Pulled over for exhaust?
- Thread starter MikeN02
- Start date
Top1Dog525
New Member
The only time I have ever seen or heard of someone getting puller or fined for their aftermarket exhaust is when they were using it in a disruptive manner. Example couple guys that live near us have sport bikes with custom exhausts and they were doing nothing but revving them for an hour or so and neighbors (not me) called the cops. They were fined for "Public Disturbance" but even then they made no fuss over the fact it was an Aftermarket Exhaust, just the noise violation. That's my only experience with it though... So take it with a grain of salt :Sport:
Check your State's laws, each state, county, and city can be different. I know on the East Coast the laws are pretty tight, here in Texas, nope.
Texas:
Muffler - No acoustical criteria.
Maximum Sound Level - No acoustical criteria.
Here's an excellent resource from the AMA.
Texas state motorcycle laws
Texas:
Muffler - No acoustical criteria.
Maximum Sound Level - No acoustical criteria.
Here's an excellent resource from the AMA.
Texas state motorcycle laws
I know of a couple of guys who have had loud exhaust tacked on top of other violations they were being pulled over for. It's officially noise pollution I guess. But I've never met anyone who's been pulled over for that reason alone. I've also read that there's a push in California (not sure about nation wide) to make it illegal to not have a catalytic converter on a street bike. That's why our bike along with a lot of the 09 models from a lot of companies have them now. So you "could" get pulled over for anything that's not stock. But again, how many cops are going to pull you over solely for your exhaust? Probably not many. But to the letter of the law, you could also be pulled over for ANY modifications to the bike pertaining to the lights, signals, or plate location. But nobody I've ever met has been harassed for that sort of thing either so I don't think it'll be any different with the exhaust.
A lot of aftermarket manufacturers use "not legal for street use" as a generic disclaimer to cover their butts. Whether it's actually illegal depends only your local vehicle law, and whether you'd actually get stopped depends on how loud it is and the attitudes of local enforcement. In my area, one particular town that's known as a bike destination routinely singles out motorcycles for noise checks, but elsewhere it's generally not an issue (uhhh, so I'm told).
Don't get me started on Pennsylvania window tint laws.
I'm not a "poser" but I just love this new world of motorcycling that I've entered into. Therefore, the stock exhaust is just too quiet for me and I've noticed when passing by other bikes they don't see or hear me coming. I wave but don't get a response back because I guess they didn't notice.
Therefore that's one of the reasons why I want a slip on, also I just plain out love the sound.
Therefore that's one of the reasons why I want a slip on, also I just plain out love the sound.
dannymac702
New Member
Location must make a big difference. Here in Las Vegas it seems that most any vehicle can go down the road loud enough to set off car alarms and rattle the windows in your home without a problem. I rode a '89 Yamaha XT 600 with a Supertrapp exhaust and 20 diffuser disks for 30,000 miles here and never had a problem. (FZ6R still has stock exhaust - for now) On the other hand, my son in his '93 Honda hatch with a "fart cannon" has had repeated problems with law and has gone back to a stock looking exhaust. It was nowhere near as loud as any bike with a modified exhaust system. Seems like profiling to me!
flyingminno
New Member
Yeah I know what you mean, last time I was in LV, a guy on a scooter pulled up next to the truck and had a pathetic sounding fake rumble to it.