AMA and Noise

[Holy_Kaw]

One Man's noise is another Man's music. If another's inconsiderate I have found that walking up to them and YELLING hello in their ear is a perfectly PC way of sensitizing them to others (outside of Cal. of course).

[SezaGeoff]

The issue is that it is a circular problem. Some a-hole with straight pipes scares the beejesus outa some politician who gets together with his friends and they all agree motorcycles are too loud. The regulate them down, and you end up with something like my BMW R1100S that you can't hear. I know that an aftermarket pipe will add no horsepower, but it might make it sound reasonable. Unfortunately, the choices are generally stock (quiet fart in a bottle) or aftermarket (loud as ..). If they had left them making a reasonable note, more people would probably leave them that way. Listen to an original Norton Commando or Triumph Bonnie and they aren't too bad. It was only the noise restrictions forced on us that made it absolutely necessary to change the exhausts anyway. Remember when HD wanted to demonstrate how quiet they were in stock form to the members of the Senate, but had to call it off because no one could hear the bike over the Washington traffic noise.

P.S. I also ride the wife's XL1200S with a 2-1 SuperTrapp with 18 disks, and it is just a little loud - but worth 11% in terms of power, 10% in terms of lean angle and 50% in terms of enjoyment.