Isn't it all about time and place? Is excessive noise for the sake of it necessary? A little consideration is all that's needed. Same with speeding or riding along shoulder. It's so unfortunate some need laws to know what is appropriate. I love loud motors of all kinds. And also loud music. But there are times and places when I don't. A little consideration of available choices and all can be happy. But for some reason, it is still cool for some to be blatantly rude and obnoxious.
Seriously, for nearly three decades of scooting around with numerous bikes, I personally believed that some of the high quality aftermarket pipes did save my life a few times. Yes, I also did my shares of pissing off people in my early years with screaming eagle, shotgun cobra, V&H exhaust etc. but those days are pretty much gone. As far as the noise level which people are complaining are mostly from H-D type bikes with gutted out pipes and a small percentage are from sport bikes that installed GP style pipe with deleted cat. My current bikes are no where near as loud as those straight pipes but I can turn the volume up with a twist of the throttle, and no way in hell that I would turn them back to the silence suicide sewing machines.
Nothing constructive to add here, just my opinion which probably isn't of the popular vote.
Perhaps it's my age (29 next month) but, I don't have a problem with loud vehicles in general. The only problem I have with some of the people that have loud vehicles is the ones that drive or ride like idiots, even then I don't care if some one on their bike (cruiser or sport) wants to risk their own life as, that's their business and they should know the risks.
I'm a firm believer in loud pipes save lives, and in a loose sense it's a form of freedom of expression. This I expect most to strongly disagree with. The only point in which I think the noise should be considered excessive is the lack of a proper exhaust system ie: running a vehicle off the header (not to mention idiotic and hazardous in every respect), although I suppose running straight pipes might be pretty comparable to the lack of a proper exhaust.
Either way, the public are being whiny, intrusive cunts because they can, when they should just let things be. A lot of things annoy a lot of people but, that's part of life so, suck it up. I don't recall what city it was in but, the other month people were complaining about a church being too noisy due to it's chiming bells, after years and years of this practice..it just seems like people complain because they can. Also recently, there was that ordeal with some school kids protesting about a gentlemen's club down the street or so away from them that's been in business for decades and how it's degrading to women and a bad influence and all this other shit. Before you know it we'll be living in an even tighter "Nanny State" where the government can further dictate every last aspect of your life.
A lot of things annoy a lot of people but, that's part of life so, suck it up. I don't recall what city it was in but, the other month people were complaining about a church being too noisy due to it's chiming bells, after years and years of this practice..it just seems like people complain because they can. Also recently, there was that ordeal with some school kids protesting about a gentlemen's club down the street or so away from them that's been in business for decades and how it's degrading to women and a bad influence and all this other shit. Before you know it we'll be living in an even tighter "Nanny State" where the government can further dictate every last aspect of your life.
I wholeheartedly agree. Ten years ago I moved to a house that sits on a non-intersection, non-stop signed corner. Not surprisingly, probably 25% of the traffic around it takes the opportunity to express their inner Schumacher or Rossi. It used to piss me off but after ten years and countless crashes around that corner, I've learned that while the sound of screaming tires and howling exhaust system might be tiresome, karma has a way of biting back. I'll never like the guys that run open exhausts on their Harleys and round that corner at 7 am on a Sunday only to go WFO on the exit, but I've learned that anyone that demonstrates such a complete disregard for their surroundings as those guys, will one day be surprised to find their surroundings showing a similar disregard for them.
