[Toontje]

https://www.cartoq.com/police-fine-3000-royal-enfield-owners/

[axman88]

I laughed at the picture of the cop with the decibel meter 1/2" from the tailpipe.  Doesn't he know that if he bangs it against the muffler, he can get ANY machine to register excessive noise levels?  It doesn't even need to be running.

My state's laws says:
     Mufflers are required and must be in good working condition and not emit sounds higher than 85 decibels when going over 35 miles per hour.
     Mufflers can’t be altered to produce sounds louder than the original manufacturer equipment.

Hah!  I can't think of many HD machines that would pass those criteria.

If local law enforcement decided to jump on the gravy train, like they are in India, I bet they wouldn't enforce it via a squad of four foot cops and a $14 fine.  They would put microphones on the speed cameras and use an AI algorithm.  They would send you, through the mail, your speeding ticket, your noise violation, your frame height modification violation, and cite you for not having current tags on your dog, all at the same time.

[Bilgemaster]

Well, if they're also commencing to lean on manufacturers and installers in India, or at least parts of it as the article claims they might, then that might be good for us elsewhere, as those vendors try to shed their non-stock stock abroad for whatever they can get for it such as via eBay. So, don't be shy about using that "contact seller" or "make offer" feature where available, link to that article, and toss 'em a low-ball offer. They're already hitting you up for about twice what they're asking for the same gear in their home market. (And a new 2021 Interceptor costs less than $3,700 there).

Whatever may happen in future, at present, and even with its forthcoming updates (see: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter10/section46.2-1049/#:~:text=No%20person%20shall%20drive%20and,for%20motor%20vehicles%2C%20such%20exhaust), the vehicle exhaust noise regulations here in my home state of Virginia seem "practically unenforceable in the field" for most any intact-seeming exhaust system--at most just another vague hue for a cop's Pallet of Officious Annoyance, like if they were to write you up for a dirty license plate or a burnt out or "too dim" bulb lighting it or worn wiper blades.

I understand that the situation is very different in other states, notably California. There was a recent thread and lots of stories about that state going after and ruinously fining some aftermarket suppliers per infraction to the point where virtually every exhaust-related ad one now sees includes "Will not ship to California".

For a very basic state-by-state rundown on applicable exhaust noise laws, see: https://www.semasan.com/resources/exhaust-noise-laws-state.

[Richard230]

A couple of years ago, California fined Revzilla $1.5 million for selling mufflers to California residents that were not approved by the state regulators. The only mufflers and exhaust systems that are approved are stock equipment that is installed by the factory when the bike is sold, or one that is specifically approved by the motorcycle manufacturer as an accessory that meets State emission and noise regulations. Revzilla paid the fine and now will not sell aftermarket exhausts to residents of CA. (Now they need to be smuggled into the state.  ) The reason Revzilla didn't argue about the fine is because it could have gone up to a maximum of $150 million.    So the Indian cops are a bunch of pikers when it comes to collecting noise fines. 

Interestingly, I have never heard of motorcycle or car loud exhausts being enforced by the cops. You should hear the noise as both motorcycles and sports cars drive by Alice's Restaurant on Sunday morning. You can't even hear yourself think. But the cops don't bat an eye.  Apparently giving out speeding tickets is a lot easier than chasing after vehicles making a lot of noise.

[axman88]

Interestingly, I have never heard of motorcycle or car loud exhausts being enforced by the cops.

The  California cops probably looked over what is involved in making a test "in accordance with Society of Automotive Engineers Standard J1169 May 1998", and decided they are too cool for that nerd stuff:  https://strong-clan.smugmug.com/photos/14117811-O.jpg

As a nerd, I'd be taking some discrete cell phone pictures, and presenting my evidence to the judge showing why the test results are clearly invalid, because the 2nd microphone position was 15 inches, not the prescribed 0.5 meter, and whoever parked the bike had placed it too close to the guard rail, violating the required 3m of clear space.  Only Robocop or Inspector Gadget can chasten Engineer Man!

[Morgan65]

Hah!  I can't think of many HD machines that would pass those criteria.

I also own and ride three Harley Davidson bikes and I’m a member of Harley Owners Group or HOG. Believe it or not, I see/hear more HD look alike/clone bikes with stupid loud pipes then HD bikes. I see/hear more loud pipes in California than any other state. This I chock it up to lane splitting. “Loud pipes save lives” as they say.  If you have loud pipes the cars can hear you coming up behind them and they do move over to let you pass. To bad lane splitting is not legal in all of the fifty states.

[zimmemr]

Connecticut has some odd MVD rules, among them no state inspection of any kind for motorcycles, which essentially means that anything goes. However there is a clause in the code that states the motorcycle has to have all of it's DOT required equipment intact, for the year it was built. It doesn't have to be OEM, if your motorcycle was sold in a year when turn signals were required, that it has to have signals of some kind.

