Noise Bylaw in place-Update!

[voyager]

Well, I have the privilege of living near the only city in Canada that has introduced a new bylaw for motorcycles for noise violations, Edmonton, Alberta. The police have decibel meters that if read over 92 at idle or 97 at 2000 rpm will cost you $250.00 for the first offense and $500.00 for the second. If your caught the third time you go to court ( what ever that means, probable a very high fine ).
As much as this subject has been discussed , I need no further proof than two weeks ago when a couple my wife and I were dear friends with, died in a collision with a pick up truck that turned right into them because he didn't see nor hear them. ( They had a stock HD with muffled pipes )
I have Vance and Hines with the Ultimate baffles in them and will be going down this Saturday for " free test day " at a local college where the Police are set up to test bikes all day. I don't plan on changing my pipes regardless, I just won't ride in Edmonton, just out West or down South.

Another example of a small majority of complainers that cause City Council to react because it's election time coming this Fall. We have maybe 5 months of good riding weather here and we still have complainers. I'm expecting someone to run this to a Human Rights complaint because the bylaw only addresses bikes, not cars or trucks so it clearly looks discriminatory, but we'll see.

[recumbentbob]

Put a headlight modulator on your bike. Mine has saved me numerous times.

If a truck pulled out in front of them the sound of loud pipes was behind them.

Sorry to hear about your friends.

[metalman]

I don't often have people pull out in front of me because they didn't see me. I think most of them do it because they want to be #1. I have extra lighting on my bikes. I suspect I wouldn't have a problem in Edmonton with my Nomad with VH baggers unless I wanted to make a lot of noise. Easing up to speed from a stop and downshifting at a low RPM does not produce a lot of noise.

[ringadingh]

I think that most pipes will pass or the police won't bother you, unless they are very load pipes or you really revving it through the gears.
I'm curious as to how load your Ultimate baffles will register.

When I'm driving my car at 100 kph and I have the music low. I cannot hear a motorcycle coming towards me until it is almost beside me. It is unrealistic to think that Motorists will drive with the windows down and the tunes off. I ride with the perception that I am invisible to motorists. I've adjusted my spots to point at the same height as my high beam and ride on high all the time. My Nomad is De- baffled because I don't want any more sound.I don't beleave that loud pipes are the answer to avoiding collisions, but I do believe that riding defensively and making your bike as visible as possible to other traffic is the best defence. My heart goes out to all of the fallen riders and I hope thier misfortune will at the least educate us all. Ride safe everyone.

[nomad561]

I'm curious as well what the decible level is on the ultimate baffles.
Please let us know what they register.

[landman]

92 decibals is a pretty leniant standard but based on the one nomad i have heard with the ultimate baffle i will be surprised
if you pass.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by landman

92 decibels is a pretty lenient standard but based on the one nomad i have heard with the ultimate baffle i will be surprised
if you pass.

Loud pipes... an ongoing subject that may rank "up there" with the subject of oil.

I am not convinced loud pipes save lives. I have not seen any facts showing it does.

My own personal experience is that I don't typically hear any bike until it is right on top of me -- which would be too late if that is what would make me avoid making any moves with my car.

There is quite a debate as to when someone's "perceived" rights of having loud pipes begins to breach the boundaries of another's rights to "silence".

I will go on record with those who choose silence -- and it isn't just confined to loud-pipes. It includes cars with loud music systems; dogs barking continually; and other such sounds -- all of which I assume is created by those who feel it is their "right" to do so.

So... this is a "can of worms debate" that I have seen played out to to point of exhaustion before... but I suppose it will now continue here with this post.

I am very sorry to hear about your friends tragic accident -- and I am sincere in that statement.

However; I am not so sure, with what little I know about the incident, that loud pipes would have changed the situation's result.

I say this only because I know many that have been killed on bikes with extremely loud pipes; and it didn't seem to help them one bit.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Sorry to hear about deaths of your friends. That is such a tragedy. As for the law only affecting bikes and not cars and trucks that is just unfair.

