Colorado. Well known for its magnificent scenery of mountains, rivers and plains.
Harley-Davidson management determined that the Rocky Mountain region with 53 peaks above 14K feet was the perfect place to hold the Summer Dealer Meeting in the Gold Rush mining town of – Denver. Later this week (July 25th) dealers will get revved up to ride the new 2010 models and discuss next year’s sales strategies. At the same time Denver merchants will all be smiling as they enjoy a big boost from the ~1000 H-D reps and company personnel attending the meetings who will open wallets and infuse significant $$ into the local economy.
Wait! Wasn’t Denver the city that passed one of the most unfriendly ordinances against motorcycle noise?! Sure enough the city leaders passed a stringent ordinance (Chapter 36 of municipal code) to keep motorcycle “noise” at or below 82 decibels. Most non-stock Harley’s idle at about 102 decibels with aftermarket exhaust pipes! I’m not advocating obnoxious noise, but the ordinance also requires motorcycles made after 1982 to carry an EPA compliance seal or sticker displayed on the exhaust pipes verifying that the pipes have not been modified and are in compliance with the ordinance. Essentially it’s stock exhaust or literally pay the consequence.
Not to worry — the Denver police have gone through extensive “exhaust sound training” to enforce the new ordinance. Sure enough, 9News.com reported that an officer will make the determination if a motorcycle is louder than what motorcycles “should sound like” based on their experience and training and will initiate a traffic stop to inspect for the EPA compliance stamp. Good grief – reading that made me take a moment of pause and reflect on the legal system… I could rant on about boom boxes, helicopters flying over neighborhoods, trash/waste trucks at 4:30am, high-pitched exhaust on imports, construction noise and festival events with loud music, but won’t. It’s common knowledge that a lot of bikers (many who are affluent business people) have voiced opposition and totally avoid Denver now…and taking their $$ with them to other biker friendly locations.
The ordinance clearly is an attempt to limit one specific group in the motorcycle community and I’m sure there may be some quieter neighborhoods as a result. But, how ironic that Harley-Davidson would compensate a city that obviously finds motorcycles just plain intolerable.
Photo courtesy of Flickr
Not to buzz kill the summer riding season, but the current recession is the longest we’ve seen in the post-war period. 
Due to the declines in retail motorcycle sales, the Company has lowered its 2009 shipment expectations by 25-30%. Because of the lowered shipment volume, H-D announced further headcount reductions of approximately 700 positions in the hourly production workforce and 300 positions in non-production, primarily salaried headcount, including some at HDFS. This is in addition to the previously announced reduction of ~1200 positions bringing the total reduction to approximately 2,200. H-D started the year with 10,100 employees and of course H-D shares rise on news of the additional layoffs.
Northwest Harley Blog 