Quote Originally Posted by Caradoc View Post
The part I can't figure out is why companies like Harley-Davidson can't come up with a decent muffler. Namely, one that won't wake me up at 3AM when the neighbor decides to come home and rev his engine hard in his driveway across the street.
Actually, they can - and do. Street legal bikes being produced after 1985 come from the factory with pipes that emit less than 80db under test conditions (a specified engine RPM with the meter 20 inches from the tailpipe at a 45 degree angle, I think).

It's generally the rider who punches out the baffles or replaces the stock pipes with aftermarket pipes who ups the noise level.

A lot of municipalities are getting more active in enforcing noise limit violations. Violations as you described (the 3AM "wake up" engine rev) sounds like a neighbor who is not as considerate of others as he/she should be. Just like the big rig driver who decides to "jake brake" his rig coming into a residential area in the wee hours - but typically he doesn't live across the street from you and subject you to it over and over again.