Oxfordshire doesn't like bikes

[Seeker]

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/410436/weekend-wtf-grumpy-report-bashes-motorcyclists/


#2 in the "Against" is bikes' contribution to noise pollution - a subject we have talked about before.

[Adam Ef]

Most noise from cars comes from the tyres. There's so many on the roads though that the accumulative effect is very loud. Even more intrusive when it rains. I noticed a few days ago how much more relaxed I've been feeling recently. Then noticed it's down to the lack of constant background noise of cars that we're so used to.


Having said that there's definitely a few people near us who are late every day to get to the pharmacy for essential supplies opening up sports bikes on the ring road. Sounds like they keep leaving things at home too and having to go back as they usually go by at least twice.

[Sir Trev]

Oxfordshire border is only fifteen miles or so from my house, it's got less traffic (if you avoid Oxford and the A34) and is flatter and generally a nicer place to ride than my adoptive county of Bucks. H Caff is in Oxon and used to be a mecca for loud ****s pulling stunts making a right racket but I've not seen or heard that going on now for years. You do still get idiots with loud pipes screaming about the county (and I heard so many on Sunday, like Adam, it was ridiculous) but frankly the number of young lads with stupidly loud pipes on their badly lowered scrap-yard-dodging BMW 3-Series in and around Wycombe is far worse. But they tend to stick to town rather than nice A roads in the countryside so it's a different issue.

[DJ123]

Oxfordshire is a Posh county trying to lead by some sort of example. When the Olympic cycle route was set to go through there, they reduced all the National Speed Limit roads down to 50mph. In an attempt to make them safer, and make themselves appear more responsible.
What they neglect to tell you is they were one of the first counties in Britain to switch off all their Gatso cameras due to 'funding'. If you look at the numbers in this article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-12928747) you'll see the accident when the cameras were on/off were essentially no different. They switched them back on due to pressure from safety groups.
It's a county full of wealthy people who complain about anything they don't like. So you won't find hunting or horse riding banned any time soon.

[johnnyrod]

I used to live in both Bucks (Aylesbury Vale) and Oxfordshire (southern, the flat bit where the power station is no more). Preferred Bucks. Not long before i moved away from Oxon they went on a beano of stupid speed limits, for example a deserted stretch of road about a mile long between a couple of villages, reduced from 60 to 30mph. Adam's right though, road noise is a lot more than just exhausts.

[zsv650s]

Probably written by some jealous beauracrat that hates getting filtered past every morning on the way to work and hasn't got the balls to ride one themselves.

[SV650rules]

I hate loud bikes, they are far more annoying than tyre noise from other vehicles... and while tyre noise is a fact of life, straight through pipes are not, so excessive exhaust noise is totally avoidable..

What is this quote from article ( refuting the report ) trying to say ? No one can deny that in 90% of the populations mind 'Motorbike' is always preceded by 'noisy'... and if people left the OEM exhaust on this is totally avoidable. What I can never understand is why police don't carry noise meters, my B-in-Law large V twin cruiser has ear splitting exhaust noise, can literally hear him 3 or 4 streets away..

Motorcycles Are Loud

When it comes to noise pollution, this statement is simply untrue. The reason why many people replace their exhaust systems with aftermarket pipes is that the original exhaust is so quiet.

[Sir Trev]

I've never bothered replacing the exhaust on any of my bikes, mainly down to not wanting to stand out because everyone else will hate you for it. Lets face it, the IL4 screaming away from the edge of town at the limiter is annoying, the big V-twin cruisers with their blam-blam-blam that goes right through you, a 2-smoke with buzzing spannies, the WRX with booming 4 inch open system, the M5/RS6/AMG63 with cutouts just behind the collector box with their deafening rumble.... All annoy the hell out of everyone except the muppet at the controls and their like-minded selfish mates.

Going for something lighter to help the handling or smaller for aesthetic improvement is fine and each to their own but excessive noise is just antisocial, wrong and asking for a stop by the 5-0 as far as I can see. Yes it's a bit of a Daily Mail viewpoint but one thing that is quite nice about the lockdown is the relative peace and quiet it has brought. And I like that!

[mrplasid]

Oxfordshire has always had a reputation for hating motor-vehicles. One trip through Oxford city would prove that.
And to be fair they are talking about commuting and they want bicycles for that. You can't really argue with the four cons: bikes do use petrol mostly. They are bigger than bicycles. I don't think anybody would argue that bikes are more dangerous than cars, although they are probably safer than bicycles and as for noise, it is a pet peeve of mine that some bikes run stupidly noisy pipes. So not much of a story really.