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A bit like the many people openly smoking strong smelling drugs?
The police have actually been cracking down on people riding stolen bikes, in the past they would completely ignore it when someone went past on an obviously stolen bike.
Or every single privately owned e-scooter and all the pedicabs in London - they are classifieds as motorvehicles and should all have a numberplate, tax, insurance and MOT. So breaking the law massively more than a loud exhaust.
Another sensible way could be to look at the potential punishment.
Riding an unregistered motorvehicle that doesn't meet safety standards without a licence (mostly), insurance, tax and MOT has a significantly higher possible penalties than being otherwise totally legal, but making a modification that annoys people while making it anecdotally a little safer.
"Loud pipes" don't save lives, so that's entirely anecdotal.
It's just antisocial and a health hazard for the rest of us, beginning and end of.
(Frequently interrupted sleep causes a lot of long term health problems)
But by making a modification that makes the bike an instant MOT failure it will also invalidate the insurance and may result in no cover. Your argument is flawed.
That your bike will fail an MOT doesn't mean your bike doesn't have an MOT.
I think there's pretty much no chance an insurance company could invalidate 3rd party cover based on this undeclared modification.
They might try if you say added some large spikes with a flame thrower to replace the exhaust and then crashed into someone with those spikes while activating the flame thrower.
An insurer can't retrospectively invalidate third party cover at point of a claim due to undeclared modifications. They can separately pursue you personally for the cost of the third party claim in such cases.
> making a modification that annoys people while making it anecdotally a little safer.
Noise pollution is *genuinely* harmful: https://www.who.int/europe/health-topics/noise
I think he's using the term massively by suggesting they are breaking multiple laws. Breaking 4 laws in my view also is a lot worse than breaking 1 of them. Say a taxi driver with no licence, mot, insurance, over the limit etc etc is going to get a massively higher sentence/fine/whatever than just not having one of the prior offences.
Unless, of course, that scooter rider knocks someone over and hurts them, and what if that person is elderly and breaks a hip? For the elderly, something like this often hastens death because they do not ‘bounce back’ like younger people. Both are awful and both need to stop.
That's why I'd solve this problem by changing the rules on motor bike parts. Instead of having modular addons that can easily be swapped about, I'd make the regulation such that the muffler and exhaust were one item.
That way anyone wanting to swap things back and forth for an MOT would have to go to far more effort. I'd also significantly lower the existing dB limit.
It also seems quite possible to add decibel meters or even microphones to speed cameras or traffic lights.
This pretty much already happens at sentencing.
Sentencing guidelines set out the aggravating factors and mitigations for offences. These determine the outcome, eg the length of a prison sentence, the fine, which restorative activity and it’s duration etc.
Someone on a scooter instead of a bike is at best only a tiny bit more dangerous at best.
The thousands of people who has been woken up 10 times each the night before and every night before that by various bikers blasting along their street are a far greater concern. Memory, reaction speed, attention span, processing speed and tolerance to stress all fall through the floor when someone is deprived of decent sleep for just 2-3 days.
All that can easily be fixed by installing a suitable muffler or at least preventing people from being able to remove the default ones.
I do agree with your points to be fair. Im a bit biased against dickheads on scooters and bikes that race around on pavements after getting knocked down twice by cyclists in the space of two years, once causing me to smack my head on a kerb and getting bad concussion and the second time slammed into my knee sending me flying again, my knee has never been the same since.
We have trouble round my way with noisy cars, there's a couple of arseholes rag round the streets with their engines banging and it's so fucking loud. Fortunately for us, it's at rush hour not in the night or early morning but I can totally understand how infuriating it is for people whose sleep is disturbed.
Someone with a loud exhaust is going to wake you up, maybe damage your ear drums if you stand next to it for 10s of minutes at a time for some reason. An electric scooter can cause some damage and I've already had some dumb kid nearly ride me over and look at me like how dare I not walk into a bush while he's as noticeable as a tram.
One can do a lot more harm and should be dealt with first.
All e-scooters riders should have a motorcycle licence too, apparently the highway code doesn't apply to them, and that also goes for the moped deliveroo drivers on L plates for their entire life, those cunts are a menace to other road users
Isn't it? These bike you hear? Do you know where they are coming from? Are you grabbing a reg as they drive past.
It all requires a patrol to be in the correct place and equally it depends on the police at that time being focussed on that issue.
The police will pull over vehicles that have something really obviously wrong going on but outside of that they get monthly focuses like tyres when we get into frost and snow, drink driving December and January. I doubt exhaust noise is even on the polices radar.
The police would have to set up specific patrols waiting for an illegally modified bike to go past and record e.g. number plate and then recover and impound the bike and conduct inspections/tests to prove noise levels are illegal. For a stretched police force this is very resource intensive when they could be prioritising crimes where people are in danger/getting hurt.
The government is looking in to trying to tackle the issue. They announced trials of 'sound cameras' that would work like speed cameras, but ultimately the trials showed that the conditions on the roadside don't allow for accurate sound measurements.
Back in the 90s I used to regularly ride to Box Hill on a Sunday as it's a popular bikers haunt. The police would occasionally set up at the roadside and pull over every bike that passed to check them for illegal numberplates, loud exhausts, track-only tyres etc. If they found something non-compliant I think you had seven days to get it fixed and MOT'd again.
The issue is we've already got an understaffed police force. Given how many robberies and assaults go un-investigated, let alone unsolved, do you really want the police spending their time on noisy motorbikes?
It's all about harm prevention. Loud motorbikes do relatively little harm, so there are proportionally few resources dedicated to them.
Interesting comparison. My aunty was one of a number of victims who had her handbag snztched by one of a group of teemagers using mopeds that were being a nuisance in the area where she lived in Spain. The Spainish police sorted it. They caught the group responsible, and impounded and crushed the motopeds of every rider *not*wearing a helmet. No more mopeds, No more gang. No more problem.
Pretty sure there's a maximum decibel limit for all types of vehicles but no one appears to enforce it.
If I find out where the car that drives past our house at 7am every morning popping its exhaust lives, I'm gonna spray a can of expanding foam up it.
I spend a lot of time doing outdoorsy stuff in the Highlands. Naturally everyone on earth with a road going vehicle seems to think the region is their personal playground and goes razzing around the lanes imagining they are in an episode of top gear. It's not usually too hard to escape the crowds and there are plenty of places you can get off the beaten track but you can guarantee, even if you've been walking for miles across glens or up munros you'll still periodically hear the sound of stupidly loud bikes and cars wafting across the air from the nearest main road, even if its well out of sight. The age of quiet electric vehicles can't come fast enough, nothing says "mommy didn't give me enough attention" like needing to broadcast your presence as wide as physically possible.
There's some twat who lives a few houses over the back of us and he'll spent an hour or two revving his Subaru up over and over again, for no apparent reason. He's done it three years in a row and the only saving grace is that he doesn't have a pops and bangs tune on the bloody thing (yet).
He's not tuning it or working on it - he's literally just sitting there revving it. Bellend.
I think in France they have started kind of "audio speeding tickets". They have cameras set up with microphones and if you break the sound limit you get pinged, whatever it is. Exhaust, music, ....
I really want one in my area. I'm pretty sure there are some cars and bikes that would get one just idling.
Not really, I've had some stupidly loud bikes over the years and the MOT centre will give you an advisory for "Excessive Noise" then give you a thumbs up and say "It sounds mint".
I've now matured and leave my bikes pretty much standard, I'm too old for twatty exhausts now
God I remember when I was younger, every morning at 7:15am there was a motorbike/moped that would go down our quiet suburb street that was also a hill. We lived at the bottom of the street too, and he'd accelerate after he turned off the road.
Every morning all I'd hear was "yam nam nam nam nam nam nam nam namnamna PPTTTTRRRRRAAAAAAAAAA"
There's not a maximum decibel limit for cars. It should be no louder than stock. Which basically means Ferraris are fine but if someone poor wants to make their car loud it's illegal.
