Caledon Noise Bylaw for motorcycles

[AGAVE]

Hey Rick!!
Welcome to GTAM !!

Better get Sweet and some of your crew in here to back you up.

ZX600 is my buddy, i'll wring his greasy neck when i see him, but you have to do me a favor in exchange.
When you see this lucky2 fellow, give him the MC bonk on the head for me please.

Say hello to everyone for me.

[Kool]

Who cares I'll go somewhere else...

[AFJ]

The SAE J2825 standard, recommends a decibel limit of 92 dBA at idle for all machines. RPM test of 100 dBA @ 5000RPM for three- or four-cylinder machines, and 96 dBA @ 2000 RPM for bikes with fewer than three or more than four cylinders. The meter is suppose to be 20 inches from the exhaust outlet at a horizontal angel of 45 degrees from the pipe.

Consider most tracks limit the noise to between 98 and 110 dBA depending on the track this does not sound too unreasonable for street machines. I think stock exhausts are suppose to be around 88 dBA (as in OME pipes).

The draft bylaw read at the meeting last Wed. says 92 dBA at idle and 96 dBA at any RPM above idle for all motorcycles. My calculations indicate that a lot of new or newer bikes that are 96 dBA or a little less at 2000 RPM are going to be above 96 at 4000 or 5000 RPM. And the new ones that would be not much less than 100 dBA at 5000 RPM are going to be over 96 dBA at some RPM not far under 5000.

My bike is 79 dBA at idle and 90 dBA at 2000 RPM at the 20" distance specified in the J2825 test and was not tested at any higher RPM because it passed. According to the Caledon law it could be tested at any higher RPM the cop might decide to test it at.

[Brian P]

That is the same way Edmonton wrote their bylaw. My stock ZX10R will fail because it's louder than 96 dBA (by a lot) when the engine is bouncing off the rev limiter. I would wager that virtually all stock motorcycles would fail that.

The implementation has to be according to J2825 and nothing else. The J2825 standard was written the way it was for good reason, and writing the bylaw to be more stringent than J2825 is an opening for abuse.

[insert]

This summer has seen many tickets handed out for pipes and what the OPP deem non DOT helmets in Belfountian every weekend, why even bother to go there and spend $5.00 on a bottle of water and the coffee isn't all that good either.

you are completely oblivious to the reasons of going somewhere on a motorcycle. its the ride, not the destination, that riders go out and ride for.

most of us get on our bikes, call up a few friends, and cruise to the middle of nowhere, find some hole in the wall, and grab lunch. it is basic and bland; but most importantly, it is an excuse to ride. hell, sometimes i go out and ride somewhere only to turn around and come back.

[mangod00]

They just passed this law in edmonton and i dont think they got more then 60 or 70 bikes in the first few months, not even enough to pay for their decible meters lol.

My buddies 1098 with termi's comes in right at 96 (twins only have to rev to 2000 rpms). Very few bikes fail this even lots with full systems, the biggest failure rate is guys on cruisers with straight pipes, and honestly those are annoying as hell and should be ticketed.

The bigger issue is it gives them an excuse to hassle motorcyclists. They are pulling you in for noise testing but no doubt will also use it as a chance to do a paper check and ticket you for anything else they can come up with (improper plate mounting, blah blah blah).

Who's your friend?

[Rotten_Ronnie]

I expect by-laws like this will grow and spread across the country as they're beginning to in the States.

Rick was right to bring it to our attention, and if you want to see motorcycles, head up to Belfountain on a beautiful day.

I was riding on the Cabot trail a few weeks ago, and there is a provincial park at the bottom of a rather steep incline for bikes. You'd probably corner hard, then drop a gear for the climb and get on the gas to make the crest.

I watched a little boy at a picnic table with his family, recognize that a motorcycle was coming downhill approaching the corner, and he immediately clapped both hands over his ears before I began the downshift and throttle roll on, and that little scene made me feel guilty even on KLR650 with a stock tweety bird pipe!

So, you will excuse me if I fully support folks in their quest to keep noise levels down, but I'd like laws like this fairly applied to landscapers, kids in cars with aftermarket noise makers bolted on, and those who feel that straight pipes in residential neighbourhoods are acceptable, to name a few.

96 db is enough to cause hearing loss over a sustained time period.




Decibel Exposure Time Guidelines
Accepted standards for recommended permissible exposure time for continuous time weighted average noise, according to NIOSH and CDC, 2002. For every 3 dBs over 85dB, the permissible exposure time before possible damage can occur is cut in half.
Continuous dB
Permissible Exposure Time
85 db
8 hours
88 dB
4 hours
91 db
2 hours
94 db
1 hour
97 db
30 minutes
100 db
15 minutes
103 db
7.5 minutes
106 dB
3.75 min (< 4min)
109 dB
1.875 min (< 2min)
112 dB
.9375 min (~1 min)
115 dB
.46875 min (~30 sec)
source: http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/hearingloss.cfm

I hate living in a nanny state that uses laws in place of common sense. Do your bit and we can fight laws like this.