[timebandit]

"The police have decibel meters that if read over 92 at idle or 97 at 2000 rpm "

To what I have heard, there are other specific in doing the sound test.
Re: distance around bike so no rebound,
proper distance and angle from tips of exhaust, etc...

Like any new law they are trying to pass, ::)
there will be a learning curve.

Coming back from Laconia NH last Monday, we stopped at a Timmies in Magog QC. The cop pulled behind my GF vtx 1300 and tells her her bike is illegal ???
I go and see what the problem is and he starts telling me her pipes,V&H Longshots, are not legal.
I then go and ask him that how was I suppose to know has we purchased the bike with these on and everything passed the safety. ::)
He pulls out this piece of 8 gauge wire and says that if he can put this in the mufflers without any obstruction, the pipes are illegal ::)
He proceed in telling me that he noticed the pipes because of the small diameter and points out that a big diameter muffler is legal ::)

He suddenly gets a glimpse of the V & H on the nomad , Does the wire trick for the GF and says they are illegal but he'll let go for this time. Suggest to us that we should not drive in the Province of Quebec with these pipes, gets back in the car and drives by the drive thru at the Tim's to pick up a coffee

How accurate of a tool "8 gauge wire and the size of the pipes" ::)

please let us know what the readings are with the UB in the V & H.

[macmac]

North Hampton NH has passed such a law recently. I guess this is going town by town, which is foolish. Also it is said every bike has a EPA sticker some where??? I don't find any such sticker as OEM, and that the sticker must match the stamping on the pipes.

I already don't bother with state inspections, because it is nothing more than rape of a few more bucks. 25 bucks to eye ball a bike is too much.

These Govts are getting to be way out of hand.

This BS keeps up and I won't pay to register. The govt acts as if they own everything.

The 8 Ga wire trick is ammusing, as no bike will ever pass that. Let them do this with boats, cars and trucks, Oh yes lets not forget air craft! And none of them will pass either.

0.128" wire is going to pass thru any exhaust ever made. It would pass thru my chains saws.

Hell, it would pack them up side by side about 16 wires thick in the barrel of my .45 LOL

DILIGAF

[voyager]

Well, Deb and I ( along with Operator and his wife- they just had their Nomad triked after his ankle injury ) rode down to where the city police were holding two days worth of free testing. Operator's trike passed with no issue, mine, just barely. Yaaaah. With my Vance and Hines with the Ultimate Baffles she registered 91.8 at idle ( 92 was the limit ) and at 2000 rpm she registered 96 ( with 96 being the limit ) Police said I passed and shouldn't have an issue. Funny thing was , when we took off , of course that's when the pipes can really be heard, the police still standing around said " if we could test you moving , then you wouldn't pass" as well, one cop said the sound was sweet. Regardless, no worries around town now.

As far as keeping a consistent standard the police have a measuring device for distance from the outlet of the exhaust, and and angle device to achieve a 45 degree angle out from the end of the pipes. Just for information, while waiting in line for our turn, we saw that most of the sport bikes failed with aftermarket pipes because anything over 2 cylinders got revved up to 5000 rpm and failed badly.

[Top Cat]

As I have said before, if we don't police ourselves, they will do it for us.
Timebandit , sent you a PM about your sig pics.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Top Cat (TC)

As I have said before, if we don't police ourselves, they will do it for us.

You've got that right. I must be in the minority because I don't like load pipes. In my opinion they serve no other purpose than to say, "Hey, Look at me. I'm so cool." Same with blipping the throttle.

But with that being said, I don't like it when the government gets involved.

[ringadingh]

If the Ultimate baffles passed the test, thats is pretty lenient. Ive heard them, and they do sound good, but any loader is getting too load in my opinion. I don't notice too many excessively load bikes around here so hopefully it will never become an issue.
Although some people here want fireworks banned because it scares there dogs. We'll see what happens.