I've always heard that saying but I'm not convinced.
When a Harley or other bike with loud pipes is coming towards you, it's not really that loud.
After it goes by and the pipes are facing you then it's loud.
If I'm in my cage with the windows up, radio on, I don't hear a loud Harley coming. I might hear it after it goes by tho.
I don't get it. I just think loud pipes are obnoxious.
Billy, have you seen that South Park episode? If you haven't you should, it's here somewhere on the forum.
It perfectly sums it up for me..
That was my brother in laws reasoning for his straight pipes.
I debated the fact many times with him and ultimately his life was lost...
Randy - RPM
Quote from: Pat Conlon on October 11, 2014, 07:08:30 PM
Billy, have you seen that South Park episode? If you haven't you should, it's here somewhere on the forum.
It perfectly sums it up for me..
Exactly my thoughts too, Pat.
My wife and I took a drive to the Mississippi River today, and at one of our stops, the usually "Harley" group pulls in, and one of them idled for several minutes longer than the rest, revved, shut down, restarted and revved again, almost to announce that he had "arrived"!
WHY?
Any time I have ridden with our Rally riders, the engines shut down at the moment we reach our destination.
I don't know, maybe we are not doing it "right"!?!?!?!
brum, brum, brum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FAGS!
I like my"louder than stock" Yoshimura pipe on my FJ but its not obnoxiously loud. Ever notice how those straight pipe Harleys dont rev out when they twist the throttle...they just get louder, then backfire when they let off? They gotta be loud...brap brap brap, people respect that... Re-jetting,running lean whats that mean? That is obnoxious!!! Yeah Pat, that South Park episode rocks frickin ROCKS!! Charley. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm telling you guys they need the Auto Rev 2000. Does anyone here drive an open pipe bike to work down residential streets at 6 am? Randomly downshifting and opening the throttle for no reason?
I didn't think so . Neither do I. Harley guys on the other hand......
A buddy of mine who has a couple Ducs has a t-shirt that says "Loud Clutches Save Lives". I always thought that was a good one. Another friend of mine who used to have a Moto Guzzi had a t-shirt that says "Moto Guzzi...Going out of Business since 1921". Another good one!
But to the point - Loud Pipes Save Lives is just plain stupid. Do the same folks that support this idea also promote things such as helmets, riding gear, lighting, rider training...?
Zwartie
I like the tee shirt saying "If loud pipes save lives, just imagine what learning to ride could do."
"Harley Davidson, turning gasoline into noise, without the adverse effects of making horsepower, since 1903"!
Quote from: racerrad8 on October 11, 2014, 07:09:43 PM
That was my brother in laws reasoning for his straight pipes.
I debated the fact many times with him and ultimately his life was lost...
Randy - RPM
Note to self: NEVER argue with Randy (RPM). His opponents die of mysterious circumstances!
Steve
Quote from: Zwartie on October 11, 2014, 09:16:44 PM
But to the point - Loud Pipes Save Lives is just plain stupid. Do the same folks that support this idea also promote things such as helmets, riding gear, lighting, rider training...?
Zwartie
Haha great point!
That's one a them there rhetorical questions ain't it.
I do like loud pipes, but not the V-twin Harley sound. For me that sound = slow. Big turn off for me. If I could run straight pipes all the time, I would. Just my preference. Maybe it gives me a false sense of security.
I owned a CBR600 about 6 years ago. The stock pipe was very quiet. It made me very nervous driving on I-5. Motorcycles are invisible, and a quiet one is worse. I opened it up with a D&D pipe and I got more confidence. At the very least someone will know you are beside them and they most likely will not try to share the lane with you (how many of you have experienced this?).
Good points made, though. The most powerful one is what Randy mentioned. That's really sad.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/Lotsokids/CBR600F3/Front_RT_no_signals.jpg) (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/Lotsokids/CBR600F3/New/Rear.jpg)
Over the decades, I've learned to not argue the "Loud Pipes Saves Lives" philosophy with those that love it/live it.
They are mentally not able to understand.
I'm not sure if they fried their minds on drugs, alcohol, in-breeding or just a general overabundance of neanderthal genetic material.
Or a combination of all of those -
I do know there are better ways to spend my time, to each their own -
UNTIL I AM WAKEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT OR MY SERENITY IS SOMEHOW DISRUPTED - THEN I WILL HAVE A NICE CONVERSATION DIRECTLY WITH THE PERP
AND I WILL SPEAK VERY CLEARLY IN A LANGUAGE THEY CAN AND WILL UNDERSTAND
And I don't care what make, model or brand of motorcycle it is, I'm not biased in that regard
The funny thing is, when you are in a car, the noise of the bike is really hard to place. A really freaking loud bike seems to be EVERYWHERE. I had one guy like that plant himself in the blind spot of my pickup. I know he's there somewhere, but I can't see him, so how useful is that knowledge to me?
