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All loud motorcycles left the factory with compliant (quiet) mufflers and were fitted with aftermarket, illegal "pipes" designed for sound.
If the police do not care about the sense of hearing being violated in our mountains, would they not care about the other senses? If I took pleasure in driving at midnight with a 4 million candlepower strobe light on the roof of my car and beamed it in people's houses, how long would the police overlook it? (sense of sight) What about cruising mainstreet emitting a sulfurous smell?
Why are we surrendering the peoples' enjoyment of the mountains to individuals' pleasure of making noise?
Am I wrong on this? Please weigh-in, but no loud pipes save lives arguments...that's ridiculous on its face.
All loud motorcycles left the factory with compliant (quiet) mufflers and were fitted with aftermarket, illegal "pipes" designed for sound.
If the police do not care about the sense of hearing being violated in our mountains, would they not care about the other senses? If I took pleasure in driving at midnight with a 4 million candlepower strobe light on the roof of my car and beamed it in people's houses, how long would the police overlook it? (sense of sight) What about cruising mainstreet emitting a sulfurous smell?
Why are we surrendering the peoples' enjoyment of the mountains to individuals' pleasure of making noise?
Am I wrong on this? Please weigh-in, but no loud pipes save lives arguments...that's ridiculous on its face.
When your peace and quiet are completely disturbed, it DOES matter.
I don't get the need for these loud motorcycles either. Sure sounds like the guys who need this are trying to compensate for something
Hee Hee! That was funny, Loves!!!!
I am not offended by loud mufflers, whether on trucks or motorcycles. But then, I love hearing trains at nite . . . and even like hearing 18-wheelers changing gears as they move along into the darkness.
My g/mother had a little country store on a busy highway in NC back in the 50s when I was a toddler. I loved to go to bed at nite and fall alseep listening to the trucks, who would gear down as they came to our stretch of the road . . . and then gear back up as they went on down the road . . .
I really enjoy being at our mountain house, and hearing the singular, very identifiable sound of a Porsche as it starts out down at the foot of the mountain, moving its way up the grade . . . and the sounds echo past our house back into the hills surrounding us.
I guess each of us has a brain wired differently for sound - and what sounds are irritating.
For me the distinction is between useful noise and noise for its own sake. I'm with you on trains, jake brakes, etc., but I think it is because we know that work is being done by humans. It's a natural sound for us that represents progress.
However, noise for its own sake is a nuissance because it is not a byproduct of any work; the primary enjoyment for the person creating it comes in knowing that he is disturbing other people.
Offended? No. Annoyed? Possibly. If the motorcycle rider just sits in one spot revving his engine, I could understand your concerns. If a motorcycle going down the street (meaning you hear the noise for only a few seconds) then I do not agree with you. Motorcycle riders do not mod their pipes in order to enjoy disturbing other people. That is just blatantly false. A customized exhaust is probably the quickest and least expensive way to gain power. People who ride bikes and enjoy feeling the power also like to hear the power. .... the same as people who mod import cars always customize the exhaust to get a slight power boost AND to make their cars sound better. People who do it enjoy it.
Offended? No. Annoyed? Possibly. If the motorcycle rider just sits in one spot revving his engine, I could understand your concerns. If a motorcycle going down the street (meaning you hear the noise for only a few seconds) then I do not agree with you. Motorcycle riders do not mod their pipes in order to enjoy disturbing other people. That is just blatantly false. A customized exhaust is probably the quickest and least expensive way to gain power. People who ride bikes and enjoy feeling the power also like to hear the power. .... the same as people who mod import cars always customize the exhaust to get a slight power boost AND to make their cars sound better. People who do it enjoy it.
I think you said it right, people who do this do it "to get a slight power boost" - an ego power boost is you ask me. It's like saying, "look at me, look at me world - I'm cool, I'm very important" - same thing with guys who do this to their car engines - it's all macho ego. And the rest of us are stuck with the noise pollution.
Such noise is abrasive and should be illegal. A (quiet) Honda bike owner told me yesterday that the law in our state requires muffler noise level to not exceed what the muffler's original factory specs. Problem is that factory specs often call for 110db!
Offended? No. Annoyed? Possibly. If the motorcycle rider just sits in one spot revving his engine, I could understand your concerns. If a motorcycle going down the street (meaning you hear the noise for only a few seconds) then I do not agree with you. Motorcycle riders do not mod their pipes in order to enjoy disturbing other people. That is just blatantly false. A customized exhaust is probably the quickest and least expensive way to gain power. People who ride bikes and enjoy feeling the power also like to hear the power. .... the same as people who mod import cars always customize the exhaust to get a slight power boost AND to make their cars sound better. People who do it enjoy it.
With the horsepower to weight ratio of a motorcycle, it is not done for performance, they already have over the top performance. It is done for the noise, and nothing else.
Nor do I buy the 'safety' ploy. If this were the case they would point the exhaust forward to warn of their approach, as 90% of the noise we hear is after they pass.
And if you drove a rice burner that made 50% as much noise as the majority of motorcycles, you would be pulled over and cited many times.
Okay, someone's going to get mad at me...but gotta say it. Sure, they are loud, that's cool. They really do sound nice, but why in the HELL do they have to blast down the street to just show off for a block. I do a tour at night, and it's great when they do that while I am trying to tell a story...Does it really get you that hard to blast your engine on something that small. I mean, what if you added a v8 to a riding lawn mower, with Cherry bombs...kinda stupid huh? I am not just against bikes, ever hear those stupid fart-can mufflers from people who think they are the "Fast and Furious". Again, performance is nice, I guess I am more of a purist when it comes to your performance though...
A friend of mine once showed me a video on the tube about a Ferrari getting punked by a little Toyota something or other. I looked at him, laughed and said, well yeah...If I added 10,000$ in parts to the Ferrari it could kick the ass on the Toyota...
I mean, again no offense, but you are not the Blue Angels...It's not the first time I've ever seen a fast bike down here. Trust me, I see it too...all the time. I have a lifted truck, but don't feel the need to drive over the curb everytime I get the chance...Just sayin...
Maybe I should just park on TOP of one of those d$%m electric cars that love to take up all the limited parking down here in KW!!! Or over a row of scooters illegally parked on the sidewalk.
Not that I am against progress or performance. I love the sound of a classic car starting, ever heard a borla on a Ferrari 360...oooh baby!!! but the motorcycle seems to be overdone...way too loud for the size of the engine...kinda like putting a stupid train horn in a pick-up truck...would love to smack the idiot that came up with that one.
Sounds like you guys are getting what we got down here too! At least you don't get trapped behind conch tour trains...going 15 mph during rush hour! I would like to learn and get a bike someday, but I just won't feel the need to blast my pipes (and backfire...snicker) every block to show I am "the man". Bike week I almost always lose my voice trying to do the night tour. It's cool to see all the neat bikes and the designs, creativity...but seriously, the island's only two miles wide. Slow down before you hit Cuba...
I guess it's so you guys get the biker chic chicks....
(As mentioned in previous posts, I do work in a country bar, sorry)
Last edited by Ghostgecko; 08-11-2008 at 11:27 PM..
Reason: funnier with edit...
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