H-D's (or road bikes in general) aren't at the mercy of land owner's GENEROSITY. I'm not arguing about the double standard, but loud pipes close trails, period.
IMHO, the factories do a better job than the aftermarket squeezing out power because they have Db standards to meet or else it can't be sold. Agreed that the aftermarket has gotten a lot better (the SLPs on my XCR were very quiet), but they did help with the misconception that if it's louder, it must be faster.
Frankly, IMHO, it isn't so much the loud pipes or cans (bikes or sleds) it's A$$-HOLES that don't give a rip about others. Sleds get somewhat of a pass by me because you aren't rolling until 3k-5k rpm so it's difficult to idle through town (except for those guys that can't get anywhere without blipping the throttle hundereds of times).
Bikes really have no excuse 'cause they can near idle thier way to speed. My neighbor does this on a regular basis when riding his bike to work. My guess is that he shifts up before the tach reaches 1500 until he reaches high gear. He has drag pipes on his H-D but the joker down the street also has open pipes on his Aprilia so just like firearms, it ain't the product, it's the user (or more corrctly - abuser).
