Excessively noisy motorbike exhaust

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Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
And as i post i've just looked out my kitchen window to see the lazy simpleton who spends all day at his mum's flat below me,pushing what looks like an illegal noisy object into her flat. This prick can't stay out of trouble. Ah well no helmet and a small brain...i could be in luck and the idiot will hopefully come off it and break a few bones!

601042
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
A couple of fresh old potatoes rammed into an exhaust provide ample baffling…

Funny you should say that. I heard about it years ago...in an episode of Columbo!. No really....he confessed to someone one of the reasons he became a detective was in his youth, he put spuds up car exhausts. Funny how you always remember odd things.....
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
And as i post i've just looked out my kitchen window to see the lazy simpleton who spends all day at his mum's flat below me,pushing what looks like an illegal noisy object into her flat. This prick can't stay out of trouble. Ah well no helmet and a small brain...i could be in luck and the idiot will hopefully come off it and break a few bones!

View attachment 601042
It looks like a private escooter with a seat, so does that make it an electric moped?. Seen these on the Bristol Railway Path. There's a whole new generation of people using these things instead of walking or cycling. The future old people are going to be lazy and obese...:whistle:.
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
Most police use 90 decibels as the upper limit. It’s only a non-endorsable fine of 50 or 80 quid if they do catch them. Other actions under the Road Traffic Act would mean paperwork. And no police officer currently has the time for writing up exhausts I’m afraid.
I was guilty as a lad of fitting a modified Mikron pot to a 125. I can still feel the exhaustion of having to ride around on all that noise. Why I did it? Some irrational buzz that maybe I became irresistible to the grammar school girls as I blatted past the bus stop at night? That one day the most delicious of them would step into the road and commend my polluting cacophony as the most erotic sound she had ever witnessed…This did not happen.
A couple of fresh old potatoes rammed into an exhaust provide ample baffling…
An action level is basically a noise exposure level at which employers are required to take certain steps to reduce the harmful effects of noise on hearing. There are two main action levels for continuous noise are 80 and 85db. Quick test is if you cannot hear someone 1m from you. At 85dB, you must wear hearing protection.
 

Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
It looks like a private escooter with a seat, so does that make it an electric moped?. Seen these on the Bristol Railway Path. There's a whole new generation of people using these things instead of walking or cycling. The future old people are going to be lazy and obese...:whistle:.
:thumbsdown:

I just know he'll ride it on the pavement to wind people up. He's a nasty piece of work. :thumbsdown:

Not just the future one's,but the present ones are starting to be like that!
 

southcoast

Über Member
I think that a loud motorcycle exhaust Is a good thing. Someone who is being distracted and and not paying attention, is more likely to hear the bike approaching and not pull out of a side road and cause an accident. I think modern motorcycle exhausts are to quiet and therefore add to the danger for a rider.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
Re: the noisy motorbike; can you not report it to the council as you could any other sort of noise pollution like barking dogs, loud music etc? As with any complaint, make a note of every time you hear it go past (date and time). If you make enough fuss, perhaps sometime in the future the rider might get a warning. But I have no idea if this sort of thing ever gets sorted out. I know my mate's brother kept playing loud dance music some years ago and the neighbours complained repeatedly to the council. He got a warning, and then a final warning to say if he didn't shut up then he'd go to court and have his DJ equipment taken away
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
Re: the noisy motorbike; can you not report it to the council as you could any other sort of noise pollution like barking dogs, loud music etc? As with any complaint, make a note of every time you hear it go past (date and time). If you make enough fuss, perhaps sometime in the future the rider might get a warning. But I have no idea if this sort of thing ever gets sorted out. I know my mate's brother kept playing loud dance music some years ago and the neighbours complained repeatedly to the council. He got a warning, and then a final warning to say if he didn't shut up then he'd go to court and have his DJ equipment taken away
I'll try, but with loud music etc it's often a static source. This guy rides about on this motorbike, I vaguely know which street he lives in but no address. I think I'd be better off waiting for his luck to run out and getting pulled by traffic cops.
 

T.M.H.N.E.T

Rainbows aren't just for world champions
Location
Northern Ireland
I'll try, but with loud music etc it's often a static source. This guy rides about on this motorbike, I vaguely know which street he lives in but no address. I think I'd be better off waiting for his luck to run out and getting pulled by traffic cops.
It happens infrequently. I've been riding motos since 2004 and I've been pulled over once (last wednesday) Copper heard my bike being noisy riding through a built up area (30) and presumed I was speeding.

After a finger wagging session I was set free, safe in the knowledge that I had done nothing wrong and he couldn't prove it :laugh:
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
I think that a loud motorcycle exhaust Is a good thing. Someone who is being distracted and and not paying attention, is more likely to hear the bike approaching and not pull out of a side road and cause an accident. I think modern motorcycle exhausts are to quiet and therefore add to the danger for a rider.
My ears disagree with you. Plus, what about electric motorbikes?. There is a reason why we have noise pollution laws. I've heard this one before and sorry, but it just comes across as an excuse to be obnoxiously loud.
 

southcoast

Über Member
My ears disagree with you. Plus, what about electric motorbikes?. There is a reason why we have noise pollution laws. I've heard this one before and sorry, but it just comes across as an excuse to be obnoxiously loud.

I believe that there are new rules to make electric vehicles produce more noise, using a noise generator?
Your entitled to our opinion. Doesn’t mean I have to agree with you.;)
 

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
I think that a loud motorcycle exhaust Is a good thing. Someone who is being distracted and and not paying attention, is more likely to hear the bike approaching and not pull out of a side road and cause an accident. I think modern motorcycle exhausts are to quiet and therefore add to the danger for a rider.
As a motorcyclist myself, I'd like to see bikes which are far enough above the noise limit to cause a nuisance to everyone else confiscated and crushed.
 

figbat

Slippery scientist
This is one of those ambiguous, yeah-but-no-but areas where there is no single rule, but a lot of laws which overlap and essentially ban the modification of an exhaust to be noisier than standard.

For example The Motorcycle Noise Act 1987 forbids the sale or supply of aftermarket exhausts that are non-compliant with requirements on design, noise, labelling etc. No specific noise level is prescribed though.

Section 54 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 tells us that an exhaust is required to be fitted and it must not be modified to increase noise. Again, no limits but note the reference to EU directives.

In section 2.1.1 of COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 23 November 1978 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States on the permissible sound level and exhaust system of motorcycles we finally come up with some limits:

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So, in summary, the type approval requirements have limits and other laws prevent you from selling noisy exhausts or from modifying your exhaust to be noisier than when approved. Finally, the MOT takes a typically vague and subjective approach which requires the tester to make a judgement as to the level of noise compared to "... a similar motorcycle with a standard silencer in average condition."

But as we know, all of these laws and regulations are broken - you can buy a noisy exhaust and whilst it may be marked "not for use on the road" or simply devoid of the required regulatory markings, people do use them on the road and the chances of being caught and dealt with are clearly low enough that it is done regularly and with little thought to consequences. Bike-friendly MOT stations will let them through on a nod and a wink.

I did once replace my exhaust silencer for a sportier-sounding one but made sure it was BS-marked and nominally road-legal - it retained the silencing baffle and whilst sounding a bit fruitier than the standard one, was not at all obnoxious - I was as much interested in the smaller size and reduced weight as the increased noise.
 
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