Please stop apologizing to the enemy for the sound of exhaust coming from our dirt bikes (Jimmy’s regurgitated response from NOHVCC to Letter Rip from 13-year-old that is willing to do “anything to keep others from complaining about the noise” in October 2010 issue). The AMA and manufacturers and industry media are all playing right into their hands by advocating this idea that dirt bikes are too noisy. You could JB-weld the wash plug in the tail pipe of every dirt bike and the same law firms and lobbyists would still shut down our riding areas and impose punitive permitting and mitigation fees. Recreational dirt bikers are engaged in a war of survival and Dirt Rider had better get on the right side of it before Sarah Palin subscribes. I am truly sick and tired of having my own “Party” be a mouthpiece for the “Al Gore, anti-internal combustion engine, this planet doesn’t need humans” crowd! Promoting silencers the size of jerrycans is like negotiating with bin Laden to be less “western.” It misses the point; they want us dead. Let it be their job to make the case that dirt bikes make too much noise in the middle of nowhere. Let it be our job to disagree!Mark Foster
Shingle Springs, CA
Mark, I subscribe to most of your beliefs listed here but will object heavily on the sound issue. All I have to say is out of sight, out of mind. But if they can hear you (which brings the muffler into play) they will look for you and hunt you down. Don’t make it any easier for our opposition to crush us. I have an 82dB dirt bike and it is every bit as fun as ones that were well over 100db. And the minute you need sound coming out of your muffler to make you a better rider, well, are you really that crappy of a rider? -Jimmy Lewis
