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Warning, loud pipes being targeted in Los Angeles

1K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  CTRider 
#1 ·
Hey you all. this weekend in Azusa canyon, several bikes with loud pipes were cited coming down the canyon in to Azusa, on of my friends included, i guess the houses at the bottom of the canyon have issued a complaint to the city, so i thought everybody oughtta know this, if you are going to do the glendora ridge run, BEWARE! cops are sitting there pulling loud bikes, and giving them citations.
 
#4 ·
Good idea! Mark,..Actually, i think is more of a revenue issue than the noise. every town and city is claiming to be broke, no $;;;t !!! welcome to my world!
There's that and then you have small communities with very vocal and connected residents that exert a lot of influence on the local government, which allows them to grind their axes whenever the notion strikes them. We have a similar situation in Cave Creek. Its their way of keeping out the riff raff.
 
#5 ·
Wasnt the CHP mounted police the ones that dumped their stock exhuast and went with loud exhaust to keep from getting hit by cars - they actually cited officer safety as the reason.

I remember reading this awhile ago.

EDIT: found it.....it was Oakland PD specifically....there is NO way I would take an exhaust ticket in that town without fighting it.....bike nor car.

Oakland, California Police modify their Mufflers to make them Louder!
 
#6 ·
Wasnt the CHP mounted police the ones that dumped their stock exhuast and went with loud exhaust to keep from getting hit by cars - they actually cited officer safety as the reason.

I remember reading this awhile ago.

EDIT: found it.....it was Oakland PD specifically....there is NO way I would take an exhaust ticket in that town without fighting it.....bike nor car.

Oakland, California Police modify their Mufflers to make them Louder!
I think they did that so the gang bangers can hear them coming and it gives them time to get away.
 
#8 ·
All these are good explanations, but really, we should have seen this coming. I don't mean to sound like a jerk or bike bashing, but some pipes ARE just too loud. I am in S.C. where Myrtle Beach has run bike week out of town despite the tourism dollars it brings. If we,as riders, don't start to take this seriously we will lose more rights to public complaints. I'll get off my soap box now before it caves in. Hawk.
 
#9 ·
I've always said there's a difference between a throaty rumble and just plain loud. Pretty much anything that sets off car alarms is too loud, in my opinion. Also, when you have to rev the engine to keep it from stalling due to all the baffles being removed, it's bad for the bike.

I think people rely too much on the idea that loud pipes will save them rather than making an effort to avoid the very situations where they might help.

- Don't ride next to any vehicle other than to pass...then do it and be done with it.
- Don't start to pass any vehicle unless you're certain you can do it in one shot and not get trapped beside it.
- Don't ride the rear corner of any vehicle. Drivers can't see you there even if they actually use their mirrors.
- Use caution when passing a line of cars. Be ready to have someone pull out if your lane is moving faster.
- Don't pass on the right. Also, don't pass on the right. Finally, don't pass on the right.
- Don't weave in and out of traffic on multilane roads. It's not legal in any vehicle.

Violating the above rules are pretty much the only times loud pipes would have any hope of saving your butt. They won't prevent someone from turning in front of you. They won't stop someone from rear ending you.

Excessively loud pipes just make cagers hate you and destroy your hearing.

Of course, I run an inline 4 made by Honda - which specializes in quiet, smooth engines. I prefer a loud horn which has worked every time I've needed to use it - including when someone attempted to turn left in front of me.
 
#10 ·
Jesus, are you talking about Ol' 39? If so, I'll just ride really fast up N. Azusa Road to prevent my bothering the neighborhood for too long (not that my pipes are particularly loud). Think the local PD will accept that as an excuse...I mean, explanation for going 120+? I don't endorse speeding but hey, I'll do what I can for the community. :wink:
 
#11 ·
Now,

I have always said, experience and skill save lives, not loud pipes........they help in things like slow moving commute traffic, when the moron next to you is engrossed in a cell phone communication and isnt paying attention though.

but traffic at speed, they help very little if at all.

Usually on group rides, our pipes arnt blaring because no one is blipping them, as a group, the volume goes up, but thats ebcause its a group

I did sound tests when I got my ticket on a group of civics,camrys , and corollas going by.

4 cars, stock, broke the legal sound limit, as a group
 
#12 ·
All these are good explanations, but really, we should have seen this coming. I don't mean to sound like a jerk or bike bashing, but some pipes ARE just too loud. I am in S.C. where Myrtle Beach has run bike week out of town despite the tourism dollars it brings. If we,as riders, don't start to take this seriously we will lose more rights to public complaints. I'll get off my soap box now before it caves in. Hawk.
I agree, straight pipes are obnoxious....IMO, like CT said, a throaty rumble is good, but not hearing a half mile away.

I think myrtle beach is going to start feeling the economic pain and not be happy with it, the bike weeks brought in most of the revenue, that wont be replaced by mommy and daddy with the kids vacationing.

Bikers spend lots of money, just reality, famalies, tend to work more on a budget.



there were some communities that wanted bikes banned from their streets, I can agree to that, on one condition, they get NO services that include tax dollars.

no police, no road maintenance, and no fire department............If I cant ride a legally registered vehicle on the road, then my tax dollars dont go to it
 
#13 ·
I've always said there's a difference between a throaty rumble and just plain loud. Pretty much anything that sets off car alarms is too loud, in my opinion.
My stock pipes set off car alarms. So do my Roadhouse Dooleys.
Surprisingly, the V&H Bigshots, with or without the "quiet baffles" did not.

The difference is in the tone. Deep, bassy tones actually carry more energy but don't sound as loud. They'll set off car alarms just cruising by, when an exhaust that isn't so hot on "bass" but is very loud and annoying on "treble" won't set off alarms unless the rider revs the engine.

IMHO, car alarms are typically tuned to be too sensitive anyways. It's the motion detector that's being triggered... not the glass breakage sensor.
 
#14 ·
IMHO, car alarms are typically tuned to be too sensitive anyways. It's the motion detector that's being triggered... not the glass breakage sensor.
Oh, I agree with that, but that's often the guy with the brand new system. Once he finds himself running outside to find....nothing....a few times, he'll crank the sensitivity back a bit. You also have to ground the system properly. Too many installers don't know jack about creating a reliable ground that the elements won't ruin. With a bad ground, the system will go off randomly - even when nothing triggered it.

I'm talking an alarm that is set properly. I've seen bikes trip a whole street of cars - including mine, which takes some doing. You have to irritate my system enough for it to go past the warning chirps before it will go off - and even those take some prodding to get going. I took out the proximity detector I had (I used it to protect the cab if I left the rear sliding window open) because in the summer humidity, the bubble field would expand unit it surrounded all the vehicles on either side of it. Then it would go off when a guy 6 cars down stepped into it.

On the other hand, my neighbor's goes off when the the garbage truck rolls down the street. I find that annoying, too.
 
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