[JamieVk]

And an ipod can do 110 DB at full volume. Please wont someone think of the children!

[Rotten_Ronnie]

Here's an article that applies more to the offroad community reprinted from the Ontario Federation of Trail Riders:

No Excuses!!
Fri Aug 1, 2008

149 Riders at the Northumberland Trail Ride were sound tested and guess what? Some of them failed.

Rather than send them home or tell them to 'just keep it quiet', the offenders were directed to the OFTR trailer and provided with an array of special inserts, muffler packing and the tools to work on thier bikes. It was real nice to spend some 'quality time' chatting with the riders while they dissambled aftermarket pipes and shoved inserts into them. A special thanks to the NTR members that helped work on the bikes.

Motorized use of the Northumberland Forest is under pressure from the municipality and one of the biggest camplaints is noise. Surprised?

The Trail Ride Series has been sound testing for 5 years and the entry forms state that bikes must be quiet yet the failure rate still sucks.

Loud Sucks! Noise Annoys! Less Sound=More Ground!

Here is some "Sound Advice". Your bike needs to be quiet. Some Stock bikes wont pass so do the work.

Lang Hindle and the OFTR are developing a "No Excuses" program to ensure that loud motorcycles never show up on our trails. More to come on that later.

For now, get you bike ready for the Mini Pine. There is a sound check and there are no excuses.

These guys have been fighting trail closures for years because someone wants to crank out another 2hp and is willing to ride on shared use trails without respecting the others who use them as well.

Now if you want to participate in these events you need a sound check first.

Maybe we could do this for wing nights, poker runs and bike nights at Haugen's?

[Rotten_Ronnie]

And an ipod can do 110 DB at full volume. Please wont someone think of the children!

Dude, if you're running straight pipes and I see you on the side of the road getting tagged, do you think I'm going to write my member of provincial parliament?

All I'm asking is that you exercise some restraint and some respect. Once a law is on the books it NEVER gets repealed. We still have laws prohibiting horse racing on the highway for heaven's sake.

Anyhow, obviously this is my opinion, and perhaps someone learns a bit more and can form their own informed opinion.

And yes, it was a four year old boy that made me get a hate on for Cruisers visiting the Cabot trail that day.

What corner did you sit on when the future of motorcycle racing went by, showcased by Michael Barnes and others at Mosport this summer?


You could hear the chain noise and their knee sliders hit the ground, and their lap times will only improve as the technology gets better and better. What you going to do when you buy your first electric bike? Clothespin hockey cards to your spokes?

[itinkle]

I love the sound of motorcycles in general. It reminds me of the days when I had one and the fun I had. I love watching a movie and hearing a bike screaming down my street, down-shifting coming up to my stop sign. I mute the tv and enjoy the sound of it slowing down and starting up again. What I don't appreciate is straight pipes that are so loud that it is seriously deafening in my living room. Everything is wood and any sound in it is amplified. I don't mind hearing motorcycles of any kind, but if I start to feel like (straight pipes), all I think about is someone is over compensating lol.
I have a neighbor a few doors down that rides at 5:30-6:00am most mornings. Doesn't have the manners to get off the street at low rpms. It's times like that where I hope his tires are nice and cold going into that turn down the street.

[JamieVk]

Dude, if you're running straight pipes and I see you on the side of the road getting tagged, do you think I'm going to write my member of provincial parliament?

All I'm asking is that you exercise some restraint and some respect. Once a law is on the books it NEVER gets repealed. We still have laws prohibiting horse racing on the highway for heaven's sake.

Anyhow, obviously this is my opinion, and perhaps someone learns a bit more and can form their own informed opinion.

And yes, it was a four year old boy that made me get a hate on for Cruisers visiting the Cabot trail that day.

What corner did you sit on when the future of motorcycle racing went by, showcased by Michael Barnes and others at Mosport this summer?


You could hear the chain noise and their knee sliders hit the ground, and their lap times will only improve as the technology gets better and better. What you going to do when you buy your first electric bike? Clothespin hockey cards to your spokes?

lol, my main point was that there are other means to hurt peoples ears that offer a constant volume than a bike/car/or other means of transportation can do. Yes we need to limit DB(to a certain degree), but at least its not something people listen to for long periods of time unless they choose too (or a group ride of jerkasses). Trust me, I've learned my lesson from my highschool days when I used to rock two 12's with more that 1000W RMS to them. Education is best, and I wish more ppl told me about the damage sound can do to you. Those two 12's were worse to my ears than listening to some of the bikes ive been around since I was 4 and that includes straight pipes.


