Are we killing our own sport?

[kawicam125]

didnt honda make the 06' crf250r quieter with the dual-exhaust. i have a friend who owns an 05' crf250r and he said the twins made it louder and more powerful. once again, with power, comes noise. hopefully we'll pull together and push toward queiter exhausts.

 

[JWW]

I'll make a banner for the front gate. .

T's and stickers would be cool

 

[Okiewan]

didnt honda make the 06' crf250r quieter with the dual-exhaust. i have a friend who owns an 05' crf250r and he said the twins made it louder and more powerful. once again, with power, comes noise. hopefully we'll pull together and push toward queiter exhausts.

Your friend is incorrect.

 

[Okiewan]

T's and stickers would be cool

There'd have to be a fund-raiser of some kind, no way can I afford to do that.

 

[ellandoh]

street bikes help giving us a bad name?? anyone have a thought on that?

ps....they are under scrutiny now also , from what i heard(major harley freak) their days are numbered til catalytic converters etc etc are mandatory

 

[JPIVEY]

This is from a local paper South Bay "Daily Breeze"

MUFFLING MOTORCYCLES,

Seems that a lot of complaints have been made in the Palos Verdes, Gaffey and Paseo del Mar area that forced Harbor Area Councilwomen Janice Hahn to have the local Police start writting tickets for street bikes with loud pipes.

Police officers said they did not mind everyone riding and enjoying them self's but some were making life miserable for the locals. Quoting " We don't want to write a thousand tickets" But we will if we have to!"


I say it's about time

 

[Jeff Gilbert]

I remember racing at mosier valley one night and I was so far behind everyone in my class, surely I must have fallen, :blah: but I was at least a half a lap down. This was when 4 strokes were just getting popular and the tracks were still mainly 2 strokes. I kept getting distracted hearing what I thought was a rider coming up from behind me but each time I looked I didn't see anything. The noise I heard was from a thumper on the other side of the track. The noise would oscillate in and out from such a distance, I never heard the 2 strokes at all.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

If someone makes a 'Loud Sucks' T-shirt I'd definitely get one.

 

[Masterphil]

I agree that education is the only answer, but when people are willing to run aftermarket cams and bigbore kits in a stock class (CHEATERS), no ammount of education is going to make them run a quieter pipe, "BECAUSE THEY COST HORSEPOWER!!!!!" What we really need, as much as I hate to see some governing body step on everybody's toes, someone to step up. Be it the AMA, or god forbid, some government branch. Things like this don't happen based on education, they happen because a law or rule is enforced.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

Maybe something like this?

 

[Thump]

couple of ideas.

 

[BSWIFT]

Great thread. I'm in fo rwhat I can do.

 

[Okiewan]

One of the first things we have to do is stop pointing the finger at 4-strokes... they are here for good, bitching about them won't help. Getting people to stay stock or invest in quiet pipes or inserts will.

 

[crazydirtbiker1]

no matter what there will always be people who believe that the louder the bike is the more powerful it is.

 

[XRpredator]

One of the first things we have to do is stop pointing the finger at 4-strokes... they are here for good, bitching about them won't help. Getting people to stay stock or invest in quiet pipes or inserts will.

Amen brother.

We quieted the two strokes back in the day when they were running the stingers with no silencers, the same can be done for the thumpers.

 

[Wolf]

One of the first things we have to do is stop pointing the finger at 4-strokes... they are here for good, bitching about them won't help. Getting people to stay stock or invest in quiet pipes or inserts will.

I totally agree with that, and have not tried to point fingers at 4 strokes, 2 strokes, whatever strokes.

As far as a sticker goes, I may be able to help. Send me the artwork, I still have some connections in this business.

Unfortunately there isn't a governing body that is capable or has the backbone to stand up for our sport...that leaves it up to us....we have to self police. Raising awareness is a great start, but not nearly enough.
I belong to a club, we have some nice trails and a nice track and we'd like to keep it for as long as possible. So we implemented a 96db rule. We bought a sound meter and are testing tonight and all next week. This was met with plenty of resistance by some of our members...why? because they are not informed. They don't read the paper, they have no clue as to what is happening around them, so they don't get it...yet. It is frustrating to see, cause they are all good guys, but refuse to accept change.
We as the riding community need to realize what's about to happen to us. Don't rely on the next guy to do something about it, cuz that's what he's doing.

