Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Denver

Coming to a town near you:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6062291

The bad thing about this law is you can be pulled over for reasonable suspicion of not having an EPA pipe. Not how loud you are. I also understand it is a $500 fine.

Just great, this has effectively ruined my day. It doesn't sound like they want to get too out of hand enforcing this, but I'm probably getting optimistic. How the heck would I go about getting an EPA stamp anyway?

Hopefully, this will only really be enforced in the money/ yuppie neighborhoods, (Cherry Creek, Sloan Lake, etc,) but unfortunately my neigborhood is fitting more in to that category everyday.

Sheesh, just move to the freakin suburbs already.

OK, now I'm just ranting

well, guess I'll make sure I don't live in Denver then. Does this affect ALL of Denver including suburbs like Littleton, Englewood, etc..., or just Denver metro area? Definitely something to consider before I move out there. Maybe I'll just aim for Fort Collins or Pueblo where maybe they'll be a little more tolerant!

I don't know if "tolerant" is a good word for anywhere in Colorado. I remember that one of the first smoking bans to go into effect before the statewide ban was in Pueblo. Pueblo! Not exactly your shi-shi fancy schmancy city on the hill!

If Denver starts it, I wouldn't be suprised to see other places far behind, or, God forbid, a state law pertaining to motorcycle noise and/or emissions.

(quoted from this report....)
"The bikers - including one man in a leather vest who identified himself only as "Diablo" - were unable to persuade most of the councilors to stop the ordinance."
_______

Go FIGURE!!! (aren't we motorcyclists our own worst enemies sometimes???!!!)

Yep! Just who I'D LIKE representing ME in such an affair, BOY!!!

(OKAY! End of "subtle sarcasm"....the following is where I REALLY get P*SSED)

EEH! What the heck! Thanks to people who STILL rationalize their lousy riding habits by repeating that tired old phrase, "Loud Pipes Saves Lives", THIS is what happens, FOLKS!!!

(always "kind'a sort'a" works this way, ya know)

LOOK! If I can ride over 40 friggin' years with "reasonably quiet" pipes in this MADHOUSE OF AUTOMOBILES known as GREATER LOS ANGELES, and still be around to tell the tale...then WHAT'S the FRIGGIN' PROBLEM with all these yo-yos who persist in this "decible game" thoughout this country???

AND, I'm sure all the aftermarket companies will ALSO eventually "REALLY APPRECIATE" these riders who can't seem to "receive enough attention" with their OVERLY LOUD friggin' straight pipes ALSO after these kinds of laws catch fire throughout this land!!!

(NOPE! Nothin' surprises me much anymore, ya know)

Yeah! And I'm SURE I'm about to see the "Freedom Card" played on this thread here TOO, when THIS issue is REALLY about respecting other's rights to a REASONABLE AMOUNT of PEACE AND QUIET....ya know???!!!

WHY do certain people(once again, to quote from that article.."Bad Apples") keep screwin' it up for the rest of us??????

(I'll answer THAT myself, if you don't mind....It's all about the philosophy of "Look at ME! Don't I "sound cool!"

(end of rant)

My decade of experience in Denver and Fort Collins taught me that these friggin people love to move into an area and start making rules for the people that have lived there for a long time. The same sort of people tried that in Montana and have had much more limited success.

I hear a nicely tuned loud bike and I think that the bike sounds good. I like loud bikes. Crotch rockets, cruisers, tourers; it doesn't matter. I like loud cars that are tuned nicely. I don't like the people that rev the cars and bikes needlessly in the midst of civilization. I do not appreciate people who think I should modify my bike to make them quieter. If I am an idiot in the midst of others and rev and spin out and basically act the fool then I deserve scorn. If I am respectful of others with my loud pipes then I do not deserve scorn. If it is assumed that having loud pipes is disrespectful of others then it is a matter of perspective. They feel their rights are trampled because of my pipes. I feel my rights are trampled because I am forced to modify my motorcycle. If pushed I will have to say ****** you and keep my pipes. If it is the law, I will either change or move.

They have been talking about this on http://www.usabikernation.com/bikes.asp for a few weeks, saying it was going to come down.....EPA pipe...reads as Stock Pipe......The City of Huntington Beach in CA did a simlar thing, you would get ticketed for non-factory (stock) pipes. They drove the bikes out of town.....

What bothers me is you can be stopped not for sound but if they think your pipe is not an EPA pipe....

