Almost all aftermarket pipes are illegal in NH now?

[Slyder]

Has anyone heard about others getting pulled over and the cop sticking a night stick into the can, saying it's a straight pipe and then ticketing for it? I have and a fellow that I work with an 05 R1 and dual Yosh TRS cans had that happen in plainfield NH yesterday (near Lebanon / Hanover area)

here's what he had to say....I'm not sure about his signals but his bike does have "pig spotters" for mirrors. He bought the bike as it sits, didn't do anything to it himself...



I can’t ride my bike at the moment, I got pulled over yesterday and the cop wouldn’t let me go any further, I had to get a ride and then ride it home after dark. He says my exhaust, turn signals, mirrors, and I think a few other things are all illegal. I need to do a little research before I take it out again. He stuck his nightstick down my exhaust and took pictures showing that it was “straight pipe”. I’m not too excited about it!

It was in plainfield, although he said he’d been talking to leb as well. I saw him following me so I pulled into krueger’s auto and he followed me, otherwise he probably would have had the bike towed. He said he followed me because he noticed the brand exhaust I had and knew that most of them were illegal, which I think is bs. So I’m going to see if I can find some sort of endcap so he can’t stick his nightstick in anymore. Other than that he can get me for db’s but I was reading the law last night and it is over 106db at 3,500 rpm’s for a 4 cylinder, reading it from 20” away. I don’t think my bike is that loud, but we’ve got a db meter so I can check that myself and print it out, and I know he doesn’t have a db meter.

[RyanNicholson]

milford NH i know is (or was) cracking down HARD on db levels, haven't heard anything else though

[GixerJockey]

...and everywhere else.

You are tampering with the vehicles emission control system. It's a federal offence. Subject to a $10,000 fine, per occurance. (I don't know if they have ever levied this fine, but it went into play 2 years ago).

[tom3040]

That sucks. I had a cop snapping pics of my bike b/c of my plate bracket. What kind of exhaust do you have?

[Honclfibr]

I think it's safe to say that many NH riders will be baffled by this new crackdown on aftermarket exhausts

[GixerJockey]

Especially illegal on 2006 and later machines. They have cats...

[Slyder]

I myself have an M4 standard race slippon. 12" carbon can with a straight through baffle.

oh goody I can't wait until I get hauled in for that.

[greenmonster]

Wow, that sounds all fucked up! I've never heard of this BS before. A night stick? Why, is a stick now the standard for measuring a can? Unbelievable. Check the NH bylaws, etc. and find out wtf is going on. Maybe cage it over to a police station and ask about this "enforcement". Make sure you check on the mirrors, etc too for compliance. I have a Hindle slip-on...I have no idea if it's a straight thru baffle. Never had the need to know til now. All I know is I have that protruding collar at the end of the can that is angled. Can you imagine how many bikes travel thru NH daily/weekly? Are they going to pull over each and everyone to conduct this "test"? Anyone else heard of this? This is sooooo whack!

[Slyder]

Especially illegal on 2006 and later machines. They have cats...

that's really stupid....the cat on a gixxer 1000 is a meetal box with wire mesh inside. Put that bike on a track in stock trim and that mesh will melt. your 160hp 1000 turns into a 600 when that happens, regardless of the mode. What do you do then? buy a brand new cat for it?

$631 dollars from ronayers.com. what the #$%&^ are we suppose to do? run the stock exhaust and keep replacing that medieval POS under the bike every time the friggin mesh melts?

hate our government.

[R1]

no they want you to buy aftermarket stuff so they can fine the shit out of everyone then consider the new fine income "revenue"

then when everyone goes back to stock they'll change the laws to something else and get you that way!

[schleppy]

I think the night stick things comes from testing cruiser straight pipes. Clearly that cop was trying to be a smarty pants with that one.

Most of the sport bikes that I'm familiar with that have cats are located much closer to the header, and well out of "night stick range". Some of the stock mufflers may not pass that "test".

[KillBill]

My bike just passed inspection in NH

For anyone who has ridden with me can
tell you that it's loud. The shop used the
decibel meter and it fell WELL below the
legal limit. They said that most of the V-Twins
are the ones that have the issues.

[LaRNZ]

guess i gotta keep it in a higher gear when im goin through NH

[bigred875]

that straight pipe rule is for cruisers....a straight pipe harley is louder then a sportbike running straight headers...sportbikes with slip-ons are definitely not the problem

this cop sounds like a peach.....


best bet...fight it....borrow stock parts...take pics...go to court....put bike back the way it was...