Also, I must say that not only to I think it's just another case of the "I don't like it so it must be illegal" mindset, but it's just another erosion of our society's humility. Consider this: A Harley goes past your house at 7 am on a Sunday at WFO, and makes a racket for maybe 30 seconds at the most before the sound fades and you neighbourhood reverts to peace and quiet. That's 30 seconds of perturbation. Now I don't know about you guys, but no matter how respectful I try to remain throughout my daily activities, it's entirely possible that on any given day I might irritate someone for 30 seconds or less, so what right do I have to crucify the guy rides around the corner by my house and whacks open the throttle? I understand it's disrespectful to interrupt people's peace and quiet, but as the saying goes, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Because the reality is, when it comes to loud exhausts, no harm is really being done. This is just needless legislation that's going to cost us all as taxpayers (decibel metres gotta come from somewhere, as does the time the police will spend training up on their use), and I guarantee you, will be utilized as a tool to disrupt sportbikers' rides regardless of how high the limit is or what sort of bike the loud bike legislation's supposed to target. You know that speed trap that's always in Lion's Bay? You can coast through there at 60 kph without stopping, but loud pipe legislation would allow the police to transform that speed trap into a roadside sound level check, and they'd just love to stop every bike that went past for testing. See, the police don't think of traffic stops as a chance to merely write a ticket, they also use them to check for drunks, drugs, or warrants, so a law such as the proposed ones would be seen by the local constabulary as a chance to peek under every one of our visors to see if we're wanted, drunk, or stoned. And although I'm none of the above, I don't particularly want my quick little jaunt to Squabucks to turn into a multi-hour roadside wait as the police use the pretence of an exhaust sound level check to turn even the smallest portion of roadway into a police state.
wonder how many bitch about their neighbors starting a lawn mover on a weekend. last a lot longer than 30 seconds and is about just as loud an annoying.
I don't ever recall any of my neighbours starting up their lawn mowers after 10:00pm, never mind closing hours at the pub.
Look, I'm not worried about protecting my battle scarred ears. Decades of riding without earplugs, decades using skil saws and jig saws at work, countless rock concerts, and ipods cranked have seen that I'm much less effected, and CERTAINLY not effected by the intimidating objectives of the biker gang wannabes' efforts to gain attention upon themselves by blipping the throttles on their clattertraps. I'm very concerned about the growing intolerance of motorcyclists as a result of the HUGE majority of non-riders getting pissed off at US, and pressing "authorities" to put the thumb down on us. We've all seen more and more stories like this, it's because there's more & more complaints by John Q Public. It's super easy to link up if you think about it.
I've got 3 bikes that I'm sure would fail any kind of noise test. I run them conservatively around anyone's house, or outside cafe, and generally, I don't require attention that a loud machine would garner. Anyone who does, I generally feel sorry for them, knowing that they are severely lacking in personal confidence in themselves, to the point that they require FORCED attention from people.
The politicians pushing these regulation don't care what you think.
They care what the people who live in their city and who vote for them think.
You can post up all the long winded freedom loving rants about how you aren't hurting anyone and you should be allowed to do whatever you want. All you do is give the crowd that hates motorcycles more reasons to tighten the leash.
Do all the op-ed pieces you want about how the rules aren't fair and you need special consideration and then watch the backlash.
The logic of "Fuck you, that's why" won't win this fight.
Growing up living on a lake, we had a house with central vac. You could honestly hear it across the lake (about 1.5 mi across). It wasn't obnoxious, just audible. People would bitch up and down about it but there was nothing we could do (they now have mufflers for them - go figure). They would not, however, bitch about the mastercraft with the mufflers cut out buzzing the lake at 7 am. When its something common (boats, cars), the noise is tolerable but 'different' or uncommon per capita (loud vacuums, bikes) are an easy target.
Not trying to flog a dead horse or go over what has already been 'spewd' from both the for, and against noise issues. For those who think this is just regional bylaw offices meddling where they do not belong, better wake the fuck up. The attention whores craving for attention have gotten the attention they wanted, and now that the "big thumb" of the biggest single motorcycle market in the developed world has made a definite statement as pointed out in the following story, it is now out of our hands as individual motorcyclists. Way to go "Mr. Look-at-me". You've screwed it all for everyone.
I'm not saying I'm for or against this move, but big government is now looking at this, and are using means available to them.
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