Of neighbors, cops and bad form

[620dark]

I had a crazy (really) neighbor who threatened to hurt my friends and my family due to a friend of mine parking too close to his mailbox (not on purpose). I tried to deal with it rationally and reasonably, but when he was standing at my front door stinking of booze and threatening my wife and my friends, I had two options. One was call the cops, and the other was to make sure he could never hurt anyone I cared about.

I called the cops. Didn't help much because cops can't cure crazy, but at least when we had to call them again they knew what was up.

Assuming your neighbor isn't crazy, you might want to try going over there with a six pack and trying to see if he will sit down with you and talk. He'll probably ramble at length about his shitty life and crappy job and overbearing wife and drink four of your beers and then wave at you every time you ride by from then on out.

Or he'll hit you in the head with a shovel and bury you behind his shed. 50 / 50 chance, I guess.

 

[CresentSon]

30/70 at best...

 

[fitbmxseries1]

I got a neighbor who always yells at me for driving my truck to fast down the street.. as im hes yelling i always look at my speedometer.... 15 mph... how much slower does he want me to go?! Luckily every one on my block has a loud car,truck or motorcycle so we never have issues with sound. Also ever since me and my wife stopped a burglary of one of our neighbors they all seem to like me around here.

 

[rock2d2]

I got a neighbor who always yells at me for driving my truck to fast down the street.. as im hes yelling i always look at my speedometer.... 15 mph... how much slower does he want me to go?! Luckily every one on my block has a loud car,truck or motorcycle so we never have issues with sound. Also ever since me and my wife stopped a burglary of one of our neighbors they all seem to like me around here.

It's the rule of speed relativity. Observe:

You're driving in the fast lane. You approach a car going slower than you. You ridicule them for being a fucking blue hair grandma and tell them to get on the gas.

You continue to drive and a minute later you are passed by a car that is obviously being driven by a lunatic, since you were already speeding a little bit, and they still needed to pass you?!?!?

Simply put; Everyone slower than you is a geriatric, everyone faster than you has a death wish.

 

[jwarriner]

In this day and age I give him a few points for at least talking to you before calling the cops or getting some other sort of passive aggressive revenge. But he still sounds a bit unstable. I'd do whatever is possible to avoid some neighborhood feud that you are stuck in until one of you moves.

 

[jwarriner]

He'll probably ramble at length about his shitty life and crappy job and overbearing wife

Tons of truth here. Lots of married guys I know have horribly oppressive, joyless wives who insist he be as miserable as she is. Shit, she's probably yelling at him every time you ride by more than he yelled at you.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

I'm gonna add a little different perspective here.

If you have loud pipes on your bike, you were the dick FIRST.

Motorcycles with loud pipes hurt us all. Our rights as motorcyclists are being impinged every day due to the bad will being spread through the auditory assault inconsiderate motorcyclists commit every day. I know some communities now where the police are walking along lines of parked motorcycles with a mirror on a stick examining the pipes for the LEGALLY REQUIRED EPA stamp on the mufflers, and they will write a citation for non-stock pipes. Do we need this shit? Hell no, but you dicks with obnoxiously loud open pipes are directly responsible for such enforcement actions. Let me reiterate...If your exhaust is obnoxiously loud, then YOU are being obnoxious. YOU are the problem, not the person you are pissing of. Period. This is not rocket science. This is not a mystery.

PUT A FUCKIN' MUFFLER ON YER FUCKIN' BIKE!
Stop being an annoying dick.

 

[Green199]

I'm gonna add a little different perspective here.

If you have loud pipes on your bike, you were the dick FIRST.

Motorcycles with loud pipes hurt us all. Our rights as motorcyclists are being impinged every day due to the bad will being spread through the auditory assault inconsiderate motorcyclists commit every day. I know some communities now where the police are walking along lines of parked motorcycles with a mirror on a stick examining the pipes for the LEGALLY REQUIRED EPA stamp on the mufflers, and they will write a citation for non-stock pipes. Do we need this shit? Hell no, but you dicks with obnoxiously loud open pipes are directly responsible for such enforcement actions. Let me reiterate...If your exhaust is obnoxiously loud, then YOU are being obnoxious. YOU are the problem, not the person you are pissing of. Period. This is not rocket science. This is not a mystery.

PUT A FUCKIN' MUFFLER ON YER FUCKIN' BIKE!
Stop being an annoying dick.

