"Electric vehicles are, indeed, quiet....The occupants of the vehicles are not endangered."  So the rider of this electric bike need not worry if a pedestrian jumps out in front of him, it's ok for him to run them over?  Get real.

"Loud pipes, whether on a motorcycle or other vehicle, are not proven to be any sort of asset."  Whether proven by study or not I know it is an asset.

"In fact, recently there was a news article about a study of whether horns are any good, either. Noise diminishes r<a>pidly with distance." True, and what's the most likely danger to a m/cist?  The idiot next to him changing lanes cause he didn't bother to look out his window.  This has happened to me several times with a stock pipe.  And never since I changed to a supertrapp.

"The rider of the motorcycle is closer to the noise than anyone else, so is more affected. Which merely says what I said earlier - your own loud pipes will keep you from hearing other traffic far more effectively than it will alert other traffic of your presence."   Even with stock pipes, you can hear someone pull out of a driveway in front of you?

"By the way, if you are relying on loud pipes to alert others to your presence, your defensive driving tactics need work. You cannot count on others to react to your presence. Sound will not protect you - people still run into trains. Bright lights, even flashing ones, will not protect you - people run into stopped ambulances and police cars. You must rely completely on your own defensive driving technique."
Whose relying?  whose counting on?  It is merely one more ounce of prevention I put on daily.  It may tip the scales in my favor, it may not.  When you play poker, if it was legal to stack the deck in your favor would you?

If you can guarantee that Joe Cager won't talk to his passenger, won't blare his radio, won't eat, won't talk on his cell and pay attention to his driving, then these epa requirements would be fair and I'd be all for them.  It would not surprise me if the accident rates in Denver have gone up since this ordinace has gone into effect.

You said "loud pipes saves lives" not I.  I merely stated that quiet pipes are a hazard.  Since I'm invisible and naked, why can't I make myself more visible to the blind?  And not all loud pipes are bad p/r.

Maybe when we get our gps units that will report our mileages for taxes, we'll also get a proximetry alert so louder than stock pipes won't be neccessary.

But when in Denver, I will revert to stock pipe, and install a high powered radio.  Maybe I'll blare m/c music.  

remember we are naked and they wear a suit of armour.
an acident to us is a near death experience, to them only injury.

I disagree.  Sportbike squids doing wheelies in traffic is anti-social.  Guys riding open piped harleys and gunning the hell out of them for the heck of it is anti-social.  Being anti-social is a behavior.  Being bald is not anti-social.  Being bald, waving a Nazi flag and burning crosses is anti-social.   In my 20 years of riding, there are two things that get me noticed by cars and make them pause just before they pull out in front of me- adding driving lights and making pipes louder, with pipes proving more effective.  Same goes for dogs, racoons, birds eating roadkill or other animals that are on or just a little too close to the side of the road for my comfort.  Animal conservationists should applaud me for being considerate of our creatures.  

My pipe isn't any louder than those pipes on many of the grandpa's dressed up harleys that they ride on in the local parades.  Neither they, nor I, intentionally do stupid squid stuff nor do we simply blast our pipes for the heck of it.  

I do think it's funny how they are researching putting speakers in/on electric cars to project engine sounds after receiving reports of blind pedestrians have been hit by cars while crossing roads.  

Charon, I have yet to see a place where all motorcycles have been banned because of a few loud ones as you have mentioned.  If they exist, I'll be sure not to live anywhere near those places.  People trying that desperately to be so politically correct would drive me nuts.  

Since loud pipes are such bad public relations, maybe writing Obama and asking him to ban the Shriner's from my local parades this year is in order.  Those HD's are pretty loud.  Yet, somehow they continue to receive public donations and help our kids.  

Oh, lets also ban off-road tires as well.  They make a heck of a lot more noise going down the road than my bike does.