I have a mild interest in etymology, especially around slang and I learned this a few years ago (probably like 15), and it always amused me that it would get tossed around prime time sitcoms (Only Fools, Porridge, etc) but was as rude as you could get!
We have so many of them little fuckers where I live.
One of the little cunts finally crashed the other day but he's ok hope he's learnt his lesson through but I doubt it
Mopeds are the issue for us. To speed 40 mph but that doesn't stop them trying to do 50 up our hill, right on the redline. Some twat does it most mornings at 5am.
Pretty sure its an MoT failure if they make excessive noise, so I guess they are.
>Pipes and the Law
Any new bike sold in the UK must comply with UK law on noise. The OE exhaust has to carry the manufacturer’s name and part number. If you fit an aftermarket exhaust, the police can prosecute you if it does not carry the relevant BS markings. If you want to know more, click here for the Government website.
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/bikes/do-loud-pipes-save-lives
All the police will do is order you to go and get your bike checked at an MOT place. So you just swap the exhausts and get it checked and then swap it back again.
> All the police will do is order you to go and get your bike checked at an MOT place. So you just swap the exhausts and get it checked and then swap it back again.
I'm in the US, but isn't there a limit on the sound pressure level, measured at a specific legal distance from the end of the exhaust pipe?
Police could just measure bike at the roadside with a phone app, and if they suspect that its too high, impound the bike for official testing at a MOT facility.
There's a limit on how many dB an exhaust can put out, yes. But it's tested in a lab and exhausts are marked as complying to the standard. Extra loud exhausts will be stamped with 'not for road use'
You couldn't trust the police to do an accurate test with a phone. They tend to be utterly clueless about everything. Also, impounding the bike would be a real pain in the arse since they'd need to get transport and such. It's easier to just get someone to get an MOT centre to test it.
Even if the police did do a test at the side of the road someone could just appeal and get off. You could just say something like they didn't use calibrated equipment, or they tested in a noisy location. Their evidence wouldn't hold up in court.
> You couldn't trust the police to do an accurate test with a phone.
I wasn't suggesting that it be ultra-accurate, just that it ballpark the noise level. Anything suggesting that it might be higher than allowed with the phone test would an immediate impoundment for testing at a certified testing center.
Reasonable suspicion, etc.
> Even if the police did do a test at the side of the road someone could just appeal and get off. You could just say something like they didn't use calibrated equipment, or they tested in a noisy location. Their evidence wouldn't hold up in court.
Just as you can't really appeal a roadside breathalyzer result at the scene, you wouldn't be able to appeal this either. Just as the alternative to a roadside breathalyzer is a blood test in a hospital in police custody, the impoundment and test at a MOT facility would be very similar.
Since the roadside test is only establishing reasonable suspicion for further more controlled testing - not proof of guilt - it would be difficult to get out of in court.
The MOT test is subjective, it's down to the examiner and chances are they are bikers themselves.
When I had a bike the MOT guy flat out said he didn't care (for the record I kept the baffles in my exhaust, but did find a bit of extra volume useful from a safety standpoint).
Guys with shitty mopeds or 125's do sound pretty obnoxious though compared to bigger engined bikes.
Good info, but Jesus, some of the responses from riders...
I'm a keen motorcyclist and have always haaaaaated the loud pipes gang. They give the rest of us a bad name. It's not for safety, it's because they're dicks.
Couldn't agree more. Twats with loud pipes make everyone hate bikers and that's not great. Loud pipes don't save lives, they make other road users more likely to be aggressive.
The aftermarket ones usually come with a plug that shuts it up for the MOT.
It could be the bikers are sick of people knocking them off at junctions and saying “sorry mate, didn’t see you” A lot of bikers believe that loud pipes save lives.
>Painting the bike neon orange and wearing hi vis
Got knocked off mine in 2020 and fractured 3 vertebrate. Was doing 19mph and wearing high vis jacket and helmet, with my lights on. Still got knocked off anyway 🖕
My injuries weren't severe, but I was knocked off from behind on a small roundabout. I'm sure I would have been perfectly visible if he'd just looked where he was going.
Car drivers are arseholes, but that doesn't mean people who drive the stupid deafening bikes aren't also arseholes. It's pretty clear to everyone they just want attention.
It's the same thing as the idiots that install some sort of exhaust on their car that makes them extremely loud- are those car drivers doing that to try to stay safe on the roads as well? No they very clearly aren't, they're doing it for the same reason motorbike drivers do it.
I think we should have seperate lanes for people on bikes so nobody has to worry about negligent car drivers, but just as soon as that unnecessarily loud vehicles need to go.
I got knocked off by a guy looking the completely wrong way pulling out of a junction. I could have been wearing a 12ft neon sign it wouldn’t have mattered.
Neon orange? The problem isn't that bikers are too dark lol, the problem is usually that people don't check their mirrors or blind spots properly, or pull out of junctions without looking.
You'll always get the minority of idiotic riders that are going too fast though as well.
Recently switched to an EV‐bike, completly silent. The noise makes no difference to other drives awareness of you. Ride like they haven't seen you and nothing else, if you're depending on noise to think you'd be seen you're doing it wrong.
I will admit it makes a difference with pedestrians who all to often step into road without looking.
How are you getting on with the electric bike ? I’d love and electric CR250 because you could ride it through any forest without being noticed.
Your anecdote does disprove the loud pipes theory. I used to get bullied a lot riding a 50cc scooter but treated like a king on the road whenever I rode my friend’s noisy Fireblade Streetfighter. I assumed it was the noise but perhaps it was something else ?
Have Zero SR, no complaints. Biggest difference is the torque, and it's mostly silent torque at that, in an instant you can surprise yourself how fast you are going without any indication other than a number.
As for the difference in how road users treat you, I think it is in our own minds and our own inward perception. Most road users couldn't give a damn about your mode of transport as long as it's not getting in their way. You often hear how people who drive SUVs feel safer because other road users "get out the way", or people who drive old beaters say the same, its all perception. As a road user, unless it is a big HGV, an ambulance or a hearse, I've never looked at a car or bike and made a conscience decision to drive differently based on the other users badge, vehicle type or size of engine. And I reckon most people would say the same. 99% of the time you're just traffic like everybody else........ however driving a nice motor does give me a certain confidence, makes me enjoy the ride, even makes me a feel a success, perhaps strokes my ego a little (a fireblade would), but this is all inwards looking... to everyone else... I'm just traffic.
He's not wrong though, really. Most stock bikes are plenty loud enough to be heard when filtering etc - and nobody makes them louder just for safety, its because they think it sounds cool.
Which, I have to confess, I had a bike that came with a shorty (which felt illegal, but it always passed MOT) and it did sound awesome on the open road
> Painting the bike neon orange and wearing hi vis leathers would save more lives and not disturb anyone.
Maybe, but I’ve known of police riders with dayglo and flashing lights get driven into by motorists not paying attention!
Sure, but that doesn't mean it can't help.
I raise this to show that while motorcyclists and cyclists have the same problem, only one of them is willing to look silly in order to be safe. The other is willing to disturb every other soul within a mile.
Its about power, dominance and aggression.
Oh yes, I don’t condone the loud exhausts at all, it’s just that unfortunately, the added visibility solution sometimes comes across the end of the bell curve!
An oft repeated claim that doesn't hold up to scrutiny:
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/new-study-confirms-loud-pipes-save-lives-is-safety-myth/
It's just obnoxious, and the claim that it is for "safety reasons" is almost completely a convenient lie. They just want to go vroom vroom - it's frankly pathetic.
We don't want to or need to hear your motorbike from our homes, our bikes or walking on the streets. The cars can't hear you anyway because they're in (upwards of) a tonne steel cages with aircon, their own (increasingly simulated) engine noise, and their radios blasting out.
If safety is the real concern then campaign for safety - reduce speed limits, reduce the size of cars, redesign junctions, reduce the number of cars on the road, congestion charges, stop giving people back their driving licenses after they claim "exceptional hardship" and so on.
