Press Room

ONE ON ONE: Less Sound, More Ground

MPN, June 2003, Vol. 29, No. 6, www.mpnmag.com, page 39

Citing excessive noise as a potential reason for increased land closures, the BlueRibbon Coalition sounds off on the damage being done by loud pipes

Since first founding the BlueRibbon Coalition back in 1987, executive director Clark Collins has heard more than his fair share of accusations from conservationist and environmentalists groups about how destructive off highway vehicle recreation is to Mother Earth. These groups claim, for instance, that motorcycles bother wildlife, trample rare vegetation, deter other forms of outdoor recreation and disrupt the general tranquility of an otherwise pristine landscape. Yet, despite constant efforts to work, coexist and generally play nice with extremist groups, it seems there is always a new battle on the horizon, and a new issue for the BRC to defend against.

The latest and perhaps most challenging of these endless issues involves sound regulation, a topic related to the subject of this month's product focus-exhaust and high-performance products (pages 20-34). At present, a sound limit of 96 decibels is the rule for public land use in California (just lowered form 101 decibels), but who knows how long it will be before that limit is drawn back further? Along those lines, who knows how long it might be before other states take up the cause and impose limits of their own? In preparation, the BRC, along with other rider groups, aftermarket manufacturers and OEMs, have put forth a concerted effort toward providing consumers with a selection of exhaust systems that downplay noise while continuing to maintain the high levels of power and performance that were present in previous models.

Collins, who recently announced he will step down from his post as executive director of the BRC at the end of this year, took the time to sit down with MPN and discuss the impact loud pipes have on his group's ongoing efforts to keep public lands open for motorized recreation, the importance of off-road heroes promoting quieter riding, and what the BRC is doing to keep things moving forward.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: This month, MPN is concentrating its focus on exhaust and high-performance products. What is the BlueRibbon Coalition's position on the products that are currently available within the powersports industry?

COLLINS: Well, I think that the industry needs to pay a little more attention to the sound issue with regards to the aftermarket pipes. There are some folks within the industry that are taking that issue seriously, but I fear that there are others who aren't. As someone who is heavily involved, in fact it's my job, in representing off-highway use vehicles in the land-use battle, I can tell you that the extensive noise issue is a real problem for us. It's one (issue) that we've got to take seriously as a user community and as an industry.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: What steps have the BlueRibbon Coalition taken to try to educate riders on controlled noise levels and hushed pipes?

COLLINS: We're working with some of the folks within the industry on sound-testing programs. Don Amador, our western representative, is the most active member of our staff on that issue, and he physically goes out to events and conducts courtesy sound testing. He's very active on the ground, working with end-users at these events.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: You're in a position that allows you to stay on top of a lot of legislative issues that face riders today. On the list of current concerns, where would you say the loud pipe issue ranks and why?

COLLINS: As far as one that we can address as a user community, I think that the sound issue ranks right up at the top. There are a lot of issues that we have to deal with that, quite frankly, are not legitimate issues in my view. For instance, there are many folks out there who argue that off highway vehicle recreation leaves a negative impact on wildlife and on other natural resources, and they try to characterize the off-highway vehicle community in a negative manner. But the plain fact of the matter is that, of the issues that we can do something about, the sound issue ranks right at the top because it has the potential to create a negative attitude among the general public whether it knows anything about the other issues or not. Off highway motorcycles recreating near a campground or near a residential area-if they're quiet-are not that much of a problem. But as soon as you add a noisy vehicle to the mix you have an instant problem because those (anti OHV) folks can hear it, they know that activity is going on out there ant that's what draws their attention to it.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: On the whole subject of exhaust and noise, what would you say seems to be the biggest obstacle to overcome in trying to convince riders that quiet pipes can be just as effective as loud ones?

