COMMENTS OR INFO YOU DECIDE,You give bikers a bad name

COMMENTS OR INFO YOU DECIDE, SENT BY Mark ON SATURDAY NOON,

SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THE WORDS NEED TO BE READ AND SPOKEN,
AND PASSED OUT FOR ALL!!!
SCREWDRIVER

Yeah I hate loud bikes like I hate poison ivy and snake bites. You better look into finding another occupation because the shit is about ready to hit the fan as far as loud mufflers are concerned. Follow the money trail. Its all about you making a buck off the morons you sell to and then you get these politician whores on your side. Disturbing us with noise is bullshit huh. Youre full of bullshit. Bullshit is saying loud pipes save lives. Bullshit is saying because cops break the law and have louds pipes I can have loud pipes too. Cops also rape and murder,I guess its ok to do that because cops do it. We are tired of hearing your idiot excuses. Either change out the pipes or you wont have a motorcycle to ride at all. Its as simple as that. This pipe crap is going the way of car boom boxes.


It's a well known fact that motorcyclists with loud, obnoxious bikes have very tiny genitalia. In fact, studies have proved that the louder the bike, the smaller the penis.
I would love to see something effective done about this. On summer weekends in my neighborhood the bikers are unbelievably loud. It is an attack on the neighborhood that is completely unacceptable.
YES! Nothing makes me more irritated than purposeful and unnecessary noise like what comes out of these heaps of crap. Internal combustion can go away for all I care.


When I hear unnecessarily loud motorcycles in the city, I can't help thinking that the driver is simply looking for a fight. They're knowingly saying "f you" to entire neighborhoods, and they're just hoping, in their sick way, someone will confront them.
Even here in suburban Westminster, closest bar is about a mile away, we'll still occasionally have bikers blazing through the neighborhoods being as loud as they possibly can. I'm sure they get the thrill of having loud pipes, but if they had a lick of consideration for neighbors, which again most do not, they wouldn't be doing that so late at night.
The federal government occupies the field of regulating motorcycle exhaust systems. The "supremacy clause12-1" of the U.S. Constitution gives boroughs, cities and townships the authority to conflict with state law, if it is Congress's intent. In the Noise Control Act of 1972, the US Congress gave the states and their political subdivisions the authority to adopt and enforce the federal EPA motorcycle exhaust regulations. Legally, the way is clear for North Hampton to adopt the EPA regulations. Other cities have done it with no problem, even when challenged for constitutionally by biker's rights groups. The obfuscating rhetoric of the loud pipes advocates will not change this. The citizens of North Hampton have the chance to change things for the good. Go for it!


I spend quite a bit of time in the area and I will go out of my way to not spend a dime in that town. I will take my pipes and my wallet elsewhere. I'm sure you will say "who cares" go elsewhere and that's fine. But with the Harley dealership in the area, I'm sure this town makes a fair share of money from bikers and alot will feel the same as I do.

P.S. Loud pipes are a great way to get a driver to stop texting and look up at the road.
Please go somewhere else. If you're on your bike you're not spending money anyway. Go, please. I'm sure we'll all survive the summer as we do the winter.
The citizens of North Hampton should not let the loud bikers and their backers defeat the proposed EPA compliancy ordinance for motorcycles. The state motorcycle laws are some of the worst in the country. New Hampshire law allows 106 dB at 20 inches from the exhaust pipe at moderate RPMs, and with the bike in neutral. This is 10 dB, or twice as loud, as the 96 dB limit endorsed by the AMA. The EPA test (SAE J331a) measures the the total noise emitted by a motorcycle accelerating at full throttle,at a distance of 50 feet from the line of travel. Mufflers designed to pass this test must be very well designed with noise suppression as the primary goal. Non-EPA compliant mufflers, such as those illegally installed by loud bikers, do not have to comply to the EPA standard.
Enforcing an equipment standard (EPA compliancy) instead of in use sound testing,is much simpler,less time consuming, less expensive,and very difficult to beat in court. It also has the advantage that all officers on patrol can enforce the law, not only the ones with sound meters. How many sound meters does your local government have? How many are they willing to buy? There will never be enough of them in the field to be effective. The loud bikers know this all too well,and will do anything to block the adoption of the federal standards. They present inaccurate and misleading information in an attempt to obfuscate the issue.

