Time for my summertime Harley rant...

In reply to Carro Atrezzi:

not really … if the po-po would just enforce the laws that are already on the books

There was a whole lot more of them in east TN than there are here in central Texas. I know they give out warnings for it here because I was filling up at a gas station and witnessed it happen in the parking lot to a guy on a very nice looking custom bike. I never even saw a bike pulled over in TN, they wouldn't mess with anyone but the sport bikes and they would just run. I know a couple people that lived like that, running from the cops daily. They looked at it like a game. Their bikes weren't registered, no plates and it was a daily occurrence.

I just realized we have another person here using 589 in their user name and need to delete a post.

Very odd.

wbjones wrote: In reply to Carro Atrezzi: not really … if the po-po would just enforce the laws that are already on the books

In Indiana, the vehicle sound laws do not apply to 2 wheeled vehicles. So they can add all the loudeners they want and are still 100% legal. Sucks. Ain't nothing worse than trying to sleep on a weeknight and the HD boys out and about 2 blocks away (when we lived in town) brappin' loud enough to wake you up at midnight from 2 blocks away.... and there is nothing you can do about it legally.

how is that ? do the HD boys have pics of the state legislatures doing weird things with sheep or something ?

In reply to Bobzilla:

Most places have nuisance laws. I bet if you would have called they would have sent a nice officer over to tell him not to do that at that time of night.

Nick, a the time where they were was technically outside city limits. So no, there was no nuisance laws on the county books (their jurisdiction). I know you want to stick up for the douches because they ride the same thing you ride, but there are times to just admit they are being douches and move on. This is one of those.

seeker589 wrote: the bikers in-your-face, middle finger attitude. .. I can say with some confidence that the majority of bikers don't give a rats ass about how you feel about their bikes, pipes, sound level, or appearance.

These two statements are directly self-contradictory.

In reply to Bobzilla: Where have I tried to stick up for these douches? I have tried to stick up for Harley's but not open piped douche nozzles. I hate that sound as much as anybody.

pres589 wrote: What I notice is that HD riders seem to wave at each other and not most anyone else. Same with gas station stops or diners, etc; if you wear the same outfit as them, they seem friendly. They don't really talk to me. I wave at most anyone on two wheels, including guys on scooters or bicyclists. Why not? It all seems like they're rugged individualists that only appreciate other appearance matched rugged individualists. Oh well.

Most HD riders wave to me and I'm on either a BMW or Triumph these days.

Now as far as talking to you. I'm not a super social person, so I'm not going to talk to you just because you ride. It's not because I think I'm better than you or that your bike sucks, it's just that I'm on my bike year around and I don't want to talk to every biker I see.

pres589 wrote: It all seems like they're rugged individualists that only appreciate other appearance matched rugged individualists. Oh well.

Thsi triggered a thought, they're the hipsters of motorcycle owners.

Carro Atrezzi wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, the GF does all the time, but it seems to me that the obnoxiously loud Harleys are more of an east coast / midwest thing. I recently did some work in Colorado and also in Washington / Idaho and all the Harleys I saw out there just rumbled in a powerful and subdued way. Not the ear-splitting cackle you hear so often on the east coast. Do they have tougher laws in the west? I don't know about California. that's its own country anyway

Possibly they have spark arresting laws there.....

Bobzilla wrote:

wbjones wrote: In reply to Carro Atrezzi: not really … if the po-po would just enforce the laws that are already on the books

In Indiana, the vehicle sound laws do not apply to 2 wheeled vehicles. So they can add all the loudeners they want and are still 100% legal. Sucks. Ain't nothing worse than trying to sleep on a weeknight and the HD boys out and about 2 blocks away (when we lived in town) brappin' loud enough to wake you up at midnight from 2 blocks away.... and there is nothing you can do about it legally.

Oh no, the noise laws still apply, just not to harley riders evidently. Cops will happily mess with sportbikes/motards but very very rarely a harley.

Although the untouchable guy here locally is the midget riding the Grom......the cops think its hilarious so they look the other way.

doom wrote: I recognize that sometimes it makes me an shiny happy person, but what can you do. I try to keep to idle or as close as possible in neighbourhoods/near open windows/cyclists/etc. But I like what I like, and making myself happy gives me more enjoyment than making you happy.

GFY

Kenny_McCormic wrote:

pres589 wrote: It all seems like they're rugged individualists that only appreciate other appearance matched rugged individualists. Oh well.

Thsi triggered a thought, they're the hipsters of motorcycle owners.

If you look at the advertisements it becomes clear that they are marketed heavily to the hipsters.

It's going to be really hard to defend a position like what HiTemp just pointed out. I mean... I might as well say "it made me feel good when I kicked your bike over, so I did it even if you didn't enjoy the outcome".

wbjones wrote:

quite frankly I also couldn't give a rats ass how they feel … all I want is for the bikers … be it sport bikes or Victory/Harley/Indian …etc … to have to live with the same rules … LAWS that I have to, as regards to sound levels …

there's nothing special about them that gives them the right to be shiny happy people

+1 on this. They can like their Harley choppy idle and the badass appearance, etc. The big problem is that plenty of the guys want to have straight pipes that are 100 dB (or it seems) at idle in traffic that the public can't seem to get the police to contain some, yet some auto-x events that are hundreds of feet, if not blocks away from traffic and residential areas get sound levels imposed and enforced upon. We may need to write some letters on this to our individual state governors.

Louder than stock motorcycles is a good idea so they are less likely to be hit by distracted, sloppy drivers; some people just want to be unreasonable with noise levels.

I just wanted to add a little hate(criticism, really) on the harley rant.

In reply to pres589:

Very true....

yamaha wrote: Although the untouchable guy here locally is the midget riding the Grom......the cops think its hilarious so they look the other way.

Um, does he have a Youtube channel or anything? It sounds like that guy has found his calling in life.

In reply to NONACK:

He's actually a really cool guy, who never thought he could ride a motorcycle. Its a great story, but he rides WOT everywhere, doesn't matter what the speed limit is.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

"Loud pipes" are more of a distraction to the usual motorist. Hell, they'd probably swerve at you just on principal of annoying them.

In reply to yamaha:

That's awesome. Who would've thought, the Grom made someone's dreams come true!

nicksta43 wrote: Maybe we should all demand that the government makes it illegal to change any portion of the exhaust of any type of vehicle from stock. That would solve everybody's problems.

Way to go to extremes to try to belittle a very valid thread!

I realize YOU don't contribute to this nonsense and you should be commended for that. However, when your three beautiful children constantly get woken up at all hours of the night by these V-Twits, you WILL hear me complain.

And if I get the chance (like I did last summer) I will physically do something about it. It becomes personal when you have to put your babies back to sleep every damn summer night.

I suppose it'd be ok to blast my air horn under thier window after they fall asleep each night right?

In reply to yamaha: I like sports bikes, but I would rather annoy drivers a little by having a slightly louder than stock exhaust when I buy one than worry about sloppy drivers not knowing where I am.

In reply to ebonyandivory:

And my suggestion would completely alleviate that issue. Along with the coal rollers and those rice burners that sound like ass and everyone could live in happy quite harmony.

In reply to yamaha:

Good thing the Grom's tapped out at 50mph!

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

They won't hear you until your in front of them anyway. And even if they do hear and see you they will still try to run you down. It's just the nature of the beast.