While I usually like Mark LaFlamme’s writing, his discrimination against Harley-Davidson motorcycles is wrong.

I agree that many Harleys have modified exhaust systems. Not all are to the decibel level he jokingly writes about. There are a small percentage of bikes that are great candidates for tickets, and to those guys I say, you get what you deserve. But, as usual, Harleys get the bad rap.

I don’t know if LaFlamme has ever heard the metric bikes running around town, but if there were a prize for obnoxious exhaust, I suspect some of those win hands down.

It seems that when anyone calls to report loud exhaust, it’s always “generically” those guys with those Harleys. As a group, we get singled out by some uneducated cop for excessive noise.

I was on the side of the road getting written up (with quiet exhaust) when five metric bikes went by, all running some aftermarket exhaust that would wake the dead. The officer never gave them a second look.

I agree, there are too many loud bikes, but it doesn’t stop there.

I invite him to sit in front of my shop and listen to the four-wheel-drive trucks going by, with their turbo-flow, glass-packed, plate-glass-cracking exhaust. Should all pickup trucks be singled out? Absolutely not.

Maybe LaFlamme should choose his words a little more cautiously – there might come a day when the Yugo he drives gets singled out.

George Gowell, Sabattus