Loud motorcycle exhaust - what's your opinion?

[Tucson_Tim]

I have a few motorcycles and frequent a couple of motorycle forums. The topic of loud exhaust pops up frequently there.

There seems to be 3 camps:

1) Motorcyclists who feel that "loud pipes saves lives", meaning that the louder their bikes are, the better the chance that cars/trucks will hear them, notice them, and not run over them.

2) Motorcyclists that just love the sound of their loud exhaust and the debatable performance enhancement.

3) Motorcyclists (and I am in this group) who don't mess with the exhaust and prefer a quiet motorcycle.

I'm assuming that most of the people here do NOT have motorcycles and I'd like to know what, if any, opinions you have on this subject.

[MrClean]

Buy a Friggin Muffler. The motorcycles I've looked at so far all have them, I won't be buying one that doesn't have one.

Stinkin Noise pollution. And even with the pipes open, I don't here the things before I see them. But in my house, with the windows open at night, the jerk that lives up the street has no problem running back and forth from 10 to midnight.

[Tucson_Tim]

Buy a Friggin Muffler. The motorcycles I've looked at so far all have them, I won't be buying one that doesn't have one.

Stinkin Noise pollution. And even with the pipes open, I don't here the things before I see them. But in my house, with the windows open at night, the jerk that lives up the street has no problem running back and forth from 10 to midnight.

Well, that's how I feel.

Fact is, many places are banning motorcyclists and one of the main reasons is the noise factor. There are other factors...

[Maksutov]

If my car had an exhaust as loud as many of the bikes on the road, I'd have been pulled over and fined many times.

For those macho (macho = loud) bikers out there, I had a Ducati that would leave your hogs in the wallow, and it was quiet as a cool breeze.

[Tucson_Tim]

If my car had an exhaust as loud as many of the bikes on the road, I'd have been pulled over and fined many times.

I think the police are actually afraid to pull over the 1%ers. And the others, well, I don't know why the laws aren't enforced....

[tofu]

Loud pipes do not save lives. Nobody can hear them in time or in the situations where they don't notice the bike - and you know what, anyone who has ever ridden a bike knows this. People pull out in front of me all the time. They pull up to a stop sign, look right at me, and then proceed to pull out. My dinky little Honda doesn't have loud pipes, but in those situations it wouldn't matter anyway because the sound doesn't propagate out in front.

I have a lot more respect for someone who will just admit that he likes the sound and the feeling of loud pipes, than someone who tells a lie to justify it.

For those macho (macho = loud) bikers out there, I had a Ducati that would leave your hogs in the wallow, and it was quiet as a cool breeze.

There is a great video - on youtube I think, but I don't feel like looking it up - of a guy bragging about his massive 2000cc engine Triumph bike, saying it's the fastest bike in the world. So he races a guy with a 750cc Suzuki GSX-R. The gixxie smokes him so bad that you actually feel sorry for the guy.

[Doodler]

Why just pick on bikes? There are some of those chintzy looking Japanese ricemobiles that are fitted with obnoxiously loud exhaust systems just the same. You're looking at a Harley or a Ducatti in the same light that I look at some little half pint punk in a tricked out Civic. Don't even get me started on Volkswagen fanbois, I'll be all day editting the cusswords out of my tirade.

[SeanF]

1) Motorcyclists who feel that "loud pipes saves lives", meaning that the louder their bikes are, the better the chance that cars/trucks will hear them, notice them, and not run over them.

I've never understood how that was supposed to be persuasive, anyway.

"I'm choosing to engage in an inherently risky act, and so you have to put up with my audible irritation as well so that I'm safer."

[Tucson_Tim]

Loud pipes do not save lives.

I agree.

There is a great video - on youtube I think, but I don't feel like looking it up - of a guy bragging about his massive 2000cc engine Triumph bike, saying it's the fastest bike in the world. So he races a guy with a 750cc Suzuki GSX-R. The gixxie smokes him so bad that you actually feel sorry for the guy.

The Triumph he's bragging about is the Rocket 3 and it is 2300cc. Which brings up another point: The Toyota Prius gets better gas mileage than most of the motorcycles sold today. I have a "smallish" 1100cc BMW and it only gets 40-45 MPG. Sad really....

[Tucson_Tim]

I've never understood how that was supposed to be persuasive, anyway.

"I'm choosing to engage in an inherently risky act, and so you have to put up with my audible irritation as well so that I'm safer."

I'll just get it off my chest here .... Loud pipes are a childish "Hey, Look at me! Ain't I cool" thing.

[NEOWatcher]

"I'm choosing to engage in an inherently risky act, and so you have to put up with my audible irritation as well so that I'm safer."

I completely agree with that sentiment except I want to expand on the inherently risky act.
Yes; it is inherently risky, but it should not be. If people paid attention to thier driving, and motorcyclists obeyed the laws (and I'm only talking bad apples here) then the need to add safety would not exist. In absence of that ideal though, it is risky, therefore the cyclist should be more careful.

And talk about risk? How about the time that I saw neither the motorcycle or any other cars around it not yeild to an ambulance because nobody heard it over the loud exhaust?