Conversely, when I bought the XS400 that my wife now rides, it had shorty mufflers that were rusted or burnt out to the point of pretty much being straight pipes. Not a very big twin, but a twin loud enough to make my own ears hurt. I was almost run off the road something like three times on that bike. I put new mufflers on and started paying more attention.
So, in my experience, loud mufflers being safer is pure BS.
My understanding is that straight pipes on Harleys came from two things - all out drag bikes which need as little weight as possible and don't care about noise, and the cheap bikes, where people just couldn't afford a muffler.
Im not going to take sides i like any pipe that works good and makes the bike sound good.
One point I didnt hear mentioned is pedestrians.
If you have a quiet bike they are more likely to walk out in front of you.
Loud or quiet i like both.
That being said I like hearing the engine a good pipe lets you do that.
Drag strip rules would be different but on the street to loud is to loud imo.
Find a pipe that makes you happy without bothering your neighbors and you should be fine.
If the pedestrians hear you i think its a plus they don't always look where there going.
Quote from: Flying Scotsman on October 12, 2014, 11:15:18 AM
If the pedestrians hear you i think its a plus they don't always look where there going.
People routinely get run over by trains. A train is this damn loud thing that travels on a fixed trajectory. Oblivious people are oblivious.
Look, if you like making noise and annoying people, own up to it. Don't pretend it's somehow a safety feature.
Where I work, a train passes by about 100feet from our building, sometimes 20 times a day all types some like the Amtracks, are goin full tilt boogie. You'd have to be deaf/blind , wasted, or have a death wish to get run over by one. (two 19 yr olds did die this year on purpose here) They are f-n loud and I'm usually wearing ear plugs... On the loud bike issue...I like to hear my motor and I drive it by sound and feel (and the speedo) not so much by the tach...that comes from riding dirt bikes forever I guess. I.m sorry but the stock exhaust setup just didn't do it for me. I've never had anyone complain about my FJ being too loud. I think it sound awesome. (I.M.O.) Charley.
Quote from: charleygofast on October 12, 2014, 11:56:02 AM
Where I work, a train passes by about 100feet from our building, sometimes 20 times a day all types some like the Amtracks, are goin full tilt boogie. You'd have to be deaf/blind , wasted, or have a death wish to get run over by one. (two 19 yr olds did die this year on purpose here) They are f-n loud and I'm usually wearing ear plugs...
Exactly. And yet, people get run over by trains. A loud bike ain't gonna do much.
Quote from: charleygofast on October 12, 2014, 11:56:02 AM
On the loud bike issue...I like to hear my motor and I drive it by sound and feel (and the speedo) not so much by the tach...that comes from riding dirt bikes forever I guess. I.m sorry but the stock exhaust setup just didn't do it for me. I've never had anyone complain about my FJ being too loud. I think it sound awesome. (I.M.O.) Charley.
You wanna have a loud bike, fine. So long as you don't run it under my windows. And I find your rationale perfectly acceptable. You like it, and that's it. It's the guys that say they do it for safety that annoy me. They want to be loud, but they also want to pretend like it's a necessity, not just them entertaining themselves.
For what ever it is worth loud pipes also can attract LEO's attention. Also I would rather be able to hear my engine. When I repacked my old Cobra mufflers it felt like I picked up some power in the mid range that I ride in most of the time. No numbers, just a seat of the pants feeling. I personally don't like overly loud pipes.
George
None of my bikes have noisy exhausts but my old honda has a noisy front brake and if i want to alert any pedestrians that i'm coming,
a couple of light pulls on the lever and everybody snaps their heads to me.
Quote from: 1tinindian on October 11, 2014, 07:30:44 PM
Quote from: Pat Conlon on October 11, 2014, 07:08:30 PM
Billy, have you seen that South Park episode? If you haven't you should, it's here somewhere on the forum.
It perfectly sums it up for me..
Exactly my thoughts too, Pat.
My wife and I took a drive to the Mississippi River today, and at one of our stops, the usually "Harley" group pulls in, and one of them idled for several minutes longer than the rest, revved, shut down, restarted and revved again, almost to announce that he had "arrived"!
WHY?
Any time I have ridden with our Rally riders, the engines shut down at the moment we reach our destination.
I don't know, maybe we are not doing it "right"!?!?!?!
brum, brum, brum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FAGS!
hahahah...:-)... Wow... That's hilarious... I rev once in a rare occurrence...but not obnoxiously... Fags:-).... Funny:-)...