COLLINS: I think we need to have off-highway motorcycle competitors take this issue seriously, and they need to be the ones that are delivering the message to OHV recreationists. For example, at our recent Breakfast of Champions, Dick Burleson, eight time national enduro champion and someone that practically everyone in the off-highway vehicle community can relate to, insisted on getting up before the participants at that event and delivering what I call his "Sound Sermon." He was passionate about his desire to talk to the folks about the seriousness surrounding this sound issue and I think we need more of that. Dick Burleson is certainly to be commended for taking that issue seriously and feeling that passion about doing something about it. In fact, Dick has helped us with sound testing at events. I mentioned that Don Amador is also physically on hand at the grounds doing sound testing. At one event, I believe it was the Dirt Rider 24 Hour Test that they do every spring, Dick Burleson helped Don do the sound testing and talked to the folks that were involved in that event about how important that issue was. At that event, of all the national riders that were participating in that event, all of their vehicles met the strict sound-test standards of 96 decibels that were required for that event. But we need to have more of those folks playing an active role, because they are the ones that the user community is going to identify with. I can preach to those folks until the cows come home and it'll have some effect, but it's not going to have near the effect it will if folks like Dick Burleson and maybe Jeremy McGrath do it. We need to have some of these folks that all of the OHV recreationists identify with speak more on the subject and, hopefully, the general ridership will take it seriously.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Obviously the BlueRibbon Coalition is mainly focused on off-highway vehicles, dirt bikes, ATVs and such, but obviously there's a contingent out there of on-road guys who claim that loud pipes save lives. What do you have to say to that crowd?

COLLINS: Point and fact is I don't think that argument cuts it. I used to be a street rider. I started out as a dirt biker, then had a street bike for a while and, frankly, the reason I quit street riding was that I found myself getting sleepy on the motorcycle. I've got to be ricocheting off a rock or some trees and stuff like to keep me awake I guess. Anyway, street riding really teaches you defensive driving and it teaches you instincts that carry over to automobile driving. I think that street riders need to just learn defensive driving skill and that's what's going to protect them. If they rely on an obnoxiously noisy motorcycle to protect them when they're riding among the general traffic public, I just don't think that that's a good argument. And the fact remains that people just aren't going to tolerate that, and that attitude has the potential to lead to ever-stricter regulations with regards to motorcycles that could eliminate riders' opportunities to ride their motorcycles among the general transportation public at all.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Which riding demographic do you feel is probably going to be the most adamant about switching away from the louder pipes?

COLLINS: With regards to the OHV community, I'm certain it's going to be the younger folks because they tend to think that the more noise their motorcycle makes, the more power it's marking. They haven't matured enough to really take the land-use issues seriously. That's why it's going to be all the more important, in my view, that the heroes of the younger crowd, the supercross competitors, and even the freestyle competitors speak up on the importance of the issue. We need those folks to help us out with the sound issue because, if they'll start preaching to the folks that idolize them, that's going to help us keep these land available for off-highway recreational use.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Do you feel that the exhaust companies are doing all they can to assist in this mission?

COLLINS: I don't think they are taking it seriously enough yet. Some of them are.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Back in October, FMF came up with $5,000 to help you with a program involving the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the clubs to get riders in compliance with the sound limits in California. It appears that FMF is actively involved in the cause.

COLLINS: (FMF has) contributed to our efforts to address this issue. There are other companies that have also expressed an interest, including an ATV exhaust system outfit, La Ligne, that has an add-on silencer that quiets pipes even more, down to 91 decibels. We haven't gotten any real help from these guys in our particular efforts, but they're somebody that we're talking to. We also met with Tom White and Mike Bell down at White Brothers last August and they were talking about promoting quiet exhaust systems They seem to be getting very serious about this issue.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Can you share any information on technology that is currently available to help riders maintain performance while toning down the sound? Do you have any details on anything coming up that you're aware of?

COLLINS: With regard to general information, folks need to just buy the quiet pipes to start with because, for one thing, there's a broad range of performance pipes out there that are available and a lot of them are obnoxiously noisy. Folks need to just have an interest in buying a quiet exhaust system and in maintaining that system. One of the keys is that mufflers need repacking periodically. With regards to the technology, I don't know much technology is coming up except that I do know that they made vast improvements in the exhaust systems over the years while still providing optimum performance. I started riding dirt bikes back in 1966, and straight expansion chamber exhaust systems. Back then it was felt that this was necessary for maximum performance, but as time went on the manufacturers even started putting quiet mufflers on their MX bikes. The new MX bikes would probably meet the 95 decibels requirement for California public land use because the industry has taken that issue seriously improved the exhaust systems even on thei8r systems that are designed for closed circuit use.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Well obviously if quiet pipes are going to be successful they're going to need to be pushed to customers at the dealer level, too. What do you feel dealers can do to learn more about the features and benefits of these pipes, and what arguments can they use to help sell them?