And; Why do I get at least 4 or 5 of these go by my house in the night hours, when nobody in my nieghborhood has one, and we are only on a sidestreet?

I'll just get it off my chest here .... Loud pipes are a childish "Hey, Look at me! Ain't I cool" thing.

Exactly; that's the same as that Honda Civic with the big chrome tailpipe, the whiny loud exaust, and music so loud that the speakers completely distort them. Which says, hey, I'm too cheap to be cool, but look at me anyway... Beltone, here I come.

[SeanF]

I completely agree with that sentiment except I want to expand on the inherently risky act.
Yes; it is inherently risky, but it should not be.

My thinking was that without the "protective cage," riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than riding a car, and that additional risk is inherent - the only way to alleviate it would be to turn the motorcycle into a car. So, from that point of view, "it should not be" isn't correct.

Also, motorcycles, being smaller, are simply harder to see than cars - that's another ineherent risk factor.

In absence of that ideal though, it is risky, therefore the cyclist should be more careful.

Exactly. In any collision between a car and motorcycle, the cyclist is going to lose - and the cyclist is choosing that situation. Therefore, the responsibility for increased awareness is on the cyclist.

[Tucson_Tim]

This really gets me going on the m/c forums....

Every so often a guy will brag about purposely setting off car alarms with their loud exhaust while riding through parking garages.

[Doodler]

This really gets me going on the m/c forums....

Every so often a guy will brag about purposely setting off car alarms with their loud exhaust while riding through parking garages.

Heh, engines are nothing, check the idjits that pull that off with their bass pipes.

[suntrack2]

last year when I visit the pune city in India, where I found such long pipes fixed with their motor cycle silensor, when I ask(introduction) one fellow that how he is experience with the loud exauhst of his bike, he replied "yes Sir, you know the today's tech. grads are much more fancy in keeping such long pipes of the silensor and creating a great loud through it, you know how we get an amusement and satisfaction of that loud through it, Sir you try the bike a see how the thing become more funny. " later I said to that fellow, listen: your bike is create unnecessary noise in the traffic, your bike's exahaust is rude and bad though you are enjoying it fully, your bike unnecessary disturbing the other motorcyclists on the street may cause their bike in sleeping. So I said to him "take care for the ears of others".

[Tucson_Tim]

My thinking was that without the "protective cage," riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than riding a car, and that additional risk is inherent - the only way to alleviate it would be to turn the motorcycle into a car.

Getting off the subject here... but there are many factors (other than collisions with cars/trucks) that make riding a motorcycle more dangerous:

- Animals- hitting one can put you down.
- Road hazards - pot holes, road debris, sand, oil
- Rain - the painted street surfaces are REALLY slick
- Drivetrain malfunction - a seized engine or wheel at 70 MPH
- Litter thrown from other vehicles
- Bees - wonderful when they get caught inside your helmet...

While all of the above can be a danger to someone in a car/truck, on a m/c it can be the end...

[NEOWatcher]

My thinking was that without the "protective cage," riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than riding a car, and that additional risk is inherent.

Yes; I was going from the "others can see me" point of view and how it relates to the loud exaust. In the ideal world, the other drivers would be required to be on the lookout fo any obstacle or danger on or near the roadway.

[Tucson_Tim]

your bike's exahaust is rude and bad

Yes! Loud noise, whether it's exhaust or music, eminating from cars or motorcycles, is infringing on the freedom of others. Sort of like second-hand smoke....

[Tucson_Tim]

Maybe it wasn't quite fair to post this question here on an Astronomy forum - but I wanted to see what the non-riding public thought about the noise.

I ride and I don't like it.

[Tucson_Tim]

Now, to be fair, there are some motorcyclists who replace the stock mufflers with after-market mufflers that are only slightly louder than stock, because the stock exhaust on some bikes (Honda GoldWing is a good example) is VERY quiet - whisper quiet.

I love when a GoldWing passes me in the other direction and all I hear is wind noise.

[Moose]

Shortly before I moved, I routinely heard the bikers go by on the highway. The pipes were obnoxiously loud. The highway was a full (measured) kilometer away across the valley. Not even the big rigs were that obnoxious. Did I mention I was indoors?

It also made going to a local restaurant uncomfortable. They'd drive by the restaurant and literally rattle the glasses on the tables as they pulled away from the stop. In a workplace, they make you wear ear protection if you're exposed to noise even a tenth that loud.

[Edit:] It's one more reason I love where I live now. I'm still about a km from the highway, but I'm in a subdivision surrounded by thick woods. We don't hear too much in the way of highway noise where I am. It's nice.

[Gillianren]

There was some eejit living in my complex last summer whose car alarm went off about every five minutes or so between about 10 PM and 1 or 2 AM. That was annoying, too.

No, I feel very firmly that excess noise is rude. By "excess noise" I mean the motorcycles under discussion, car alarms that go off repeatedly for no reason, stereos that I can hear perfectly clearly from outside your car--and, in some cases, inside my apartment!--people with no inside voice, and so on. If the noise you're making is just for the sake of being really, really loud, you're either seven or acting like it.