Paul, as you can tell these sorts of regulations chaff at me also. There's nothin' much sweeter in my book than a Flowmaster hooked up to a Chevy small-block! I TOO like a certain decible of exhaust note coming out of machines. Definately MORE than what comes direct from the EPA mandated exhausts that all manufacturers must comply when we purchase a new bike. I personally have drilled out the first baffle and the rear rings in my "Triumph Longs" to achieve a louder note.

BUT...there IS something known as "moderation" in this world, and it seems to me that too many of my fellow motorcyclists forget this simple little concept, and these are the sorts of things that naturally occur as a consequence.

I don't like these types of regulations either. Not one little bit. But I can see how this stuff comes to pass, thanks in large part to being noticed[in the eyes of the vast majority of non-riders out there] for all the "wrong reasons".

Why does this suprise anyone? This is going to start happening everywhere...Its not about freedoms or a nice sounding bike its about the straight pipes and the folks who dont consider that anyone has a right to not have to listen to thier noise... Its the same as them cars with the big booming crap they call music coming out of them... noise is noise

Everyone should see this coming. We'll all be riding less aggressive sounding bikes soon enough. My biggest beef is with the $$$. What about those of us that shelled out $400-600 for pipes, not the rules change, and were going to have to shell out another $400 -600 (yea right- when they get you over a barrel the price triples). This is BR bovine recycling and needs to have a grandfather clause. Hope you didn't throw your AI's away!!!!

What I am not sure of is the $500 fine...the CA was more or less a fix it ticket....you put the stock pipes back on and get the ticket signed off.....But what they were saying on Biker Nation...you get to pay $500 and then put your stock pipes back on.....

I posted this before. I do love my loud pipes. here is a quote from a while back

Re: Loud Pipes? Gets you a ticket in Ft. Lauderdale... [Re: bonnyusa]
#189850 - 03/13/07 09:37 AM Edit Reply Quote Quick Reply



I enjoy loud pipes and loud music. I have produced a new pipe that makes my bike louder than any harley I know. I also have installed a dash on my bike with a 1000 watt stereo. I have put speakers on the handle bars, in the saddlebags and a bigass woofer on the luggage rack. I normally crank my bike up at around 0530 in the morning to go to work. I pull out around 0645. I can get away with this because I am a police officer and if anyone complains I threaten them with Police violence or unwarrented tickets for minor infractions like not putting their parking brake on in their driveway. Noone seems to complain anymore. I do need my bike and my stereo to be this loud because I wear heavy duty ear protection. I don't want to lose my hearing.

--------------------
I stand by my committment to loud pipes.

To the tune of B-I-N-G-O...

I know a member on a website, assholeishisnameoh A-SS-HOLE, A-SS-HOLE, A-SS-HOLE, assholeishisnameoh!

It's hard to draw a line in the sand. I like loud bikes, and loud pipes. You can almost feel the power coming out of them. I also live 2 blocks away from a Custom bike shop. I don't live on the main drag, and when I come home from work, I like a little r&r. I have to admit, that I get a little irritated in the summer, because I can't even hear myself think. People ride down my SIDE street, wide open, in like 2nd gear all day long and up until about 9 oclock at night. It shakes the windows in my sliding door.

Actually - I don't even know where I stand. I don't think what they are doing in Denver is the right thing, but I'm sure that whatever they come up with in Jersey won't be much better.

I am having the dealer put my TOR's on next week....I need to remember to have him give my the stock mufflers back....just in case......

In a democracy (ooh, sounding a little political here but bear with me) folks don't lose their freedoms to the sound of jackboots and dictators, but they disappear very slowly, one at a time, so yah don't notice it. A loud pipe here, a cigarette there, a haggis elsewhere (what, you didn't know haggis is a banned substance?) Then one day you wake up and find you and your neighbors are wearing jackboots and wondering where it all went.


Siggy

So Dwight - I guess that makes me ahead of my time (Voted Mr. Quiet-Bike at the 2007 SWTF).

But let's take care of one thing at a time...When I hear a stereo system a full 2-3 minutes before a car turns my corner...NOW THAT'S A PROBLEM THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN CARE OF FIRST !!

I guess gutting our stock pipes is Plan B.

Hope things are great on the coast!

Yeah, what he said...

