[Curly1]

Open headers (Loud exhaust) does make more power and make the motor more effecient. Still on my race car I run mufflers even though it is not required. They are huge 4 inch inside diameter and they are still pretty loud but much quieter then open headers.
To make a car quiet hurts performance and mileage but most people do not want the noise. There is no way around it if you make it quiet you will hurt the air flow, hurt performance, mileage and you will add weight to the vehicle. But you would not want to drive a car that loud and nobody could sleep. Open exhaust is definatly not the answer.
Many of the cars and motorcycles now are way too loud. I live about a mile from the highway and at night I can hear some of the bikes from there. That is too loud.
Horns will save lives just as well as loud pipes and a little louder than stock is fine. Open headers is not.
America is no longer the land of the Free. Everything is against the law and they are adding more laws every day. I hate to see them adding more noise laws but with the really loud bikes out there it will start happening more often. It is irresponsible to drive around with pipes that loud and it will only cause more problems and laws.
I think the AMA has a pretty good stance on the issue but would not want to see more laws to enforce it.