Hey mnbuellrider,
It would be great to meet you if you decide to come up here.
There are two laws that apply, the Highway Traffic Act and the city By-laws.
The HTA says:
Noise, smoke, bells and horns
Muffler
75. (1) Every motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle shall be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and excessive smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out, straight exhaust, gutted muffler, hollywood muffler, by-pass or similar device upon a motor vehicle or motor assisted bicycle. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 75 (1).
It means that if it's not OEM the cop can say it's too loud and give you a ticket... There's no db level needed. The same goes for most city By-laws.
The thing is that people run straight pipes and really loud pipes on their hogs and bikes with no problem - unless they were being ********* and the cop couldn't get them for anything else, then they'll get you for the noise & ticket you.
Good luck fighting the ticket in court as the judge will accept the officer's word that it was too loud for anything except unmodified OEM exhausts.
Having said that, if you drive reasonably in town and unless you sit at a light and rev your engine to make noise (especially near a cop ) or piss off a neighbourhood you'll be fine, it is really rare for a cop to issue an excessive noise ticket either under the HTA or city By-laws. Hell they even tolerate straight pipes in Toronto.