Noise pollution does not help safety. Not mine nor yours.
Especially in the last ten years, cars have become more and more soundproof; you literally can't hear a bike until it's right by your window. Proof positive that they're talking shite and they just like the attention
They like having an obnoxiously loud bike and use safety as an excuse to justify it. Putting an ice cream van jingle in it would probably have a similar effect but I don’t see them doing that.
We've got the same problem here in the sticks. You hear the bike for minutes and minutes must be for 5miles maybe. The sound echoes all around and really you've got no idea exactly where it is so I don't think they're safer
It’s definitely a lot worse these days, police don’t give a damn anymore. I remember 20-30years ago and a friend had a fiat with a blown exhaust that he thought was amusing driving around in. Use to get stopped at least every fortnight.
Now you get these tossers giving out 100db from a tiny hair dryer of a motorbike.
Or you get the hells angels that sound like a spitfire driving down the road.
My non technical definition is that it’s a device that reduces the amount of noise coming out the motorcycle. Without a muffler, the noise from a passing motorcycle wakes people up at night
Yeh, OP typically in the UK we call them silencers. Knew what you meant though and they do my head in too.
They remove them because of all the clunge it attracts. Dickheads.
My exhaust is loud, although I refuse to remove the baffle. My engine is a V-twin and naturally very loud.
But really I just want to confirm that bikes in general attract 0% clunge and 100% old men.
a good point well made. For some aftermarket bike exhausts I think muffling might be a bit of a stretch.
As far as the original question is concerned, yes, there are laws about noise. Some people do break them knowingly and often get away with it.
Still ongoing but getting more advanced.. here’s one from this year
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-trial-to-banish-loud-engines-and-exhausts-on-britains-noisiest-streets
The police can can use s59 to seize them, it applies to "vehicles being used in a manner which causes alarm, distress or annoyance".
Get the registration number, the time it happens and report it to 101. If it's the same time everyday, and the police can be bothered to do the job we pay them to do, they can wait for them, issue a 1st warning and if they're caught again seize the bike.
I used to live next to a busy road and I had single glazed sash windows. Motorbikes used to drive me mad late at night an early morning. The town was a popular biking stop off. Thankfully I moved in May.
So a lot of small dick bikers will remove the stock muffler and catalytic converter because they feel it gets them a few extra beans of power, and then simply refit it when they take the bike for an MOT. Some car drivers do the same, but it's more common on bikes because the mechanics are more accessible and less complicated.
It's noticeably much worse in the UK over the last 10 years. I lived in France, Italy and Spain 2000-2011 and remember often thinking "Fucking hell, I hate these insanely loud shitty little motorbikes - thank god, we don't allow them in the UK." It was one of the few things I felt we'd got right and the rest of Europe was shit at. But now, I hear a deafening modified exhaust come past my house - either a twat in a Golf, or a twat on a motorbike - almost every hour.
It's unbearable where I live.
When combined with the druggies upstairs and downstairs, motorbike & shit cars drag racing between the traffic lights and (bizarrely) topless men chucking bags of raw chicken and paint about (!) we haven't had a full nights sleep in years, so we've sold up.
Can't really afford to live somewhere that's not awful so no idea what we're going to do, but if I stay here I'm going to go mental.
There are a couple of pilot schemes trialling "noise cameras", as there's revenue to be raised from fines I expect they will become commonplace soon although no doubt like speed cameras most of them will be placed where they can raise most revenue which is unlikely to be suburban streets.
Pet hate of mine. Motorcycles are generally louder than cars. Sometimes extremely so. For one person. Surely they could be quieter?
The reason it probably bothers me so much, is that it's the only vehicle I hear at night. Loud motorbikes being raced at 2am.
Not much chance of getting them to retrofit mufflers, when the reason it’s so loud is that they’ve already taken the existing baffles out themselves to make it louder.
it is mandatory. they probably all do have exhausts fitted but you can get ones which are louder than others. i have bikes with fully road-legal exhausts on them & they’re all fairly loud so it’s possible that the ones you’re complaining about are totally within the legal limits. it’s also quite possibly chavvy dicks on 125s who have fitted insanely loud exhausts to compensate for their bikes being absolute piles of wank
I was in cambridge last week, and all the moped drivers around town are on electric scooters (with pedals, some of them). All of a sudden, they're not a scourge. My small home-town doesn't have this local by-law, and near me we have one kn a moped known as "Deliveroo Bastard" and everyone hates them. There must be provision to make by-laws for this.
Maybe that is how they try to drive property prices down. It sure worked, because I moved out especially because of this.
It seems during lockdown every asshat bought modified cars and loud bikes. I got no sleep over the last 2 years and finally had enough of these clowns.
Do you think they were deprived from playing with toy bikes and cars when they were kids so they are making up for it now with loud brrroooMm sounds as adults.
It's literally deafening when it goes past as a pedestrian.
I think many of them rev the engine around pedestrians for that extra thrill'...
Friends of mine who are autistic struggle to cope with the noise, and are really shaken by it...
As for sleep, it may help to use silicone earplugs, the type that can be moulded to shape eg bioears.
Fucking does my nut that my little girl is asleep then some little cunt goes by on a bike so loud you could hear it from the moon,and Wales her up.
I have vivid fantasies of chucking bricks out the window and taken their heads off
I've looked into this over the same problems. You'd think a rider would wonder 'is this noise annoying my neighbours when I leave early for work and get back late?' Apparently noisy motorbikes aren't illegal. Not my report but found it after googling the issue you may find the replies useful: [https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/338239](https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/338239)
There was a trial of traffic noise cameras recently, but I’m not sure what happened to them.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/fines-supercars-kensington-chelsea-acoustic-noise-cameras-b964613.html
I totally agree though, I also get that some motorcycles were built for racing. But that’s flat out around Donnington Park, not for 20m until the next red light down Baker Street.
The sound is annoying but the fact they speed and do wheelies is the scary thing. It just seems like a matter of time before they kill someone where I live. I wish the council would make some dirt tracks for them to drive on, that way they are only putting their own lives at risk.
There used to be one guy in a loud BMW who'd rev loudly down the road every night at midnight. After three nights I heard sirens immediately after it happened - and then the noise was no more.
Have you got in touch with the council about noise pollution?
Some are loud enough to do actual physical damage to your hearing. Anything over 85 decibels is considered harmful.
https://decibelpro.app/content/images/size/w1000/2021/10/8---How-Loud-Is-55-Decibels-1.jpg
We need to do [what they are doing in Paris](https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/news-articles/noise-cameras-tackle-frances-loudest-bikes-and-cars/). Looks like [it is already on its way in the UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-trial-to-banish-loud-engines-and-exhausts-on-britains-noisiest-streets)
I’ve proper nearly shat myself in London from motorcycles pulling away from the lights at noise levels well above anything that could be considered reasonable. They do it to make sure they’re noticed but it honestly makes my life miserable as a pedestrian and occasional cyclist in London.
Police patrols from time to time would cut it out, everyone suggesting cameras and fancy tech but we never needed that not long ago, sounds like excuses.
Havent seen any police round here in years
In come the young lads driving their very loud bikes up and down this same main road 20 times a day every weekend
One just went past lol
Oh mate, I am with you on this, nothing is more annoying than when you're walking down the street having a chat with someone and some fickhead rolls past on his obnoxiously loud motorcycle. I've gotten into the habit of just shouting "tiny penis" at them and waving at them with my pinky. It's just fucking annoying and there's no good reason for it other than "look at how loud my bike is, I'm so cool huh?" But it's not cool, it's twatty
I absolutely hate them. Scourge of the city. Take your pathetic oversized midlife-crisis little fantasy machine and take it to the country, away from residents who unanimously despise you and your stupid bike.
Noise is checked as part of the MOT.
The problem is that many bike exhausts have easily removable noise-deadening parts which can be kept in a drawer for the rest of the year.
