“In regards to the air base no one has a choice. The entire city and outlying area is blanketed by the flight pattern; at least the short pattern. The long pattern goes out for a 100 miles. The area south of the base is open farmland with a few houses.
However, no matter which way those T-38s take off, even south, the afterburners can be heard for miles. When a heavy duty plane like a B-1 or F-15 nails it then those can be heard when they’re 20-30 miles out.”
Well, I would have a choice; I wouldn’t live there under those conditions. There are plenty of airports, military bases, and industrial facilities in my part of the country. I don’t choose to live near any of them. I also am not intereested in living near the sleaziness associated with areas around military bases.
I really don’t see anyone specifically picking on harleys; as someone said, most people don’t even know the difference between a harley and a ricer clone anyway. My neighbor has a pretty load harley, but he just starts it up and leaves; that’s not a problem for me. Most people just don’t like noise polution, regardless of the source.
You need to be aware of the psychology of these disturbed clowns.
They are stuck in their macho , pre-teen mentality with an obvous need for attention that they never got from their parents.
They must conform to the stereotype of the “bad boy” image …
tattoos of skulls and swastikas - the beer gut - the beards - the unsafe half-helmets … etc…
It’s worse than that. Most motorcyclists (and all Harley riders) are antisocial psychopaths. They have a need to force themselves on everyone else. You’re asleep at 2 a.m. in a residential area? They’re going to make sure you know they are there by waking you up with a redlined engine with no muffler. All cyclists make sure to rev it up to maximum noise level at all times. Ever see a cyclist at a red light? What are they doing? Revving it up! I’d shoot these bastards as they drive by my home, but the local gendarmes might eventually figure out that the pile of dead bikers in front of my home means that I should be arrested. Too bad – it would be a great improvement to society.
ummmmmmm, harleys are grandfathered legally for original eqpt specs, including exhaust. both my ‘74 sporties are o.e. exhaust. they sound greate’ - and i don;t rev up teh neighbors for kicks. newer hogs are equally legal but quieter. /sigh
People get away with a lot of things because there aren’t enough police officers to catch them. Our city, population 400,000, has 800 sworn police officers. With work shifts and vacation time, not to mention the number who supervise rather than work the streets, there are less than 200 officers on duty at any given time.
The police and fire departments are already the most expensive parts of city government. Adding enough officers to provide the intensity of nuisance law enforcement you desire would at least double the city budget. Take a look at your own tax bill. Would you be willing to see it doubled?
Given that we have to choose between loud Harleys and armed, violent criminals, I would prefer the police department to concentrate its limited manpower on the latter.
About a year ago I was reading the evening paper from the town near where I live and the police chief was lamenting the fact they were going to have to park some police cruisers due to a budget shortfall and high gas prices. He stated that cruiser mileage was going to be halved on each shift, which of course leads to less patrolling. This may be what led to the increase in the number of quick shop robberies, etc.
Well, 3 weeks later in the same paper what is there a story on? Pictures of the patrol units (described as “out in force”) pulling people over all over town who had done absolutely nothing wrong.
The reason for pulling these people over? To thank them for wearing their seat belts and to give them “free” T-shirts with a “Buckle Up” logo on it, with the “free” T-shirts paid for by the PD dept. to the tune of about 20 bucks each.
I agree. But are you kidding about stopping this??? The freakin’ Harley idiots act like these stupid cycles are some kind of religion or something. “Live to ride-Ride to live” Oh for God’s sake give me a break!
“If I drive a car that has a defective or absent muffler, such that it produces a similar kind of noise, I’ve no doubt I’d be cited for it.”
I doubt it. In order to cite someone for noise, you must measure the noise properly. That is not easy to do. Few cops carry noise meters around with them and then they would also need to know the specific acoustics of the area and the distance to the car/bike etc. It is too much ttroublee for too little gain.
If you want to see a change, I suggest you campaign to add a requirement that cars and bikes (Please include trucks and busses also) all be required to be tested annually and include the option for spot checks.
Everybody seems to be attacking Harleys as an example, but I think the issue is bikes with hacked off baffles or open exhausts. Stock Harleys meet federal rega and are perfectly fine.
Nobody yet has mentioned Ninja bikes. I will. We should have an “open season” on those kids that go tearing around town…and highways…with their front wheel lifted high in the air, making more of a racket than a C5 on takoff. I include them in my objections. They are every bit as bad IMHO as a Harley with an open pipe.
ok, I think we all agree that noise enforcement should be consistent. Whether it is a motorcycle, a car, or a truck, custom exhaust systems that violate noise ordinances are a nuisance. I agree with you that singling out Harleys is rediculous.