The New Hampshire Motorcyclists’ Rights Organization (NHMRO)lobbied very heavily to defeat a statewide motorcycle noise bill that would have adopted the EPA federal regulations this past legislative season.
http://www.nhmro.org/LegislativeNews.html
Quote from Sherman Packard of the NHMRO:
"The current noise law is more than acceptable, I know, I wrote it."

This goes a long way to explain why New Hampshire citizens are inundated with motorcycle noise and why law enforcement can do little about it. This is what happens when the the state legislature let's those who ride decide. Don't let this happen in North Hampton. You are free to adopt and enforce the federal EPA regulations instead of the biker designed and ineffective state regulations. Don't let the loud bikers kill this ordinance. The government of North Hampton should let those who want peace and quiet decide. The loud bikers offer no solutions,only the continuance of the status quo. Those of you who are fed up with their noise must to speak up and demand that this ordinance be adopted. Don't let the loud bikers decide or they will roar all over you.
Monday, May 10, 2010, 6:46:45 PM

GOLDEN, Colo. -- The city of Golden is cracking down on motorcycle noise, ticketing bikers who have outfitted their motorcycles with noisy modified mufflers.

Police issued just one citation for a motorcycle noise violation last year. Six months into this year, they have already issued 67.

“If our police officers hear a motorcycle that is being very loud and obnoxious, drawing attention to itself, they will stop the motorcycle,” said Golden City Manager Mike Bestor.

Bestor said the city’s motorcycle campaign, called Silence is Golden, simply enforces a state law that prohibits modified mufflers. Officers who pull over a loud motorcyclist check the muffler to make sure it has not been modified. If it has, the rider is issued a $125 ticket.

Some Golden residents, who complained that motorcycle noise sometimes drowns out their televisions, are welcoming the new enforcement campaign.

But Murray Martinez, owner of the popular biker bar The Buffalo Rose, said the campaign is hurting business.

“My business is down 25 to 30 percent in the last two months,” said Martinez. “It’s specifically because motorcyclists are not coming to Golden anymore.”

Martinez shuffled through a stack of printed e-mails, in which some of his customers threatened to boycott Golden.

“It seems like [police] are using the loud pipe law to harass motorcycle riders in Golden,” he said.

Bestor said there is a state law banning modified mufflers, but enforcement in each city varies.

Martinez equated the crackdown to “profiling” and said the drop in business will not just affect him, but also the entire city.

“Hopefully, the city will see that the less money I make, the less city sales tax they get,” he said. (And when the neighborhood goes to hell and becomes a ghetto because of the motorcycle noise there will be no revenue from sales tax. This guy is selfish like the idiots who ride these noise contraptions. He cant see past his own greedy nose.)
It's about time the city stepped up to the hordes of ear splitting d-bags who invade Golden every weekend. I lived in a house near downtown Golden a few years ago that had thin windows and the morons would shake me out of bed and drown out phone conversations, even indoors!

They are just enforcing a state law, but to Martinez it's harassment and profiling? Gosh, Martinez, way to reinforce the common image of motorcycle riders!

It's good to hear of this happening. Let the bikers make boycott threats, and take their ilk elsewhere....
Bryan this is apparently a state law that isn't really enforced; Golden is now choosing to enforce it.

You are among the very few considering bikers with loud pipes. The vast majority think it's necessary to blare those loud pipes at 2am while people are sleeping. Well, after they do that, most are rudely awakened.

Even here in suburban Westminster, closest bar is about a mile away, we'll still occasionally have bikers blazing through the neighborhoods being as loud as they possibly can. I'm sure they get the thrill of having loud pipes, but if they had a lick of consideration for neighbors, which again most do not, they wouldn't be doing that so late at night.