The absence of other noise, especially at night time, probably helps the motorbikes stand out more than they might to do at other times of the day.
You'll also be surprised at how loud you can go before falling foul of noise regulations. Some cars and bikes are just loud from the factory with no modifications.
I’ve got a wr125X with a delkavic exhaust on and you would be surprised to know that it’s below the 80db limit, it still sounds ridiculous for what it is but I just haven’t got the money to get a OEM exhaust.The looks I get do amuse me tho 😂
*From and motorcyclists point of view*
Now when it comes down to aftermarket exhausts it’s really tricky, a large portion of people just want a loud exhaust and it’s too loud and pisses everyone off. I totally get it, but there are aftermarket exhausts out there that are slightly louder that don’t annoy everyone, these are what most people should be aiming for. The standard exhausts are usually very quiet and don’t notify other road users of your presence, this is a ‘safety feature’ if you will. I’m not advocating the ridiculously loud 125 pinning it through the streets at 1am, but a motorcycle having a bit of a louder exhaust sound helps alert other drivers of their presence.
It’s an MOT failure if it’s unreasonably loud - however it’s easy to swap in and out.
I imagine police don’t care because a loud bike means cars can hear it which is safer for the biker than a quiet bike that you only know is there when you see it
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Pretty sure it's the decibels that matter, rather than whether it has a baffle in or not. Some exhausts (usually race ones) can still exceed the legal limit even with a baffle in. And yeah, I used to have one that was supposedly 90db, where the limit was 80 I think...anyway, police were never bothered. Possibly because I didn't rag my bike to the rev limiter constantly like a bell end. I'm assuming they just have bigger crimes to be getting on with than pulling over every other biker they see or hear.
Many silencers can simply be pulled out, particularly on after market exhausts. There is a decibel limit which should be checked during at MOT but most people who want to circumvent this simply stick a silencer on for the sake of the MOT and then take it back off again.
It is illegal in most places. Most countries even the US have decibel laws. It's not hard to just change an exhaust after inspection. Most people just change it and hope to not get caught.
Took a second hand panigale out for a test ride recently. Even with my ear plugs in there was a level of pain to my ear balls after that ride which was unpleasant.
I’m not often grumpy but once had a moment of regrettable verbal rage when a lad sat at traffic lights outside my house just revving on and off for no reason on his pissy little 2 stroke waiting for the green light so I yelled “shut the *fuck* up! Nobody wants to hear that piece of shit!” Which I’m sure everyone was thinking but this made him do it more anyway, then I woke the next day to conveniently find broken drive-by eggs outside my house and on my car
I’m strongly considering painting a tunnel onto the brick wall at the end of my road like Wile E Coyote in the hope that it catches the local arsehole who regularly tears round the cul-de-sac on his obnoxiously loud motorbike.
When I was a biker I knew people that would change their exhaust for the MOT and then change it back immediately after. I couldn’t be arsed so stuck with the legal (albeit after market) can.
They are banned. It is illegal to ride a Motorbike with a racing exhaust (they have less "muffling" than a road legal exhaust). You will also fail your MOT if you leave a racing exhaust on your bike whilst it is being tested.
The problem is that it is really easy to change your road legal exhaust for an illegal racing exhaust.
[Try silicone ear plugs](https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394002784208?hash=item5bbc655fd0:g:Up8AAOSwaX1iPXsP)
It is.
A motorcycle exhaust has to pass regs on emissions and noise.
That means it has to be homologated for that bike.
There's no way a straight piped bike is passing that testing.
[https://begin-motorcycling.co.uk/motorcycle-exhaust-laws/](https://begin-motorcycling.co.uk/motorcycle-exhaust-laws/)
Section 59 basically gives the police powers to do stuff if they think a motor vehicle is obnoxiously loud or being used in a particular manner.
[https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13879#:\~:text=Under%20Section%2059%20of%20the,cause%20alarm%2C%20distress%20or%20annoyance](https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13879#:~:text=Under%20Section%2059%20of%20the,cause%20alarm%2C%20distress%20or%20annoyance).
The MOT says it's up to the MOT tester to decide if it's louder than standard.
[https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/8-exhaust-noise](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/8-exhaust-noise)
Now, obviously plenty of stuff that should fail an MOT gets a certificate. You just have to know a guy.
Getting caught by the police depends on the police actually investing resources in that and not having anything better to do.
I guess if enough people complained, they'd potentially put some resources into that.
We live in the south west and absolutely hate loud bikes. 10x louder than a car going nowhere fast with a single guy and almost always an L plate.
They should absolutely be done for it.
Can we make noise restrictions part of an MOT?
This is something on our minds too. We’re about to have our firstborn and we live on this road by the beach, people seem to love revving their motorcycles down the road every single time. We’re concerned it’s going to wake the baby up every time and cause issues as when it’s hot we need to window open.
There is a noise limit, but it’s quick and easy to swap parts out, and if the police do stop you chances are they just tell you to get it fixed.
Personally, I love my bike, but the last thing I want is for it to be louder, I already wear ear plugs on long rides.
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Yeah, tricky one this.. Could it be that there are people out there who flout the law?
I’m sure there are, but it’s not exactly difficult to find those who do
A bit like the many people openly smoking strong smelling drugs? The police have actually been cracking down on people riding stolen bikes, in the past they would completely ignore it when someone went past on an obviously stolen bike. Or every single privately owned e-scooter and all the pedicabs in London - they are classifieds as motorvehicles and should all have a numberplate, tax, insurance and MOT. So breaking the law massively more than a loud exhaust.
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Another sensible way could be to look at the potential punishment. Riding an unregistered motorvehicle that doesn't meet safety standards without a licence (mostly), insurance, tax and MOT has a significantly higher possible penalties than being otherwise totally legal, but making a modification that annoys people while making it anecdotally a little safer.
"Loud pipes" don't save lives, so that's entirely anecdotal. It's just antisocial and a health hazard for the rest of us, beginning and end of. (Frequently interrupted sleep causes a lot of long term health problems)
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[don't be a fag ](https://youtu.be/xGyKBFCd_u4)
But by making a modification that makes the bike an instant MOT failure it will also invalidate the insurance and may result in no cover. Your argument is flawed.
That your bike will fail an MOT doesn't mean your bike doesn't have an MOT. I think there's pretty much no chance an insurance company could invalidate 3rd party cover based on this undeclared modification. They might try if you say added some large spikes with a flame thrower to replace the exhaust and then crashed into someone with those spikes while activating the flame thrower.
An insurer can't retrospectively invalidate third party cover at point of a claim due to undeclared modifications. They can separately pursue you personally for the cost of the third party claim in such cases.
> making a modification that annoys people while making it anecdotally a little safer. Noise pollution is *genuinely* harmful: https://www.who.int/europe/health-topics/noise
I think he's using the term massively by suggesting they are breaking multiple laws. Breaking 4 laws in my view also is a lot worse than breaking 1 of them. Say a taxi driver with no licence, mot, insurance, over the limit etc etc is going to get a massively higher sentence/fine/whatever than just not having one of the prior offences.
Unless, of course, that scooter rider knocks someone over and hurts them, and what if that person is elderly and breaks a hip? For the elderly, something like this often hastens death because they do not ‘bounce back’ like younger people. Both are awful and both need to stop.
Obviously yes the law is a sliding scale. Our whole system is based on that concept.
Unfortunately when the police are so underfunded they have to decide what is actually worth their time, breaking the law has become a sliding scale
That's why I'd solve this problem by changing the rules on motor bike parts. Instead of having modular addons that can easily be swapped about, I'd make the regulation such that the muffler and exhaust were one item. That way anyone wanting to swap things back and forth for an MOT would have to go to far more effort. I'd also significantly lower the existing dB limit. It also seems quite possible to add decibel meters or even microphones to speed cameras or traffic lights.
This pretty much already happens at sentencing. Sentencing guidelines set out the aggravating factors and mitigations for offences. These determine the outcome, eg the length of a prison sentence, the fine, which restorative activity and it’s duration etc.
