Ooh, now that's something I can get behind. I had a rental BMW in February and eff me, the lights on that thing - no need for full beam at all. I really was worried about people coming the other way. Great fun though .
If you're so confident in your position being wholly reasonable, why are you leaning on false equivalences like that? Last I checked, there wasn't a culture of modifying lawnmowers for maximum noise. Nobody's trimming their hedges for an hour every night while people are trying to put their kids to bed. Microlights don't usually travel along urban roads at ground level (well, not under their own steam, anyway.) Drones aren't normally powered by a massive combustion engine with straight-through pipes (well, not the ones they let you and I play with, anyway.) Nobody races their lawnmowers down public roads. (Yes, I'm aware lawnmower racing is an actual thing, but not a thing you're likely to come across in the middle of a city.) Nobody has ever been killed because a hedge trimmer crashed into the side of their car at twice the speed limit. (Motorbikes, though? That's how a friend of mine's husband died - he was driving the car, and a speeding motorcyclist slammed into him. Oddly, the motorcyclist walked away - not the usual outcome for motorbike-versus-car, I'll grant you.) Nobody posts videos of microlight engines and says how the sound "feeds the soul" or "sounds gorgeous," because that's weird. Like I say, though, I have nothing against the majority of motorcyclists. In another lifetime, I'd probably have been one myself. I do have a problem with those who put their own enjoyment above the reasonable comfort and safety of others - and I don't care if they're using a motorbike, a car, a microlight, or a Sherman tank to do so. And yes, if someone started selling a kit to make your hedgetrimmer twice as loud for no good reason, I'd love to see the kit banned. (And, as a final aside, I'm not sure if you're aware that outdoor machinery is literally regulated for noise levels?)
Not getting into this one LOL. We had to modify the exhaust on my old MR2 once 'cos it was too loud for the poor folks at Elvington Airfield - Sooo, we put a "bung" in the exhaust for while they did the noise test, then promptly removed it once they'd moved on.
Exhausts are something that bug the **** out of me, particularly in the modified car world. Last time I went to a car thing with the Focus a bunch of us met up on the way there and went the rest of the way as a group. Perhaps seven or eight of us, and two of 'em had obnoxiously loud exhausts and no qualms about blasting down the road (dual carriageway) just to make noise. Made me embarrassed to be in the same car. Buuut they don't see it as annoying. They like the noise, they assume that everyone else must too because.. I don't know. What I find amusing about modified cars here in Germany is the legal limits are much more strictly enforced - But I still hear a lot of fart-in-a-can exhausts. Although, I'm not sure anyone in this little village can complain about noise as we live in the flightpath of a military air base. Most days of the week there are two fighters flying in for landing (Low enough to count the rivets on the fuselage, were one so inclined), and at least once a month an in-out run of a C130. Red dot to the end of the runway is 2.02km.
Noise levels for common equipment (PDF warning). Lawnmower: 90dBA Hedge trimmer: 103dBA Chainsaw: 110dBA Don't think any of my neighbours have used a chainsaw recently, but I can confirm that neither lawnmowers nor hedge trimmers make my windows rattle - thus I think I'm safe in saying that the bikes I'm talking about are considerably louder. I can't find the same kind of stats for bikes, especially modified bikes, but I have seen this claim that "many standard machines exceed the 95dB limit", which puts it above the noise of a lawnmower before modification, and this claims an average motorcyle is 100dBA; this written by a motorcyclist agrees that "loud pipes save lives," but also agrees with me that "the weekend warrior who revs his engine incessantly at a stoplight or blasts through downtown just to hear his exhaust note bounce off the buildings is an overgrown juvenile delinquent and should be fined immediately—not to mention required to seek professional psychiatric help." EDIT: This says that motorcycles "sporting exhaust pipes that emit a sound exceeding 115 decibels are subject to apprehension", which means they're catching people on bikes louder than a chainsaw. Like I said: false equivalency.
