IN HIS response to an earlier general condemnation of motorcyclists’ behaviour by a reader, the managing director of Mottingham Motocycles makes an extraordinary claim that “noisy bikes are a result of poor maintenance”.

He must know it is both his own industry and specialist accessory shops which promote the fitment of after-market "sports" exhaust systems, which in my day the sound level of which would have landed the offender a fine But the real “offenders” of the day are those within the Department of Transport, whose extremities of freedom also extend to allowing manufacturers to produce road going transport which can more than twice exceed the legal limit by, in this case, a mere twist of the wrist.


Colin Packman
Tonbridge