Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

This whole furor over after market exhausts has indeed been triggered by streets overfilled with bullets running with cheap metal pipes (incorrectly called exhausts) to make the maximum sound. And no wonder the police waited until the complaints became too many to ignore and started clamping down on all exhausts, whether they make more or less sound is not their objective now. Its the the minority idiots who are causing this issue for all and it rightly should be controlled. The police does not have the manpower or resources to get all equipment to go about this, they will do what they can with available means- and that is catch them and fine. Unless people realise the nuisance they can cause this will not end IMO. That's because we people behave like- mera paisa, mera gaadi tu bhaad me jao mentality.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

There are few folks in my area with so called custom pipes. They make so much sound that plates on our dining table vibrate. I support this ban.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

You've mentioned here that it's fit with a Racefit exhaust, not stock. So I don't get how you expect cops to accept your explanation that it's stock ?

Besides the decibel level and all are fine but there's a difference between the sound a custom exhaust makes on a noisy city street vs a quiet residential area and cops usually go by the ear in deciding whether to fine or not.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

This reminds me of the harrowing experience I faced in Bengaluru when I rode my GSXR1000 one day late evening. That particular time I chose to have a quick ride through the city while usually I would opt shortest route to the NICE roads for evening bliss of wind.
I was in Kormangla area, and went pass a police vehicle which was on the other side of road (primarily for alcohol check). I had to go back to connect to a NICE road entry point, though had option to choose other routes too but did not, I had no reason to not pass through them directly now, I never avoided to confront the police in all my years of riding.
I was stopped, with summary of events below (biggest bottleneck in the series of events was on communication, I could only speak English and Hindi and struggled to make them understand, I could only understand bit of Kannada):

1. Stopped immediate by two police personnel jumping in front, I was anyhow slow and stopped at side of road.
2. One came and simply grabbed the key (this is not the right way but seems evident to the kind of riders they face each day)
3. Other with the Alcohol meter asked to open up helmet, inserted that in mouth for blow (not sure if he replaced the nozzle also), all good - no alcohol
4. Next was on documents, well I had the RC Smart card, Pollution Cert. too, Insurance, DL - all good here too
5. The trouble started with one of the personnel speaking to his superior and came back that your bike makes lot of noise (I recently switched to Micron exhausts imported from US, I had the DB Killer still intact that time, to be honest the growl it made was smoother then the stock one's I had)
6. To validate his statement of noise, he put the key, tried starting the bike, which he ultimately could not, and when I turned it on, he revved the throttle so badly, seriously that boiled me with anger (but I kept the patience), I objected him to not do it in such a way.
7. They were certainly in a frame of mind to nab someone and vet all their evening hours of routined inspection with frustration of rogue drivers/riders, same time I saw a P220 sped by in speed, with no helmet (these morons is what make these folks to be on toes and often a rude attitude to all riders)
8. I was in all gear - They took like 20 pictures of my exhaust and mentioned that they will send this to RTO for verification, and if it is not as per records , they will cancel the RC.
9. I was anyhow handed over with an Infringement notice, not a spot challan, hence that could be dealt only at court.
10. They clearly mentioned that the bike will be confiscated till we get the report and plainly asked me to leave with the challan (He had the original RC and the bike too now, my GSXR1000 which I earned with hard earned money with decade plus of savings)
11. The audacity was when one of the police personnel hopped on the bike and put in key to take it to police station, they were already winding up the routine check and closing off. I certainly had to object and told them that only I will ride this, not anyone else and will follow you to police station, they agreed provided have a constable as pillion rider (thank fully I did not put the seat cowl that day)
12. In totality it required 1.5 days of office leave, with most time at court and station, hired a lawyer too.
13. I chose the right path to close it, putting an Aftermarket exhaust was my choice which is not legal, unless approved through RTO, which is a lengthy process, I switched back to original after that, but they also had loopholes, they did not have a DB meter to validate on a superlative statement of loud noise. According to the law here, the maximum permissible sound limit for two-wheelers is 80 decibels and for four-wheelers it's 75 decibels, my Micron with DB killer met FIM noise and Db standards (obviously not recognized in India)

What helped was a sane patience while running through the process, worst was getting the RC cancelled, at the end one of the police folk mentioned to me that you seem to be a good guy who had to go through all this.

I wonder what other owners do, most genuine aftermarket exhaust brands come with DB evaluation and quality standards as per EU/US market but void for Indian market, with so many Benelli's on Leo Vince, are those RTO passed?
The problem is even deeper now, they are simply targeting superbikes with stock exhaust (seems the biking community is already joining hands against this movement, certainly not a right step from Transport department to target in general discarding own process of legally approving those bikes with stock exhausts in first place). To be honest, we all together often face the grunt due to some riders imposing an overall bad image of the biking community, I have experienced myself so many riders who do wheelie's in city roads, have come across even Activa's with an exhaust that will irritate anyone on road. Ultimately the law becomes stringent and pulls genuine folks too in the loop.