[Origin]

yeah. That cop was just a moron.

[tsanto]

That sucks, I'm waiting for this to happen to me.

I thought the law is if you change the exhaust to make it louder it's illegal.


And that's ridiculous that the leo stuck a night stick into an exhaust pipe, is that what's passing for a sound meter these days?

[Origin]

That sucks, I'm waiting for this to happen to me.

I thought the law is if you change the exhaust to make it louder it's illegal.


And that's ridiculous that the leo stuck a night stick into an exhaust pipe, is that what's passing for a sound meter these days?

its a semi-reliable way to test cruisers for straight pipes. Like someone siad though, it doesn't quite work on sport bikes.

The cop obviously had not been fully informed of how motorcycles work. And i really doubt he has a clue about mirrors, it doesnt take much to be legal in that area. The only thing I can see being a problem is after market blinkers are normally not the correct distance apart.

[Slyder]

I don't remember what the blinkers on this bike look like. I know the pig spotters suck and you can't possibly see anything aside from yourself in them unless you let a clipon go and lean way off to one side.

But as gixxer jockey said, you're still modifying the OEM exhaust system, even if it doesn't exceed the decible limit.

With that said, I want to see cops pulling over and ticketing rice kiddies with fart cans, diesel pickups with 6 inch wide "stacks" sticking up out of the bed and other vehicles with non-oem exhaust...but that won't happen.

[greenmonster]

that straight pipe rule is for cruisers....a straight pipe harley is louder then a sportbike running straight headers...sportbikes with slip-ons are definitely not the problem

this cop sounds like a peach.....


best bet...fight it....borrow stock parts...take pics...go to court....put bike back the way it was...

That sounds more like it....they're comparing to the Harley straight pipes which have been around since dirt. Who knows...could be just this one cop with time on his hands.

[Hauptman]

<rant> GD new hampshire cops. I read the new laws since I live on the MA/NH border, and have a Leo slip on, and that guy is high. The law states that it is illegal to remove baffling or to run straight pipes, i.e., they have no sound reducing element. Last I checked all street exhausts had repackable baffles (or at least baffles "Scorpion exhausts")...hmmm sounds like that meets the laws to me. If a cop tickets you then fight that 'ish. The law came in to stop the Harleys from running straight, un-baffled, pipes right from the headers and the night-stick thing was used to check the diameter of the pipe...do they think moto mufflers are like cars with routed gas chambers? That is special needs.

[Slyder]

what about the fact is, the OEM exhast is gone and has been replaced with a higher flowing, louder exhaust with a straight through baffle?

OEM canisters do have gas chambers...look into one and you can see. hell band saw one in half and take pics

[Ericthejet]

I visit another forum with a section that allows us to "ask a copper".
It turns out this officer is a friend of a friend and he does not sling any BS. Over the past while people have posted all sorts of questions and the loud exhaust came up a while ago. He has 23 years on the force and rides the bike on patrol during the summers and claims to have never used a stick to check if baffles needed replacing etc. He did mention that V-twins seemed to be louder than the worst of the sport bike crowd. His time is spent with red light runners and major moving violations on surface streets. He laughed at the thought of pulling over bikes that sounded a bit loud.

Perhaps this NH thing is addressing a series of complaints now that the nicer weather has arrived. I have seen comments in the papers about loud bikes etc.

BTW, I'm used to trying to be a bit quiet even though my Hindle feels the opposite. Even after a re-packing it rocks above 7k, but thru towns I really short shift. Unless I'm mad...kidding of course.

[Ericthejet]

what about the fact is, the OEM exhast is gone and has been replaced with a higher flowing, louder exhaust with a straight through baffle?

OEM canisters do have gas chambers...look into one and you can see. hell band saw one in half and take pics

OK, just pulled the canister off the 2008 CBR1000 and used my band saw to cut it in half. What am I looking for again?

What do you mean by "gas chambers"?

[Hauptman]

i was referring to auto mufflers that have tons of bends inside that create a longer path through the muffler. Bike exhausts are "straight through" regardless of oem or not but they have multiple layers and baffling. The cops don't really have a case unless you're running an non-street legal race exhaust or something that is above the 98dbs or whatever

[Slyder]

the inlet into the canister is angled upwards, the exhaust outlet is also angled, but downwards and both extend past the other so exhaust gasses will have to reverse direction and make an S bend. Granted not as many direction changes like a car...but if you hold an OEM can up to the sun and look through it, you're not going to see any light.

This is of course on a suzuki, I've not yanked OEM cans off anything else.