No Warm Welcome For Motorcycles In National Parks

[tshelfer]

I don't hear anybody here crying to outlaw anything. Plenty of us, though, are saying use common sense and be a little more considerate of the people around you when enjoying the national park system.

[Maverick]

Of course you didn't. Only mentioned of all the things that should NOT happen. I was merely taking it to the next level which would be enacting rules to prevent such NON Accepted items from being introduced into the arena.

[RollingJ]

Last weekend I led a group of 32 street legal dirt bikes through two state parks (Bastrop and Buescher) I paid $128 at the entrance as everybody was lined up about 8:40am on a Saturday. They were HAPPY TO HAVE US.



(of course they didn't call ahead to the next park, and part of the group was held up on the other side, but anyway)

[tshelfer]

Park rangers are generally among the nicest, most patient people in the world. I doubt if many of them are on a mission to run bikes out of their parks. They just want us to play nice.

And then, there's the cash. Your guys had it, the parks desperately need it. A match made in heaven.

[whoa]

Aha! There IS another agenda here.

AHEARN: There, I met Dick Babcock. He rode his Harley over to where my bike was parked to do a little experiment.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOTORCYCLE STARTING)
AHEARN: All right. So that's my 2012 Triumph Bonneville.
BABCOCK: It sounds like a Singer sewing machine.

This goes back to the division between Marlon Brando's Black Rebels on Triumphs and Lee Marvin's gang on Harley's.

[tshelfer]

So how come you don't hear about rival gangs on VStroms and KLRs? Scary bunch, those guys.

[MsSuzieQ]

Originally Posted by tshelfer

Amen, amen, amen. Whether it's loud bike pipes, a Chevy truck with glass packs, a boom box radio in a camp site or a generator that somebody runs from dawn to dusk in their camp site -- if it's noisy, please don't bring it with you to a national park.

And for those of you that insist on putting stereos on your motorcycles? TURN THEM OFF when you roll into parks.. We come there for peace/quiet/relaxation.. Not to listen to YOUR junk.. and that includes the Blue Ridge.. talk about ruining the ambiance AND you have the gall to complain that you haven't seen any wildlife? One can only wonder why...

[jqueen]

Originally Posted by MsSuzieQ

And for those of you that insist on putting stereos on your motorcycles? TURN THEM OFF when you roll into parks.. We come there for peace/quiet/relaxation.. Not to listen to YOUR junk.. and that includes the Blue Ridge.. talk about ruining the ambiance AND you have the gall to complain that you haven't seen any wildlife? One can only wonder why...

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. Every Disney movie I've ever seen shows me that wild animals love music and will come out of the woods to sing and dance with me. The only reason they haven't done it yet must be because of the forest management.

[tshelfer]

The same movies show that birds make good clothespins. I don't find that to be necessarily true.

[MsSuzieQ]

Originally Posted by jqueen

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. Every Disney movie I've ever seen shows me that wild animals love music and will come out of the woods to sing and dance with me. The only reason they haven't done it yet must be because of the forest management.

Originally Posted by tshelfer

The same movies show that birds make good clothespins. I don't find that to be necessarily true.

Oh well what was I thinking... I forgot about all that LOL

[Meriden]

And I always heard it was Rockers and the Mods...

I was in Tucson on a business trip and flew the wife in for some birdwatching in Patagonia. We're at an intersection next to a bagger, the kind with the cut down windshield.

Wife: Why's his radio so loud.
Me: So he can hear it over the exhaust.
Wife: Why's his exhaust so loud then?

We just laughed and laughed.

[thebeancounter]

Recently on a trip to AR with a Triumph Rat Raid. We were leaving the Ozark Cafe in Jasper when one of the locals grabbed my arm and said that they liked Triumphs 'cause we weren't so loud as all those Harleys. While gearing up outside another local stopped by to mention the same thing. I guess alot of noise can get annoying. I felt a little embarrassed as the pipes on the Honda Sabre are quite loud especially under heavy acceleration

[ulric]

Originally Posted by The Bruce

Yep. My ears tell me when it's loud. And setting off car alarms as you ride by would be an indicator of too loud.

That could also depend on the alarm... seem some set so stupidly sensitive that a squirrel passing gas will trigger the alarm.

I'm not fond of overly loud bikes myself...but there needs to be a standardized measure....

Rickey Holtsclaw (RickeyD) wrote:

Thank you NPR. I have ridden motorcycles, off and on, for some 40 years. I ultimately gave up my 31 year career with the Houston Police Department in a futile attempt to bring the out-of-control "loud motorcycle" problem in Houston under control. Houston's Mayor Parker and Chief of Police McClelland cowed to the pathetic cries of area and state motorcyclist organizations and have failed to protect the citizens of Houston from the exponential increase of illegally loud, illegally equipped motor vehicles on our roadways even though clearly articulated Federal, State and local statutes exist that prohibit such dangerous and intrusive conduct. The loud biker community will NOT police itself; therefore, it is necessary that Federal, State and Local authorities intercede on behalf of ALL citizens and stop the madness. Far too many of our legislators, judges, police officers participate in the operation of illegally loud motor vehicles on public roadways. Our legislators are ethically and morally swayed by the tremendous amounts of money available to lobbyists via contributions from the aftermarket exhaust industry and well funded motorcycle organizations. This is clearly organized criminal activity.
Rick Holtsclaw

Anyone remember ^ (and he may be a member/poster on this forum)...
claimed problems with him where that he too was using an 'ear' meter and targeted/ticket some 'legal'/OEM exhausts, along with other possibly less then ehtical actions. He made 'loud exhausts' a personal Jihad.

