Citizen groups have long agitated for ordinances and laws to curb the noise generated by motorcycles. With the help of some unlikely bedfellows, including the Motorcycle Industry Council and the American Motorcyclist Association, the groups are gaining ground.
The groups, the largest organizations of their kind, have devised a standard method of testing bikes for excessive noise and helped to draft antinoise legislation based on that standard. In May, Maine became the first state to adopt it.
The standard was intended by the M.I.C., an industry group, and the A.M.A., a rider association, to prevent even stricter rules from gaining traction in legislatures around the country; an alternative passed into law in September in California is opposed by the two organizations. Yet not all A.M.A. members have welcomed their leadership’s efforts.
“The three biggest problems facing motorcycling today is noise, noise and noise,” Mr. TerHorst added, paraphrasing A.M.A. president, Rob Dingman.
Maine’s adoption of the standard, which was financed by the M.I.C., may represent something less than some citizens hoped for because it did not mandate testing for motorcyclists during vehicle inspection or registration. If a police officer cites a rider for running loud exhaust pipes, the rider can have a technician test the bike’s sound level to determine if the decibel range is within the law. The results then can be used as a defense in court.
Noise is a point of perennial contention for the motorcycle industry and rider community. Daytona Beach, Fla., which hosts some of the largest motorcycle rallies in the country, has instituted a no-revving ordinance. Jim McCaslin, the former president of Harley-Davidson, whose big V-Twin motorcycles are often singled out by antinoise activists, addressed the issue in the 2006 essay “Something We Don’t Want to Lose,” which called the excessive-noise issue “one of the toughest because of its potential to divide and destroy our sport.”
Asked to comment about motorcycles and noise, a spokesman for the manufacturer provided a written statement that read, in part, “We believe most Harley-Davidson motorcycles are operated with respect for those around them, and all of our street-use products comply with federal and state law.”
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