New York City noise ordinance confiscating motorcycles being considered The Council for NYC, meeting in Manhattan, is currently engaged in drafting a noise ordinance for motorcycles. Called Int-416a, the bill is specifically focused on bikes with straight pipes (http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/attachments/86212.htm#_ftn6). The bill was originally going to be voted on in mid December with very little public input. Thanks to the efforts of concerned local bikers and ABATE members, the council granted an open meeting. Motorcyclists expressed strong concerns to the council about the bill being discriminatory and of having the potential for abuse by those who would enforce it. No one is defending excessive noise but we wouldn't want this bill to turn into a wholesale roundup of every suspicious bike or just a way for the city to make money (the fines can exceed $1,000 on the first ticket). Particularly disturbing was the provision that a parked bike could be confiscated on a first offense if the mufflers were deemed illegal. The council did back off a little and removed this part of the bill. Confiscation is still in the bill but not on a first offense. There is also some question as to whether a motorcycle owner is obligated to maintain an EPA-tagged muffler beyond one year of the purchase of the bike. See 40CFR-205.166(3) for more on this. Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations 205 is a very long federal law about vehicular noise which NYC is using as a base for this legislation (http://www.nonoise.org/lawlib/cfr/40/40cfr205.htm).
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