COLLINS: I think dealers need to talk to their customers when the customers request a pipe that the dealer knows is a noisy pipe. If he knows that the customer is going to be using it on public lands for recreational trail riding he needs to talk to that customer about the importance of being responsible with regards to sound. I know that's going to be a tough call for a dealer, as customers are going to say they want those pipes because they read somewhere that they would give his motorcycle the most power. It's just what they want, and it's going to be hard for the dealer to lecture the customer on what he thinks is a better product for what the customer's going to do with that machine. That's why it's all the more important that the customers become pre-educated by service messages from the off-highway competitors out there. I think that's really the key. It gets back to what I said earlier about the importance of having the big name riders deliver messages about the importance of the recreational user public taking this sound issue seriously. The dealer himself might have and interest in talking to his customer about the importance of taking the sound issue seriously, but it's more than likely going to be his parts guy or one of his employees that's going to be selling product to the customer.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: In talking to dealers, do you feel that they are taking the sound issue seriously?

COLLINS: I believe that the dealers that we have as members in the BlueRibbon Coalition are the kind of dealers that do take this issue seriously and attempt to steer their customers toward responsible products. Dealers who belong to the BlueRibbon Coalition understand the importance of supporting our land-use advocacy efforts, but there are a lot of dealers out there that we don't reach. There are a lot of dealers that are just struggling to keep the doors open, so I can understand their focus on selling whatever they can. It doesn't do any good for them to be responsible dealers if they go out of business.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Do you believe that dealers are keeping up on the technical and legislative changes that are going on with this issue right now?

COLLINS: Some of them are, but not nearly enough of them are. It's important that (MPN is) taking this issue seriously and that you are delivering this message to the dealers that read your magazine. It's also important that the enthusiast media like Dirt Rider, Dirt Bike, Rev and the others, and the trade media, such as your magazine, deliver the message to their readers about the importance of taking this sound issue seriously. If not taken seriously, like I mentioned earlier, (sound is) the number one issue that has the potential to really increase closures and increase justification for land managers to increase restrictions on off-highway vehicle use. That's ultimately going to be a real problem for the OHV industry.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: To your knowledge is there any significant difference in the cost of the quieter pipes?

COLLINS: In some instances I believe they are more expensive. I know I've been watching the FMF ads and the quiet pipes in the FMF ads are more money than the noisier pipes, and I think that's a problem. Some folks might be making these decisions based on the cost of the product.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: Recognizing that the excessive sound can cause environmental damage, do you consider the current standard, the 96 decibels legislation, fair?

COLLINS: I definitely think it's fair to bring the level down to that because it was 101. In fact, we would like to see a nationwide sound standard. The 96 decibels limit was just introduced in California and the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) is working on implementing a 96 decibels standard for competition events. Some states have sound limit laws and some don't, but I definitely think that 96 decibels is a reasonable level and, if anything, I would like to see that worked down. That's the direction we need to be headed, and that's the direction that we are headed. I see that as a positive sign. I think that it needs to be done incrementally, so I don't think we need to go right now from 101 down to 85 or something like that. However, I do think we need to be pushing for lower sound levels with all of the products because that's going to be what it's going to take to eliminate this as a legitimate argument against OHV recreation. I started out this conversation talking about some of the issues that I really don't think are legitimate issues, and the anti-OHV against OHV recreation, but the one argument that keeps biting us in the butt is the sound issue-and that's a legitimate issue in my view.

MOTORCYCLE PRODUCT NEWS: So do you have a closing plea?

COLLINS: Noise is the single most important issue that can affect our future on public land use. It's an extremely serous issue and I know that it's a difficult one for me to deal with.
I'll give you a little story. One of my very close friends keeps putting noisy exhaust systems on his bike, so I went down and bought him a quiet, insert for one of the bikes he had taken the baffle out of. Paid for it myself, and I stuck it in there for him. He rode the bike for maybe six months before he bought another bike and put a damn noisy exhaust on that one, too. I guess that that's an illustration that, damnit, some times even I can't control what my friends do even though they should know better. It really points to the difficulty of this issue and why it needs to be an industry-wide initiative.
In my view, the aftermarket industry is where this issue has kind of gotten away from us-more so than with the OEMs. Even though there are some OEM products that are noisy, the aftermarket industry has been a large part of the problem here and I am really encouraged that it is starting to pay more attention to this issue. But it's up to the general OHV community to make it cool to have a quiet bike, and to make it uncool to have an obnoxiously noisy bike. We need everybody's help to deliver that message.

Things you should already know dept.: The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national non-profit recreation group that champions responsible use of public lands. It represents over 600 organizations and businesses with approximately 600,000 members. You can track the BRC's continued efforts through its website at www.sharetrails.org.