Decibels

[fatboyracing]

Hi All,
Gorbys bike was one of two bikes that passed the noise test in Tasmania at the nationals about 5 riders had made an effort and the rest of the riders tested didnot give a toss about noise. I think this attutude is very dangerous as I personly went out on a limb with MA to get an exempsion to make the nats 102 db
Luckly there was no protests to do with noise or else there would of be alot of bikes disqualified I warned every rider whos bike failed that if there was protested against them they would be excluded. As a noise tester and a vmx commissioner I am very dissapointed that more guys didnt make a effort and when I write my report for MA I have no alternative but suggest that we be a lot harder on riders and not allow them to ride at all if they dont make an effort. Please don't blame me as I have convinced MA that we would make an effort only to be crapped on by riders who came with straight out pipes and mufflers that have never been packed ever. There was a bike tested an AJS at118db please tell me that he made an effort. We need to help ourselves

Fatboy

[GD66]

 Well, that is absolutely piss-weak on the part of all those who made no attempt at all, especially in view of how much anguish and torment was expressed on this forum only a couple of months ago when the proposed 96db limit was introduced to everyone's amazement and disgust. Can't you gibberers see that unless you are SEEN to be making an attempt to ameliorate the noise output of your bike, stricter measures will be taken, and that means more testing, more drama, protests and disqualifications, all of which are not only distasteful but unnecessary.
 Does this mean that hardly anyone who rode at the nats reads this forum, or attends their local club meetings ? Or does it merely indicate that lip service is as far as you go towards protecting and ensuring the continuation of your chosen sport ? GET YOUR FINGERS OUT !! Or suffer the consequences from MA....

[Wombat]

I'm not surprised in the slightest given the extremely poor effort which went into protesting the change.
If we're too apathetic to write a protesting paragraph and ping the e-mail to MA, why would you imagine sourcing a new silencer or re-packing an old one would be a priority?
That's a lot more effort than an e-mail.

I don't agree with the new noise limit and I remain annoyed at the legislation.
However, I'm convinced only a penalty will bring about the required change in Riders attitudes.
It may yet come to every Rider being knocked back at scrutineering. Oh boy, what a shit fight!!

If the noise limit had been insisted upon at the Nats, it appears two Riders would have cleaned up the entire Championship between them.
The five who made an effort to silence their bikes could have battled over third place!

[scrampics]

  Hubby wasn't noise tested, but we made every effort to quieten the YZ down.  Repacked the muffler, running standard exhaust.  It really ticked us off as well.    We were 'petrified' at the thought of being tested and outed of by chance the bike was over.  To think that only two bikes....and people turnin' up with straight out pipes, that really makes one see red real quick. 

  Don't agree with the legislations either, but if we don't pull our fingers out, it's going to get a whole lot tougher.  Fatboy, we will never hold any decision personally.

[211kawasaki]

Guys,
I dissagree that there was no effort to divert MA from the 96bda course, there was a considerable effort from the riders and the Commission and a hefty lobby was made. The issues are really bigger than MA in so many ways; their concern is the reality and that is the huge loss of venues to ride your bikes on. Making an exemption for Classic MX wasnt ever going to be on their agenda no matter how much we protested. MA simply has no choice but to blanket all with the same requirements and be seen to be doing it. The noise debate isnt over and I suggest that there will in some areas be a lowering even further of the limit, may be not in VMX but Im sure modern stuff will be at 92/93DBA one day.

I have to say that I was really dissapointed with the lack of attempt and lack of concern for noise at the Nationals, there were bikes that were not muffled at all and were very loud - 117.2 DBA.!!!!! We have to be able to do better, there was a Bultaco MK7 250 at 93DBA so its possible to get better results and what really gets up my nose is that due to the lack of rider recognition of the problem there will be a report to MA on noise at the nationals and MA will most likely come down pretty hard on us all.

What I can say is at the next nationals that I will be attending as the eligibility scrutineer I will be recomending that all non muffled bikes be sent away untill rectified. Sorry, if you dont get with the programe your going to stuff it for all of us.

MA wants VMX to be viable, is prepared to give the sport some slack and will be happy for us to be complient to a few basic needs and the first one is that you will need to be seen to be making an attempt. Re pack your muffler, get one if you dont have one, start a discussion on what to do not what you dont want to do and it will go a long way to letting the matter slip into the past.

211commissioner

[GD66]

 Dead right Dave, that's what I attempted to get across back on page 14, in reply #201. But in light of recent events, it seems to be a waste of breath. Well, they'll sharpen up one day !

