Semi OT: South Park bagging on noisy Harleys

[cowboyona426]

I was watching some stuff on the DVR last night and pulled up the latest episode of South Park, which was an episode devoted to bagging on Harleys for all the noise they make. In typical South Park fashion it was a little over the top, but still amusing.
This is a topic often brought up when we start talking about losing riding areas, that we are supposed to sneak around as quiet as a mouse but Harley riders are allowed to rip around with open pipes and nobody really seems to care... I wonder if this might be a first sign that people are starting to get tired of this? Is there a snowball's chance in hell anything will ever come of it?

[jaybird67k393]

I thought it was funny................

Later, Jason

[moose99psd]

chase thats a really good thought... guys can run around on their choppers being loud and obnoxious and noone says a word.. even big lifted 4x4 with open exhausts.... but we get stuck to pretty stringent standards as far as being OFF highway... doesnt make any sense....

[Tracker]

Not much will change as long as a lot of cops ride loud street bikes.
They tend to not write each other tickets; and they have to wrestle with that moral thing when it comes to writing tickets for laws that their friends, neighbors, and family break.
More and more we have to share the wide open spaces with non-riding public, (translation - voters). It's unfortunate that so few of us seem to understand this. A loud bike can ruin someone's day from a long way off.

[Timmy 2 Trak]

I agree with you on the sharing space with others Tracker, here in Kansas we have to share it with the cattle. A lot of farmers complain that loud dirt bikes and dual sports stampede their cattle. Several years ago I heard California was starting to do sound level checks when they did the emissions test for tags and registration, first thing I thought was what are they going to do about Harley riders.

[Tracker]

Yeah, and cattlemen vote. In fact, they tend to have much closer relationships with their legislators than motorcycle riders.
I haven't heard of a sound check for registration yet but it wouldn't surprise me if something like that started in a small way. There's too many of us in Ca to do it for everyone, all the time. I was caught in a highway patrol sound check years ago in a company vehicle with a blown muffler. Pulled me over on the freeway and wrote me a ticket.. I don't think they still do that program. Last time I went to a local off-road riding park I saw a tripod and mic on the side of a trail, and then the ranger truck around the corner with a couple "customers" waiting for their coupons. Everything I ride is stock, mostly because of how my luck goes.

[Mainjet2001]

If you race District 37 (desert) you have to pass a 96db sound test to ride where there is basically no one.
In Surf City most streets have block walls and the Harley (mostly, not all) pipe noise just bounces back and forth and nothing is done.
I wonder how they get away with it....must be a money path some where.

[cowboyona426]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

If you race District 37 (desert) you have to pass a 96db sound test to ride where there is basically no one.
In Surf City most streets have block walls and the Harley (mostly, not all) pipe noise just bounces back and forth and nothing is done.
I wonder how they get away with it....must be a money path some where.

Main, the only thing I can think of is that a Harley in town or on the street isn't "destroying nature or the outdoor experience" like some guy out in the woods trying to have a good time with friends and family, so that must make it okay.

[pjg351]

Problem solved! put up a high concrete fence around our riding area's not only that it should provide a few jobs and solve the economic crisis. You see motorcycles fix everything

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

In Surf City most streets have block walls and the Harley (mostly, not all) pipe noise just bounces back and forth and nothing is done.
I wonder how they get away with it....must be a money path some where.

I wasn't kidding about the cops and the ticket thing on loud pipes.

If you race District 37 (desert) you have to pass a 96db sound test to ride where there is basically no one.

If I had to guess I would say that no one hangs out on 39, or anywhere else in HB, for the peace and tranquility and noise is more accepted. The desert though, (and all the other places people ride off-road bikes) can be pretty quiet until a bike or two comes along.

[mxerhale]

As I recall way back in the 70s (and probably before that too) bikers were considered riff-raff, troublemakers and trashy but that seemed to slowly change. By the early 90s accountants and yuppies started riding Harleys and suddenly it was very fashionable to own one and be the bad boy in the cul de sac. I work with probably 20 guys that ride Harleys and 80% of the bikes have straight pipes and yet to meet these guys in person you would never guess that they would want to be the obnoxiously loud guy riding down the road. I think it must be those goofy old movies with dudes like James Dean and Brando back in the 50s when these nerds were kids that inspire them to ride that loud crap.

[yzernie]

Originally Posted by Tracker

Not much will change as long as a lot of cops ride loud street bikes.
They tend to not write each other tickets; and they have to wrestle with that moral thing when it comes to writing tickets for laws that their friends, neighbors, and family break.

So many things I could say but I'll simply roll my eyes.

Originally Posted by mxerhale

yuppies started riding Harleys and suddenly it was very fashionable to own one and be the bad boy in the cul de sac

So funny and yet so true. People want to be portray themselves as Billy Badass...You wouldn't believe all the pozsrs here in SoCal. Many of these posers truly believe that f you don't ride a Harley you are pond scum. I would be that many of these nerds here in SoCal have never even been in a fist fight in their lives. I just laugh when I see them.

[Tracker]

I have to admit that I had a Harley for a while. It was fun but it got old. Mine was a bit on the loud side but nothing like most of the straights I see running around now. I actually put the stock ('82 Sturgis) pipes back on after a couple of really long rides. The noise wears on you after a couple hours on the road.

So many things I could say but I'll simply roll my eyes.

I fully understand PC and I'm guilty of it myself. That's why I said what I did.