Morons ???? Morons ????
Lee wrote "lived in a house near downtown Golden" "the morons would shake me out of bed"

A VERY judgemental statement indeed! Most Harley owners make upwards of $100K/year ... we are NOT morons but, given the text of your post, I suspect there's a strong possibility that YOU are.
Golden ... say goodbye to the money we bring into your city! I won't ride within the city limits again until you desist in hassling bikers. Buffalo Rose ... we're sorry this is hurting you Frown Maybe you could set up a satellite location just outside the city limits? Golden wouldn't get ANY of those taxes.

As if the gage of intelligence is your income. That statement proves you are a moron. And how did you make or should I say steal that income. By working in the financial parasite industry. People like you live off the work of others and you cannot do real work. You couldnt work a real job if your life depended on it and couldnt fight your way out of a wet paper bag. One good thing about the economic depression is that it will finally eliminate blood sucking leaches like you. Your utter contempt for the rights of others by blaring this noise highly indicates a financial industry dirtbag and parasite. As if we are not being hassled by this noise. Totally oblivious to anyone else. Is my elbow hurting your eye. Your right to swing a fist ends at my face. You dont have a right to shout fire in a crowded theater and you dont have a right to make this kind of noise.

"The motorcycling community and law enforcement have long sought a practical field test for measuring street motorcycle exhaust sound," said Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations. "Thanks to the hard work of the Motorcycle Industry Council, and the SAE engineers involved in the project, for the first time a simple field test is now available.

That's from an announcement made by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), and it is a step forward, but it begs the question of whether states and municipalities will adopt the practice.

Denver has passed and New York City is considering passage of an ordinance that bases noise fines on the simple lack of an EPA stamp on the exhaust system. In June, Boston joined the group with a similar ordinance. The argument from the cities is that sound meters are too expensive to hand out to police officers.

The sound test standard announced by AMA has been developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers in conjunction with the Motorcycle Industry Council.

The J2825 "Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles," issued by the SAE in May, establishes instrumentation, test site, test conditions, procedures, measurements and sound level limits. According to the SAE, the J2825 standard is based on a comprehensive study of a wide variety of on-highway motorcycles.

The standard is touted as simple, consistent, and economical. But sound meters are required to perform the test and that's the sticking point.

When Denver's ordinance was under consideration, opponents protested that it unfairly singled out motorcycles, while other vehicles might make more noise but not be cited. The city responded that it could not afford to equip all squad cars with sound meters.

Nevertheless, enforcement of the ordinance has been restrained. EPA stamps on mufflers are generally found in out-of-the-way places such as on the underside of the unit. Police officers have expressed reluctance to get down on hands and knees with a flashlight at night to try to find the stamp, all the while leaving themselves potentially vulnerable to attack.

Adoption of the new SAE standard could facilitate fairer, more impartial enforcement of noise ordinances.

"The J2825 test allows jurisdictions around the nation, struggling with complaints about excessive motorcycle sound, to set reasonable limits in accordance with the SAE standard," said Moreland. "While the AMA supports the establishment of the SAE J2825 standard in America's cities, towns and communities, we will continue to fight efforts that single out motorcycles while still permitting excessive sound from other sources, such as loud cars and trucks, booming car stereos, poorly maintained generators, whining leaf blowers, and the like."
Loud motorcycles are a damn nightmare, blasting through our neighborhood one after the other. Almost all motorcycles have their exhaust system illegally altered to make between 10X and 100X the noise permitted by federal law. This noise is low frequency noise which penetrates solid structures such as homes. These same illegally equipped motorcycles generated more hydrocarbon air pollution than 80 automobiles.

Thank you for changing your exhaust back to stock, I would shake your hand if I could.


When I bought my used Low Rider it had Screamin' Eagle pipes. I rode it home but didn't ride it again until my husband put the stock pipes back on. That was done out of consideration for my neighbors and my own ears.

