National Post Article re Excessive Noise

Here's what bothers me about legislating loud pipes ... my bike came stock with fantastic sounding pipes. I rode with a guy this weekend who owns a Buell Lightning ... factory exhaust on that thing was really loud. Both bikes sound beautiful, in my opinion. However, it'll be the opinion of the cops that matter ... and I see a ride like the one I had this weekend being interrupted (possibly more than once) by cops assuming the pipes are too loud.

I would really prefer not to have to go through decibel checks every time I take my bike out and pass an unfamiliar LEO. Moreover, I like my bike too much to trade it in for a burgman.

d
 
Here's what bothers me about legislating loud pipes ... my bike came stock with fantastic sounding pipes. I rode with a guy this weekend who owns a Buell Lightning ... factory exhaust on that thing was really loud. Both bikes sound beautiful, in my opinion. However, it'll be the opinion of the cops that matter ... and I see a ride like the one I had this weekend being interrupted (possibly more than once) by cops assuming the pipes are too loud.

I would really prefer not to have to go through decibel checks every time I take my bike out and pass an unfamiliar LEO. Moreover, I like my bike too much to trade it in for a burgman.

d

Burgman hater (not that there is anything wrong with it):cool::lmao:
 
I don't think it is strange at all. I have seen too many drunk or aggressive drivers weaving their car all over both road lanes and highways on Friday and Saturday evenings. They don't need to make physical contact to cause a problem. A sideswipe or sudden merge in my opinion would be plausible enough to cause someone to stumble and lose control as they fight to regain control especially if there was a pothole in a curve.
 
I don't think it is strange at all. I have seen too many drunk or aggressive drivers weaving their car all over both road lanes and highways on Friday and Saturday evenings. They don't need to make physical contact to cause a problem. A sideswipe or sudden merge in my opinion would be plausible enough to cause someone to stumble and lose control as they fight to regain control especially if there was a pothole in a curve.

By all accounts it was a single vehicle accident... given the road/time it occurred on, it probably was not the fault of another driver.. I know we as riders hate to admit that some times we are our own worst enemy, especially when it happens to a close friend of ours...hard pill to swallow when there's no finger to point

don't mean this as disrespect to anyone, RIP to the rider.
 
Huh? I was addressing a flaw in the logic of the article - adding a decibel limit does not improve upon the enforceability of current legislation, in the scenario that the author puts forth which is that the need of an enforcement officer on-hand is a weakness.

Yeah, sorry - I agree with you on that. The article doesn't do a good job of providing alternatives which are different from what is currently employed.

The point I was trying to make, is what makes a better alternative? What sort of blanket solution is there, that would not involve needing to be pulled over and checked? I feel like any reasonable solution would still involve that, otherwise, what - banning sales? Ticketing parked bikes with non OEM systems? I guess that could be a thing...
 
The point of articles like this, even in right-wings rags like the National Compost, is that society is getting fed up with these attention whores with their straight pipes and track exhaust.
They give motorcyclists a bad image, they make us all seem like self-involved a-holes.
This is all political fuel to ban motorcycles.

Frankly, Im looking hard at an electric bike in the near future. I test drove one in California and was really impressed.

Other than the electric bike comment (at this point, for me) I agree completely.

think=thing

just sayinnnnnnnn

Umm, nope.

...hmmm. Don't think so.
Grififin said "If you think they don't bother people.....you have another think coming." It means "think again".

Yep.

you're right.... it all depends if you're new school or old school...............

ride safe!

Depends on if you speak English or "common". Sort of like the use of "irregardless". Most people use it but it doesn't exist. Or, "I could care less". The proper phrase is "I could NOT care less". Saying you could care less actually means that you DO care.

The phrase is "if you think this, you have another THINK coming". Most people don't pay attention to the meaning of what they make come out of their mouths and have changed it to "you have another THING coming". What thing? There is no thing. :D

Not trying to be preachy and I appreciate the banter.
 
Loud is bullsht... idiots on sportbikes with shorty cans, idiots on Harleys with open pipes.. they should all be ticketed into oblivion. Talk about selfish entitlement. I'm sure we've all been out walking around (especially downtown) when a moron on a Harley rides by and all conversations have to stop until he's gone. Makes me want to run out on the street and smash their faces in.


