Author Topic: I wish this was ennforced  (Read 2664 times)

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Kevin Mahoney

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on: March 29, 2018, 12:16:16 am
Here is a great idea. Loud bikes are totally out of line. Just ask the city of Daytona Beach. When we used to exhibit at Daytona or Sturgis after two days of constant a** h*les with ridiculously loud pipes the sound made you crazy. I just wanted to punch someone. https://www.carblogindia.com/royal-enfield-dealerships-bold-step-no-service-for-loud-exhaust-bikes/
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AmBraCol

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Reply #1 on: April 06, 2018, 03:08:44 am
Yep, it's a real problem.  What's funny down here is that you'll hear someone coming from blocks away - and when they finally catch up to you it's a little 115 cc two-smoker.  And loud doesn't mean fast, either.  The Rumbler is far from a fast bike, but I find it amusing to run away from those guys at the light. 
Paul

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gavinfdavies

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Reply #2 on: April 06, 2018, 04:10:41 am
In the UK I think the issue is that noise ratings aren't common between vehicles. Even some thing like a typical Hardly-Movingson with open pipe isn't too bad - you can still hold a conversation next to it. Can't do that next to a truck or a bus.

I part of the problem is the way owners behave with said noise. Acting loud in busy areas just for the sake of it, blipping the throttle while sat at the lights at night etc. Or near me... racing silly cars around the supermarket car parks late at night. Police won't do anything because it's not a public road. Supermarket can't enforce their rules without the Police. Typical nonsense.

My commuter (Silverwing 600) has a loud (but just legal) can and is pending some further tuning work. I ride it to/from my night shifts. But I've learned that it's quiet when warming up if it's sat on the drive not in the garage (the wife could feel the noise on the 3rd floor above the garage!), so I do that. And I don't thrash it when leaving/arriving. One of my other bikes is quieter in the garage. So I do that.


Adrian II

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Reply #3 on: April 06, 2018, 11:48:16 am
Having invested in couple of Bullet Whisperer's ASBO Bullet engines, I might have picked up some personal bias along the way...

I have had a chequered personal history with motorcycle noise. As a kid growing up in the 1960s, I hated the noise of all the old Brit bikes, but on getting to my teenage years and into bikes (via vintage stationary engines?!?), hey, guess what I was into? 

Somewhere between the eco-maniacs and the WOT hooligans it should be possible to have a bike with a custom/retro muffler which can still let us ride the bike with enough of that nice blat (other terms might be applicable to multi-cylinder engines) without making needless enemies amongst the non-biking population, or even fellow two-wheel enthusiasts who still value their hearing.

Outright banning of ANY custom exhaust as is happening in some cities in India, regardless of whether or not it keeps the overall noise to reasonable levels, is a blinkered response. I'm NOT advocating open pipes/megaphones or expansion chambers on the street (or even some of Mr Hitchcock's mufflers without extra baffles), but common sense seems to have been destroyed by the battle between two extremes.

A.
Grumpy Brit still seeking 500 AVL Bullet perfection! Will let you know if I get anywhere near...


Bilgemaster

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Reply #4 on: April 08, 2018, 07:26:56 pm
Here's a better link to that article: https://www.carblogindia.com/royal-enfield-dealerships-bold-step-no-service-for-loud-exhaust-bikes/, and well worth reading if only to be exposed to the Punjabi concept of "Fukras," an exotic appellation which I intend to commence employing forthwith in my own parlance.


As for me, I think I'm pretty happy for now with what I assume is likely the stock "long Bengal bottle" exhaust setup on my 2005. I think it's lovely. I might be taking a little bit of a hit horsepowerwise what with its emissions rigmarole: an odd little "pulse air" doodad pipe welded into the header up near the exhaust port and a catalytic converter, which I am led to understand may be either just tap-welded into the exhaust end of the header pipe (and easy enough to grind out) or included in the silencer body somehow. I've got neighbors on either side with very young children, and I don't really want to be that guy who rousts them at naptime just as Mom's breaking out that box Chardonnay to finally catch a little "me time" breather. It's snorty enough on the open road for me, while still being a gentleman about it. And after all, I didn't get an Enfield for speed. Also, I live on a long steepish hill, so some "Fukra" gunning his shitbox up that hill at 4 in the morning like some Dopplering jackhammer or wailing like an air raid siren, typically with boosted subwoofers in the trunk buzzing his fenders and rattling my windows with "ghetto cred" is always a real treat that I would spare others from enjoying. That shirtless dreadlocked submoron who regularly wheelies up and down the hill over and over and over on his mufflerless ATV 4-wheeler earns my special regard. I'm quietly rooting for Darwin there.


Here in Virginia the exhaust noise laws seem to be seldom enforced, except maybe as a pretext for John Law to pull one over to investigate other possible hi-jinx. They are also vague to the point of being practically unenforceable. That said, for those elsewhere whose local laws might be a bit more specific decibel and distance-wise as to what may or may not be legally allowable might find the little freebie Android decibel meter called "Sound Meter" by ABC Apps useful. There are LOTS of freely downloadable decibel meters out there, but this one gets solid reviews. I used it primarily for checking out portable generators, where quieter is always better. A basic state-by-state rundown of motorcycle noise laws can be found here, albeit utterly lacking guidance in applicable cases as to the crucial variable of "measuring distance." Many (though not all) generator manufacturers measure from approximately 23 feet (7 meters), but this has no bearing on vehicles.

By the way, everyone should have SOME kind of generator gassed up and ready to go, even if it's just one of those little 900 watt Harbor Freight 2-stroke fussbuckets perenially on sale for less than a hundred semolians...


Really, they're super portable, just the ticket to run a power tool, and when that storm blows through and those lights go dark for who knows how long, you and the significant others will be much happier campers with one of these and an extension cord out in the shed or on the balcony. Just break out the Monopoly board and hunker down.  If the linemen haven't sorted it out by morning, that little 2-banger will even dig in to run most refrigerators for a bit to keep that Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey from getting all melty. I've got two. Better get one, you Fukra. I'm off for a ride...
« Last Edit: May 11, 2018, 11:43:14 am by Bilgemaster »
So badass my Enfield's actually illegal  in India. Yet it squeaks by here in Virginia.

 


Narada

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Reply #5 on: April 09, 2018, 08:38:21 pm
One of my favorites is the guy with a high powered stereo in his (motorcycle) faring so we can all enjoy his music as he goes by. :o
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Bilgemaster

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Reply #6 on: April 10, 2018, 01:22:42 am
One of my favorites is the guy with a high powered stereo in his (motorcycle) faring so we can all enjoy his music as he goes by. :o

Well, on the other hand, the bike-blind dimwits will HEAR him, if not see him. I've had enough drivers look right at me and not take me in that I now always ride like I'm invisible. Instead of a stereo, maybe I'll just reprogram a high-burst directional speaker like those ultra-sonic ones you can pop annoyingly barking dogs with to freak them out and stop their damned yapping--like a turbo-powered dog whistle, but instead of some pitch only mutts can hear, I'll just loop in that wεird chord/feedback sequence from Hawkwind's Brainstorm that would cause folks in live concerts to get golfball-sized goosebumps and piss themselves. Mounted on the bars, a quick toot should get me safely through intersections, yes?
« Last Edit: April 10, 2018, 01:32:43 am by Bilgemaster »
So badass my Enfield's actually illegal  in India. Yet it squeaks by here in Virginia.