I actually really enjoy using my two stroke hedge trimmer/strimmer - a hell of a lot more fun than the battery powered thing I used to have. I think it's 95dB, but I wear ear muffs while killing my bushes. I also don't use it until after 10AM and have never used it beyond 7PM IIRC. Occasionally having to take out the spark plug to clean it and check the gap makes me feel like a proper mechanic too. I had to replace the primer once too after I accidentally smashed it into a wall when I temporarily lost my footing.
To be fair, knowing how dBA is measured, and how it works, is not.. common. I'm not saying it excuses the behaviour - Because as much as I like engine noise, I am definitely on the "stfu" side of the fence when it comes to places where that kind of noise shouldn't be expected. Like where people live. Or work. Or just are, unless it's some sort of loud event. I dare say, if asked on the street, most people would not know how dBA is measured, or why such small number increments are significantly louder. As an aside, I don't recall seeing many aftermarket exhausts (For cars, at least) that list their dBA - Presumably because it'd be lab data and with a specific engine configuration that wouldn't apply to every vehicle. Or, more likely, because no sod measures it. Couple that with the lack of understanding of how noise is measured, how much different it is inside a helmet/inside a car, I can see how some people are oblivious to what you, and I most likely, would consider assholeish behaviour. Maybe you should move to Germany. They're quite a fan of their noise rules around here.
I was thinking about upping sticks to the continent a while back, and Germany was top of the list - though not because of loud motorbikes, I hasten to add! Trouble is, my wife needs to be near her family so it's a no-goer.
Can we at least use the laws and limits for this country in this discussion; UK outdoor equipment limits can be found https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32000L0014&from=EN for lawnmowers etc it's 94 - 96dba UK motorcycle limit can be found here https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/57/made which is 73 dba by my reading
A lot of motorbikes sound louder from streets away than the 94 dBa written on my electric strimmer in my hand. May be it's to do with the type of noise they make? Hopefully one day we no longer rely on the primitive way of making things explode for our energy needs. That's the simplest way of making things quiet.
I'm not talking about laws, I'm talking about noise: I have little doubt that the bikes roaring down the main road of an evening here are absolutely in contravention of UK laws. So are the custom cars with the numberplates that use non-approved typefaces and underlighting - sadly, the police don't seem to do anything about those either. (Never understood why - you're literally driving around with not only evidence of your lawbreaking attached to the front of your car, but in a way that makes it super easy for the police to find out where you live. Feels like it'd be an easy win for the crime stats, that!) EDIT: Just had a look at the link: as a presumably law-abiding biker who loves engine noise but wouldn't want to be outwith the law, I'm surprised you didn't notice that a) 73dBA is, I guarantee, a lot quieter than your bike and 2) the legal limit for mopeds. EDIT EDIT: Here we go: this is the Community Directive for motorbike noise levels: it starts at 78dBA for engines under or equal to 80CC, and goes up to 86dBA for engines over 500CC. Little bit higher than 73dBA, there - and still considerably lower than the bikes I'm talking about.
Maybe, or the reflective building and roadways, or someone has just gutted their silencer Either way, riding season is over and gardening will taper off soon, so we just have fireworks to look forward to I hope I'm dead and buried before such a time arrives.
Between my illegal visor, illegal number plate, illegal vehicle construction and use regulations and questionable legality of my exhaust, I have had zero pulls or tickets in my riding time, long may it continue.
And I, I'm afraid, very much wish the opposite - though it's by no means personal, I'd just like the rozzers to maybe start enforcing the laws we have on this kind of thing, especially when the person is knowingly breaking the law.
I suspect that to adequately enforce the various rules and regulations the traffic police need a significant increase in their number - An increase I doubt they will ever get. And those officers would also need a lot more education on what exactly contravenes what, or a lot of loopholes need shutting. I've seen a people fit screamer pipes to their waste gate systems, and artfully disguise the pipework so that to a casual observer it looks right, despite being illegal in both noise and pollution regards.
Point scoring and tit-for-tat replies aside, let's just straight up factually answer the question the title asks. No, motorcycles are generally not getting louder. In fact quite the opposite: modern bikes are quieter than they ever were due to the need to comply with Euro 4/Euro 5 regulations. Even when we leave the EU, bikes will still be built to comply with Euro 5.