[mboddy]

Well I have been taking it seriously.
A new silencer for each bike and I also bought my own noise meter.
After all that, if I get beaten by someone putting out 110db at the titles then I'll protest them!
Come on guys. Pull your finger out. We need to be able to still race in a few years time.

[Freakshow]

You guys have to remember that 85% of the riders there do not read the forum or there moms, they wouldnt have a clue about the noise reading issue or even what loud was.

No one went out of there way to build a noisey bike, they just dont know any better. 

Some of these chaps come out once a year, others ride in clubs where there isnt even any talk of niose meters.  i saw my first meter at the nats, and only knew about it through the forum.  I would go easy on the piss poor riders, id be shooting across the bow of MA for piss poor education and advertising of it.

INfact prior to the Title ( and still probally) the MA web site and wizz bang email newsletter didnt mention one thing about a AUstralian title VMX in tassie.  the is a distinct lack of interest in education or promotion by MA to its members and i mean to ALL disciplines and that means us Too

I would find it unreasonable for any normal person who is not on the forum to have been able to fully understand the niose consideration, for many like most rules, its how it has always been.  ANd basically testing 5 bikes at random, didnt really explain to the other 101 riders that the niose test meant somthing and its implications.

Its no point only telling the 5 you picked they could be protested, they know that you told em when you tested, but alas some of the other 101 roders wouldnt have had a clue what was going on out there.  IF you wanted to make it clearer and progressed the Vintage nationals so that they can look at being quieter for next year, why was it not discussed in the riders breifing or in the wrap up at the presentations ?

This forum is probally at the cutting edge of VMX discusson and info. you need to understand that without it how much would you actually know ? even some on this forum still cant get there heads around it, so some random rider wouldnt have a clue.

I think you need to stop generalising that riders are out to get away with niosy bikes and spend more time pissing on MA to get there shit together and EDUCATE and Publicise the Recommendation to look at there niose levels and making there bikes quieter.

I personally took 3 spare pipes in the van incase i was over the magic number, not being one of the 5 tested i still have no idea what my bike blows, so next year will be another guess and a road trip with 3 pipes.  IF MA or US where serious about Niose ratings there would have been a testing and education tent At TASSIE with flyers and other info, an open and honest area for testing on the meters set up for folks to test there machines in a non threatning way. 

Thats if they were serious.  Otherwise its just a speed limit, you can put signs up all you like but you need to explain it and show it to make it make sence.

And lets hope that guy from MA e-newsletter gets his shit together this time and writes up on the Tassie titles

MY understanding is the Moderns will be 88db in less than 5 yrs thats the target in the states which will no doubt filter here

[scrampics]

  We were told about noise testing at the last meet of the Tassie Scramble Club last year.  That it wasn't a matter of where and when but we WOULD be tested.  It wasn't just the OZ VMX forum that we found out about this situation.  Fatboy was very clear about it.

 Agree that the Nats were an opportunity that wasn't used to its fullest potential, but I don't ride and I knew about the new regulations and what they mean.  We still don't know if the YZ is over or not, but we really made the effort to meet the new guidelines.   Until the rules are enforced for everyone, if you go over, you don't race.....

[Wombat]

I think you need to stop generalising that riders are out to get away with niosy bikes and spend more time pissing on MA to get there shit together and EDUCATE and Publicise the Recommendation to look at there niose levels and making there bikes quieter.  says Freaky.

I agree; and it looks like this thread is getting a second wind...
I'm not sure there's anything new to add as we've gone from protesting to accepting the new rule, albeit grudgingly.
It was not discussed through the Membership and Clubs as the MA Charter claims is done.
It was decided on by a 'select' few with a slightly larger circle of input from another group near the top of the tree.
Thanks to 211kawasaki for your last post; that gave me a better understanding of the whole process to date and I can see where it came from and why.

But for the remainder, the 99% not in the loop (us mob), our notification is a few paragraphs in the MOMS booklet.
Unfortunately this forum is not followed by the larger VMX community - a pity really given the wealth of experience on hand.
And as we know the majority of the forum members didn't write in to protest the DB reduction.   
We have some 506 forum members at present... and was it 26 who pinged an e-mail/letter to MA?

So, though the majority on this forum were well aware of the pending/proposed change we did sweet FA to make a difference.
Whatever! Lethargy has allowed it to happen so now we must comply.
I trust we all respect the unfortunate task ahead for people like Fatboy who are expected to enforce this new rule.
How many hissy fits will they experience? How many Riders will we lose to "I've had a gutful of this shit!! and park the bikes and leave the sport?
I reckon there'll be a few.

