Unreliable Sauce

loUd aNd UNCleaR

During these past two decades it’s clear that we bikists have been confronting, if not fighting, a steady onslaught of legislative and other less obvious barriers to the enjoyment of our transport lifestyle. These have included emission and so-called safety issues handed down from the EU bureaucrats, Ultra Low Emission Zones in London and soon elsewhere and for those of us mudpluggers who once enjoyed a heady network of green lanes, the dreaded NERC bill. And now we’re about to face perhaps the biggest barrier of all: acoustic cameras.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, one of the last official pronouncements by now ex-Transport Minister, the egregious Chris ‘Failing’ Grayling, was to authorise trials of ‘noise cameras’ which operate in much the same way as speed cameras but record a vehicle’s exhaust decibel level as well as its number plate. Drivers, or in our case riders, will then be fined if they exceed a legal limit of 74 decibels, and notwithstanding the dreaded Brexit, this could eventually come down to 68dB by 2026 if the Dept for Transport (DfT) decides to mirror EU legislation, which it invariably does.

Now of course all new motorbicycles sold in the UK already meet the 74dB limit and owners of brand spankers have little to fear from acoustic cameras… or do they? I ask this because the noise levels emitted by OEM exhausts are generally set at midrange engine revs, but if one is screaming along past one of these new cameras in a low-ish gear or, perish the thought, a high-ish speed, can we expect to quite literally sneak under the radar?

Be that as it may, I think we should be more worried about aftermarket ‘zorst systems and end-cans, for the sale of such relatively big-ticket items is not at all insignificant and those who like a bit of a racket to orchestrate their A to B-ness will have to abandon their freedom to enjoy it. And simply returning original mufflers to get their bikes through the MoT – hello Harley owners – will thus become a thing of the past.

According to the DfT, the deployment of these new cameras, ‘… comes after pressure from campaigners in rural communities who complain of motorists modifying vehicles to increase sound.’ Note that’s ‘motorists’, not motorcyclists but once again we are being tarred with the same metaphorical brush. However, MCIA boss Tony Campbell said that his members will ‘play their part’ in adapting to new measures adding that, ‘With growing pressure on the environment, including noise pollution, illegal exhausts fitted by some riders attract unwanted attention to the motorcycle community and do nothing to promote the many benefits motorcycles can offer… (and) we welcome these trials as a potential way of detecting excessive noise in our community.’

Thanks Tony.

Now I live in a part of rural mid-Wales where sportsbike riders from the Midlands arrive most weekends to enjoy the relatively low-trafficked and scenically impressive A-roads, usually at high speeds and often wearing aftermarket exhausts which do indeed make a bit of a din if you happen to live near the action. But I’ve yet to see any evidence of any ‘campaigners’ complaining to the DfT about these brief aural intrusions. And in any case two of my bikes are fitted with aftermarket and/or modified exhausts which are, shall we say, a bit on the raucous side and no one’s ever moaned to me about any rumpus I make whilst bimbling along the lanes and B-roads hereabouts.

However, I should point out that both of these bikes are customs that I’ve built myself based on bikes from the early 1980s which had far higher decibel levels than today’s machines when they were new. Which raises another worry, for I know that the customising business is that rare thing, a two-wheeled trade that is both healthy and growing, but is one that almost exclusively depends on being able to build and sell machines that are substantially louder than stock.

I also know that the MCIA and certainly the DfT aren’t really concerned about the fate of niche commerce in the bike trade. But I am, and so should we all be if we care about our freedom to ride, and ride in a manner that matters to us.