Few transcripts of conversation:
Police personnel - "You people race in city with all racing dress"
Myself - "This is not a racing dress, it is safety gear to protect the rider" (I move towards him) "Kindly touch the padding on shoulder"
Police personnel - "You people have money and buy bikes with so much noise"
Myself - " Sorry Sir, I am not a rich kid, have earned it with years of savings, these are legally sold here and run through required pre-checks since these pass through RTO too"
Police Personnel - "You ride such bike in city, you give heart attack to old people with such noise"
Myself - "Sorry, if the case, but since these are sold legally, we ride as per law in permissible roads"
Police Personnel - "No, you go out of city, we will not disturb you, do not drive in city"
Myself - "Noted, but still our choice of freedom on where we wish to ride"

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

This is called stereotyping and they don't know any better, just think, they would have seen bikes like these only in movies. You did very good by not arguing and just hold on to your patience.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?


Video taken by a motovlogger in Chennai when cops stopped a bunch of Superbikes because of their exhausts saying its illegal, well what about the thousands and thousands of bullets running with outrageously loud exhausts and the other single cylinders with nasty sounding pipes. I think the cops see big bikes , they think they can make some quick big bucks and make up a excuse for you to pay a fine, honestly it's a hypocritical mentality they have, something needs to be done. Is it difficult to procure dB level certificate from the RTO? We need to start a petition to avoid such situations or run ins with the coppers.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

First of all sorry that you guys got caught by cops.

As per RTO, any modifications made to motorcycles or cars (cosmetic or performance modifications) requires RTO approval. This info can be found on RTO portal of respective states.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

I don't ride or own a Superbike, but this is in my city, this is increasingly becoming a pain to see, there are sooo many other normal bikes which are beyond the allowed decibel level, I think Superbikes are stopped cause they associate them with racing on the streets and see them as getting more money, this mentality must change in cops even sub 500cc bikes they will target people wearing gears

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

I own two Kawasakis one is a z 800 and the other is a ninja 1000. I wanted to buy an exhaust for the ninja 1000 and shipped to California so my friend could bring it for me . I recd a reply stating that the exhaust cannot be shipped to California ( as modification of exhausts is illegal ) . We are not alone and laws are going to be tough against us bikers . Cops seem to hate to see us in groups as they tend to think we are on a road race for betting ( which never happens in a super bike group but on much smaller bikes ). The trick I learnt was as long as you are alone and not in a group ( within city ) they don’t disturb you ( however noisy your exhaust is )

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

Well, simply put, we as individual citizens, have a responsibility ourselves. Let's just be kind enough to avoid non-sense mods which increase pollution - noise/air/light.

Everyday I gave all of this shit. There is some idiot who does repeated cracker shit at night. And since I have a 1.5 yo daughter, it becomes hard to beat that shit. Secondly, infinite times, I've had to brake immediately because idiots don't know that one shouldn't shine Hi-beam and fog lamps all the flucking time, almost ran into a pedestrian inn Monday as I was totally blinded by Hi-beam of oncoming vehicle.

And then there are those who feel like it's there responsibility to light up the streets with a zillion led panels mounted on their cars/bikes.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

Completely agree buddy. I think along with these extra loud exhaust and leds they should also ban the stupid unnecessary loud horns. People here really need to be educated how not to create nuisance.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

Indeed, I am using a slightly bigger horn than stock on my P220, but that's only coz I have to drive on highways due to work and the trucks and buses don't hear a stock horn. However I did avoid using a too loud horn, instead I opted for a slightly expensive horn that was only slightly louder than stock. And I only flick the horn button for less than a second. I've seen riders with those chrome grill big-ass horn even on Splendor that honk all the time. I pursued one such 455hole to tell him not to honk unnecessarily when there's a stuck traffic ahead. But his reply was "I've bought these horn for blowing, not for just showing" what he actually said was 'bajaane ke liye hi toh lagwaya hai bada horn, dekhne ke liye nahi'.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

Also, I don't know why but people don't use indicators at all to make it easier for the person driving behind you that you're going to take a turn.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

The main thing most of these people lack is discipline. They have that 'Chalta hain', 'Kya ukhaad lenge' attitude inbred. Be it an exhaust or anything, the first thing these morons do when a cop stops them is take out their phone to display their pehchaan or a 100 note to showoff that they have enough money. And cops are the same. They are used to this kind of regular incentives.

I myself have been stopped by a cop in Pune at 2AM when I was going home from Office. I have all the documents, helmet. The cop couldn't find a reason so he 'CREATED' it. He says roaming in the night is not allowed. And he says I have been riding at 140KMPH speed (I was on a Honda Twister at that time). I tried reasoning with him saying that I was returning from work and my bike's top speed is 90KMPH. After a lot of sensible points from my side and illogical arguments from his side, he let go off me.

Cops need to be more stringent when it comes to rules. They get kind of intimidated when they see a Bullet with loud exhaust or a swanky SUV with black glass and high beams. Those are considered the symbols for the rich and popular. Cops are scared their jobs might be in trouble. So they don't touch them.

All that are left for their daily incentives is a genuine commuter following all rules. They extort them with any ridiculous reason.

Re: Ban on aftermarket exhausts?

faced the same problems lot of times.