web for the numerous articles from motorcycling authorities about the facts. If you are concerned about safety buy a horn which points sound forwards, equipment to make you visible, and training.

Any motorcycle generates more harmful air pollution than a Hummer.

People do not have “freedom” or “rights” to operate any motor vehicle. Rather operating a vehicle requires that it meet the regulations and that you have passed the required test. Clearly loud mufflers are illegal by any standard in most locations in the U.S. When are you all going to start behaving like responsible adults and not like the teenage rap boomers?

http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/10/10/editorial/editorial/d4311f74420afdfb872574dc00808198.txt

What does this have to do with loud pipes? Everything!!! For a biker knows that if they make a bunch of noise that the law will come down on his ass. I prefer to just do my thing and if the rest of the world doesn’t like it they don’t have to look. As I putt down the road on my pieced together shovelhead, with no chrome. Life is about the journey not the accessories you buy on the way. I for one don’t need accessories to make a statement. I am me and I offer no apologies for who I am, what I think, Or what I say. At the end of the day I have no problem looking at myself in the mirror, no regrets and no remorse. At the end of my days I will have no problem facing my due. For I have earned it.

As far as The motor company goes. First and foremost they are a corporation. Corporations exist for one reason, and only one reason. TO MAKE MONEY!!! So with that said it is not at all surprising that they take the stance that they do on many subjects. It is all about the money. In today’s economy it isn’t about selling the bikes. It is about selling the accessories and the clothing lines. And who buys these? They are the very same people that bitch about loud pipes, amongst others. It is sickening that the very same company has an accessory line to dress up your bike with skulls. Run ad campaigns that promote the bad ass image. All of it aimed at the very lame brained dip shit, nit wit wannabes. HD is not the biker’s friend that they want you to believe they are. They are simply a corporation that makes money by selling motorcycles and motorcycle accessories. The officers of HD have no emotional ties to bikers. It is all about business and what will bring them the best return on their investment.

Sorry for the long drawn out tirade. I get pissed off about people who have their own agenda’s trying to speak for a group they aren’t part of.

Peace to you all.

It’s easy to understand why a lawyer representing two local bikers thinks the new city of Myrtle Beach restriction on motorcycle exhaust noise exceeds state law. It does. In passing this ordinance last week, one of 15 aimed at suppressing the worst aspects of the May motorcycle rallies, the City Council relied on its home-rule powers under S.C. state law.

Tom McGrath of the Virginia-based Motorcycle Law Group rightly points out that state law does not specify permissible levels of motor vehicle exhaust noise. The city’s modified noise ordinance sets the maximum allowable noise level for idling motorcycles at 87 – above the noise level for normal busy traffic. McGrath argues – debatably – that the city doesn’t have the home-rule authority to exceed state law in this fashion.

He also argues that the city’s noise ordinance is unconstitutional – which is another matter entirely. If by that he and his clients mean that bikers have a constitutional right to ride machines that exceed the “normal” noise level of busy traffic – which is noisy enough – he is on shaky ground.

The principle that personal freedom is limited by the rights of others is well-established in constitutional law. McGrath, we’re guessing, will be hard pressed to persuade the court handling his case that the city should not have the right to protect residents from unreasonably high levels of motorcycle noise – especially since the new city decibel level for motorcycles is higher than the permitted levels for other forms of noise.

Many local and visiting motorcyclists, we suspect, understand the public interest in balancing their freedom to ride with residents’ desire not to be subjected to noise excess. But some do not.

As The Sun News reported this week, one Maryland biker whose machine failed a courtesy Myrle Beach police noise check – 91.6 decibels – said he won’t install noise-suppression gear. In our communities for this weekend’s October Harley-Davidson rally, he said, “This just tells me I don’t do any of my shopping in Myrtle Beach.”

It may not seem a big deal that the gentleman’s motorcycle registers “only” 4.6 decibels over the city’s chosen limit. But a decibel is a measure of noise pressure on the human ear. With each additional decibel unit over “normal” environmental noise levels, noise pressure increases geometrically. So to normal human ears, a 4.6-decibel excess is much louder than the city’s 87-decibel limit (which arguably is too high). According to audiological experts, sustained noise between 90 and 95 decibels can cause hearing loss.

