Harley-Davidson

In the 1920's motorcycle racing was an extremely popular sport in the US. All the major manufacturers saw the advertising potential of winning a big race in front of a crowd of thousands, and so all the major manufacturers had their own sponsered teams.

One of the racers in the Harley team had a pet pig, which he would ride around the track with, if he won, as a lap of honour. All the other Harley boys also started doing it, and soon they became known as the 'hogboys'. From there it was a simple step to make what they rode the 'hogs'.

During the biker 'trouble' of the 50's Harley-Davidson didn't like the name 'hog' and tried to stop people using it in reference to their motorcycles. A few decades later, after bad times and good, including the company going through a management buyout, they changed their tune, and started sending in lawyers to stop people using the word 'hog' in any motorcycle business, that was not associated with theirs.

After some dodgy court cases, it turns out that any large motorcycle can be a 'hog'.

I live in a high-rise apartment, but not high enough. My windows face the street.

People ride loud motorcycles down the street at night. Late night - almost morning. My baby does not like it.

Since all other motorcycle manufacturers know about mufflers, I assume that they are Harley-Davidson motorcycles. They have "mufflers" that consist of a straight metal tube covered in chrome. It moves the exhaust gasses from front of the rider to behind the rider.

If the Harley-Davidson muffler directed the noise from the exhaust manifold to the vicinity of the rider's ear, then I would respect them for what they are doing. I do not respect those that make noise that they are not subject to. If there was a Harley-Davidson in the forest, and no one around but the rider, I couldn't care less. As it is now, it's the Harley-Davidson-exhaust-noise-tree falling in the forest on top of me, my baby, and everyone trying to sleep for two city blocks around. If those riders are doing it on purpose, they are sick motherfuckers.

that last hard-link courtesy of Random Nodes.

Proposed technical solutions:

• a muffler
• active noise cancellation - as used by Sony headsets, where if you flip a switch, the speakers cancel ambient noise. Make one of those, and have them flip it on near housing, and flip it off when they are on the highway
• public tranporation
• anti-cruising laws
• me go buy house in the suburbs