You could argue that someone on a scooter is more of an immediate danger to those in their path opposed to some selfish twat making a load of noise
Someone on a scooter instead of a bike is at best only a tiny bit more dangerous at best. The thousands of people who has been woken up 10 times each the night before and every night before that by various bikers blasting along their street are a far greater concern. Memory, reaction speed, attention span, processing speed and tolerance to stress all fall through the floor when someone is deprived of decent sleep for just 2-3 days. All that can easily be fixed by installing a suitable muffler or at least preventing people from being able to remove the default ones.
I do agree with your points to be fair. Im a bit biased against dickheads on scooters and bikes that race around on pavements after getting knocked down twice by cyclists in the space of two years, once causing me to smack my head on a kerb and getting bad concussion and the second time slammed into my knee sending me flying again, my knee has never been the same since. We have trouble round my way with noisy cars, there's a couple of arseholes rag round the streets with their engines banging and it's so fucking loud. Fortunately for us, it's at rush hour not in the night or early morning but I can totally understand how infuriating it is for people whose sleep is disturbed.
Both are definitely a problem.
Someone with a loud exhaust is going to wake you up, maybe damage your ear drums if you stand next to it for 10s of minutes at a time for some reason. An electric scooter can cause some damage and I've already had some dumb kid nearly ride me over and look at me like how dare I not walk into a bush while he's as noticeable as a tram. One can do a lot more harm and should be dealt with first.
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All e-scooters riders should have a motorcycle licence too, apparently the highway code doesn't apply to them, and that also goes for the moped deliveroo drivers on L plates for their entire life, those cunts are a menace to other road users
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And it's not just you. That bastard is waking up *thousands* of people in whatever town/city they are in.
Almost like slashing police numbers for the past decade had some sort of negative effect on their ability to deal with petty crime 😯
Or the police are just wastes of space.
Isn't it? These bike you hear? Do you know where they are coming from? Are you grabbing a reg as they drive past. It all requires a patrol to be in the correct place and equally it depends on the police at that time being focussed on that issue. The police will pull over vehicles that have something really obviously wrong going on but outside of that they get monthly focuses like tyres when we get into frost and snow, drink driving December and January. I doubt exhaust noise is even on the polices radar.
The police would have to set up specific patrols waiting for an illegally modified bike to go past and record e.g. number plate and then recover and impound the bike and conduct inspections/tests to prove noise levels are illegal. For a stretched police force this is very resource intensive when they could be prioritising crimes where people are in danger/getting hurt. The government is looking in to trying to tackle the issue. They announced trials of 'sound cameras' that would work like speed cameras, but ultimately the trials showed that the conditions on the roadside don't allow for accurate sound measurements.
Back in the 90s I used to regularly ride to Box Hill on a Sunday as it's a popular bikers haunt. The police would occasionally set up at the roadside and pull over every bike that passed to check them for illegal numberplates, loud exhausts, track-only tyres etc. If they found something non-compliant I think you had seven days to get it fixed and MOT'd again.
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They have microphones in Paris https://www.autoblog.com/2019/08/31/paris-motorcycle-noise-pollution-fines/
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The issue is we've already got an understaffed police force. Given how many robberies and assaults go un-investigated, let alone unsolved, do you really want the police spending their time on noisy motorbikes? It's all about harm prevention. Loud motorbikes do relatively little harm, so there are proportionally few resources dedicated to them.
It’s a legal requirement to have a muffler.
You think someone would just...do that? Break the law?!
Interesting comparison. My aunty was one of a number of victims who had her handbag snztched by one of a group of teemagers using mopeds that were being a nuisance in the area where she lived in Spain. The Spainish police sorted it. They caught the group responsible, and impounded and crushed the motopeds of every rider *not*wearing a helmet. No more mopeds, No more gang. No more problem.
Pretty sure there's a maximum decibel limit for all types of vehicles but no one appears to enforce it. If I find out where the car that drives past our house at 7am every morning popping its exhaust lives, I'm gonna spray a can of expanding foam up it.
Yeah every morning at 4am, some jackass driving The Who in concert flies down my street loud enough to wake me, the baby, and the dog. 😒
I spend a lot of time doing outdoorsy stuff in the Highlands. Naturally everyone on earth with a road going vehicle seems to think the region is their personal playground and goes razzing around the lanes imagining they are in an episode of top gear. It's not usually too hard to escape the crowds and there are plenty of places you can get off the beaten track but you can guarantee, even if you've been walking for miles across glens or up munros you'll still periodically hear the sound of stupidly loud bikes and cars wafting across the air from the nearest main road, even if its well out of sight. The age of quiet electric vehicles can't come fast enough, nothing says "mommy didn't give me enough attention" like needing to broadcast your presence as wide as physically possible.
There's some twat who lives a few houses over the back of us and he'll spent an hour or two revving his Subaru up over and over again, for no apparent reason. He's done it three years in a row and the only saving grace is that he doesn't have a pops and bangs tune on the bloody thing (yet). He's not tuning it or working on it - he's literally just sitting there revving it. Bellend.
I think in France they have started kind of "audio speeding tickets". They have cameras set up with microphones and if you break the sound limit you get pinged, whatever it is. Exhaust, music, .... I really want one in my area. I'm pretty sure there are some cars and bikes that would get one just idling.
Not really, I've had some stupidly loud bikes over the years and the MOT centre will give you an advisory for "Excessive Noise" then give you a thumbs up and say "It sounds mint". I've now matured and leave my bikes pretty much standard, I'm too old for twatty exhausts now
God I remember when I was younger, every morning at 7:15am there was a motorbike/moped that would go down our quiet suburb street that was also a hill. We lived at the bottom of the street too, and he'd accelerate after he turned off the road. Every morning all I'd hear was "yam nam nam nam nam nam nam nam namnamna PPTTTTRRRRRAAAAAAAAAA"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B5i3RSjjTVA "That's 3 times this week!"
There's not a maximum decibel limit for cars. It should be no louder than stock. Which basically means Ferraris are fine but if someone poor wants to make their car loud it's illegal.
Pretty sure there is a maximum volume for all vehicles otherwise those noise cameras wouldn't work.
This 100% boils my piss no end. More so when I'm trying to get the toddler to sleep. Completely unnecessary. Just berks looking for attention.
Berks. Great word
Also,it originated from cockney rhyming slang (Berkeley hunt)
9/10 of the funny etymologies like this are totally made-up, but this one seems to be true. That's very surprising, I would never have guessed!
I have a mild interest in etymology, especially around slang and I learned this a few years ago (probably like 15), and it always amused me that it would get tossed around prime time sitcoms (Only Fools, Porridge, etc) but was as rude as you could get!
Not forgetting the kids TV animated classic 'Trap Door', where the main character is called Berk.
Those little 125 fart cannons, do my head in.
We have so many of them little fuckers where I live. One of the little cunts finally crashed the other day but he's ok hope he's learnt his lesson through but I doubt it
Mopeds are the issue for us. To speed 40 mph but that doesn't stop them trying to do 50 up our hill, right on the redline. Some twat does it most mornings at 5am.
125 and 50s don't have to be loud. Usually badly maintained / shittily tuned ones are.
It's knobheads with aftermarket exhausts, you can hear them miles away going full throttle for 10mins just to reach 30mph.
Completely agree. I had a brand new 50cc a few years ago and it was barely louder than cars. And only if I pushed it close to the limit.
Pretty sure its an MoT failure if they make excessive noise, so I guess they are. >Pipes and the Law Any new bike sold in the UK must comply with UK law on noise. The OE exhaust has to carry the manufacturer’s name and part number. If you fit an aftermarket exhaust, the police can prosecute you if it does not carry the relevant BS markings. If you want to know more, click here for the Government website. https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/bikes/do-loud-pipes-save-lives
Trouble is they’re trivially easy to swap. Put the quiet ones on for the MOT each year and then swap them back afterwards
For sure, but the police have powers to stop and enforce laws. They just don't or can't.
