Excerpt from the email of a rider who received DB Violation Ticket in Carefree. 9/22/03

Dear Barry,

Thank you for always offering great stories and hints for us riders on your Cyclerides website. I am particulary reminded of the one you wrote earlier in the year re: the Carefree noise ordinance. And Im responding to the previous email you got from my fellow rider. (I am one of the 4 ticketed this morning!)
We are well aware of the noise ordinance in Carefree, and are very careful while riding into Cave Creek. While I dont think I have the "quietest" bike, I do my very best to NOT rev her up or throttle hard and keep my gears up and rpm's down. All year- so far No problems....up until this morning!

We were 4 harleys on our way back to Scottsdale. (and no, none of us has stock pipes) I led as we approached the Cave Creek/ Pima intersection to turn onto Pima heading south. I pulled the clutch in and coasted to the stop sign. I stopped completely before turning Right. When I stopped, I saw a sheriff car just to my right on the side of the road with his microphone up in the air. He couldnt have been more than 10 feet from me. I smiled, knowing that I was cruising thru there as quiet as possible. All four of us know the rules and definitely didnt want any tickets! Well, since I had STOPPED, obviously I had to go from 1st to second and use a little throttle to do so. Still, maintaining the MOST silence I could. Not laying on the throttle hard, just barley enough to get going. We all four slowly move past the cop car. We go the next mile or so slowly and quietly until we see the Welcome to Scottsdale sign, then we proceed on our way. Just then, flashing lights zoom up behind us and pull ALL 4 of us over. Now again, WE ALL KNOW THE ORDINANCE and WE ALL KNEW HOW TO DRIVE thru it!

So Officer Palmer explains he recorded me at 86 decibels (least that is what he said the first time) and the 4th bike at 90 or so. So, what were the 2 bikes in the middle? Ummm. He couldnt tell us that. I said: would the bike almost beside me (and straight up Zoomie pipes!) have contributed to the decibel level? Couldnt tell me that either. We explained that we came to cave creek (via care free) regularly with no incidents. He didnt care. He took almost an hour to issue our citations and gave us the speech on decibel levels.

Now, I read your article, and I can assure you that there was NO reving of the engine or throttling or any hot dogging involved here. If I had TURNED OFF THE BIKE, I dont think I could have physically gone any slower or quieter thru that stop sign and past him. According to the officer, he must be 25 feet from the road for accuracy. As we rode past him, we were approx. 5 feet. There was a lot of traffic too. Ummm, again, what are the rules here?? He looked set up for the other side of the road, but not for oncoming traffic from where we approached. So again, WHO was actually being "set up" here?

So, where are the signs there saying 85 is the max? If Im moving slow and in 5th gear at 20 mph, what am I doing wrong? Apparently my bike is still to load on her own. Should I send Samson- my pipe maker- the ticket? They made my pipes too loud! Ha Ha! Seriously, did you know the avg blender is 100 decibels? I hope there are no bars/blenders in Care Free!! And I hope there are no folks in Care free with a vacuum. That is at 80 decibels alone!!!

Oh, and if you are in a LARGE GROUP, we asked the officer how he could possible tell each individual decibel level? He said he couldnt, but they would ALL GET TICKETS if they registered over the 85 decibel level- first or last bike!!! For large groups- bring water and something comfy to sit on while you wait for your ticket!!