The South Park episode is called "The F word".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRY0lqCYSQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRY0lqCYSQ)
Quote from: JPaganel on October 12, 2014, 04:16:50 PM
The South Park episode is called "The F word".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRY0lqCYSQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRY0lqCYSQ)
I remember that episode... Made me laugh the first time I saw it:-).... That episode never get old:-)
I remember a year or so ago I threw a kids lifejacket at a guy haulin but down our street on a newer raptor 700 atv... After that he didn't speed down our street or in the neighborhood anymore... Found out a month ago he moved away.... It was like everyday he was doin like 70 mph+ day and at night.... So one day I hide behind my truck waitin for him to fly by... Like clock work he came flying by so I timed it right and all he saw was something orange goin past the front of him almost hitting him in the face:-)....
I didn't want to hit him... I just wanted him to slow the heck down... There are little kids on my street that like to play street hockey...
Quote from: Zwartie on October 11, 2014, 09:16:44 PM
A buddy of mine who has a couple Ducs has a t-shirt that says "Loud Clutches Save Lives".
Zwartie
My thoughts exactly!
Quote from: simi_ed on July 19, 2011, 01:57:21 AM
(http://www.woundedduc.net/sitebuilder/images/LoudClutchesEdit-526x439.jpg)
My custom chopper has loud pipes. And tons o torque about 5 ftlbs.more than my 1350. But I tried to keep it as quiet as possible around residential or anywhere that would be disrespectful. On main street bars, crowds of loud people, music, late. I let it snap. Liked spinning the 250 at about 20 mph. Anyway I got pulled over almost instantly. Cop said mostly because he wanted to look at my bike(happened 4 times so far). I told him I was just showin off. He said. "Unfortunately when you have illegal exhaust you shouldn't be doing it on main street at night. If you want to let err go, go out there and do it." He said making a sweeping arc with his arm at the residential area. He really liked my chopper didn't give me a ticket. Anyway I like the way it sounds. I like the way any piped bike sounds but you have to respect. Others and keep it quiet when appropriate. (I have a piped, cammed, intake, power commander. Raptor 700. I hate that it's loud. Have quiet cores, still loud. But it makes so much more power :diablo: )
Back in the mid to late 70's in Las Vegas, the push was on to get the police to stop ticketing harleys with straight pipes. The reason they wanted straight pipes was to get the extra 2 or 3 horsepower out of the engine. Not a word was said about saving lives. When I returned in the mid 80's, it was all about "saving lives". So now, mostly the cops leave the loud motorcycles alone, but some people on scooters and mopeds say that they get tagged alot because they run modified exhaust to get a little more power. Do loud pipes save lives? Well, yeah, sometimes. For instance, if a bikers ol' lady is "entertaining" someone and she can hear the ol' man on the bike coming home from two blocks away, then yeah, probably a life or two has been saved. Mostly, I think it just pisses the cagers off toward all bikes.
I think the South Park episode says it best.
I have had more close calls with cyclists & pedestrians while riding my FJ than any other bike that I own. My FJ is mostly all stock with the original quiet exhausts. The bicycles are the worst. They don't hear me coming & move over to the center of the road.
Most of my bikes have an after-market or modified exhaust. I've often been able to rev the engine to warn someone faster than I can hit the horn. Whenever I'm in tight traffic I rev my bike up every once in a while to make sure that other drivers are aware of my position. Now Harley type of loud is just obnoxious & uncalled for. I don't understand how they can get away with being so loud. They are as bad, or more, than my 2-stroke MT/CR-250 with a DG chamber on it.
Quote from: ~JM~ on October 15, 2014, 09:16:09 AM
Whenever I'm in tight traffic I rev my bike up every once in a while to make sure that other drivers are aware of my position.
Thing is, it doesn't really tell anyone your position. Especially in traffic. Sound reflects, and inside a car it's really hard to tell where it's coming from.
Quote from: novaraptor on October 14, 2014, 01:06:54 PM
Back in the mid to late 70's in Las Vegas, the push was on to get the police to stop ticketing harleys with straight pipes.
Back in the day loud pipes drew tickets. When HD became the well-to-do's status symbol that changed. The Vegas thing was all about the money.
Quote from: Burns on October 15, 2014, 11:35:01 AM
Quote from: novaraptor on October 14, 2014, 01:06:54 PM
Back in the mid to late 70's in Las Vegas, the push was on to get the police to stop ticketing harleys with straight pipes.
Back in the day loud pipes drew tickets. When HD became the well-to-do's status symbol that changed. The Vegas thing was all about the money.
That is certainly part of the change. Back then, the ticket would usually stick. Today, the odds are pretty good that the HD rider is an attorney, or casino/hotel administrator, or off duty cop, so yeah, I'm sure that has changed the ticketing profile.