This. I know when I was looking at pipes I was looking first at their db rating. I've since decided to leave it alone for now. Sounds just fine and I get noticed enough living out in the sticks with the only blue and white ss around.

If only people who wrote articles about motorcycle related topics actually knew ANYTHING about motorcycles it would be so refreshing.

As said somewhere else in this thread, the general public is very misinformed about a lot of things. Articles like this crap from a person with obviously zero knowledge on the subject other than what he searched on google are the problem.
 
The majority of their readers or ~98% of them do not ride motorcycles and likely do not like them either.
The majority of readers likely experienced what we have with a straight pipe Harley "splitting our ear drums".
We created this problem. You look like a sad pathetic loser when you rev your engine on a congested street downtown while people are just sitting outside eating and trying to enjoy their night. Those bikes sound like POS but the owners think they are awesome.

Oh, another thing.
DO NOT start your bikes and leave them running with the exhaust pointed at people sitting out on a patio eating.
Just be polite/smart and roll the bike out and start it.
 
SAE J2825 - Reasonable, repeatable, and not at all open to individual interpretation by the tester. Since we haven't managed to control ourselves we will be controlled by others, who are in the majority, and can only hope that the method of control is reasonable.

When the GTA had a total population of 500,000 and you could be in the boonies in 20 minutes, you could get away with loud pipes. Now that there are 'bedroom communities' that are 100 Km away from Toronto, with ten times the population in that same land area, not so much. You're either polite and attentive of your neighbour's feelings, or you're Detroit.
 
There is one issue with SAE J2825-based legislation, and that is the non-trivial cost of implementing it. Every cop that you want to be able to enforce it will need a testing device, and training on how to use it. It's preferable for riders/drivers, but not for police departments.
 
There is one issue with SAE J2825-based legislation, and that is the non-trivial cost of implementing it. Every cop that you want to be able to enforce it will need a testing device, and training on how to use it. It's preferable for riders/drivers, but not for police departments.

You can get a Type II sound level meter for <$250 (admittedly there are few in this price range, but they do exist.) Not every cop needs one, just one that can be called (like a K9 unit).

A more sensible way of implementing it would be to issue an inspection order (similar to when they suspect equipment problems). ie. you have 7 days to present your bike to a testing centre (collision reporting centre would make sense) for a test. That would limit the equipment and training required.
 
I don't think it is strange at all. I have seen too many drunk or aggressive drivers weaving their car all over both road lanes and highways on Friday and Saturday evenings. They don't need to make physical contact to cause a problem. A sideswipe or sudden merge in my opinion would be plausible enough to cause someone to stumble and lose control as they fight to regain control especially if there was a pothole in a curve.

oh yes, motorcyclists never drink.

You can lessen your chances of ever being in a fatal road accident by 50 percent; if you keep off the road between 6pm Friday and 6am Sunday.
 
I get so angry when I hear this constant "we need more laws" BS. We don't need more laws, we need to enforce the ones we have. Case in point: cell phone laws. WTF ??? Don't give me a ticket for what I MIGHT do, give me a ticket for what I HAVE done. We already had a law for that, it was and still is called distracted driving. Every single study ever done on the subject has found that having a phone conversation with a handsfree is just as dangerous as holding a phone. So I get a ticket for holding my phone because by doing so, I'm a horribly dangerous driver just waiting to kill someone; but buy a new vehicle and you can have a handsfree phone conversation that I just started by dialing the number with the physical keypad on the dash, all the while screwing around with the built in GPS and screwing with the menu on that seperate screen in the gauge cluster and I'm the model of a responsible driver.

****IN' WINNER! Top-level **** right here, man, bravo.
 
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There is one issue with SAE J2825-based legislation, and that is the non-trivial cost of implementing it. Every cop that you want to be able to enforce it will need a testing device, and training on how to use it. It's preferable for riders/drivers, but not for police departments.

Paid for by the first three-or-so tickets, that would be extremely difficult to fight in court. After that it's gravy.
 
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