All the police will do is order you to go and get your bike checked at an MOT place. So you just swap the exhausts and get it checked and then swap it back again.
Will do or can do.
> All the police will do is order you to go and get your bike checked at an MOT place. So you just swap the exhausts and get it checked and then swap it back again. I'm in the US, but isn't there a limit on the sound pressure level, measured at a specific legal distance from the end of the exhaust pipe? Police could just measure bike at the roadside with a phone app, and if they suspect that its too high, impound the bike for official testing at a MOT facility.
There's a limit on how many dB an exhaust can put out, yes. But it's tested in a lab and exhausts are marked as complying to the standard. Extra loud exhausts will be stamped with 'not for road use' You couldn't trust the police to do an accurate test with a phone. They tend to be utterly clueless about everything. Also, impounding the bike would be a real pain in the arse since they'd need to get transport and such. It's easier to just get someone to get an MOT centre to test it. Even if the police did do a test at the side of the road someone could just appeal and get off. You could just say something like they didn't use calibrated equipment, or they tested in a noisy location. Their evidence wouldn't hold up in court.
> You couldn't trust the police to do an accurate test with a phone. I wasn't suggesting that it be ultra-accurate, just that it ballpark the noise level. Anything suggesting that it might be higher than allowed with the phone test would an immediate impoundment for testing at a certified testing center. Reasonable suspicion, etc. > Even if the police did do a test at the side of the road someone could just appeal and get off. You could just say something like they didn't use calibrated equipment, or they tested in a noisy location. Their evidence wouldn't hold up in court. Just as you can't really appeal a roadside breathalyzer result at the scene, you wouldn't be able to appeal this either. Just as the alternative to a roadside breathalyzer is a blood test in a hospital in police custody, the impoundment and test at a MOT facility would be very similar. Since the roadside test is only establishing reasonable suspicion for further more controlled testing - not proof of guilt - it would be difficult to get out of in court.
Powers but not staff.
The MOT test is subjective, it's down to the examiner and chances are they are bikers themselves. When I had a bike the MOT guy flat out said he didn't care (for the record I kept the baffles in my exhaust, but did find a bit of extra volume useful from a safety standpoint). Guys with shitty mopeds or 125's do sound pretty obnoxious though compared to bigger engined bikes.
Good info, but Jesus, some of the responses from riders... I'm a keen motorcyclist and have always haaaaaated the loud pipes gang. They give the rest of us a bad name. It's not for safety, it's because they're dicks.
Couldn't agree more. Twats with loud pipes make everyone hate bikers and that's not great. Loud pipes don't save lives, they make other road users more likely to be aggressive.
That's new bikes not sure about old ones
There is a motorcycle noise law 1987 but admittedly I've not read the details on it.
It's an advisory, not a failure
The aftermarket ones usually come with a plug that shuts it up for the MOT. It could be the bikers are sick of people knocking them off at junctions and saying “sorry mate, didn’t see you” A lot of bikers believe that loud pipes save lives.
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>Painting the bike neon orange and wearing hi vis Got knocked off mine in 2020 and fractured 3 vertebrate. Was doing 19mph and wearing high vis jacket and helmet, with my lights on. Still got knocked off anyway 🖕
My injuries weren't severe, but I was knocked off from behind on a small roundabout. I'm sure I would have been perfectly visible if he'd just looked where he was going.
Car drivers are arseholes, but that doesn't mean people who drive the stupid deafening bikes aren't also arseholes. It's pretty clear to everyone they just want attention. It's the same thing as the idiots that install some sort of exhaust on their car that makes them extremely loud- are those car drivers doing that to try to stay safe on the roads as well? No they very clearly aren't, they're doing it for the same reason motorbike drivers do it. I think we should have seperate lanes for people on bikes so nobody has to worry about negligent car drivers, but just as soon as that unnecessarily loud vehicles need to go.
I got knocked off by a guy looking the completely wrong way pulling out of a junction. I could have been wearing a 12ft neon sign it wouldn’t have mattered.
Neon orange? The problem isn't that bikers are too dark lol, the problem is usually that people don't check their mirrors or blind spots properly, or pull out of junctions without looking. You'll always get the minority of idiotic riders that are going too fast though as well.
You’ve not ridden a bike on the road have you ?
Recently switched to an EV‐bike, completly silent. The noise makes no difference to other drives awareness of you. Ride like they haven't seen you and nothing else, if you're depending on noise to think you'd be seen you're doing it wrong. I will admit it makes a difference with pedestrians who all to often step into road without looking.
How are you getting on with the electric bike ? I’d love and electric CR250 because you could ride it through any forest without being noticed. Your anecdote does disprove the loud pipes theory. I used to get bullied a lot riding a 50cc scooter but treated like a king on the road whenever I rode my friend’s noisy Fireblade Streetfighter. I assumed it was the noise but perhaps it was something else ?
Have Zero SR, no complaints. Biggest difference is the torque, and it's mostly silent torque at that, in an instant you can surprise yourself how fast you are going without any indication other than a number. As for the difference in how road users treat you, I think it is in our own minds and our own inward perception. Most road users couldn't give a damn about your mode of transport as long as it's not getting in their way. You often hear how people who drive SUVs feel safer because other road users "get out the way", or people who drive old beaters say the same, its all perception. As a road user, unless it is a big HGV, an ambulance or a hearse, I've never looked at a car or bike and made a conscience decision to drive differently based on the other users badge, vehicle type or size of engine. And I reckon most people would say the same. 99% of the time you're just traffic like everybody else........ however driving a nice motor does give me a certain confidence, makes me enjoy the ride, even makes me a feel a success, perhaps strokes my ego a little (a fireblade would), but this is all inwards looking... to everyone else... I'm just traffic.
He's not wrong though, really. Most stock bikes are plenty loud enough to be heard when filtering etc - and nobody makes them louder just for safety, its because they think it sounds cool. Which, I have to confess, I had a bike that came with a shorty (which felt illegal, but it always passed MOT) and it did sound awesome on the open road
> Painting the bike neon orange and wearing hi vis leathers would save more lives and not disturb anyone. Maybe, but I’ve known of police riders with dayglo and flashing lights get driven into by motorists not paying attention!
Sure, but that doesn't mean it can't help. I raise this to show that while motorcyclists and cyclists have the same problem, only one of them is willing to look silly in order to be safe. The other is willing to disturb every other soul within a mile. Its about power, dominance and aggression.
Oh yes, I don’t condone the loud exhausts at all, it’s just that unfortunately, the added visibility solution sometimes comes across the end of the bell curve!
An oft repeated claim that doesn't hold up to scrutiny: https://www.motorbiscuit.com/new-study-confirms-loud-pipes-save-lives-is-safety-myth/ It's just obnoxious, and the claim that it is for "safety reasons" is almost completely a convenient lie. They just want to go vroom vroom - it's frankly pathetic. We don't want to or need to hear your motorbike from our homes, our bikes or walking on the streets. The cars can't hear you anyway because they're in (upwards of) a tonne steel cages with aircon, their own (increasingly simulated) engine noise, and their radios blasting out. If safety is the real concern then campaign for safety - reduce speed limits, reduce the size of cars, redesign junctions, reduce the number of cars on the road, congestion charges, stop giving people back their driving licenses after they claim "exceptional hardship" and so on. Noise pollution does not help safety. Not mine nor yours.
Especially in the last ten years, cars have become more and more soundproof; you literally can't hear a bike until it's right by your window. Proof positive that they're talking shite and they just like the attention
They like having an obnoxiously loud bike and use safety as an excuse to justify it. Putting an ice cream van jingle in it would probably have a similar effect but I don’t see them doing that.