I used to live in LoDo and moved out of LoDo for a variety of reasons, one being the obnoxious, "look at me" bikers who rode by throttling their scooters so loud the flippin windows shook. These folks are responsible for this ordinance, not the city of Denver. I should also mention that this issue has been discussed with numerous pleas to the hotshots to tone it down over the last five years, to no avail.
Because of these hotshots, now we got a bunch of suits making rules with significant and negative unintentional consequences for all of us.
So wether you live in the burbs, or own a private island, check out how your behaviors are impacting the life around you and be responsible and respectful.

you're right benjammin, no one is better than anyone else, but like you and Dwight have been talking about image and perception are pretty much all that matters any more, right or WRONG! Had it been somebody up there like Tim Allen, Jay Leno or Jonathan Herbert Walker Hilton Rockerfeller III esq. representing our side of the issue, instead of a guy in leather named "Diablo", well, sadly, he/she would have carried a LOT more weight with the typical city council weenies, because, they can relate to someone like that more than they can relate to Diablo and what they see as a fringe element of society, who obviously, in their eyes, is a lower class citizen than such fine personages as populate the Denver City Council (and most city councils in my opinion) Guess I'll dig out my slightly gutted and scuffed factory pipes (with EPA stamp!) when or if I move out that way.... Oh well, I've been thinking about ditching the Bubs anyway, if I could find a louder version of the shotgun pipes that used to come on the Speedmasters.

The thing about the law is it is not sound....If the cop sees your bike and knows the pipes are not stock, he can stop you give you a ticket....It would be one thing if it was sound based but it is "are the pipes stock (EPA) or not"

yep. negative and unintentional consequences devised by the suits because of irresponsible hotshots who think this is "their world and everybody else just happens to live in it".

Just curious-where is the "EPA Stamp" on the stock exhaust system? Are there any aftermarket systems that have it?

It should be facing in toward the wheel on the stock pipes. It's actually stamped into the metal, under the chrome plating.

I guess were all going to be trying to figure out how to get the two front baffles out, now... LOL

what we need is a nice bolt in kit with larger baffles that is indistinguishable from the factory ones. NOW that would be cool. "Why yes Officer, these ARE factory stock EPA certified pipes, see my stamp right there....

There is a town north of Philly called New Hope where they have a noise ordinance for motorcycle pipes. My Speedy with Epcos can be obnoxious if I really get on it, certainly well outside of the limits of their ordinance. I have been there several times and have kept the revs down and rode right by an officer ticketing a bike. They don't even look up as I go by. They target the idiots who feel the need to rev their bikes as they go through town to make sure they get noticed. "Hey, I've spent $20k on my bike, it's all shiney and cool - look at me!"

OR...we can all go to our local Yamaha...err...excuse me, STAR dealers and purchase a couple of THESE very "attractive" exhausts for our bikes.....

But.. being cool is why I bought a bike. I was always picked on as a young boy. All the jocks and greasers picked on me because I excelled in home-ec class. I swore that I would be cool one day. My loud pipes have put me in the cool class. I don't want to lose my cool status. So, when I rev my bike in the middle of a shopping center, PLEASE look at me in all my leather and smile and nod your head approvingly.

Side issue - The Criminal Defense (CCDB) listserve I'm on had a posting concerning a non-checkpoint 'checkpoint.' At issue was the fact that only vehicles stopped at gauntlet were motorcycles, whereby some (unnamed) agency rep would come out and examine bikes' pipes for EPA markings. Of course the issue really at the heart of the posting had more to do w/ the subsequent DUI (and the fact the rider given the DUI experience was Black) than noise, but it means that Denver and metro agencies are out for you, if you're trying to save lives (w/ loud pipes) - especially your own.

My question would be, what about those bumblebee Hondas, or other vehicles that scream, "HEY, 'MIDAS'-IZE IT!!!"

So what happens if you're just passing through?

I was talking to the Foothills Service rep. yesterday, as they put my TOR's on....The word they got from the cops that ride is they are looking for loud pipes with complinats

More info.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5569985,00.html

(according to your Rocky Mountain News Source here....)

"Garcia said he instructed the city Department of Environmental Health to conduct outreach with motorcycle groups, adding that he’s holding tonight’s hour-long hearing to ensure bikers have an opportunity to speak out.

Motorcycle noise has become a key complaint for city residents, Garcia added."


Eeh! Don't worry, Jim. I'm SURE "Diablo" will be there tonight(making, of course, a "grand impression" upon those lawmakers there in your The Mile High City), and will be looking after YOUR vested interests.

Yep! Don't YOU WORRY, Chum!!!

(If THAT doesn't work, I hear Tony Soprano is looking for a new gig!)