Good on 'em. Loud pipes on both cruisers and sport bikes are one of the biggest PR issues we face. Muffling the worst offenders would be a step in the right direction.


Loud motorcycles with illegal mufflers frequently use the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway between Woodlawn and the Mount Vernon Estate, and the GW Parkway. These motorcycles are an illegal and highly intrusive source of noise pollution. Approximately 3 out of 4 motorcycles on these roads have illegal mufflers installed simply to make noise, usually 2 to 4 times more noise than the legal muffler.

What other traffic violation impacts so many people? Each time a loud motorcycle travels along the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and the GW Parkway, hundreds of people inside and outside of our homes are forced to listen to the noise, often every 5 minutes or so on warm weekend days and weekday nights, from early morning to late at night.

Loud motorcycles are not appropriate for the Mount Vernon residential and historic area. Most of the motorcycles on these roads are louder than a semi truck or bus, and some like a jet engine. If all motorcycles used legal mufflers, they would rarely be heard.


The level of noise put out by modified bikes and cars is nerve-wracking. Families need a safe and peaceful place to come home to.

I visit friends the one of the condominiums affected by the noise and it is quite unbearable. I strongly concur with the petitioners that illegal motorcycles should be banned.

Every resident has the right to at least reasonable consideration for a peaceful and quiet living situation and this situation is intolerable!

Tired of illegal after-market pipes on motorcycles. Noisy neighborhoods are a hazard to health and home market value!


The only way for a motorcycle to be loud is to violate laws, and loud motorcycles are often in violation of at least four laws.

All motorcycles made after 1982 must have an Environmental Protection Agency noise compliance label attached to the chassis and a matching label stamped into the muffler. It's a violation of federal law to replace the noise-certified exhaust with one that isn't certified, or to tamper with the muffler in order to produce more noise. Under federal law, this information must be included in every owner's manual under the title, Tampering with Noise Control System Prohibited.

This section is very detailed and is very clearly worded as follows: "Federal law prohibits the following acts or the causing thereof; (1) the removal or rendering inoperative by any person other than for purposes of maintenance, repairs, of replacement of any device or element of design incorporated into any new vehicle for the purpose of noise control prior to its sale or delivery to the ultimate purchaser or while it is in use, or (2) the use of the vehicle after such device or element of design has been removed or rendered inoperative by any person.

So there's no excuse for not knowing about it.

You may have heard the silly myth, Loud Pipes Save Lives. There is no credible study that shows that riding a quiet motorcycle is any less safe than riding a loud one. In fact, many thousands of bikers ride their whisper-quiet Honda Gold Wings safely every day. There are many proven ways to improve motorcycle safety; they include attending a safety class taught by a qualified instructor, installing daytime running lights, wearing highly visible, bright colored clothing, not riding when tired and not riding after consuming alcohol.

The Harley Davidson Co. asks its customers to ride quietly, and the two largest motorcycle organizations, the American Motorcyclists Association and the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, also urge its members to ride quietly and respectfully.

In 2008, about 50,000 motorcycles were registered in Maine and the required annual safety inspection sticker was issued to only about 32,000. All other motor vehicles are required to display the inspection sticker and Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles believes that motorcycles should also display the sticker. At this time, Maine bikers are only required to have the sticker with them.

All motor vehicles, including motorcycles, operated on public roads, are required to have a muffler. It's illegal to issue an inspection sticker to any vehicle that lacks a muffler or doesn't have an adequate muffler. Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles (MECALM) believes that most of the bikes that aren't inspected couldn't pass because the machines don't have mufflers or have inadequate mufflers.

When the certified exhaust is replaced by an open pipe exhaust which has no muffler, such as drag pipes (which are legal only for off-road use such as racing and must be labeled as such), the air pollution equipment is disabled. This can result in one loud motorcycle emitting as much toxins into the air per mile of travel as 200 or more of today's cars. It's a violation of federal law to disable the air pollution equipment and is a Class E crime in Maine.

MECALM believes that police should consistently stop all loud motorcycles and check for the inspection sticker and the muffler, and write tickets for violations.

