Loud pipes on motorcycles

[hoosierdoc]

We're here on vacation and our neighbor clearly has them. He also has a job that he leaves for around 7am. These structures are anything but sound proof. He fired it up and the dogs start in. He leaves, the dogs continue.

Loud pipes... What says INGO? I say no point to them. If you want to warn others of your presence, point the exhaust forward where most accidents come from.

 

[chezuki]

Crap! I meant to vote for "I don't like them but who cares" but I'm on my iPad and my sausage finger changed my vote to "ban them" as I hit submit.

Factory pipes are almost always a reasonable volume. Aftermarket window-rattlers are irritating.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I am an avid rider (currently bikeless ) and as far as I am concerned the louder the pipes the bigger the jerk. And then sitting there revving the engine just to make noise to say "look at me" the bigger a jerk I think they are.

Yeah, I've been on a motorcycle for 28 years now, heard all the arguments, am still a member of The Denizens of Doom, and I still think people with loud pipes are jerks.

 

[jd4320t]

I prefer the sound of exhaust over barking dogs.

 

[lovemachine]

I had a Harley when I was younger. The bike had Vance Hines pipes. It was loud, and sounded awesome.

I'm all for loud pipes, but when they are loud enough to set off car alarms and make your ears hurt, that's too loud.

 

[chezuki]

I am an avid rider (currently bikeless ) and as far as I am concerned the louder the pipes the bigger the jerk. And then sitting there revving the engine just to make noise to say "look at me" the bigger a jerk I think they are.

Yeah, I've been on a motorcycle for 28 years now, heard all the arguments, am still a member of The Denizens of Doom, and I still think people with loud pipes are jerks.

I feel like the people with loud pipes are probably the same kind who deliberately type like inbred stroke victims to convince people how they are "genuine bikers".

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Factory straight pipes are loud, but not so loud it hurts anything. I think it's important for other drivers to know you are there - bright colors - courteous and defensive driving - and yes factory loud pipes.

Unfortunately my bike is a Kaw. Concours and quiet as a mouse. I do everything I can and STILL people cut me off, take me out of my lane and tailgate. People tailgate bikes that would never tailgate another car - why? I watched a car take down a lady riding in Pennsylvania a few years back while on a long ride to Gettysburg. Why? I guess because she was riding a motorcycle. You don't have a fender bender on a bike. There is zero room for error on a bike. Bikers need every advantage to be seen and heard to stay alive. Not ear splitting loud, but definitely louder than a car.

By the way, I drive a diesel F250 Super Duty and it's louder than most cars or trucks - factory straight pipes. They don't put mufflers on diesel trucks. It's powerful, pulls my trailer, and does all the work I need it to do. If that's annoying, I'm sorry, but it's factory stock and does the job.

 

[churchmouse]

Learned to ride on a Harley Topper in 1959. (9 yrs. old) and rode Harley's and metric until a few years ago. Had 1 bike with drags on it and 1 with shot guns. I started making my own headers as they made more power and were less abusive. The days of the loud pipes have passed IMHO.
Once in a while I hear a loud one hauling the mail up the interstate and smile.

 

[Dolton916]

Nothing better than setting off 25 car alarms at 5am as I head out to the shop. My wife says at the old house she always knew when I was getting off the expressway, she could hear me dropping gears on the bike as I exited...and the exit is 1/2 mile from my houseIt's good to drown out the Harley boys...

My Jeep will also make you angry then, Only cats, no mufflers.

I voted leave me alone...

To paraphrase...


"You'll get my open pipes when you pry them from my cold dead hands"

 

[smokingman]

Loud pipes may add a margin of safety,it is debatable for sure.Is the driver of the car more likely to hear you(radio blasting and on the phone)vs see you visually possibly.

That said loud pipes are much more than that.They are a consumer icon,cleverly disguised marketing to promote the image of being a rebel(at least on modern factory pipes,this was not always the case).

At one point in my life I had loud pipes.Straight drags with no baffles(now illegal).Why? I liked the sound.Something about a shovel engine with no baffles thrilled me.At idle the sound was like a trotting horse,at high RPMs it felt like a stampede.The sound alone brought me to another place mentally drowning out the rest of the world.Where they to loud,possibly.When I rode with others no one liked being behind me long,and on most runs I just automatically picked bring up the rear.

That said I would not take those moments from anyone and because I have experienced what they are,I have an understanding of what they feel and why those loud pipes mean so much to them.Do I like them now,no.I find they serve no real purpose other than for the rider themselves.They annoy me at this point,but I still manage to crack a smile knowing what the person behind those pipes feels.