[yzernie]

Originally Posted by Tracker

I fully understand PC and I'm guilty of it myself. That's why I said what I did.

Please explain your PC???...Political Correctness??...Probable Cause??...Penal Code??

Originally Posted by Tracker

Not much will change as long as a lot of cops ride loud street bikes.
They tend to not write each other tickets; and they have to wrestle with that moral thing when it comes to writing tickets for laws that their friends, neighbors, and family break.

As far as your comment about who we do or don't write tickets to...

I will openly admit that I don't write other cops tickets...so what. There are other citizens I don't write citations to either, ie; Doctors, Clergy, Nurses, etc. Over the course of my 32 year career I have written thousands of citations to people from all walks of life and at every minute on the clock. Conversely, I have also let thousands of people from all walks of life at every minute on the clock drive away without a citation. There is no law or policy mandating me to write a citation if I don't want to.

As far as "wrestle with the moral thing", please stop. See above about not having a mandate to write. To blanketly say what you did is foolish without merit.

There are however, certain citizens I will write a ticket to every time I stop them, ie; Attorneys, BLM and Forestry Rangers in this county, parolees, outlaw bikers riding their Harleys with loud pipes, etc.

[Tracker]

It appears I have struck a nerve. Sometimes that happens when you say what's on your mind. I stand by my response to the OP, although I can word it differently:
Gosh friends- Based on my personal and professional observations I truly believe that the laws that were passed to keep those loud bikes quieter just aren't going to be enforced to the level necessary to make the difference you might appreciate. I know several significant reasons why that is true but I don't want to bother anyone by saying it publicly.
Ernie- Someone who has been in our business as long as we have usually has a lot thicker skin. Sorry if I poked you into responding. And "PC"?- C'mon. In the context used it shouldn't be hard to figure that it means professional courtesy: the phrase most commonly used to describe what I was talking about. I'll be blunt again: I don't care for it. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I feel I have to do it. But I respect the right of any and every cop to do their job as they see fit. Those under my command understand my position and there has never been an issue at work.
My former Harley runs around your town. It's a black and brown '82 Sturgis. The last 3 are "748". I gave him both sets of pipes and he said the loud ones were going on as soon as he got home. If you pulled him over I guess you couldn't write him a ticket.

[yzernie]

No nerve struck at all and I have pretty thick skin. You may be reading inflection into my words that is not there. I am simply stating my opinion. What I believe is unwarranted is the fact that you insinuated that all cops fall into the same catagory and that, IMHO, is without merit.

I don't have a problem writing anyone a ticket who deserves it or displays a bad attitude. I've written a few people in my "off List" and although very, very, very rare I've even laid a coupon on a couple of LEOs because of their poor attitude. I'm not very PC either and that is why I wrote my reply as I did.

And remember, I said BLM and Forestry Rangers in this county!!

[Tracker]

I think the words I used were "tend to", a phrase I chose to avoid the meaning of an absolute or all inclusive. I "tend to" not fit the mold of the 830.2 club either. But we are often painted with a broad brush, as we tend to do to others, so the perception of an insinuation is fair. If I knew any BLM or Forestry Rangers I might warn them. I said, "Might".
Back on topic:
I've asked a few CHP officers about the "sound trap" I was caught in and cited for several years ago and none of them had even heard of such a thing. It was in 1980 or '81, 405 S/B, S/O Jamboree if anyone from SoCal knows anything about it. It seemed to be a pretty effective detail from what I saw from the side of the road for a few minutes.
I'm surprised no one has brought up the bumper sticker / T-shirt, "Loud Pipes Save Lives".

[noobish]

Southpark was not about making fun of loud harleys. They just used that demographic to drive their point home. The entire episode was about liberal hypocrisy in relation to groups of people on list A get PC treatment while people on list B have no rights. They made that perfectly clear, using the word fag was bad if you were calling gays fags, but it was perfectly fine to call harley riders fags and they got the meaning of the word changed, again. I mean they clearly took some digs at the Harley community, rightfully so in my opinion as there are many *** clowns on Harleys that drive around making too much noise or opening up their bikes on residential streets at 3am knowing how loud they were going to be. They even took a swipe at the gay communitys double standard with the word fag. The episode was brillant but it appears to be lost on many of you, please go back and watch it again

[cowboyona426]

Originally Posted by yzernie

There are however, certain citizens I will write a ticket to every time I stop them, ie; Attorneys, BLM and Forestry Rangers in this county, parolees, outlaw bikers riding their Harleys with loud pipes, etc.

Geeze... I hope Ernie never pulls me over, you'll break my perfect record of never having received a ticket

---------- Post added at 08:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:02 AM ----------

Originally Posted by noobish

Southpark was not about making fun of loud harleys. They just used that demographic to drive their point home. The entire episode was about liberal hypocrisy in relation to groups of people on list A get PC treatment while people on list B have no rights. They made that perfectly clear, using the word fag was bad if you were calling gays fags, but it was perfectly fine to call harley riders fags and they got the meaning of the word changed, again. I mean they clearly took some digs at the Harley community, rightfully so in my opinion as there are many *** clowns on Harleys that drive around making too much noise or opening up their bikes on residential streets at 3am knowing how loud they were going to be. They even took a swipe at the gay communitys double standard with the word fag. The episode was brillant but it appears to be lost on many of you, please go back and watch it again

I don't read that far into something on a Tuesday evening lazed out on the couch with a cold beer in my hand