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My understanding (from a friend who was a cop, this was in NYC but it's probably similar elsewhere) is that what happens is: 1. Motorcycle makes a ton of noise

My understanding (from a friend who was a cop, this was in NYC but it's probably similar elsewhere) is that what happens is: 1. Motorcycle makes a ton of noise because muffler is removed / modified 2. Cop pulls over motorcycle, gives them a citation which requires them to go to a testing center to have the loudness measured 3. Motorcycle owner reinstalls stock muffler 4. Motorcycle owner goes to testing center and passes test with stock system, and thus doesn't get a ticket 5. Motorcycle owner removes stock muffler 6. Goto 1 He said that no one ever pulls motorcycles over for being too loud because they know this is what happens, and all it's going to be is a lot of paperwork with no actual punishment for the rider. Cops would have to carry noise meters for them to be able to give the ticket in-person.

mikestew 8y ago
Cops would have to carry noise meters for them to be able to give the ticket in-person. I would happily buy them with money from my own pocket. Absolutely serious, send me an invoice. Yeah, Redmond didn't take me up on it, either. The fact that it is universally not enforced tells me my simple solutions were obviously missing something. OTOH, if you replace the headlamps in your car, they're supposed to have a DOT stamp on them somewhere (granted, I've never even heard of that being enforced). Given that my stock mufflers have stamps referencing the EPA, seems to me we could do the same as headlights. Roar past a cop, cop looks for stamp, no stamp: here's your ticket. We already regulate car exhaust systems, I have no problem with it for bikes. And unlike a loud Civic, you can visually inspect the system with little effort. But what it really boils down to is that no one is riding an open-pipe Harley past a Senator's house at 2:00 a. m. Because no one but the cretins that ride them likes the sound of a loud bike.
wingspar 8y ago
Is the testing center free?
vkou 8y ago
Do cops require people to go to a testing center when they cite then for a broken taillight, or a DUI? Why are motorcyclists handled with kid gloves, here?
- mikestew 8y ago
  Do cops require people to go to a testing center when they cite then for a broken taillight No, because determining whether or not a taillight is broken is objective: is the bulb lit, or not? How good are you at determining what 84db sounds like? "Well, it sounded like 86db to me. The fact that the driver was black is merely coincidence." Do cops require people to go to a testing center when they cite then for...a DUI? Umm, yes? Another thought that occurred to me is that those loud pipes very likely have a "for off-road use only" somewhere on them. No testing necessary.
  - vkou 8y ago
    > Umm, yes? No. You don't need to get sent to a blood lab to be charged for, and convicted of a DUI. A roadside sobriety test of dubious accuracy, with a narrative report that may be full of half-truths and flat-out lies is sufficient evidence. Before portable breathalyzers became as common as they are today, failing to walk the line and touch your nose was sufficient to convict someone. That's the bar for convicting someone of a serious crime. Surely, we don't need to jump through all these hoops to ticket someone for a loud bike exhaust.
titusjohnson 8y ago
I don't understand your last sentence. Cops don't like doing their job? Cops don't like carrying the equipment needed to do their job? Step 6 goes to 1, at which point a 2nd ticket is issued. Repeat a 3rd time, now you add points to the license or suspend it, whatever. I don't see a difference between policing excessive noise and excessive speed. The same tools are present and available.
- lostapathy 8y ago
  Sound meters are a lot cheaper than radar/laser speed guns too
- mrunkel 8y ago
  These aren't "tickets" in the normal sense where a fine is issued, they are "fix it" tickets where the owner has x days to remedy the defect. The only cost to the biker is time/money to swap the mufflers and the finding a cop to show the "repaired" muffler to.
TheCoelacanth 8y ago
They should just take a picture of the muffler and make the testing center verify that they are testing the noise level with the same muffler that was being used.

mikestew 8y ago

Cops would have to carry noise meters for them to be able to give the ticket in-person. I would happily buy them with money from my own pocket. Absolutely serious, send me an invoice. Yeah, Redmond didn't take me up on it, either. The fact that it is universally not enforced tells me my simple solutions were obviously missing something. OTOH, if you replace the headlamps in your car, they're supposed to have a DOT stamp on them somewhere (granted, I've never even heard of that being enforced). Given that my stock mufflers have stamps referencing the EPA, seems to me we could do the same as headlights. Roar past a cop, cop looks for stamp, no stamp: here's your ticket. We already regulate car exhaust systems, I have no problem with it for bikes. And unlike a loud Civic, you can visually inspect the system with little effort. But what it really boils down to is that no one is riding an open-pipe Harley past a Senator's house at 2:00 a. m. Because no one but the cretins that ride them likes the sound of a loud bike.

wingspar 8y ago

Is the testing center free?

vkou 8y ago

Do cops require people to go to a testing center when they cite then for a broken taillight, or a DUI? Why are motorcyclists handled with kid gloves, here?

mikestew 8y ago
Do cops require people to go to a testing center when they cite then for a broken taillight No, because determining whether or not a taillight is broken is objective: is the bulb lit, or not? How good are you at determining what 84db sounds like? "Well, it sounded like 86db to me. The fact that the driver was black is merely coincidence." Do cops require people to go to a testing center when they cite then for...a DUI? Umm, yes? Another thought that occurred to me is that those loud pipes very likely have a "for off-road use only" somewhere on them. No testing necessary.
- vkou 8y ago
  > Umm, yes? No. You don't need to get sent to a blood lab to be charged for, and convicted of a DUI. A roadside sobriety test of dubious accuracy, with a narrative report that may be full of half-truths and flat-out lies is sufficient evidence. Before portable breathalyzers became as common as they are today, failing to walk the line and touch your nose was sufficient to convict someone. That's the bar for convicting someone of a serious crime. Surely, we don't need to jump through all these hoops to ticket someone for a loud bike exhaust.

titusjohnson 8y ago

I don't understand your last sentence. Cops don't like doing their job? Cops don't like carrying the equipment needed to do their job? Step 6 goes to 1, at which point a 2nd ticket is issued. Repeat a 3rd time, now you add points to the license or suspend it, whatever. I don't see a difference between policing excessive noise and excessive speed. The same tools are present and available.

lostapathy 8y ago
Sound meters are a lot cheaper than radar/laser speed guns too
mrunkel 8y ago
These aren't "tickets" in the normal sense where a fine is issued, they are "fix it" tickets where the owner has x days to remedy the defect. The only cost to the biker is time/money to swap the mufflers and the finding a cop to show the "repaired" muffler to.

TheCoelacanth 8y ago

They should just take a picture of the muffler and make the testing center verify that they are testing the noise level with the same muffler that was being used.