I never said that AMF Harleys were junk. I simply said that Harley improved quality. There is a general consensus among motorcycle historians that H-D went from engines that needed overhauled every 30,000 miles to engines that needed overhauled every 100,000 miles and that this transformation happened pretty much overnight. So I would not turn my nose up at an AMF Harley. They are not junk. In fact, for many years, H-D led the way in American motorcycle manufacturing. However, competition from the Japanese, the English, and the Germans made it necessary for them to improve quality even more than they had. H-D’s declining sales in the 1960s and 1970s reflects this marketwide. It isn’t my opinion. It is a general consensus among motorcycle historians based on every book I have read and every documentary that I have watched. This only heightens my respect for those who have put many miles on these machines. These folks must really know how to take proper care of a machine. No, they are not junk, but they did have room to improve. Thankfully, they have.
Haven’t motorcycles always had a sound of there own? From the days of tinny 2 cycles ring ding dings to todays high performance exhaust system, it is what it is. Is it any worse than a souped up hot rod with a tuned exhaust system running flowmaster mufflers?
My Harley sounds like a Harley & I’m proud of how it sounds! My exhaust pipes are a street legal tuned performance pipe from Vance & Hines and well within the range of exceptable Db’s for a street legal exhaust system.
Many towns DO have noise ordinances and will ticket loud bikes, especially after hours. And inspection laws will cause such a loud bike to fail the safety inspection (if required). The owner will often put the factory pipes back on to allow for the bike to pass then put the straight pipes back on once home.
With that said, not only do loud pipes create noise pollution, they also create more air pollution–here’s why… Manufacturers spend millions of dollars designing factory exhaust systems that are quiet, yet perform well at all RPMs, especially low and mid-range RPMs where most of your driving/riding is done. The exhausts are tuned to the engine and the minimal restriction provided by the muffler (and catalyst) serves to quiet the noise AND to keep the fuel/air mix in the cylinder longer where it can burn more completely and provide more power and torque. Take the muffler away and the fuel air mix just zips though the cylinder and doesn’t get a chance to burn completely. This increase emissions and reduces fuel economy. And “tuners” will often richen the mixture on a bike with straight pipes by rejetting the carburetor to compensate for decreased efficiency. You may notice the fuel rich smell from these bikes in traffic. Straight pipes DO increase a bike’s top end (high RPMs) but at the expense of the bottom end.
“But loud pipes save lives!” they say. Maybe in a congested situation but a horn or two will do the same thing and not continuously pollute the air with sound and fumes…
And the same goes for those cars with the “fart cans”!
See my point? How can these people complain about an occasional loud motorcycle when the bikes are drowned out by aircraft?
You’ve missed the entire point of the discussion. While loud aircraft are a nuisance, they’re not loud because some jackass pilot deliberately decided to annoy the whole town. They’re loud because they (unfortunately) need to be in order to function and do their job. Designers are constantly working to make aircraft engines quieter, but for military aircraft (especially), the mission requirements preclude many tricks civilian aircraft use to be quieter.
On the other hand, motorcyclists make noise just to annoy everyone. It’s a deliberate move to do something like taking off the factory muffler and putting straight pipes on. “Oh gee, I was just trying to improve the engine’s breathing… I wasn’t trying to make it louder.” Yeah, right.
That’s nonsense. I ride a bike that is no louder than most cars and do not need noise to avoid accidents. If you are relying loud pipes for safe riding, you need more skill and less noise.
There’s a fallacy of thought amongst my fellow riders that if a bike’s loud there are two benefits:
The two wheels will turn faster when they goose the throttle
Auto drivers will be more aware of them (bike visibility IS a major safety issue since a larger than suspected number of car-bike collisions is due to the auto driver not ‘seeing’ the bike- hence the Keep the headlight on bright during the day rules, which, is pretty much negated by the newer auto-headlight car controls).
Friends tell me Harley mufflers are just as refined as other manufacturers (back pressure on a bike engine seems to be a major performance issue), but the stores replace them or the new owners do the work almost as soon as they find a place to park 'em.
Me? Can’t stand the noise and I have to live with my neighbors- so everything’s stock on my Suzuki Boulevard.
Amen! I live in a small town and all the farm-boys rip through with their huge, mufferless or glass-packed muffered pickups at about 3:00 AM. Sounds like a tractor pull event outside my house! After getting no where with my respectful complaints to the local cops and letters to the editor, I am ready to buy a bazooka and start taking a few of them out…