It would be even better for Maine to adopt the EPA matching label system, which is what the federal law is designed for. In 2007, Denver adopted the EPA label law despite the vocal opposition by many loud bikers. Thanks to consistent enforcement and substantial penalties, city officials now receive very few complaints about loud motorcycles. Since the police target only the loud bikes, this has resulted in no inconvenience to the quiet bikers.

Denver was in part motivated to enact the EPA label into law because a loud biker died after crashing into the side of a fire truck that was on an emergency call with lights flashing and the siren on. Officials, who investigated the accident, concluded that the motorcycle was so loud, the biker couldn't hear the fire truck!

The city of Green Bay, Wis., also has adopted the EPA label law, where the police like it because it's very easy to enforce.

The problem of loud bikes has spread to most areas of the state and there are now thousands of Mainers who are fed up with loud motorcycles and want something done about it.

This anger will only increase when the loud bikes begin blasting our homes, neighborhoods and communities in May.

Andy Ford is a founder of Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles and is a lifelong resident of Portland; www.mecalm.org.


Maine Governor John Baldacci on April 9, 2010 signed LD 1675 into law, requiring the state's 50,000 registered motorycles to carry inspection stickers that are "completely and clearly visible from the rear" starting in 2012. Fully 38% are never inspected, and MECALM believes many of those would fail because they lack a legal quiet muffler. The bill was written by the committee after being introduced at MECALM's behest by Sen. Nancy Sullivan (D-Biddeford). The bill also sets up a task force to explore other methods of reducing motorcycle noise, including sound testing, and report to the Transportation Committee by January 15, 2011.

LD1675 passed the Maine House by a vote of 104-33 on March 22. The Senate passed it April 5.

MECALM believes this bill is an important first step, but may have limited impact because it's so easy to install a bike's original quiet muffler for inspection, then immediately swap it out for an illegally loud altered or after-market exhaust system.

Here is the actual wording of LD1675:

" . . . The certificate of inspection must be kept with the registration certificate of the motorcycle and the official inspection sticker must be affixed to the rear of the motorcycle:
A. On a mounting plate that must be securely fastened to the motorcycle frame or similar integral component of the motorcycle; or
B. On a rear fender or similar frame or integral body part of the motorcycle.
The official inspection sticker must be located so that it is completely and clearly visible from the rear of the motorcycle and may not be affixed to the registration plate.

Sec. 3. Working group; motorcycle noise. The Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police shall convene a working group to study issues relating to motorcycle noise. The working group must include, but is not limited to, representatives from affected citizen groups, local municipalities, the motorcycle industry, motorcycle enthusiast groups and local law enforcement agencies. The working group shall investigate and research industry sound testing standards, particularly the Society of Automotive Engineers Standard J2825, "Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles," and the feasibility of incorporating United States Environmental Protection Agency noise emission labeling standards into state law. The report of the working group must include an analysis of motorcycle safety inspections and a requirement that an inspection sticker be displayed visibly on the motorcycle. The Bureau of State Police shall report
to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over transportation matters, with findings and recommendations, no later than January 15, 2011.

Sec. 4. Effective date. Those sections of this Act that amend the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 29-A, section 1758 take effect January 1, 2012.’

SUMMARY

This amendment requires that, effective January 1, 2012, an inspection sticker for a motorcycle be affixed to the rear of the motorcycle either on a mounting plate or on a rear fender or similar frame or body part of the motorcycle. The amendment also directs the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police to convene a working group to study the issue of motorcycle noise, including, but not limited to, industry sound testing standards, United States Environmental Protection Agency labeling guidelines for noise emissions, and motorcycle safety inspection requirements and to report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over transportation matters by January 15, 2011."


JULY 2010 LAW CHANGE WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR POLICE TO STOP AND TICKET LOUD BIKES

Maine State Police are gearing up to enforce a law change in July 2010 that means they will no longer have to prove that a vehicle exhaust was altered with the intent "to amplify" noise. Under the change passed by the legislature earlier this year police merely have to show that the exhaust is louder than the vehicle's orginal equipment.