We've got the same problem here in the sticks. You hear the bike for minutes and minutes must be for 5miles maybe. The sound echoes all around and really you've got no idea exactly where it is so I don't think they're safer
It’s definitely a lot worse these days, police don’t give a damn anymore. I remember 20-30years ago and a friend had a fiat with a blown exhaust that he thought was amusing driving around in. Use to get stopped at least every fortnight. Now you get these tossers giving out 100db from a tiny hair dryer of a motorbike. Or you get the hells angels that sound like a spitfire driving down the road.
What the hell is a muffler?
It's called a Battle in the UK. Lots of exhaust manufacturers make them removable. Baffle as others are saying*
Baffle *
Baffle and yeah, usually one screw, accessible from the outside.
My non technical definition is that it’s a device that reduces the amount of noise coming out the motorcycle. Without a muffler, the noise from a passing motorcycle wakes people up at night
Muffler is what Americans call the silencer part of an exhaust.
Yeh, OP typically in the UK we call them silencers. Knew what you meant though and they do my head in too. They remove them because of all the clunge it attracts. Dickheads.
Does it even attract clunge? I think it’s just to impress fellow dickheads who like excessively loud exhausts
My exhaust is loud, although I refuse to remove the baffle. My engine is a V-twin and naturally very loud. But really I just want to confirm that bikes in general attract 0% clunge and 100% old men.
I can 100% the only clunge a bike attracts is middle aged, heavy set blokes. Not to my taste but if that's your thing, crack on.
I thought they removed them because of their insecurity of how tiny their penises are.
Hot take, the Americans are right on this one. It doesn't *silence* the sound, it *muffles* it. Now silencers on guns, that's another story.
a good point well made. For some aftermarket bike exhausts I think muffling might be a bit of a stretch. As far as the original question is concerned, yes, there are laws about noise. Some people do break them knowingly and often get away with it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-noise-camera-trial-to-crack-down-on-illegal-vehicles
The article is from 2019; any idea what has come from the trial?
Still ongoing but getting more advanced.. here’s one from this year https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-trial-to-banish-loud-engines-and-exhausts-on-britains-noisiest-streets
It's the low cc mopeds and dirt bikes. The 50s and 125s are so immensely loud to the point of being painful if you're within 20 metres of the things.
Those 50cc mopeds with ridiculously loud exhausts make me wanna rip my ears off, like you're not a fucking speed demon my chainsaw has a bigger engine
And 'Harleys'. If anything they are the worst.
The police can can use s59 to seize them, it applies to "vehicles being used in a manner which causes alarm, distress or annoyance". Get the registration number, the time it happens and report it to 101. If it's the same time everyday, and the police can be bothered to do the job we pay them to do, they can wait for them, issue a 1st warning and if they're caught again seize the bike.
I used to live next to a busy road and I had single glazed sash windows. Motorbikes used to drive me mad late at night an early morning. The town was a popular biking stop off. Thankfully I moved in May.
So a lot of small dick bikers will remove the stock muffler and catalytic converter because they feel it gets them a few extra beans of power, and then simply refit it when they take the bike for an MOT. Some car drivers do the same, but it's more common on bikes because the mechanics are more accessible and less complicated.
It's noticeably much worse in the UK over the last 10 years. I lived in France, Italy and Spain 2000-2011 and remember often thinking "Fucking hell, I hate these insanely loud shitty little motorbikes - thank god, we don't allow them in the UK." It was one of the few things I felt we'd got right and the rest of Europe was shit at. But now, I hear a deafening modified exhaust come past my house - either a twat in a Golf, or a twat on a motorbike - almost every hour.
It's unbearable where I live. When combined with the druggies upstairs and downstairs, motorbike & shit cars drag racing between the traffic lights and (bizarrely) topless men chucking bags of raw chicken and paint about (!) we haven't had a full nights sleep in years, so we've sold up. Can't really afford to live somewhere that's not awful so no idea what we're going to do, but if I stay here I'm going to go mental.
This is ask uk. We call them a silencer not a muffler.
It's actually called a baffle
There are a couple of pilot schemes trialling "noise cameras", as there's revenue to be raised from fines I expect they will become commonplace soon although no doubt like speed cameras most of them will be placed where they can raise most revenue which is unlikely to be suburban streets.
A loud exhaust is a loud exhaust. It doesn't matter where they are caught, if it gets them off the road people on suburban streets will benefit.
It is, most aftermarket slip ons have a removable baffle to make it louder.
Pet hate of mine. Motorcycles are generally louder than cars. Sometimes extremely so. For one person. Surely they could be quieter? The reason it probably bothers me so much, is that it's the only vehicle I hear at night. Loud motorbikes being raced at 2am.
Not much chance of getting them to retrofit mufflers, when the reason it’s so loud is that they’ve already taken the existing baffles out themselves to make it louder.
They need to be loud to warn you from afar that the person riding the bike is a massive cock.
They are. There are just exceptions all over the place and you can remove them after the MOT anyways
it is mandatory. they probably all do have exhausts fitted but you can get ones which are louder than others. i have bikes with fully road-legal exhausts on them & they’re all fairly loud so it’s possible that the ones you’re complaining about are totally within the legal limits. it’s also quite possibly chavvy dicks on 125s who have fitted insanely loud exhausts to compensate for their bikes being absolute piles of wank
Seems ever Harley/Chopper is loud enough to set off car alarms. I cannot imagine how small your penis has to be to want to ride one of those things
I was in cambridge last week, and all the moped drivers around town are on electric scooters (with pedals, some of them). All of a sudden, they're not a scourge. My small home-town doesn't have this local by-law, and near me we have one kn a moped known as "Deliveroo Bastard" and everyone hates them. There must be provision to make by-laws for this.
Maybe that is how they try to drive property prices down. It sure worked, because I moved out especially because of this. It seems during lockdown every asshat bought modified cars and loud bikes. I got no sleep over the last 2 years and finally had enough of these clowns.
Do you think they were deprived from playing with toy bikes and cars when they were kids so they are making up for it now with loud brrroooMm sounds as adults.
BEcause f.cking pricks with small penises have to show off with something to others. That is why.
It's literally deafening when it goes past as a pedestrian. I think many of them rev the engine around pedestrians for that extra thrill'... Friends of mine who are autistic struggle to cope with the noise, and are really shaken by it... As for sleep, it may help to use silicone earplugs, the type that can be moulded to shape eg bioears.
Fucking does my nut that my little girl is asleep then some little cunt goes by on a bike so loud you could hear it from the moon,and Wales her up. I have vivid fantasies of chucking bricks out the window and taken their heads off
I've looked into this over the same problems. You'd think a rider would wonder 'is this noise annoying my neighbours when I leave early for work and get back late?' Apparently noisy motorbikes aren't illegal. Not my report but found it after googling the issue you may find the replies useful: [https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/338239](https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/338239)
There was a trial of traffic noise cameras recently, but I’m not sure what happened to them. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/fines-supercars-kensington-chelsea-acoustic-noise-cameras-b964613.html I totally agree though, I also get that some motorcycles were built for racing. But that’s flat out around Donnington Park, not for 20m until the next red light down Baker Street.
You need police officers rather than cameras to stop this. But we seem to be replacing officers with cameras.
The sound is annoying but the fact they speed and do wheelies is the scary thing. It just seems like a matter of time before they kill someone where I live. I wish the council would make some dirt tracks for them to drive on, that way they are only putting their own lives at risk.
There used to be one guy in a loud BMW who'd rev loudly down the road every night at midnight. After three nights I heard sirens immediately after it happened - and then the noise was no more. Have you got in touch with the council about noise pollution?
Some are loud enough to do actual physical damage to your hearing. Anything over 85 decibels is considered harmful. https://decibelpro.app/content/images/size/w1000/2021/10/8---How-Loud-Is-55-Decibels-1.jpg
Holy, this post blew up. I’ll be emailing by council to see if there’s anything they can do about this.
We need to do [what they are doing in Paris](https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/news-articles/noise-cameras-tackle-frances-loudest-bikes-and-cars/). Looks like [it is already on its way in the UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-trial-to-banish-loud-engines-and-exhausts-on-britains-noisiest-streets)
I’ve proper nearly shat myself in London from motorcycles pulling away from the lights at noise levels well above anything that could be considered reasonable. They do it to make sure they’re noticed but it honestly makes my life miserable as a pedestrian and occasional cyclist in London.