Edit: Also a Simpsons reference if you didnt catch it. lol

[Rob MacLennan]

Dude, if you're running straight pipes and I see you on the side of the road getting tagged, do you think I'm going to write my member of provincial parliament?

All I'm asking is that you exercise some restraint and some respect. Once a law is on the books it NEVER gets repealed. We still have laws prohibiting horse racing on the highway for heaven's sake.

Anyhow, obviously this is my opinion, and perhaps someone learns a bit more and can form their own informed opinion.

And yes, it was a four year old boy that made me get a hate on for Cruisers visiting the Cabot trail that day.

What corner did you sit on when the future of motorcycle racing went by, showcased by Michael Barnes and others at Mosport this summer?


You could hear the chain noise and their knee sliders hit the ground, and their lap times will only improve as the technology gets better and better. What you going to do when you buy your first electric bike? Clothespin hockey cards to your spokes?

That was a bizarre experience. I was at Mosport on the Thursday to check sight-lines, when the first one went out for practise. I could hear it about a corner away, but then again the track was virtually silent. During qualifying and the race I couldn't hear them, until they were right in front of me.

[CanadianBiker]

I live in Caledon and I have a problem with this by-law, but not because it targets loud bikes per se. For the record, I run stock pipes.
This by-law was proposed by a City Councillor who was attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony in one of the villages. According to him, a group of motorcycists were stopped at the light in front and deliberately revved their bikes and made as much noise as possible. It ticked him off and it ticked off the other people there. So he struck back in the most effective way he could, proposing this by-law. So thanks to those guys on bikes for getting this ball rolling.
My biggest problem with this by-law is the waste of police resources required to enforce it. The Caledon OPP do an outstanding job of keeping drunks off the road, with year-round RIDE checks and vigorous enforcement. These are the roads that I, my family, and many of you ride and drive on. Every drunk they catch is potentially a life saved, maybe mine, maybe yours. only now, instead of breathalyzers, the OPP will be wielding decibel meters.
And just in case you think the bit about OPP catching drunks is overblown, a couple years ago a woman killed a couple on a bike on Mississauga Rd. She was so drunk she didn't know she'd hit them. On a Sunday. At 10:00 am.
I wrote to the local papers about this; no response. I wrote to my local Councillor, Gord McClure; no response (guess who I won't be voting for?).
We are our own worst enemies and yet whenever there's pushback, we whine and whine about how unfair it is. Like your loud pipes and hearing them echo off buildings? This is the result.
And BTW, for those bashing Rixter, he is a stand-up guy and has done more for motorcycling than any 10 people I know.

[Rob MacLennan]

And yet 20 or 30 bikes can go by, without being so much as noticed, but a few guys ruin it for the rest of us. It's the same thing that happens with expensive sports cars and SUVs; you see one doing something stupid, then blame them all for it.

[Rixter]

Hey Rick!!
Welcome to GTAM !!

Better get Sweet and some of your crew in here to back you up.

When you see this lucky2 fellow, give him the MC bonk on the head for me please.

Say hello to everyone for me.

Didn't think I would run into you here, seein' you jumped to the east..lol
Don't need anyone to back me up, been around too long and all my kids are grownup now, so I know how to tune things out...lmao

[LiNK666]

cool story bro (I mean caledon).

[Rixter]

you are completely oblivious to the reasons of going somewhere on a motorcycle. its the ride, not the destination, that riders go out and ride for.

most of us get on our bikes, call up a few friends, and cruise to the middle of nowhere, find some hole in the wall, and grab lunch. it is basic and bland; but most importantly, it is an excuse to ride. hell, sometimes i go out and ride somewhere only to turn around and come back.

I'm not completely oblivious to the reasons of going somewhere on a motorcycle, I do it all the time, but Belfountian is not a ride too me when it's only 10 minutes away, if I ride there and stop for a chit chat and a coffee from where I live you would probly call me a wanta be biker...lol
Its the ride, not the destination, that isn't desination or a ride, it's a run through the gears once...lol

[xskipro]

1. If a bike is legal for the road..
2. Rider has a valid Plate sticker..
3. Has proper Lic , Reg and Ins for the road.

Why should that person not be allowed on a public road ?

Just asking the questions....

[Rixter]

I'd like laws like this fairly applied to landscapers, kids in cars with aftermarket noise makers bolted on, and those who feel that straight pipes in residential neighbourhoods are acceptable, to name a few.

Your right on targeting motorcycles, but think of it how many tuner cars or landscapers cuttin grass are in the town when your there on the weekend?

The tuners cars are hanging around Tim Horton's at Dundas & Winston Churchill and the grass cutters did their job during business hours in the week when all the residents are at work.