It is good to see that other places have as ridiculous legislation as we do, but as is often the case California has taken it one step further, The Governator has just signed SB 435, the "Anti-Tampering Act" so called because it is meant to stop the modifying of factory fitted exhausts, thereby retaining the emissions gear (so it is more hippy crap!? Mad Bike Boy). The upshot is however that you can be fined for excessively loud exhausts, now there is actually already a mandated level for exhaust noise, both factory and aftermarket are technically not meant to exceed 80 decibels however motorcycles have never really been targeted for this sort of infringement. Now I get irritated by a bike that makes as much noise as a 747 taking off yet makes 72hp as much as the next guy so the problem I have with this (and it is a similar problem to what we have here in NZ) is that there is no way to police this, the fine is obviously able to be given at the officers discretion i.e. "that sounds louder than factory, here have a ticket".

Call me old fashioned but I have a problem with laws that are completely arbitrary, "excessive noise" or "excessive acceleration" or "sustained loss of traction" are not fixed things "exceeding the speed limit" sure, a measurable and consistent thing, "excessive noise" is not, it is arbitrary and ridiculous. I wonder how long before someone challenges this little one in court... presumably some time in 2013 when it comes into effect.

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written by Gizzy, May 12, 2011

Loud bikes don't generally bother me, but there are some ridiculous hogs out there.

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