January 2011 I Cycle Canada
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A Punch in the Noise
An Ontario town fights the racket of unmul filed motorcycles.
Amotorcycie-noise bylaw in the small town of Caiedon, Ontario, may be the thin edge of a fast-moving wedge, but not every bike with an aftei.narket exhaust would fall prey to the law's provisions, which specify a testing method and sound pressure limits for various engine configurations.
Caledon's mayor, Marilyn Morrison, says the bylaw—which was passed early ir. October after undergoing some changes requested by the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council — is in response to complaints from residents upset about the noise from unmuffled exhaust pipes. She went on to say that it would be fair to motorcyclists who don't "rev their engines" to make deliberate noise. She said her husband and sons ride motorcycles and the town is aware that motorcycling visitors bring tourism dollars.
The bylaw that was originally proposed set such loose noise-measurement standards that even some unmodified bikes would have failed the test, however. Concerned by that eventuality, the MMIC's Luc Fournier went to Caiedon in July to set things right. He showed local policc and town officials a sound meter and a testing regime that is based on a Society of Automotive Engineers standard, J2825, which was drawn up three years ago.
While the original bylaw would allow motorcycle exhausts to be tested at any engine speed, the .12825 standard requires that exhausts be tested at idle and at higher rpm levels that are specified for the engine layout: 2,000 rpm forone-and two-cylinder engines and for those with more than four cylinders, and 5,000 rpm for triples and four-cylinder engines.
The standard limits every engine to 92 dB at idle, and engines that are measured at 2,000 rpm to 96 dB and those that are measured at 5,000 rpm to 100 dB. It also specifies that an approved sound measuring device should be held at a certain distance and angle from the exhaust pipe tip — half a metre and 45 degrees — and deals with possible interference from echoing exhaust sound.
Caledon's town council was convinced by Fournier's argument, and passed an amended bylaw, though the law won't go into effect until the fall of 201 i.
The MMIC says many aftermarket exhaust systems will pass the J2825 standard, and at least one exhaust manufacturer, Su-perTrapp, promotes a number of exhaust pipes that meet the standard.
The Edmonton Police Service has been using the 12825 standard for some time, and other municipalities have shown interest in a workable motorcycle noise law. Oddly, however, the Alberta Transportation Ministry has expressed concerns about the matter. The provincial government took part in a study with transportation officials from other provinces as well as police and engineers to look at ways of measuring mo-torcyclc exhaust levels in the street environment, and is expressing doubts that reliable, accurate sound measurements can be made with the techniques and tools available. "We didn't feel that it was quite there yet," said Alberta Transportation spokesman Trent Bancarz. "But," he added, "the City of Edmonton took a very different view."
Bancarz said the transportation ministry was not interested in enacting a province-wide motorcycle noise law, because that
- It's not the pipe, it's the rider: even stock pipes will attract John Law if a bike is revved too much.
RaJaasa; Sio/aVMcts & faniarmc). IfctopEta -for AJ
Don Tryon U general manager at Rivercity Cycle in Kamloops, British Columbia, where he sells one Japanese and five &
European brands of motorcycle: Suzuki, Husquvarna, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia, Vespa, and Gas Gas. '(
What is your market area?
"We have a large market. We sell in Kamloops, obviously, but also right down to Vernon and Merritt, and north to Clearwater and even the Shuswap."
motorcycles at the moment.
Being a B.C. dealer,do you see many touring riders from other countries?
"Yes. For some reason, we get a lot of riders from Germany. And we try to carry what the other businesses in our area don't; so touring riders can find things they might not get in other shops. Higher end helmets, that kind of thing."
Who are your customers?
"They've been changing over the years. A lot of families are getting involved with motorcycles now. Parents who dirt-biked when they were kids now have kids, so they're bringing them into the shop. Some of our customers are baby boomers who are getting back into it. So tliexe are all kinds. We sell a lot of cruisers, a lot of dirt bikes, and some of the older riders think they're still young, so they want sport bikes and dirt bikes."