That was a different perspective, if not a little aggressively worded. No need to call everyone a dick here. Most people are running with mufflers, running legally around the neighbourhood for a short period of time, and having someone completely over react to the situation by threatening with legal action as opposed to having a little chat.

You could of made your point without being offensive.

 

[DUEX EX]

Same thing happened to me while tuning in my cl175. Lady down the street gets an attitude ,says im speeding,threatens with calling cops, I was going maybe 30mph in a 25,yet soccer moms in thier huge suvs barrel down my street,just not as loud.You know what im over it,The lady isnt even a permenant resident,its her vacation home. so she can shove it.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

You could of made your point without being offensive.

If you think I was being offensive, that's your problem. As I said, a different perspective.

Motorcycles without mufflers are obnoxious, period. No if's, and's, or but's. If we are running around the neighborhood without mufflers, we should not be surprised when it pisses people off. The rider of the unmuffled motorcycle is the problem and a neighborhood nuisance. Maybe the neighbor in this particular example could have been more polite in his approach, but he was not the one who was the dick first.

Don't for a second think that I am calling everyone here a dick. But I will say, running a motorcycle without mufflers is a dick move, and anyone who has an obnoxiously loud motorcycle should stop and think seriously about how their inconsideration affects our sport as a whole.

I didn't make that post frivolously, and I stand behind ever word, and yes, it IS aggressively worded. I think this thread needed a reality check. Loud motorcycles are a problem for ALL motorcycle enthusiasts. We are all ambassadors of the sport based on our public behaviors. Loud pipes are an expression of antisocial behavior. Is that really the way we want people to perceive us?

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

Same thing happened to me while tuning in my cl175

Neighborhood streets are not the place to be tuning a motorcycle. Why would you disrespect your neighbors that way?

 

[jwarriner]

Is that really the way we want people to perceive us?

Personally, I don't give a shit how people perceive you.

Glad I don't live in suburbia hell with a bunch of pussies.

 

[Kanticoy]

I didn't make that post frivolously, and I stand behind ever word, and yes, it IS aggressively worded. I think this thread needed a reality check. Loud motorcycles are a problem for ALL motorcycle enthusiasts. We are all ambassadors of the sport based on our public behaviors. Loud pipes are an expression of antisocial behavior. Is that really the way we want people to perceive us?

I have zero problem with loud pipes anywhere, but I live a different life than most of you guys who are in a subdivision do. I sold my garden home 7 years ago and bought one in the woods because, well, I hated the neighborhood. I live 5 minutes from Barber's Motorsports Park. On any given weekend you can literally hear the open TT pipes of AMA race bikes, the open pipes of Indy cars, the open pipes of 100 year old motorcycles that they rebuilt going around the track. Open pipes historically are there as a performance device. All of my bikes except for one have baffles and mufflers installed. The one that doesn't? An overbored, hot cammed, enlarged valved, ported head performance bike. Do I ride it a lot on the street? No. Do I take it out once in a while? Of course. Do I cruise through neighborhoods? Hell no. It's all about making the choice when and where you ride depending on what you are riding. That's a respect thing.

We all know though, that the way to gain respect is not by being a dick and demanding it (though it would seem that this is our fall back). Respect is earned. I go out of my way to earn respect of the people around me that I want it from. My neighbors live too far away to care. Other than the one guy that blasts his country music too loud and shoots his guns whenever he feels like it. My solution to the noise? Turn my music up to where I can't hear it. We've never complained to one another about anything. Respect.

I won't say that "all vehicles need to be quiet all of the time because if they aren't, you are a dick, and dicks suck". That's generalizing a little too much.

Don't run no mufflers on a stock bike. Then you have made your bike slower and become a part of the "red light BRAAAAP-er club". But for those of us out here trying to build something that actually goes fast and has the motor to match, be respectful and keep it away from crowded venues. Just some perspective.

 

[Drewski]

The world teaches that, "It's all about me!" If I'm offended, I'm right. There seem to be fewer and fewer people that understand that we all should respect each other and have some consideration for each other.

Many of you know what I ride. A modified KZ1000 and h2 2 stroke triple. I'm the only motorcycle owner in my little neighbourhood (105 townhouses). I am VERY aware that my bikes are noisy. I have to leave for work at 7:30am. I do my very best to start and idle out of my home complex as quietly as possible. I also ride very slowly whenever I ride in and out of our street.

So far, there have been no complaints (to my knowledge at least) in 6 years.

 

[skatetheame]

If you think I was being offensive, that's your problem. As I said, a different perspective.

