Last year New York started a “crack down” on loud pipes and non DOT helmets. Usually how this goes is the first few weeks the police are out in force, they write some tickets then they get on with something more important. Last year they set up a “Motorcycle Safety Inspection” checkpoint on the main route to a local mega rally and wrote a bunch of tickets. I thought this was all over with, but I was wrong. Read all about this years effort here. This is one of the many good reasons why I don’t post the route maps till the last minute. We did not run into anything like this on the run last year but my personal moto is “It is better to have it and not need it that need it and not have it. ” so at the very least HAVE YOUR PAPERWORK IN ORDER! (Insurance, Registration and a valid Motorcycle Endorsement.) You can ride away with a ticket for loud pipes, you ain’t going anywhere if your bike gets impounded. I don’t want to scare anyone off, but it is better to think about it now.