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New street bike sound test developed

The Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE) has produced a “simple, consistent and economical” sound test standard to determine whether an on-highway motorcycle exhaust system emits excessive sound, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reported in a release this week.

“The motorcycling community and law enforcement have long sought a practical field test for measuring street motorcycle exhaust sound,” AMA’s Ed Moreland said in the release. “Thanks to the hard work of the Motorcycle Industry Council, and the SAE engineers involved in the project, for the first time a simple field test is now available.”

The standard, which the SAE issued in May, establishes instrumentation, test site, test conditions, procedures, measurements and sound level limits. It is known as the J2825 “Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles.”

The new standard follows a template established by the SAE J1287 off-highway motorcycle sound test, a standard the AMA says it recommends wherever off-highway motorcycles are operated.

Street bike measurements require holding a calibrated sound meter at a 45-degree angle 20 inches from the exhaust pipe of a running engine. The procedure spells out how to do the test with the bike at idle, at a predetermined engine speed or by slowly increasing the engine speed of the bike.

The creation of a new street motorcycle sound measurement procedure was a top recommendation of the 2003 National Summit on Motorcycle Sound, the AMA said.

The SAE J2825 standard can be downloaded on the SAE Web site for a fee here.

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