This unfortunately is one simple example of what the noise from the thumpers are doing to our riding areas. I currently can ride out my backyard and enjoy my bike, but its being threatened by the noise pollution of the thumpers, (both bikes and quads.)

We all need to do our part in cutting noise pollution. Please make sure your equipment is in proper running order. Consider getting an exhaust which reduces the noise level, instead of increasing it. We 2 strokers also need to do out part to keep our riding areas open. Keep the noise level down, and please pick up your trash.

OK, I’ll get off my soap box now….

Eric

We need quieter bike regulations and the only way to achieve that goal is by influencing the AMA and the FIM that we need them.

These entities believe they are doing a great job at creating and enforcing the regulations they have.

A great deal of racers think that if the rules are set this way, they will comply with them to the limit. The aftermarket companies deliver what their customers are asking for.

The governing bodies are influenced greatly by the manufacturers, so much so that it has been jokingly stated that Honda runs the AMA. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is worth considering why that joke exists.

The manufacturers claim that it would be difficult and extremely expensive to limit sound levels, so the rules are greatly influenced by this statement of hardship. The AMA and the FIM do not want to put undo pressure on the companies that support their livelihood, so they relax the standards. Or they allow them to be lower than they think would be best.

So now we have the manufacturers and the sanctioning bodies on one side and a few sane voices asking for quieter motocross machines on the other. The problem is that the voices asking for quiet are so few in number. In the middle you have the majority… they may not be giving the subject the attention it deserves because they are not thinking about the future as much as today.

I agree that the question is “how do we influence the powers that be.” I am open to suggestions. Anyone have some great ideas on how to influence this change?

The point I’d like to make is that this is not just a 4-stroke issue. Yes, they are louder and the sound caries farther, but this has been an ongoing battle – one we are losing more and more every day. The popularity of thumpers have just made it worse.

After several conversations with a particular AMA director, the AMA feels they deserve a pat on the back for setting the standards that they have. I feel they deserve a kick in the crotch for being half-assed and not tackling the situation up front.

To your question “What the hell happened?” is simple. The AMA was unable to gain concensus for quiet bikes and failed to enforse a set standard. Manufacturers created competitive thumpers at at a time that air quality was beginning to affect motorcycling. Thumpers being cleaner and using the loophole for double displacement, focused on expanding thumper consumption. Riders, always looking for advantage used louder exhausts.

So we know why. We also know how to fix it (set a rule for low noise emisions and enforce it). My question to you is “How to we influence the powers that be (the FIM, AMA, and local organizations) to implement it?”

While the switch to four-strokes did not create the problem they have exacerbated it.

Yes the noise issue of motorcycles has been around since the beginning, what is strange is the AMA’s apparent about face on the subject. In the 1970′s the AMA’s slogan was “Less sound equals more ground.”

The question truly becomes, what the hell happened?

From my perspective in order for the four-strokes to make a return in the late 1990′s, they needed a displacement advantage and a relaxation of the sound rules. I’m sure that this was done in order to make the four-strokes competitive by producing as much power as was possible. But the past ten years has seen a huge jump in technological advances for the four-stroke.

The application of F1 technology to the four-strokes has made them ultra-competitive. Till now when you read the test comparisons, they are competitive with the two-strokes of equal displacement. In fact now it comes down to the rider preference.

Now that the four-strokes have reached this pinnacle, the sound issue needs to be addressed in a very serious way. These guys that design and build exhaust systems are geniuses. They can build systems that can be super powerful and at the same time be quiet.

Racers are racers… no one wants to give up power to make their bike quieter when they would be penalized. It must be an across the board change from the AMA and FIM so all will be equal. And the sound requirements should be the same for Pros, Amateurs and off-roaders, so the manufacturers and aftermarket only have to build to one standard.

Right now it seems as though the AMA is dancing around the issue, instead of facing it head on. Without some serious attention to sound rules in the near future, motocross will be in danger of extinction.