Rude awakening

[Gavin Housh]

It's been hot here in California and we don't have air conditionong in the house. In the evening we open the windows and doors to let the cool breeze come in. Friday night after a hard work week the wife and I hit the hay around 10:30. At 12:41 AM we were rudly awakened by a Harley Davidson running full throttle past our bedroom window. The street at our house is 25ft from the gutter and the middle of the street is another 16ft. So this guy was about 40ft away form us. I was so starteled that I went into the fetal position with my hands over my ears. The point I'd like to bring up is why in the hell do clowns like this constantly get away with having pipes on there motorcycles that emit well over 110 decibles. The sierra club and other tree hugging entities that throw there weight around in the courts battleing dirt bikers that now are restricted to 96db are missing the true niose makers. Why are they so worried about the noise that might disturbe birds and forest mammals when the courts aren't able to enforce noise laws that are already on the books in our neighborhoods! I truly love motorcycles, but the people that drive these overly piped street twins should go the way of the dinsaurs! Just my three cents. Gavin

[firstturn]

Gavin,
  Having worked in the industry for many years I have to say it is just a sad situation when someone like you, or me, that love motorcycles find ourselves not liking bikes for this very reason.  Where I live, is a heaven for bike riding, and it is going to get ugly because of the very same reason...loud pipes.  I like a letter written to our local paper several weeks ago by a lady, who rides with her husband, saying that they have loud pipes on their bike to alert people that they are in the area....OK.  The same people that don't hear emergency vehicles I guess are going to hear the loud bikes???  I guess that is what is called "selective hearin".  All I can say is I have been around enough to see these court battles to where people are banded from areas totally because of irresponsible people.

  With that said I am getting to the point that I really almost have to side with the land owners and resort areas after seeing some of the people do what they do to ruin it for the mass.  Well, I guess you can tell you hit a nerve, and I am sorry that you had to listen to this in the middle of the night.  I don't care to listen as to if my feelings are right or wrong...it is just the facts.

Ron Carbaugh

[Rocket]

I'm with you guys too.  I live in the country and on a still night, I can here the loud pipes coming and going for a long time.  Very irritationg, even to a person who loves motorcycles, just think what someone who doesn't like bikes thinks!!  I can't believe law enforcement doesn't do something about them.
Rocket

[Rain Man]

Rocket and Gavin et all, theres to many laws for the law enforces to enforce !!!
  We get a Stae police man  for every county up here in Northern Mass,(southern Maine)
 They only respond to shootings, beatings ,car accidents and of course domestic disputes. Thats alot of work for 1 poor officer in 8 hours

   I got this coconut up the street with a Yamaha Banshee, with slicks, some kinda race fuel, straight pipes... and he only rides it @ 3:00 am when hes juiced up!! Of course on the "country roads" only.
Hopefully, Darwin will be right when this fella screws up... may my neighbors finally get some sleep !!
 
 It cant be stopped,unfortunately. As the saying goes: Just when you think your the fastest rat... along comes the faster rats !!!

 Bottom line is, we, as Citizens of this Country, have to voluntarily "obey the Laws" that we established.  
And so many wont... and thats what all of us are experiencing. Loud pipes, speeding, ...

Raymond
 Down East Pentons

[gooddirt]

I have a bike ride by at 5:50 AM almost every morning then another around 7:30 AM a few more at 8:30 . This started this summer when the gas went to $3.25 , some of the bikes do have the baffles in but not the bike at 5:50am. Soon as I can get up before him and find where is coming from he might get spray foam up the pipes. I keep late hours and do not need to keep his hours. I think these bikes must be drawn to my BIKE BONE YARD that I have relocated in the back yard.  [B)]

[DKWRACER]

Very interesting topic...LOUD pipes do not save lives! This has been proven by acoustic sciences...What really chaps my hide and makes my "chili" so hot, is that there are things happening in Washington which we cannot even vote on! Just listen to the issue of Illegal Immigration! In the Bush camp, is a proposed highway of commerce, from Baja to Canada, ....sorry to rant, but I feel "sold out"
Tom Brosius [xx(]

[t20sl]

Here's a novel idea... Why not make it illegal to manufacture the loud pipes!!  Harley-Davidson just stopped selling their Screamin Eagle non street legal mufflers this July.  They have been braking the law for years by selling pipes that caused more polloution unless rejetted properly.  Their only effort was to mark the catalog for race use only. How they would ever defend such an action in a court of law would really be interesting.   Anybody know of someone racing a Harley FLHCTUI Electra Glide Classic at the local track?  Working for a Harley dealer it really ticks me off that HD has gotten away with this for so long.  All American greed at work.  And yes, we sold them too against my recomendations.  Ted

[OhioTed]

Been there more times than I could ever recall.  The wife and I lived for 14 years on a state highway, right at the city limits.  You could always tell when it was "closin' time" downtown at the biker bars, 'cause they would all go ripping by at about 70 mph (in a 35 zone) with Screamin' Eagle pipes a-screamin'.  The situation never changed during those 14 years, either.  Although I respect law enforcement officers, I still feel they could have been stopping and ticketing those guys (or better yet, throwing them in jail).  Whatever happened to laws against disturbing the peace?

[Gavin Housh]

Guys, I can realy feel that everyone has a very strong opinion on this subject. Having grown up in Berkeley during the sixties and seventies I have a theory about the down fall of decent moral values. I believe that the fight for equal and civil rights has lead to a sort of letting down of the guard that was so evedent during the fifties and early sixties. When the seventies saw the end of Vietman it was as if the police no longer wanted to enforce as much as they used to, and we have seen a gradual decline in enforcment of lesser acts of crime or even bad behaviour ever since. Less and less is being done because of the worse and worse crime that takes place taking the lions share of law enforcements time. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that the equal rights movement was necessary. I also believe that we have allowed to much slack. I'm scared when I think of where we are headed. We need something in the world to galvanize us. I just hope it's not to late. Can't we all just ride our muffled motorcycles in peace. Gavin

[desmond197]

I remember back in the day Pentons were one of the quietest bikes around. Plenty of performance and low noise. I remember getting pulled over on my Bultaco Frontera one time for disturbing the peace. I have to laugh at those guys today on what my 6 year old calls fart machines.  I hate loud bikes as well, no reason for it just bone headed vanity that these chumps claim as rebelion.

[Frosty]

If the loud pipes bother you talk to the culprit.Go out in the street and let them know that your angry.Explain to them that just because it's noisy doesn't mean its fast.In regards to the police not enforcing the law there are many officers that ride these loud bikes.Although we are all bothered by differant things, it would be my guess that we don't need the goverment to solve all our problems.The idea of outlawing things scares me.It sounds good until they start outlawing the things YOU enjoy ie: dirty oily two strokes.Be careful what you wish for.By the way my HD's are less loud than my dirt bikes.I hope that before we get excited about the noise issue we might consider the fallout if we complain too much.

[Gavin Housh]

Frosty, thank you for your insight. It's always good to see things from an others view. Gavin