By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Earlier this week, Claire Unsinn woke up at 1:30 a.m. to the sound of thunder. 

Only the noise she heard wasn’t accompanied by lightning; it came from the exhaust pipes of several motorcycles cruising by her Kennebunk home.

“They put those loud pipes on because they like the noise,” Unsinn said of the passersby. “That’s part of the whole biker mystique.”

Unsinn isn’t the only one losing sleep over motorcycle exhausts; last month she gathered more than 250 signatures from residents who supported pushing local and state legislators to enforce federal law that places restrictions on motorcycle exhaust systems. Andy Ford, Portland resident and founder of the grassroots group “Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles,” said bikes built after 1982 must meet federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for noise and emissions. A unique EPA stamp marks each bike to its stock muffler, and it is illegal for bike owners to separate the two, Ford said.

“It’s illegal to replace the muffler or modify it in any way that would make more noise,” Ford said. 

Ford said Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles is hopeful the Portland City Council will pass a local ordinance next month that is similar to those in Wisconsin, Colorado and Boston that require police to check for the EPA stamps. Enforcing the standard in Portland could trigger a chain reaction to spread the ordinance throughout the rest of the state, Ford said. 

“This is something that is going to happen,” he said. “It’s unnecessary noise pollution.”

Often, officers do not check for the stamp since they are difficult to see as a motorcycle passes, Ford said. In places where the law is enforced, officers use special mirrors so they don’t have to get on the ground to view the stamp, which Ford said has helped mitigate the amount of illegal exhausts on the road, Ford said. 

“It’s pretty basic, either [the EPA stamp] is there or it isn’t there,” he said. 

More than 250,000 members of the American Motorcycle Association, or AMA, have a better idea – one that could keep bikes in compliance and still on the road, AMA spokesman Pete terHorse said. 

“Up until recently there was no single mechanism that law enforcement could enforce that was fair, equitable and enforceable,” terHorse said.

TerHorse said the group is encouraging bike manufacturers and the EPA to consider regulating motorcycle mufflers with decibel readers rather than binding a bike to its original exhaust. Currently, off-road motorcycles are tested using a similar mechanism terHorse said has “pretty much been adopted by the industry.”

“It’s simple and fairly cheap for a simple sound meter,” he said. “It also eliminates a lot of conditions that could make a bike sound different. It’s a stationary test with a simple device.”

TerHorse said the EPA stamp mechanism makes it difficult for bike owners to replace mufflers that are worn out, which can often be much louder than even an illegal after-market exhaust, he said. 

“There are many after-market exhausts out there that are reasonable in terms of noise but they wouldn’t comply,” terHorse said. “It’s a very difficult and expensive process to get that EPA approval.”

There is one thing that Unsinn, Ford and terHorse can agree on; a loud motorcyle isn’t necessarily a safer one. To date, terHorse said there has not been a conclusive study into whether loud bikes are involved in more accidents than quiet ones.

“[Bikers] claim the loud exhaust is a safety thing, so people can see them, but if they’re so concerned about safety why do they wear black? Half of them don’t even wear helmets,” Unsinn said. “‘Loud pipes save lives’ is a myth – it just doesn’t hold water.”

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.