Lt. Brian Scott, head of the Maine State Police Traffic Unit, outlined the law changes -- and reviewed existing laws on motorcycle noise -- in a June 22, 2010 memo to all Maine law enforcement officers, vehicle inspectors and inspection stations. His full memo, which is an excellent resource for anyone to pass on to their local police department, is available here.

In a May meeting with MECALM activisits, Lt. Scott said the July changes should make it easier to obtain a conviction for a loud altered exhaust. In the past, a ticket was thrown out when the biker testified that he altered his bike to enhance performance, not create more noise.

Also at the meeting was the head of the Maine State Police, Col. Patrick Fleming, who briefed local departments on the changes at the June meeting of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association.

Here's a good article from the Morning Sentinel (6/14/2010) on rollout of enforcement of the change.

MECALM asks all police departments to consistently enforce Maine state law, which makes it illegal to remove, modify, or tamper with a bike's original muffler in a way that makes it louder.

A PROGRESS REPORT FROM MECALM'S ANDY FORD
April 1, 2010

There has been considerable progress since April 2009 when the Transportation Committee voted unanimously to kill LD920, a bill that would have enabled Maine to adopt and enforce the EPA matching label law. There were three who testified in favor of the bill, two who were opposed and one person who testified neither in favor nor opposed.

After the Portland Press Herald published an op-ed piece on motorcycle noise last May (2009) the responses to the piece were positive and numerous enough to form Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles.

Last July (2009) we launched our website and some supporters have had published a number of letters to the editor and some op-ed pieces. This has further added to our list of MECALM supporters and generated interest on the part of an increased number of legislators. There have also been some editorials published and a huge number of reader comments. Also, we have a Face Book page which provides an information and discussion forum.

Last fall Lt. Christopher Grotton of the Maine State Police held two task force meetings on motorcycle noise with the goal of trying to find a practical solution.

And at the request of our activists Senator Nancy Sullivan of Biddefor introduced an emergency bill, LD1675, that would enable public discussion about motorcycle noise. Her bill was initially turned down for consideration in 2010 down but Senator Sullivan appealed. And thanks to good work by MECALM activists her appeal succeeded.

A public hearing was held Feb. 2, 2010 and although we didn't get what we wanted (adoption of the EPA label law) the Transportation Committee voted to require that the annual safety inspection sticker be displayed on the motorcycle starting Jan. 1, 2012. n 2008 there were about 50,000 motorcycles registered in Maine and only about 62 percent were issued an inspection sticker. The committee also voted to have a citizen motorcycle noise study committee explore various possible solutions and report its findings to the committee no later than Jan. 15, 2011. This committee will be headed by the state police.

We had quite a good number of people who spoke in favor of the bill which had nine co-sponsors.

And it was encouraging to have the Maine Municipal Association testify at the Feb. 2 hearing. While it neither favored nor opposed LD1675, MMA did say that motorcycle noise was a growing problem and that they would be willing to assist in finding a solution.

A Portland police official stated at a public hearing last fall that patrol officers will be instructed to stop loud motorcycles and check for the inspection sticker starting this spring. More recentlythe Auburn police chief said that his officers will begin stopping loud motorcycles this spring.

And this month some law enforcement officials in York County held a meeting to discuss possible solutions to the growing motorcycle noise problem.

There are many thousands of Mainers who don't know that riding loud is illegal and we hope our efforts will make them better informed. One thing is certain -- they do who want something done to reduce this noise that blights their homes and neighborhoods.

The numbers of our supporters has grown a lot and we hope to further build our numbers to the point where riding loud will become completely unacceptable.

Take care,
Andy Ford
he City Council is considering a bill to keep excessively loud motorcycles from stopping, standing or parking on city streets.

hellsangels.jpgRelax guys, you can keep your jackets. Photo: SliceofNYC/Flickr

Intro 416-A would require motorcycles in New York to be equipped with EPA-stamped exhaust systems -- a federal mandate since 1983, but one that is rarely enforced. Though replacing or altering EPA-approved mufflers is against the law, installations of louder after-market equipment are common.

