Motorcycle exhaust noise levels

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It was a sad day when the BMW dealer thought that I needed $1400 worth of exhaust. Told him that I thought the stock exhaust was plenty loud and it is, also that I like and respect my neighbors. It's perfect, It has a nice deep tone when I get on it, with some exhaust flatulence (it is a twin with a 270° crank) when getting of the throttle and tolerable for everyone in normal operation.

Don't care for group riding as the noise is unbearable, even with -30dB earplugs
 
brianl703 said:
It'll get enforced the day some EPA bureaucrat has a Harley owner for a neighbor.
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in general it get's enforced by cops.

Buddy of mine had a tractor trailer with straight pipes.
he went to Hutchison Island FL every morning at about 3 am.
Says he got pulled over by a local Sheriff Deputy on the mainland
who had been trying to find him for about 2 weeks.
Seems the deputy could hear him every morning, just took him that long to figure out where.
So he got a nice ticket and had to put mufflers on his International..
 
SevenBizzos said:
The loud/modified exhaust are hugely annoying but are legal. In most cases, like Harley, if the mod is done at a dealer, it's considered "stock" and therefore legal. When you're trying to walk with your family through a Wisconsin downtown in the summer and can't talk to each other it kind of ruins the experience.

On the road I don't mind them. I can tell there's a bike hanging out in my blind spot. So I get that it makes it safer for them.
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That's a no, dawg.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-205/subpart-E

As for the "loud pipes save lives" it's useless in an urban environment where the noise echoes off of buildings and could be coming from anywhere. If one is concerned about someone pulling in front of them, directing all that noise behind oneself is ineffective.

My state has a vehicle noise law, and it's looser than the federal standards. It's still not enforced. The Venn diagram of cops and bikers seems to have significant overlap.

As for bikes in blind spots, this doesn't happen to me. They aren't an Avalon on cruise control mindlessly rolling down the middle lane 2/10 of MPH faster than me. They aren't playing on their phones, and are actually paying attention to the road.
 
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I rode motorcycle from when I was 27 till 69. Had to give it up when I broke my lefy hip and the hip joint weight rating was 250 lbs. I had a 1500 Goldwing was my last one and it weighed over 900 lbs. Wife and I rode all over the South East on it and loved it. All of mine had stock mufflers. Honda,BMW,Motoguzzi,Yamaha. Not one Harley. Wanted to ride and not break down.
 
eljefino said:
My state has a vehicle noise law, and it's looser than the federal standards. It's still not enforced. The Venn diagram of cops and bikers seems to have significant overlap.
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The cops around here don't enforce vehicle noise laws. Never have*. Manassas, VA (a nearby city, most famous for civil war battlefields and the John Bobbitt incident) had the reputation of being the "land of cars without mufflers" back in the 80s. More recently (as of several months ago) the main commercial strip (234 business) sounded like a dragstrip every Friday night. As of late I haven't had any reason to be near there on Friday night so I have no idea if the cops finally started doing their jobs or if it's still a "Sounds of Manassas" performance every Friday.

*Well, I suppose they MIGHT enforce vehicle noise laws if the guy that stole the girlfriend has a loud Camaro or something...
 
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brianl703 said:
No, the mods done at the dealer are just as much a violation of applicable law as mods done by another shop or a shade-tree mechanic.

When those bikes leave the factory, they comply with all the noise laws.
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No, they are not, if (If in HD's Case) they use Screamin' Eagle parts. Mine have an EPA notice on them. And yes, they are loud, and yes, they have saved me more than once from cagers who cant put down a phone.
 
Propflux01 said:
No, they are not, if (If in HD's Case) they use Screamin' Eagle parts. Mine have an EPA notice on them. And yes, they are loud, and yes, they have saved me more than once from cagers who cant put down a phone.
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I've never heard of the EPA approving exhaust parts for noise compliance. Post a picture of that supposed EPA notice.

EDIT: They don't. The EPA just requires that the exhaust pipe have a notice stating that it's compliant. Whether any actual documentation of testing required to prove that is required is unknown, but probably unlikely.

EDIT2: The EPA can require the manufacturer submit to a test to verify compliance, but this is at the EPA administrator's discretion. A company could just put an EPA label on anything whether compliant or not, and wait for the EPA to do something about it, which may never happen. (Most likely won't, funding for the EPA's noise pollution programs was gutted years ago).
 
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Y'all should read up, The MoCo lost a case with the EPA relating to non-approved mods - exhaust.

My Screamin' Eagle stuff all has compliance. It isn't loud but tis louder or more specifically deeper, but you cant hear it coming form blocks away or even a few houses.

Not even the loudest Reinhart or drag piped Harely had anything on my old 900SSSP with the Termi Spaghetti pipe...
 
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DuckRyder said:
Y'all should read up, The MoCo lost a case with the EPA relating to non-approved mods - exhaust.

My Screamin' Eagle stuff all has compliance. It isn't loud but tis louder or more specifically deeper, but you cant hear it coming form blocks away or even a few houses.

Not even the loudest Reinhart or drag piped barely had anything on my old 900SSSP with the Termi Spaghetti pipe...
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They lost a case with the EPA regarding tuners that were making the engine produce excessive pollution:

https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/harley-davidson-clean-air-act-settlement

From what I've been able to determine, the EPA has yet to come after them about their exhaust systems.
 
Chris142 said:
This is incorrect. There are laws regarding noise levels and if the exhaust is over that level it's illegal regardless of who modified it.
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I wouldn't mind a noisier exhaust as much if it increased power output by the same margin as the noise level rises.

I'm even thinking of adding an extra (high flow) muffler on my car.
 
brianl703 said:
They lost a case with the EPA regarding tuners that were making the engine produce excessive pollution:

https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/harley-davidson-clean-air-act-settlement

From what I've been able to determine, the EPA has yet to come after them about their exhaust systems.
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When this went down non-approved exhaust was considered "powertrain" so if you rolled in a Harley dealer with a non approved pipe you were likely denied warranty (which is a violation of MMWA of course, but .gov does what .gov wants) It was a very bid deal.

The tuners was the door in... and this was a test case to see if they could win and make money at it and they proved they could so now they are after your diesel tuners and they'll be after the VC muzzlers and gas car tunes soon...

And yes my pipes have a stamp on them stating they comply when installed on the listed models, it is just like a factory exhaust system stamp.
 
If loud pipes saves lives, imagine what learning how to actually ride the thing would do!

No seriously, I do like to hear the bike, but I don't like offensively loud exhausts on bikes or cars, it will ruin it for everybody.
Around here lately it's Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers with ridiculous bad sounding exhausts. And the worst of all some hillbillyed up 4-door Charger.
 
DuckRyder said:
When this went down non-approved exhaust was considered "powertrain" so if you rolled in a Harley dealer with a non approved pipe you were likely denied warranty (which is a violation of MMWA of course, but .gov does what .gov wants) It was a very bid deal.
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I find it difficult to believe that the big bad government told Harley to deny warranty repairs on Harleys with a non approved exhaust pipe. I don't find it difficult to believe that your average Harley owner would believe that, however, nor do I find it difficult to believe that Harley would capitalize on their customer's ignorance.
 
Randol said:
Around here lately it's Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers with ridiculous bad sounding exhausts. And the worst of all some hillbillyed up 4-door Charger.
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Around here it's sportbikes, Harleys, Honda Civics, the usual Mustangs/Chargers/Camaros/Challengers, and pickup trucks.
 
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