A noisy motorcycle may be a passing irritation. But in neighborhoods where thousands of noisy motorcycles per day pass by, high noise levels can cause hearing damage to folks with no means of protection.

For this reason, we suspect that this particular exercise of Myrtle Beach home-rule power will pass muster with the courts. The General Assembly set up the S.C. home-rule law, adopted in the 1970s, specifically to give local councils the ability to tailor ordinances to fit local situations.

The motorcycle rallies constitute such a situation. No other cluster of S.C. communities experiences anything like them.

Motorcyclists may be right in lining up lawyers to attack some of the city’s other rallies ordinances – such as the helmet requirement. But this legal attack on noise abatement seems downright antisocial.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/opinion/story/615477.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1
sneditors@thesunnews.com

Tom
It needs to be said one more time. Loud pipes simply ain’t the problem, they are the symptom.

RE:
“… Your customers want the whole hog, so to speak—and for vanity’s sake to be sure. They demand that people pay attention to them… ”

Le-me suggest that the real problem is that too many of “the industry’s customers” do exactly that.
They “demand attention.” And we all know what happens to the squeaky wheel.

There was a time when most of the “scooter-population” knew exactly how to pull off the “biker persona” (for lack of a better term). Along with that came the occasional “social shunning” (escorted out of town, etc…). But it was excepted as the price ya paid for membership in, what was a fairly select demographic. Those from that era (and those who learned from them) know “how the game is played.”

Unfortunately, because what we have now is “an industry.” It’s an industry not limited to OEM and hardware vendors. It also includes “software” vendors like yourself who trade in words, ideas and events.

Moreover that industry (which emerged from “ya meet the nicest people on a Honda”… 50) has experienced explosive growth, fueled by a mass influx of bare-foot pilgrims who “demand.” They demand to become part of that exclusive minority. They demand “safety.” They demand attention. Oh ya, and some even demand “Respect” (not understanding that it’s a commodity, that is earned, not granted).

As a demographic they have managed to foul up an activity that has been central to the live of many who “payed our dues” the old fashioned way. Their antics have forced legislation that would never have been enacted otherwise. They have driven our insurance rate up. And they have focused public attention on us in a way that may well destroy our ability to create and ride they fruits of our imagination and skill.

These are your customers. They watch TV, they buy product, and they “demand” to get the type of attention they see on TV and in the Movies.

Sorry Tom, the way is see it, there-in lies the crux of the problem (not pipes or scooters).
So when was the last time some one wrote an article on how to “act.” When was the last time a dealer told a break-in-biker to keep their yaps shut and their ears open.

But that’s just one old guys opinion.
-nicker-

RE:
“… Your customers want the whole hog, so to speak—and for vanity’s sake to be sure. They demand that people pay attention to them… ”

Le-me suggest that the real problem is that too many of “the industry’s customers” do exactly that.
They “demand attention.” And we all know what happens to the squeeky wheel.

There was a time when most of the “scooter-population” knew exactly how to pull off the “biker persona” (for lack of a beter term). Allong with that came the ocasoinal “social shunning” (escorted out of town, etc…). But it was excepted as the price ya paid for membersip in, what was a fairly sellect demographic.

As i see ti, there in lies the crux of the problem.

As you say ” no one rides a motorcycle because it’s safe “

The 2 are at odds while at the same time accomplishing the same goal against the majority of bikers.

The louder is better crowd doesn’t understand the significant difference between a well-tuned, loud exhaust system (with the proper baffling) and a bad pipe with no baffle.

Louder is not better. Frequently, “louder is better” makes the bike sound mechanically off, just as heavy music is distorted on a bad stereo system. I’m not saying turn it down too low. Improve the sound quality and the sound doesn’t have to go so high, which will annoy the “few”.

Tom writes, “Despite your nice turn of phrase, outspoken critics are few. They are, however, as strident as straight shots in an underground car park.”

Agreed. I would add, the number of people that would give these few critics the “go-ahead” with legislation is more strident