He thinks your post was offensive that's his opinion not his problem, you think loud pipes are offensive, that's your opinion.

 

[Green199]

Neighborhood streets are not the place to be tuning a motorcycle. Why would you disrespect your neighbors that way?

Some people have nowhere else to work on/tune bikes. Not all of us have access to land or even the opportunity to transport a bike to an open area to ride.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

There seem to be fewer and fewer people that understand that we all should respect each other and have some consideration for each other.

Very true, and it sounds like you do your best to be considerate to others that you may not even know or see.

When I was riding a Harley Dyna, it had pretty loud pipes. Not straight pipes, but still pretty loud. (Those were the pipes that came on it when I bought it.) When I was traveling, and leaving a motel early morning, I would push it out to the street before even starting the engine, then I would idle away immediately so as not to wake everybody up. Same when coming into a motel late at night. I would hit the kill switch and coast in if possible.

Respect. Given freely, to people I will never see or know. Just like holding the door for the person directly behind you entering a convenience store. That person, entirely unknown to you, does not have to do anything to earn that simple respect.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

Some people have nowhere else to work on/tune bikes. Not all of us have access to land or even the opportunity to transport a bike to an open area to ride.

That's true, but if the bike is street legal, it can be ridden out of the neighborhood before you start twisting the throttle. If it's not street legal, it shouldn't be on any street.

 

[Frog]

I'm with Alpha on this, when you live amongst people there is always a compromise, and you need to show some respect if you expect some back. Your neighbour may have the right to turn his noisy shredder on when you are having a BBQ, the local kids may think it's their right to blast hip hop from their cars at all hours, and some people may think it okay to ride around with ear splitting pipes because they like the sound. What they all have in common is they are saying fuck you I'm okay, unnecessary noise just pollutes the shared environment and stresses people out.

 

[rattpunk]

Motorcycles without mufflers are obnoxious, period. No if's, and's, or but's. If we are running around the neighborhood without mufflers, we should not be surprised when it pisses people off. The rider of the unmuffled motorcycle is the problem and a neighborhood nuisance. Maybe the neighbor in this particular example could have been more polite in his approach, but he was not the one who was the dick first.

I'm not here to argue for the right to have obnoxiously loud pipes. I knew a guy who was super proud of his suped-up rice rocket with no muffler just a merged header. He really was getting off on pissing off everyone. He used to wear earplugs when he rode, even got chased by a bunch of cops cuz he couldn't hear the sirens of multiple cars after him for miles. But the thing is, that wasn't the case here. I had to replace the mufflers and got what I could afford and had been stated as legal. They really are louder than I had hoped for. Great sound, but really loud. I've even been planning on replacing them when I can afford.

My only gripe was that I had, maybe just my opinion, perfectly valid reasons for my actions and was more than willing to discuss the matter, apologize for my noise levels and simply talk it over.

Anyone out there has a right to call me out on being too loud. But I have as much right to explain my case. If they still think I shouldn't be behaving the way I am we can go from there. Just like the guy running his chipper during your BBQ... maybe he really didn't notice you had company. Maybe he only has 1 hour this week to use that chipper he rented.
I know where you guys and the neighbor are coming from, I take no issue with confrontation. I recently asked a high-school kid to stop bumping his bass so loud that is was shaking our third floor windows when he parked in front the house before school. But that's what I did. I asked him first. If he told me to go fuck off, then things could have progressed. What it comes down to for me is a willingness to give the other side, the opposing argument, fair consideration. Even if they are just cunts who care fuck-all. Was I out there just fucking around? Am I just some dumb-shit punk that has no regard for sleeping babes or golden-silence on a warm summer afternoon? Or am I a pretty decent guy that is just trying to get by and maybe needed a good talking to? I think the last. Was I being a dick? Still up for debate.

That's true, but if the bike is street legal, it can be ridden out of the neighborhood before you start twisting the throttle. If it's not street legal, it shouldn't be on any street.

My garage is a driveway, the only place I can make sure the bike works is on my street. How am I supposed to know if the clutch or brakes or any other number of critical components are going to function on the way to the inspection station? And truth be told, after the first run a month ago, I haven't opened it up on his street, I wait until I get to the third left before switching gears. Three of the four streets are just to check components. I take it out for about 5 minutes a week around 2pm on Sat or Sun. I don't think I'm asking too much. If I get suggestions on how else to manage I'll entertain them, but again I don't think one or two runs down the street a week is asking too much.