I love motorcycles. But they are noisy and, frankly, dangerous. (Motor scooters, in comparison, are almost ideal, low-speed, tiny, urban vehicles.)

Modern motorcycles have to deal with increasingly stringent european noise regs. Many manufacturers have been discontinuing models to avoid the bother of updating them for compliance. They are all dramatically quiet in stock configuration. The loud ones are modified by their owners or one of the relatively few old machines on the road.

All cars were loud and belching unburned hydrocarbons 40 years ago. Comparing motorcycles to modern cars is missing the gains in street life impact that have actually been made.

> The loud ones are modified by their owners

I really wish the standard penalty for that would be "you lose your motorcycle license for 5+ years and the motorcycle is crushed into a cube before your eyes". Not "here's a 100 EUR fine and you have to undo the modifications, show us that you did it, and then put them back on".

It's completely unnecessary, hard to do accidentally, and a great way for one single person to affect thousands of others in a single day.

Agreed, I'd like to see noise laws enforced in the US also.

Motorcycles are probably the main offenders but some cars, trucks, and even 2-stroke gas scooters can be ridiculously loud. The law should not discriminate.

Well, there is such a thing as a silent motorcycle.

Also, ebikes are awesome alternatives to motor scooters. I've built one for a very low price not too long ago, it was very fun.

A motorcycle can't carry my family from place to place, or store my emergency goods, carseats, sporting equipment, etc.

Get a KLR650 or a Goldwing :)

It also increases risk for me.