Wow, I guess I'm right that you and the rest of the bikers are thugs -- the only response to someone questioning the necessity of their noise and inconsideration is violence. Thanks for making my point, tough guy.
I'm not tough at all...and I don't paint a broad brush on a group I don't understand..or agree with...unlike you...otherwise I would think ALL anti-motorcycle nimbys types are nothing but a bunch of misinformed, ignorant azzholes.
All I'm saying is if you mess with a bull, you more than likely will get the horns.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
I have nothing against bikes, or bikers, as the noise only lasts a few seconds, and just like an ambulance or big truck going by, it's not worth getting bent out of shape over. I mean, the woman on the back of the ambulance probably doesn't have handlebars tattooed on her lower back, but still.
Just to qualify, I used to teach advanced college level audio, and acoustics, at The Institute Of Audio Research, in NYC.
Bikers need to know, just for their own safety, that a just because a bike is loud, it doesn't mean it's safer, as the sound emitted, is very directional. To put it in perspective, imagine the sound level of someone screaming into a bullhorn, point blank at your face, as opposed to you standing in back of them.
Here's something you can try just to verify this. Next time you see a bike in your rear view mirror, roll down the window, let the bike pass, and you'll know I'm not wrong.
Factor in the guy that has his windows rolled up, and has his 1000watt stereo going full blast until you can hear every bolt in the car vibrate, (in all actuallity, in the grand equation, in the sum total of the "performance" of the system, it just ends up like sounding like your speakers are blown) and the whole loud being safer argument is moot. Personally, I find the guy with the stereo to be alot more offensive.
I never bought the loud pipes saves lives argument. With all the distractions IN the car, its much better and easier to be seen instead of heard. That's why I use a headlight modulator on my bike. Its legal in all fifty states and even though some people will pull over or pull up to me at a stop and say "hey, there's something wrong with your headlight"... that's fine, it means they saw me, and modulator is doing what it should.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
I never bought the loud pipes saves lives argument. With all the distractions IN the car, its much better and easier to be seen instead of heard. That's why I use a headlight modulator on my bike. Its legal in all fifty states and even though some people will pull over or pull up to me at a stop and say "hey, there's something wrong with your headlight"... that's fine, it means they saw me, and modulator is doing what it should.
I agree, and the modulator idea sounds pretty good.
Wanna hear an idea that I had that may very well make me seem like a moron?
I HATE those stupid blue headlights on cars. BAN THEM. They're more of an attention whore "look it mommy, look it!" thing, than anything else.
However, Make them a REQUIREMENT on bikes, though, so that when you see them, you know that a bike is there, and you don't change lanes without looking.
I agree, and the modulator idea sounds pretty good.
Wanna hear an idea that I had that may very well make me seem like a moron?
I HATE those stupid blue headlights on cars. BAN THEM. They're more of an attention whore "look it mommy, look it!" thing, than anything else.
However, Make them a REQUIREMENT on bikes, though, so that when you see them, you know that a bike is there, and you don't change lanes without looking.
it doesn't need to be a requirement.....unless one purchases special EXTRA insurance on a bike, it's just a recreational vehicle...as for being seen....YOUR CHOICE.....it's both of our priviledges to drive.....dont let the government in on anything else....
just to let ya'll know...I LIKE seeing the modulator in my rearview mirror....I never knew that it was done purposely....learn something new everyday....thanks.....
safe riding/driving
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
I don't paint a broad brush on a group I don't understand..or agree with...unlike you...otherwise I would think ALL anti-motorcycle nimbys types are nothing but a bunch of misinformed, ignorant azzholes.
Why not paint loud bikers with a broad brush? There's no diversity there: they are a bunch of spoiled middle-aged losers whose only means of getting attention is to blast their pipes and annoy everybody within half a mile. There's no other good reason for the noise. It's not for safety, it doesn't make the bike run better, the constant vibration actually causes fatigue to the rider thereby putting him in MORE danger through lack of concentration, it pollutes more, and it sounds like garbage.
And just because the noise lasts "only a few seconds" as mentioned earlier, it's an aggravated problem when hundreds of bikers are driving through every weekend. And during their "rallies" the noise lasts from 6AM through the early morning hours and the Rotterdam police do nothing about it even though there's a law on the books that prohibits tampering with exhausts to make them louder.
I like the ideas of having modulated headlights and other visual safety equipment for motorcycles. Having those annoying "xeon" lights on motorcyles would be good (they are blinding on cars and I always flash my high-beams when I see them even if I know the other driver does not have his highs on), and I've even see those red-light strobe lights on motorcycles which are very visible and, even better, make no noise.
@55tbird, sorry for my comments earlier; I am very annoyed by the loud biker community and I hate the excuses being made by apologists and bikers themselves, but I appreciate that you are not one of them and that you are more concerned about ACTUAL safety equipment and not fake safety like noise. I only hope that you convey to your fellow bikers who may ride loud that their noise will only negatively affect public attitudes toward them.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
SO open minded. I AM the product of the pubic screwls. I guess I am really dumb because I should have been smart enough to get the squishy job of public school teacher! Oh, how my life would have been different if I had done that!
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Finally some nice, mild weather, and here come the noise terrorists.
Give me a break... at worst, they are heard for 5 seconds at a time and then they are gone. How about booming, thumping car stereos that rattle your dishes in your house? They are a lot more intrusive than bike exhausts...
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
The answer why THAT is OK to teachers and other assorted communists? Diverscaity.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."