NoiseOFF, a Queens-based org dedicated to combating noise pollution, writes:

Modified motorcycles can reach noise levels in excess of 100db(a); a level that easily triggers an involuntary stress response commonly known as "flight or flight." This results in the secretion of adrenaline, with ensuing spikes in cardio-respiratory rates, muscle tension, and elevated blood pressure. For affected residents, the never-ending cycle of noise constitutes a serious health issue.

"It is already illegal to ride with loud pipes in NYC," says NoiseOFF founder Richard Tur. "Intro 416-A is designed to allow better enforcement of the law."

A similar local ordinance was adopted in Denver. The New York iteration is sponsored by Council Member Alan Gerson. It would allow for graduated fines for repeat offenders, as well as confiscation of illegally-equipped motorcycles.

Not surprisingly, such laws are unpopular with motorcycle owners and lobbying groups, who claim they discriminate against their vehicle of choice while letting drivers of loud cars and trucks off the hook. Sound from other vehicles is, in fact, already regulated under current city code, but the New York bill nevertheless got plenty of attention from motorcycle enthusiasts when it was introduced late last year.

"We're still working diligently to get it passed," a Gerson spokesperson told Streetsblog.

While the new bill would ideally raise the profile of noisy motorcycles as a quality of life concern city-wide, some NYPD precincts are already well acquainted with the problem. Police in Inwood and Washington Heights, where neighborhood streets often double as a race course, routinely ticket riders and have impounded over a dozen motorcycles this year.
I am so tired of hearing loud motorcycles at three in the morning. It is every single night where I live. I have little hope the cops will enforce this law, but it would be nice.
The question is, will it be enforced? And IMO, car alarms and honking are an even worse menace than motorcycles. The latter especially... rush hour in my neighborhood is basically one long fight or flight stress response for residents due to all of the honking and aggressive driving. The culture of entitlement among motorists is just unbelievable at times.

this is great news (if it happens and is enforced)
I despise arrogant bikers ripping through my neighborhood at all hours
noise pollution is an important issue that is unfortunately not taken seriously enough in nyc.

I live on the 5th floor of an apartment building, and even with our windows tightly closed, we have to crank the volume on the TV every time the local Harley owner comes or goes. No truck or car is as loud as this ridiculous motorcycle. Sell the damn thing and get a cheaper, quieter, more efficient Honda instead.

When I hear unnecessarily loud motorcycles in the city, I can't help thinking that the driver is simply looking for a fight. They're knowingly saying "f you" to entire neighborhoods, and they're just hoping, in their sick way, someone will confront them.
When I moved to Riverside Drive in the 90s in 1981, I noticed that a bunch of motorbikers would come through on weekends at around one a.m. They're still doing it. You could set their watch by them. Lately I hear more individual riders coming through at unpredictable times, which is actually more upsetting.

Car alarms were a problem in my area in the 1980s but the problem seems to have leveled off. Maybe the drivers are getting more considerate and leaving them off? Or the alarms have gotten more sophisticated and less likely to go off? I'm not sure. When one goes on for more than 10 minutes, I report the license number to the police.

YES! Nothing makes me more irritated than purposeful and unnecessary noise like what comes out of these heaps of crap. Internal combustion can go away for all I care.

This is not great news - it's theater of the absurd that the Council is legislating on problems that are already illegal. It's an appalling comment on how weak law enforcement on anything related to motor vehicles is. There's no reason for it other than the culture of NYPD and City Hall's unwillingness to get their attention on the issue, because such enforcement would likely be revenue-positive.

Back in the 90's when I lived in the West Village (RIP), just about the only thing wrong with the neighborhood was the closing time Harley procession down Washington Street from Hogs and Heffers. Of course, What used to be Hogs and Heffers is now probably a Abacrombie and Fitch.