[Reactor]

This whole thread is funny to me. First you choose to go to a National Park camp ground, which most of the tourist season is going to be packed with people. Most of these people are from large cities, where respect for their neighbors is unknown to most if not all, they live in their own little worlds where they can do no wrong. Did you really think going to a National Park and staying in a sold out camp ground was going to be peaceful/quiet and relaxing. Don't know about you but when I want peace and quiet I go where there are NO PEOPLE!

Apparently none of you holier than thou folks have ever heard 20 or so sport bikes with their modified exhaust slowly rumble their way through a park or parking lot for that matter, and under hard acceleration wrapped out to 10K on the tach. What about you adventure tourer guys with your large displacement singles thumpin through with some after market exhaust. I've heard a herd of those roll through and it wasn't whisper quiet, that's for sure. I've even heard a FJR in full tour dress with after market exhaust take off and it sounded more like an R1 than a sport tourer. But whenever someone says something about loud exhaust, instantly it's those V-Twin guys again. All I read was Harley, Harley, Harley. No body raised any sort of voice over the bad apples that ride the same style bike they do. Face it you can make any bike loud if you want to.

[tshelfer]

Hmm, what's holier-than-thou about wanting a quiet campground? And as I pointed out much earlier in this thread, most people ARE considerate. I'm in national parks or national forest campgrounds every summer and, as always happens, most of the trouble comes from a small group of people - frankly around campgrounds, most of it is generators or loud radios.

As for bikes, maybe I missed something here but I don't see most of the people on this thread complaining about Harleys - they're complaining about loud bikes.

[Meriden]

Originally Posted by Reactor

This whole thread is funny to me. First you choose to go to a National Park camp ground, which most of the tourist season is going to be packed with people. Most of these people are from large cities, where respect for their neighbors is unknown to most if not all, they live in their own little worlds where they can do no wrong. Did you really think going to a National Park and staying in a sold out camp ground was going to be peaceful/quiet and relaxing. Don't know about you but when I want peace and quiet I go where there are NO PEOPLE!

Apparently none of you holier than thou folks have ever heard 20 or so sport bikes with their modified exhaust slowly rumble their way through a park or parking lot for that matter, and under hard acceleration wrapped out to 10K on the tach. What about you adventure tourer guys with your large displacement singles thumpin through with some after market exhaust. I've heard a herd of those roll through and it wasn't whisper quiet, that's for sure. I've even heard a FJR in full tour dress with after market exhaust take off and it sounded more like an R1 than a sport tourer. But whenever someone says something about loud exhaust, instantly it's those V-Twin guys again. All I read was Harley, Harley, Harley. No body raised any sort of voice over the bad apples that ride the same style bike they do. Face it you can make any bike loud if you want to.

Here you go:
http://www.twtex.com/forums/showpost...&postcount=518

As an ironic sidenote, two of the TWT bretheren and myself are going to California to ride in the Barstow to Las Vegas event. Sadly I may have to change mufflers because my quiet stock eshaust does not have a US Forest Service approved spark arrestor.

[Reactor]

Originally Posted by tshelfer

Hmm, what's holier-than-thou about wanting a quiet campground? And as I pointed out much earlier in this thread, most people ARE considerate. I'm in national parks or national forest campgrounds every summer and, as always happens, most of the trouble comes from a small group of people - frankly around campgrounds, most of it is generators or loud radios.

As for bikes, maybe I missed something here but I don't see most of the people on this thread complaining about Harleys - they're complaining about loud bikes.

See the two paragraphs in my post. The first one was about me thinking it was funny when peopple complaining about a crowded area being full of noise. The holier-than-thou paragraph was about all the posters finding faults in the exhaust notes of other styles of bikes and not their own, which would make that person hoiler-than-thou, correct? (sarcasm is so hard to lay down when it is typed and not spoken)

[Reactor]

Originally Posted by Meriden

Here you go:
http://www.twtex.com/forums/showpost...&postcount=518

As an ironic sidenote, two of the TWT bretheren and myself are going to California to ride in the Barstow to Las Vegas event. Sadly I may have to change mufflers because my quiet stock eshaust does not have a US Forest Service approved spark arrestor.

The exact same thing happened to my father one time in the late 80's in Montana (where I grew up). He was riding his restored 1978 or 79 Yamaha TT500 with the stock exhaust when a Forest Ranger told him we had to return to the truck because his bike didn't have a US Forest Service approved spark arrestor on it. So he had to install an after market muffler that was Forest Service approved and way extremely loud compared to stock.

[FJRMike]

but just think about how many lives are saved when loud pipes enter a national park!

[weekend_warrior]

Originally Posted by philipbarrett

6dB actually.

120, 121, what ever it takes! It's been a long time since I learned that. I knew it was something close to that.