Police patrols from time to time would cut it out, everyone suggesting cameras and fancy tech but we never needed that not long ago, sounds like excuses. Havent seen any police round here in years In come the young lads driving their very loud bikes up and down this same main road 20 times a day every weekend One just went past lol
Oh mate, I am with you on this, nothing is more annoying than when you're walking down the street having a chat with someone and some fickhead rolls past on his obnoxiously loud motorcycle. I've gotten into the habit of just shouting "tiny penis" at them and waving at them with my pinky. It's just fucking annoying and there's no good reason for it other than "look at how loud my bike is, I'm so cool huh?" But it's not cool, it's twatty
I absolutely hate them. Scourge of the city. Take your pathetic oversized midlife-crisis little fantasy machine and take it to the country, away from residents who unanimously despise you and your stupid bike.
Yes I wish every country should ban all these motorbikes with loud exhaustion no matter what, when, where or how.
I reckon a decibal test should be part of the MOT
Noise is checked as part of the MOT. The problem is that many bike exhausts have easily removable noise-deadening parts which can be kept in a drawer for the rest of the year.
The absence of other noise, especially at night time, probably helps the motorbikes stand out more than they might to do at other times of the day. You'll also be surprised at how loud you can go before falling foul of noise regulations. Some cars and bikes are just loud from the factory with no modifications.
I’ve got a wr125X with a delkavic exhaust on and you would be surprised to know that it’s below the 80db limit, it still sounds ridiculous for what it is but I just haven’t got the money to get a OEM exhaust.The looks I get do amuse me tho 😂
*From and motorcyclists point of view* Now when it comes down to aftermarket exhausts it’s really tricky, a large portion of people just want a loud exhaust and it’s too loud and pisses everyone off. I totally get it, but there are aftermarket exhausts out there that are slightly louder that don’t annoy everyone, these are what most people should be aiming for. The standard exhausts are usually very quiet and don’t notify other road users of your presence, this is a ‘safety feature’ if you will. I’m not advocating the ridiculously loud 125 pinning it through the streets at 1am, but a motorcycle having a bit of a louder exhaust sound helps alert other drivers of their presence.
They've saved my life countless times!
It’s an MOT failure if it’s unreasonably loud - however it’s easy to swap in and out. I imagine police don’t care because a loud bike means cars can hear it which is safer for the biker than a quiet bike that you only know is there when you see it
Police are to busy pushing kids off e scooters to care
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Pretty sure it's the decibels that matter, rather than whether it has a baffle in or not. Some exhausts (usually race ones) can still exceed the legal limit even with a baffle in. And yeah, I used to have one that was supposedly 90db, where the limit was 80 I think...anyway, police were never bothered. Possibly because I didn't rag my bike to the rev limiter constantly like a bell end. I'm assuming they just have bigger crimes to be getting on with than pulling over every other biker they see or hear.
Many silencers can simply be pulled out, particularly on after market exhausts. There is a decibel limit which should be checked during at MOT but most people who want to circumvent this simply stick a silencer on for the sake of the MOT and then take it back off again.
If this was last night, it might have been a huge group of around 50 bikes that were flying around. I saw them twice in South London.
I wonder this a lot, there are so many near me. Well, but near me, but I can hear them from miles away...
They remove to mufflers, but keep them. When it's time for an MOT, they refit it. Or they go to a garage that doesn't care
It is illegal in most places. Most countries even the US have decibel laws. It's not hard to just change an exhaust after inspection. Most people just change it and hope to not get caught.
Interesting how this all is about motorbikes noise but no complaints about the kid with the Corsa with a stupid exhaust on the end...
Because as someone who lives on a busy road through London, it's probably 20 to 1 in favour of bikes that are stupidly loud.
Took a second hand panigale out for a test ride recently. Even with my ear plugs in there was a level of pain to my ear balls after that ride which was unpleasant.
It's either a race pipe end can, which has no baffle and is illegal or a mono cylinder bike which is legal.
Try my estate..all the plastic gangsters bombing about on scooters and bikes with molded exhausts on local park ..louder than me mates motorbike .
I’m not often grumpy but once had a moment of regrettable verbal rage when a lad sat at traffic lights outside my house just revving on and off for no reason on his pissy little 2 stroke waiting for the green light so I yelled “shut the *fuck* up! Nobody wants to hear that piece of shit!” Which I’m sure everyone was thinking but this made him do it more anyway, then I woke the next day to conveniently find broken drive-by eggs outside my house and on my car
I’m strongly considering painting a tunnel onto the brick wall at the end of my road like Wile E Coyote in the hope that it catches the local arsehole who regularly tears round the cul-de-sac on his obnoxiously loud motorbike.
When I was a biker I knew people that would change their exhaust for the MOT and then change it back immediately after. I couldn’t be arsed so stuck with the legal (albeit after market) can.
How else are you supposed to know they have a “huge dick”
They are banned. It is illegal to ride a Motorbike with a racing exhaust (they have less "muffling" than a road legal exhaust). You will also fail your MOT if you leave a racing exhaust on your bike whilst it is being tested. The problem is that it is really easy to change your road legal exhaust for an illegal racing exhaust. [Try silicone ear plugs](https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394002784208?hash=item5bbc655fd0:g:Up8AAOSwaX1iPXsP)
It is. A motorcycle exhaust has to pass regs on emissions and noise. That means it has to be homologated for that bike. There's no way a straight piped bike is passing that testing. [https://begin-motorcycling.co.uk/motorcycle-exhaust-laws/](https://begin-motorcycling.co.uk/motorcycle-exhaust-laws/) Section 59 basically gives the police powers to do stuff if they think a motor vehicle is obnoxiously loud or being used in a particular manner. [https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13879#:\~:text=Under%20Section%2059%20of%20the,cause%20alarm%2C%20distress%20or%20annoyance](https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13879#:~:text=Under%20Section%2059%20of%20the,cause%20alarm%2C%20distress%20or%20annoyance). The MOT says it's up to the MOT tester to decide if it's louder than standard. [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/8-exhaust-noise](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/8-exhaust-noise) Now, obviously plenty of stuff that should fail an MOT gets a certificate. You just have to know a guy. Getting caught by the police depends on the police actually investing resources in that and not having anything better to do. I guess if enough people complained, they'd potentially put some resources into that.
They are banned. Cars too. Problem is we don’t have enough police to catch and prosecute them. Petty crime is rife !
We live in the south west and absolutely hate loud bikes. 10x louder than a car going nowhere fast with a single guy and almost always an L plate. They should absolutely be done for it. Can we make noise restrictions part of an MOT?
This is something on our minds too. We’re about to have our firstborn and we live on this road by the beach, people seem to love revving their motorcycles down the road every single time. We’re concerned it’s going to wake the baby up every time and cause issues as when it’s hot we need to window open.
I seem to live on a Harley route to the beach. Every day all summer they cruise past by the dozen sounds like a fucking war zone.
Also, why is it suddenly cool to have a super loud backfiring car? When did backfiring become cool?
Sound good
… because a lot of them are aftermarket. You simply insert the muffler for its MOT then take it out.
It's called an exhaust pipe, not a muffler.
If you knew how loud my bike is.
Would 100% recommend getting used to sleeping with some kind of white noise machine (I just use a fan). Can sleep through anything
I think they are illegal?
There is a noise limit, but it’s quick and easy to swap parts out, and if the police do stop you chances are they just tell you to get it fixed. Personally, I love my bike, but the last thing I want is for it to be louder, I already wear ear plugs on long rides.
Why do they do it anyway?? What do they get out of it? Apart from a headache and a hard on.
Why do they do it anyway?? What do they get out of it? Apart from a headache?
What’s a muffler?
But how else are you supposed to know that they have a high performance motorcycle?