Similarly the public try to get away with driving whilst talking on their mobile phones.
The Cops don't catch everyone but those they do can expect to be pulled up and penalised via a costly fine.
Our noise Police will likely refuse to allow the bike through scrutineering.
And fair enough; like unplugged handle bars and missing spokes and dodgy old helmets...

Rules is rules.

[GD66]

[quote author=Freakshow link=topic=1834.msg31036#msg31036 date=1213403720

INfact prior to the Title ( and still probally) the MA web site and wizz bang email newsletter didnt mention one thing about a AUstralian title VMX in tassie.  the is a distinct lack of interest in education or promotion by MA to its members and i mean to ALL disciplines and that means us To 


And lets hope that guy from MA e-newsletter gets his shit together this time and writes up on the Tassie titles   (Quote)

To be fair, Andrew the editor of the MA e-magazine responded very favourably to my request to publish information about the running of the historic roadrace nats at Barbagallo in November, and has been very accommodating and helpful in allowing us to have virtually any supportive info published, including accommodation and relevant services. I think he may even be coming over to do media work, so I think it's really up to the clubs to get involved and push their respective barrows to access this avenue of publicity, rather than to expect the editor to be psychic and know everything that's going on. The contentious issue of noise limits has proven that MA is far from outstanding in terms of info and communication, so there's no reason to think Andrew is getting much more help and guidance from within than we are. He seems like a good guy, so maybe future nats promoters should note this opportunity, and slip it into their publicity portfolio.

[firko]

This is getting very old. The rules state that we have to conform to 96db so whether you like it or not,  get over it and conform. My Maico comes in under 96db without any loss of performance or period integrity so stop whingeing about and get your bikes to do the same. It isn't rocket science. If you don't like it, there's always tenpin bowling.

[Freakshow]

think your off track on this one, it got legs again over folks not knowing AKA publicity outside the forum and the information to test and conform and why there was a lack of complience.  not refusal just ignorance.

And with respect GD 66 that andrew from MA if he has a paid postion should know dam well what and when an australian title is held, its in the freakin book FFS, he wont need to be any think other than doing his job to know the event is on, and publicise it, appart from the fact its the countries highest level of vintage racing you would think it would rate at least a prequel notation in there junk mail over some of the other shit they reported on in the last 2 issues.

heNCE IT SUMS UP MY OPINION ON MA EFFORT TO PUBLICIES AND ASSIST RIDERS TO MAKE DB LEVELS.   IF they can hold session for everything else like ladies day or whatever you would think they would committee a working party to asssit riders in mechanical knowledge and ideas to make there bikes more quiet and get it out there.

Unfortunatley its a piss poor effort to go here is a rule so fuc you you all can meet it.  That from a Motoring body is less than a effort it think and giving a years grace or whatever is just as pissweak , it doesnt offer ideas, methodoligy, products or options on how to make a bike quieter.  

IF any group particularly MA was serious about making it work they would be doing as much education and assistance to make everyone be able to get there bikes to a level.  LIke i said in last 3 years i have never seen a niose meter nor know how to find someone that has one, nor seen any real ideas other than the 'old repacking concept' that would assist anyone in trying to get there bike to a lower reading.

Remember not everyone is an old retired toolmaker or metal worker, so to palm it off as simple fix can be insumountable for many.  For a reality check on that, just take yourself out of your area of expertise and see how clever you are.......... i dont know....... say build a web page in under 15 mins ? rebuild a PC to run on unix ? Script PHP ?        hey its not rocket science.....

ahh but then again i can ten pin bowl.

[666 SOS]

96 decibels I dont like it  and i dont really want it but if it keeps the sport alive so be it i will strangle the bikes but after seeing and hearing some of the bikes at the titles i can see this being a huge shit fight as bugger all would pass and some of those that would; changed them after beeing checked My opinion is races are going to be won or lost by protests.

[211kawasaki]

I guess this could go on and on forever. To quote The Life of Brian "Somethings actually happening Reg!" Tell your mates, get on to the guy without a muffler, go buy one yourself or re-pack the one you have. MA (in my opinion) are not trying to stuff our sport and I doubt if they would want ever to not allow anyone to ride so long as they have made an attempt to address the noise issue.

There were heaps of bikes that had made an attempt at the Nats, what was interesting was that some of the attempts didnt work for varoius reasons, lets ditch this thread and open one alond the lines of "what works" or how to start to reduce the racket your bike makes.

In on my way to do it now!