Before leaving his position as Harley-Davidson President and Chief Operating Officer a few years back, Jim McCaslin made an impassioned appeal for Harley owners to tone down the volume. That’s all well and good, but it hasn’t happened.
Chances are if you hear a painfully loud motorcycle riding by, it’s a Harley. I know…I know…you’ll occasionally hear the piercing scream of a sport-bike. However, straight pipes and Harleys seem to go together like the words “loud” and “obnoxious.”
When he made his statements McCaslin knew this, and he was also aware that public opinion on the noise issue would make a definite turn to the negative. It has - so much so that we have seen a marked increase in prohibitive motorcycle legislation in just that last few months. This is not good for anyone in the motorcycling world – Harley-Davidson included.
Even though the corporate brain-trust at Harley has paid consistent lip service to reducing motorcycle noise, there is no small measure of irony – even hypocrisy here. You see dealers still push “open” aftermarket exhausts as the first modification needed on a new Harley (even though HD no longer produces “race” exhausts for fitment on street-legal machines).
The other element of the hypocrisy is in the area of what I call “mystique marketing.” If you sell the “rebellious” or “dark side” of motorcycling like Harley always has, you are inviting some element of social irresponsibility. For a sizable element of the Harley culture, that social irresponsibility involves an eardrum-shattering decibel level.
When you think about it, the most powerful aspect of what is good about Harley culture is its respect for the company’s deep history. In keeping with that respect for history, maybe it is time to return to the legacy of quiet. You see, one of the coolest Harleys of all time was the legendary "Silent Gray Fellow.” That seminal Harley was so named for its color and its innovative quiet exhaust.
Maybe it’s time for Harley riders to be “stealth rebels.” Instead of announcing your arrival at the watering hole with an un-muffled pounding from your V-twin, how about sneaking up on your prey with a more subtle exhaust note?
So Harley folks – keep the loud paint-jobs and even your immense love for that unique exhaust tone, but keep the decibel level reasonable. Please.
Comments
The Harley riders with those loud (I mean loud not those with a nice note) pipes are not motorcyclists on average, they are guys with an overly small piece of anatomy that they are trying to compensate for.
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