Safety??

A quick response to your motorcycle post Ed; Matt will have to wait.

I really think the safety issue is a red herring.  Find me one Harley rider who will tell you that safety was a top five reason for buying the Harley.  You can't.  Also, find me one motorcycle rider who has modified their exhaust system to make it louder because they wanted to be safer.  You can't.  It's a bunch of malarkey.

Also, along the lines of the "senses" argument, the easier and much less annoying solution is to highlight the VISUAL.  But how many motorcycle riders to you see wearing reflective vests or reflective helmets, or riding white or orange-colored bikes??  Uh, none.  That wouldn't be cool.

So the issue has NOTHING to do with safety as some claim.  As someone pointed out on Facebook, if they didn't have a loud bike, they would have to ride with a huge sign that said, "Look at me!!  I'm really cool!!" because that's what they want to communicate.

By the way, just for clarification, even as a punk 16-year-old, I never punched holes in my muffler because even back then I didn't understand loud mopeds!