In short I think you should let them be.Moments in life are fleeting.If someone can drown out the madness and have some joy in something that briefly annoys me but causes me no real harm I can give them that.It may be the best part of his or her day and do not think I have a right to stop it because I find it annoying.

Someone may find an activity of mine annoying,and I hope they would give me the same leeway(shooting sports comes to mind).

 

[spec4]

I am an avid rider (currently bikeless ) and as far as I am concerned the louder the pipes the bigger the jerk. And then sitting there revving the engine just to make noise to say "look at me" the bigger a jerk I think they are.

Yeah, I've been on a motorcycle for 28 years now, heard all the arguments, am still a member of The Denizens of Doom, and I still think people with loud pipes are jerks.

I'm with you. I believe human being should be courteous and considerate of others. Some jerk running through the gears with loud pipes can be irritating hundreds of people just to satisfy his "I'm a free man" ego. I get satisfaction knowing that they are ruining their ears and will pay for it later in life. Also, to the LEO's, do you ever ticket these bozo's for violating noise ordinances?

For the record, in my youth I had three motorcycles, all with factory pipes, never had an issue with cars other than eating their exhaust.

 

[GlockRock]

I am an avid rider (currently bikeless ) and as far as I am concerned the louder the pipes the bigger the jerk. And then sitting there revving the engine just to make noise to say "look at me" the bigger a jerk I think they are.

Yeah, I've been on a motorcycle for 28 years now, heard all the arguments, am still a member of The Denizens of Doom, and I still think people with loud pipes are jerks.

Im a jerk.

 

[churchmouse]

Lets discuss obnoxious vehicle Audio systems. I can deal with a loud bike. Sharing the latest "Lil-Wayne" rap with me just turns my stomach.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Lets discuss obnoxious vehicle Audio systems. I can deal with a loud bike. Sharing the latest "Lil-Wayne" rap with me just turns my stomach.

YES! THAT!!! Wait until you are on the open road if you want to share your crappy "music" with everyone.

 

[Hoosier8]

I had straight pipes on my Harley in my 20's and I can guarantee that they saved my butt at intersections often. Now that I am older, I just don't care for really loud pipes.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I feel like the people with loud pipes are probably the same kind who deliberately type like inbred stroke victims to convince people how they are "genuine bikers".

QFT

 

[Leo]

If I am in my Grand Marquis with the windows up and your pipes or stereo is hurting my ears, it is too stinkin' loud.

I got into a habit to riding the Kawasaki Concours model. 250,000 miles on those bikes. I never ran anything but factory exhaust. I can pass your house at 85 and you wouldn't even notice. The funny thing is that so many of the thunder jockeys don't even re configure the fuel system when they put those loud pipes on, and their bikes are even less powerful. I fellow amature vintage class road racer has loud pipes on one of his harleys. He says it is to convert gasoline to noise without bothering to make horsepower.

I think loud pipes damage the entire motorcycle community to the same way that school shootings damage the firearms sports.

 

[rotortech]

I ride and own two bikes at this time. Loud pipes suck. Same with loud audio.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Someone may find an activity of mine annoying,and I hope they would give me the same leeway(shooting sports comes to mind).

I would be MORE than HAPPY to suppress all of my weapons. I have no desire to annoy people a mile away. But it would cost me more than each gun I have to do so. Even as it is I try to mitigate the effect on my neighbors of the sound of my shooting as much as possible, I don't try to make them louder. As I try to be considerate of them as I hope they will be of me. A gun is loud as a consequence of its design. A bike is not. Just like the people who play the music so loud that when I had a house in town with a bedroom in the basement I could hear their music clearly, they are jerks too.

I get that the people who enjoy it don't give a rat's ass if I think they are a jerk, that seems to be the way some people are and have been all throughout history. Many of those same people bemoan the lack of civility in society "these days." But that doesn't change my opinion of them. I've put about 200k miles on various bikes in my lifetime and I've had my share of cagers trying to kill me and I remain unconvinced that having loud pipes does anything but make some subset of cagers out there go even further out of their way to try to kill us.

FWIW, I'm not seriously annoyed by the jerks. I consider loud pipes to be an early warning ******* indicator. It's a fleeting annoyance much like the person who cuts me off in traffic. In a minute or two the annoyance is gone as I let it go.

 

[femurphy77]

I always get a kick out of the "saves lives" crowd. The dynamics of sound are not working for you out there but if you want to sit on that thing and listen to it all day go right ahead. Personally I like my bike with it's factory exhaust, makes the ride more pleasant and easier to enjoy.