As a 35-plus year motorcycle rider and AMA member, I found the attitude of some riders grumbling about discrimination due to the mild crackdown on loud pipes to be rather adolescent. It reminded me of the absurd NRA line “I’ll give up my gun when they pry my dead fingers…” or something. These guys with loud pipes complain about cops infringing on their freedom while on the weekends they make life nearly unbearable for Malibu residents who have paid a princely sum to live in a peaceful area. You see, on one side of the coin is the word “freedom.” On the other side, it is “responsibility.”
Now, I ride a 2002 Harley FXD with a stock exhaust. I had an aftermarket Vance & Hines Pro Pipe for four or five months but removed it a few weeks ago because I just could not stand the noise any more. Maybe I can sell it on Craig’s List. Why ride a Harley? Not because I have doubts about my masculinity (non-riders always like to say that) but because I love to ride and I have always been crazy about motorcycles. Harleys are an American original, despite their many Japanese electrical parts and carburetors. The claim that “loud pipes save lives” is also a joke because the noise from your pipes is projected rearward, rather than forward into oncoming traffic or the autos going in the same direction as the rider. By the time folks hear you, the biker is next to or pulling ahead of the car drivers. No, the real result of loud pipes, beyond their ungodly racket, is the pending legislation in many municipalities and states that will seriously limit the freedom of all us riders. So, loud pipes guys and gals, give us all a break from the noise and you will have nothing to beef about here in Malibu. If you don’t, you will screw it up for all us riders, and that is plain wrong and selfish.
Ride safe.
Marshall Thompson