Higher end helmets?
"Shoei."
So what's turning your crank right now?
"I'm excited about the new Husky 449. It's a BMW-tech inspired bike from an up and coming brand. It's a motocrosser, a trick one."
Does mechanical service keep the shop busy?
"We have a huge service department here, and we also have a suspension outlet, RCC Suspension. We do rebuilds and lowering of bikes. A lot of bikes nowadays arc quite tall, and wc can lower them three inches, so there's a lot of demand for that."
And what doesn't turn your crank? Is there such a thing as a bad customer?
"Ha! I owned a shop in Langley a while back. We sold accessories and used bikes, and this fellow in a suit came in and started pounding me down on a price for some used part. I said to him, 'Wiat do you do for a living?' He said he was a lawyer. So I said,'If you'll do my legal work for free, I'll give you this part.' He paid full retail."
Does being a B.C. dealer rock?
"Yes and no. Canadians can be reluctant to peel off the greenbacks, and it's even more so in the west. And financing can be difficult. On the other hand, we have a beautiful area to ride in, so the customer demographics are good. We're still the wild west, so there arc a lot of riders here."
How do you feel about the future of the motorcycle business in your area?
"I'm really excited about this coming year. I see things going in a positive direction. We're renovating the shop, and we're going to get more involved in off-road riding by helping out and sponsoring new riders in different forms of off-road competition. It's an exciting time."
Will clectric bikes tame the wild wild west?
"Not yet. We've been approached about selling electric bikes, but it's such a niche market. We have six lines now [of gas-fuelled bikes], so I don't see any extra benefit in taking on electric would limit the authority of municipalities, and also because the provincial ministry is mostly concerned with out-of-town highways, where motorcycle noise is generally not considered a problem. Anyway, there's a provision in the Alberta Traffic Safety Act that deals with vehicle noise, he said.
That leaves Canadian motorcyclists facing a possible future with many different towns enacting noise laws willy-nilly, so an exhaust pipe that's legal in Moose Jaw might not make the grade in Swift Current. That's one reason why the MMIC is pushing J2825."There is an opportunity for municipalities and provinces across Canada to implement consistent standards," says Jo-Anne Farquhar, the MMIC's communications director. As an example of inconsistency, she mentions the province o: Quebec, where police use a coat-hanger method to determine the legitimacy of motorcycle exhaust systems. If something inside the pipe stops the coat hanger, the bike has a working muffler.
Meanwhile, in Caledon, loud motorcyclists are getting a break. This is an education pei iod, says the town's mayor, so only wai n-ings will be issued. And information sessions — presumably with sound testers on hand to be tried out, will be held in the spring.
When the law comes into effect on October 1, 2011, some motorcycles with af-termarket exhausts might be capable of passing. OPP officer Rob Mullan, who owns a 1948 Indian and for the near future, anyway, will be the cop with the meter in Caledon, says he watched a 1982 Shovelhead I Iarley pass the test during a trial session, and a Screamin' Eagle Harley, too. Presumably, there was some deviation from bone-stock on those bikes, and other aftermarket exhausts could pass it. Mullan pointed out that many Harley-Davidsons with aftermarket exhausts failed the trial-run measurements, but that doesn't mean any loud Harley is going to be hassled by the noise patrol.
"You're still going to have an officer out there who will make judgement calls, who will say 'This I feel comfortable with,' and 'this, 1 don't.'" Some promoters of J2825 are suggesting that motorcycles be giver, a certain allowance—say, two decibels, and Mullan said he doesn't know if motorcycles in Caledon will be given a bit of licence or not.
But Mayor Morrison expresses a "get-along" philosophy. "If they're not revving their engines, we're not going to ticket them," she said.
Räaasa: Siô/aVMçts â fa/iimmrj. iVktyavtoas -for AJ
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