The Louder, the Better When It Comes To Motorcycles?

(Aired on July 15, 2010)

The debate surrounding obnoxiously loud motorcycles is an interesting one.  As someone with young children who go to bed fairly early in the evening, my blood pressure increases every time I hear a loud bike pass by.  Some days getting your child to sleep feels like the proudest accomplishment of your day, and there's nothing worse than an outside stimulus ruining that accomplishment. 

That's the polarizing factor with motorcycles.  People who don't ride hate the noise, but riders love it. 

Our newsroom received an angry e-mail in the wake of a city council debate this week over whether the city can regulate the decibel levels produced.  The e-mailer said the noise actually saves lives because other drivers know the bikes are coming when they otherwise would not.  There is some truth to that, but the real reason people ride Harleys and other loud motorcycles is because they want to be noticed in non-life threatening situations.  They want to be noticed for the sake of being noticed.  Riders are attracted by the mystique and the rebellious image.  As a company, Harley Davidson has done a wonderful job playing up and cashing in on that image.  And while the bikes that come off the line are loud enough, you can buy after-market pipes to make them even louder.

The city is pretty much stuck on this one.  If council tried to enact a by-law, it would have to be enforced by RCMP, and that's a tricky prospect.  Any type of ban on motorcycle use would lead to complaints of a double-standard and be met with massive opposition.  Loud motorcycles are a fact of life and are particularly in vogue right now.  City council may have to simply hope this is a trend that will go away quickly - if not quietly.