I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the "Turn Down the Volume Summit" held December 7 th at Pole Position Raceway in Corona, Cal-li-fornia.

The Professional Journalists (who took notes!) will be able to report the finer points of the Summit. Be on the look-out for their reports.

Please allow me to summarize the Summit as a trail rider of a CR500 in the deep, loose and sometimes whooped-out sand of Michigan: It has already started. It's late. It's past time you got mad enough to join the push for quiet dirt bikes.

We are playing the part of the Bad Guy for the Anti-Access folks who want to shut us down. We are making it easy for them to convince Normal People that we're rude slobs that have to be eliminated from public AND, if you have unreasonable, nutty neighbors (as in in Jeremy McGrath's case), PRIVATE land!

Daphne Green, Deputy Director, OHMVR Division of State Parks was at the Summit. She spoke about the impact excessive sound has had on OHV parks and land acquisitions.

Where ever there is an OHV park, there has to be an area surrounding it that's off-limits to riding. This "buffer zone" is set aside in order to give the exhaust noise and dust somewhere to dissipate within the park boundary. – And not on the property of the adjacent landowner or non-motorized recreationist (as in the case of public lands).

Simply put, loud OHVs require so much "noise buffer zone" that the State can't afford to purchase enough land to create enough decent OHV parks. She said for every one acre of riding area, the State has to purchase and set aside 5 acres of noise & dust buffer zone to keep neighbors and non-motorized users happy. Think about that next time you're riding in a crowded area and almost get into a head-on collision. The loud bikes are wasting your gas tax and ORV permit money on noise buffer zone, instead of creating actual riding area.

Imagine for a minute if everyone rode a silent nuclear-powered electric dirt bike. Presto!- Almost no noise buffer zone required!! Except for the protests from the Anti-Nuclear Energy folks who would, no doubt, rally against us, the ORV parks could now be almost 5 times as large. (Yes, I know - Silly example, but you get the point.)

We're never going to please the Anti-Access folks and the people who feel threatened by scary-looking motorcyclists in full-faced Star Wars Storm Trooper helmets. What we can do is stop playing the sucker. Our loud exhaust makes it easy for the Anti-Access folks to convince Normal People that we are the bad guys and need to be eliminated from this or that riding area. The Anti-Access folks are using us to recruit members to their cause. Are you mad yet?

One important point left out of the Summit was the allowable legal noise limit of old dirt bikes. In Michigan, for example, a bike made after 1983 has to meet 94 dB(A) in the 20" Test. If it is older, it can blow 99 dB(A). Seriously people, does anyone think the casual hiker is going to say, "Damn that's loud, but it's exempt from 94dB(A), so I guess I'm not going to complain."

This is why there is a peer-pressure push to get everyone to quiet their bike. The government will not do it for us. What they will do is close entire tracts of land because we have made their voters angry.

Time to face reality. For now, if you're riding a competition 4-stroke, you're going to have to sacrifice a little power and run a "quiet insert." It is the price you will have to pay to turn 99 dB(A) into 96 or less. Maybe in the future, the aftermarket manufacturers can come up with an affordable, sturdy, light-weight 90 dB(A) exhaust system that performs like today's loud pipes. If you demand it, someone will build it and sell it to you.