As far as exhausts go they don't bust cars or bikes for loud exhausts as they have no way of accurately testing anything to DOT standards, a simple sound meter won't get through the courts here.

But if you're stopped for some other infraction and you give them any attitude what they will do is inspect your pipe to see if it has a DOT sticker certifying it for street use. If your bike was built after DOT muffler stamps were instituted, and the mufflers on your bike don't have that stamp, it doesn't matter if they're quiet as a mouse, you're getting fined. If it does carry a stamp, it doesn't matter how loud they are, you're going to skate.
It's weird wrinkle but actually works fairly well.

[Richard230]

Connecticut has some odd MVD rules, among them no state inspection of any kind for motorcycles, which essentially means that anything goes. However there is a clause in the code that states the motorcycle has to have all of it's DOT required equipment intact, for the year it was built. It doesn't have to be OEM, if your motorcycle was sold in a year when turn signals were required, that it has to have signals of some kind.

As far as exhausts go they don't bust cars or bikes for loud exhausts as they have no way of accurately testing anything to DOT standards, a simple sound meter won't get through the courts here.

But if you're stopped for some other infraction and you give them any attitude what they will do is inspect your pipe to see if it has a DOT sticker certifying it for street use. If your bike was built after DOT muffler stamps were instituted, and the mufflers on your bike don't have that stamp, it doesn't matter if they're quiet as a mouse, you're getting fined. If it does carry a stamp, it doesn't matter how loud they are, you're going to skate.
It's weird wrinkle but actually works fairly well.

That is pretty much the same situation as in California.

[zimmemr]

That is pretty much the same situation as in California.

I didn't know that, I always thought they were stricter. NY state can be a pain in the ass. A few years back, they set up a blockade on the Taconic Parkway and pulled over every single bike that went past. They checked the pipes for stamps, and went over the bikes for equipment violations. They wrote something like 300 tickets, and never inspected a single car. There was some blow-back about it, but I don't know the outcome.

[Bilgemaster]

There's a video of a "Motorcycle Checkpoint" in the city at https://youtu.be/1xT3dvYh72g. It looks to me like they have a bunch of trainees out there breaking in their new uniforms in a low risk exercise just hassling passersby and generally wasting everyone's time. Asked politely to cite the ordinance one of them claims prohibits helmet cameras like the rider is wearing, after much poking of handheld devices none of the nine or so in attendance is able to do so.

The comments have since been turned off, so the outrage must have grown white hot. Obviously, I have issues with motorcycles being so specifically targeted for stops by law enforcement simply because they're motorcycles just to give blue newbies some street time. Let 'em go count the squirrels in Central Park or something instead of just annoying the passing citizenry.

[Richard230]

For some odd reason the People's Republic of Kalifornia, doesn't seem to hassle motorcycles much. There are no emission checks, no chassis safety checks, no enforcement of noise and muffler laws (other than going after retailer that sells them), no checking of lighting equipment and little attention paid to expired license tags. We have a ton of laws, but all the cops seem interested in is giving out speeding tickets.     I have never understood the concept behind enacting laws and then not enforcing them. I guess it gives our legislators a warm fuzzy feeling when their laws get passed, put on the books - and then forgotten. 

[zimmemr]

For some odd reason the People's Republic of Kalifornia, doesn't seem to hassle motorcycles much. There are no emission checks, no chassis safety checks, no enforcement of noise and muffler laws (other than going after retailer that sells them), no checking of lighting equipment and little attention paid to expired license tags. We have a ton of laws, but all the cops seem interested in is giving out speeding tickets.     I have never understood the concept behind enacting laws and then not enforcing them. I guess it gives our legislators a warm fuzzy feeling when their laws get passed, put on the books - and then forgotten. 

I think you nailed it. Once the legislators pass a law they figure their work is done, whether it gets enforced or not is another story.

[Karl Fenn]

And l guess the judges would find you guilty, saying sorry we need the revenue, every so often they have these purges when their budgets go in to the red, fairly typical behaviour.

[tartopum]

To say that a motorist hears a motorcycle with a noisy exhaust coming behind him and that this avoids accidents is a myth created by HD owners. (No study proves that). The only time a motorist actually hears a loud motorcycle exhaust is after passing the automobile.

Moreover, paramedics and police have the same problem because motorists (unless they are stationary) hear very little the sound of the siren because the movement of the air carries the sound towards the rear of the vehicle. (that there have been studies on).

So your loud muffler that already pushes the sound backwards pushes it even harder when the motorcycle is in motion ....!

[Karl Fenn]

Well l think local government is forever expanding, its got to the point where it is a Masonic club, no outsiders allowed with selection committees and such like picking the fodder, as their greed leads them to larger pensions, there will be more and more rediculous laws to scam money and pay for it, after all everyone would like a pension they have paid nothing towards.