It’s the weekend again and although we were told that weekends were made for Michelob, it seems that around here weekends were made for Harley Davidson, and probably Bud Lite.
Roslyn has become a weekend riding destination for motorcycles, and judging by the low rumbling roar on the main drag, many of them seem to be Harleys. Very loud and disruptive to those of us who live along or near the main route through town. I’ve even been a couple of miles away, up on Roslyn Ridge, and heard them clearly as the moto-packs rumbled through town.
“Loud pipes save lives” say the motorcycle noise advocates. I don’t understand this at all. Around here, loud pipes are just loud, and annoying, and disrespectful to the inhabitants. I know that motorcycles can be pretty quiet, so there’s no excuse for the intrusive noise that inundates our fair town on mellow summer days. It’s just a lot of showing off and attention getting and it’s too bad that this area has become a venue for that.
Riders could install quieter pipes, or ride quieter machines like the Honda Shadow, or even, gasp, the Gold Wing. I know that flies in the face of the reason that many people ride Harleys. It’s about image and being cool, and part of that is the sound.
Apparently, in a way I can’t fathom, being loud and obnoxious is equated with being cool. Probably the same mentality that believes a pickup truck covered in meadow mud is cool. So here are these people trying to be cool, but they’re just being obnoxious. Maybe that’s cool to them. Anyway, I wish they could find another place in which to act out their coolness fantasies, or get quieter bikes. That would be cool.
J.R. Herman 