 

[Chili]

didnt honda make the 06' crf250r quieter with the dual-exhaust. i have a friend who owns an 05' crf250r and he said the twins made it louder and more powerful. once again, with power, comes noise. hopefully we'll pull together and push toward queiter exhausts.

It is most certainly not any more quiet than an 05.

 

[XRpredator]

I think Honda started marketing "quiet" with the 06 CRF250R, until they found out it wasn't :laugh:

Now they market "balance"

 

[cnielse5]

One of the first things we have to do is stop pointing the finger at 4-strokes... they are here for good, bitching about them won't help. Getting people to stay stock or invest in quiet pipes or inserts will.

Okie is right. the blame game is not going to help anybody. the fact of the matter is that EVERYBODY needs to keep it to a dull roar.

Wolf also has a good point about the fact that people resist change and are just not in touch with reality.

The reality is that emissions are bieng taken care of becuase of cleaner bikes (4-stroke). and Now Noise polution is the BIGGEST complaint from both non riders and riders. Just Like with bike emissions if we do not reduce the amount of noise comming out of our bike we will live in a reality WITHOUT dirtbikes!

I am tired of hearing 2stroke guys whine about fourstrokes (be it noise, cost of maintenance, or weight). In reality these 2stroke babies are just whining because they are not accepting the modern reality of dirt bikes. People not accepting a change in reality is our real problem.

Keep in mind that this is comming from a 2stoke guy!

 

[dante]

guys with 450's do you honestly need more power... do you use it all? Or does the pipe just change the torch curve more to your liking? It seems to me to be pointless to try and make a 450 more powerful... I think part of it is like a pride thing, or guys think they are cooler if everyone thinks, "well that stock 450 just was'nt cutting it, that guy must be FAST!"

 

[Okiewan]

It is most certainly not any more quiet than an 05.

I respectfully disagree ... my ears (theres a disclaimer for ya) tell me the sound from the '06 doesn't carry as far. At any rate, mine will soon be fitted with end caps and inserts to get to 94 db (so they say), a full on test will soon follow.

 

[RM_guy]

This is a great thread and I hope we can really make a difference. I put the "Q" silencer on my bike because I ride on some trails near my house and I want to be as stealthy as possible. My wife is sensitive to the noise and she says she can't even hear me when I'm out riding. My neighbor that I ride with has his bike nice and quiet too.

The problem is there are a few other guys that ride that could care less how loud their bike is. One guy rides around his yard on an YZ80 (he's my age--don't ask) and pisses everyone off, including me. I've talked to him several times but he's got the attitude that it's his land and he can damn well do as he pleases. A real A'hole for sure.

Another guy has a CRF450 and rides on a small track in his backyard. He is a good 1/2 mile from me and I can hear it pretty clearly.

These guys are not proactive in land issues and when they get shut down they'll fight it by making more noise with a chainsaw or their tractor or something. There have been a few local practice tracks that almost got shut down for noise but these guys still don't get it.These are the ones that we have to reach and I'll do what I can but it's a hard road to travel.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I like the idea of the stickers and t-shirts! Start a fund raiser when you get the website going to get them started and then use them as a fund raiser from that point on. I'd contribute to get it started. Then it could grow over time to be able to have banners that could be sent out to tracks and trails that request them - spread the word. I just bought a new old stock 04 cr250 and it doesn't get here until the 20th and the first thing I bought was an FMF Q silencer - it'll be here before the bike.

 

[Offroadr]

One of the first things we have to do is stop pointing the finger at 4-strokes... .

I agree but you have to remember that the acoustics of the deeper noise from a 4 stroke carries much further than a 2 stroke. from a 1/4 mile away you cannot here a 'normal' 2 stroke but you can a 4 stroke.

 

[dirtbikedude]

noise

Loud bikes give me a headache. You can have too much of a good thing. Unless you mandate that everyone wear ear muffs!