How about they ban loud garbage trucks picking up garbage at 1, 3 and 5 am in the morning?
What's that? The unions wouldn't like it? The mob? Or is it the politicians who get hefty donations from garbage companies and unions?
Motorcyclists ripping through the streets are a real scourge of Inwood. At our last Livable Streets meeting, held outside in a community garden, we were deafened at times by all the motorcycle noise.
At least car alarms serve a legitimate purpose, while motorcycle rumbling is simply egregious and, as ddartley points out, a collective "f you" to the entire neighborhood.
These bikers are as childish as the guys who fix their lawnmower cars to make a loud exahust noise - Oh yea, now I think you're driving an Aston Martin. Bang bang on my drum look at me.
Just ban adults who act like 5 yr old boys and we'll solve both problems.
You can't be serious. They are PICKING UP GARBAGE, a necessary service. Riding down the street on your superloud toy just for the hell of it is not necessary.
I would love to see something effective done about this. On summer weekends in my neighborhood the bikers are unbelievably loud. It is an attack on the neighborhood that is completely unacceptable.

Exposure to noise is more than a nuisance, it is a public health hazard, with measurable effects in stress and hypertension as well as ear damage. See this fact sheet from the World Health Organization:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs258/en/

Moreover, the cumulative din from the streets -- car stereos, ice cream trucks, car alarms (which serve no purpose), and motorcycles -- undercuts the goals of "new urbanism" to bring people together in liveable communities.

It's time to take this seriously.


As a motorcyclist, I don't like to be woken up by loud motorcycles either, or cars, or alarms, or garbage trucks, etc...

And I do not have a problem with current laws that ticket loud motorcycles. This is a quality of life issue, and in the city you need to be considerate of other people. As a motorcyclist I get pulled over at checkpoints a dozen times over the warm months, that gives NYPD plenty of opportunities to check for bikes that are violating current noise laws.

I don't know about where you lot live, but in my neighbourhood we only hear ice-cream trucks after dark. The only reason I can think of is that they're actually selling something more interesting than ice-cream...


It's a well known fact that motorcyclists with loud, obnoxious bikes have very tiny genitalia. In fact, studies have proved that the louder the bike, the smaller the penis.
I am annoyed at motorcyclists who have blatant disregard for people in quiet neighborhoods.

There's this guy with a motorbike in our neighborhood who constantly flies down the street at like 50 mph - on a side street. and the noise from the pipes is quite excessive engine noise. at later than 9pm--its very annoying!
He has done it at 1am before too.

I can't figure out who the owner of the bike is so I can't complain to the town yet.

But people! Please. Can you please have some common courtesy after 7pm to people in quieter neighborhoods off the major roads. Its loud enough noise from the major streets in the towns, But for someone to just ride through with heavy noise from the engines..- blowing through a quiet neighborhood where people are trying to relax, get ready for bed, and put the kids to bed with kids trying to sleep.

Have some common decency and courtesy!

Drive thorugh smaller quieter neighborhoods and side roads at a slower/quieter speed with less noise from your engines.


We live in uncivilized times when jerks like Jeff D's selfish needs are more important than those of the greater majority--that being people who are actually aware that they are not the only people on the planet, and their noise should not disturb the quality of life of others. Excessive noise from boom cars and motorcycles (don't get me started on the "kneeling bus") is stressful and unnecessary. If you want to listen to loud music, go ahead, but to drive around and play it so loud that my teeth are practically vibrating in my head--I have a problem with that. I pay taxes. I respect my fellow New Yorkers. I don't force them to listen to my music against their will, that's what headphones are for. Jeff--you're clueless, smug, and not too bright. Your time will come, trust me. What comes around, goes around.

They have laws to quiet car mufflers, it should be the same for motorcycles. I am sick and tired of motorcyclists revving the hell out of their little cycles to get attention thinking their cool but in reality people think they are absolute idiots. Stupid kid with a loud muffler on his car is no different then an evener louder motorcycle exhaust.