[Larry Jacks]

Motorcycle safety isn't exactly an oxymoron but it seems like it sometimes. A loud tailpipe contributes little to safety. By the time a car driver hears the motorcycle over the sound of his radio, it's probably too late.

My brother Steve has ridden motorcycles for almost 40 years, including a couple decades of professional experience drag racing. He was almost killed in an accident when he was 14 but has been pretty safe since then. While much of the blame does go to car drivers, there are things motorcyclists can do that will increase their chances. For example, I see a lot of motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic. They're constantly moving in and out of people's blind spots. You're asking to get creamed by driving that way. It wouldn't hurt to wear brighter colors, too. Black may be cool but it's harder to see.

Some aspects of motorcycles will always be more dangerous no matter what the rider does. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was rear-ended while driving her kids home in a Honda Odyssey minivan. Kristen was stopped at a traffic light, and the woman who hit her didn't even slow down (she was probably doing 40-50 MPH). The Odyssey's crumple zones worked as designed and no one inside was injured. There are no crumple zones on a motorcycle. You'll always be more vulnerable than in a car. Doing sensible things to improve your safety is smart but some things (like idiot drivers) are beyond your control. Loud tailpipes won't do you a bit of good under those (or most other) circumstances.

[Doodler]

- Animals- hitting one can put you down.
- Road hazards - pot holes, road debris, sand, oil
- Rain - the painted street surfaces are REALLY slick
- Drivetrain malfunction - a seized engine or wheel at 70 MPH
- Litter thrown from other vehicles
- Bees - wonderful when they get caught inside your helmet...

1) Hitting animals doesn't do much for cars or trucks, either. Smaller animals, maybe, but bikes have better agility to avoid them. A car hitting a deer will kill you just as dead as plowing into one on a bike.

2) Only modestly mitigated in a car. Again, bike agility can mitigate those threats.

3) Hehe, some of these new small cars on wet roads aren't very impressive handlers, and for the larger ones, lets not even get into their stopping distance. If I had a choice of who I get rear ended by, I'll take the punk on the bike than the chucklehead in an oversized SUV.

4) Not a common issue, except in handbuilt bikes.

5) Ever seen what a bottle flung out of a car will do to a windshield? Don't blame the victim there, dude. Bad form.

6) Bees ain't much fun when they fly in a driver's side window, either.

[Vermonter]

I ride a Kawasaki Ninja 500, and I take steps to increase my visibility. I prefer a quiet bike (my Ninja has stock mufflers, and I wouldn't mind a quieter exhaust) but I prefer to be seen. My bike is lime green, and I wear a red motorcycle jacket and a bright yellow helmet. I still ride like I am invisible (since I cannot count on anyone seeing me) and as such, I keep an eye out for possible hazards.

I enjoy the deep, throaty growl from some of the bigger machines, but I agree that 99% of them are too loud and are a nuisance. In Burlington, I hear a lot of the ricemobiles that Doodler mentions. It sounds like: brrraaaaaap-kapow!

[NEOWatcher]

Doodler;
That was the very reason Tuscon Tim said:

While all of the above can be a danger to someone in a car/truck, on a m/c it can be the end...

Ok; some items may only be marginally better in a car. But all things considered.
About the only thing is the agility factor...but is it enough to offset the additional damage done with the same problem? Whether you are in a car or cycle, if you don't see it coming, no amount af agility is going to help, and then you are at the mercy of the amount of material between you and the danger. More stuff between, the more the danger is reduced.

[farmerjumperdon]

Simple solution, enforce the noise ordinances equally for all vehicles. Most urban areas have them. My guess is that handing out tickets with a hefty little fine ($200 per pop ought to make an impact) ought to do it.

The noise is mostly for enjoyment; and I admit to liking it too. But there is a time and place. I had a Hodaka Combat Wombat 125 as a youngster. Sometimes I'd run it with the baffle out; the sound was incredible. But if I was running the tracks (RR) or for some other reason was in an urban area, I wouldn't go much more than an idle with the baffle out.

EDIT: I have obviously been out of touch for a while, a motorcycle with 2300 cc! If that is a production bike, . . . GADS!

[Tucson_Tim]

EDIT: I have obviously been out of touch for a while, a motorcycle with 2300 cc! If that is a production bike, . . . GADS!

Yes. Triumph Rocket 3, 2300cc, longitudinal mounted 3-cyl, water-cooled, shaft-drive - it's been out for 3-4 yrs now.

Also, Kawasaki has a 2000 cc twin cruiser. Honda has an 1800cc 6-cyl (GoldWing) and an 1800cc twin cruiser. All the other manufacturers have bikes in the 1450-1700cc range, usually v-twin cruisers.

When I was a kid, if you had a Triumph Bonneville (650cc), you had a LARGE bike. I could never afford one....

[Trebuchet]

I have a 1500cc Honda .... car! Probably weighs about the same as some of the larger bikes too.

At least it's quiet. The jerks with load bikes/cars/stereos really tick me off. It's really a very juvenile "look at me" thing, as another poster has said.

The same guys who say the load exhaust is for safety probably complain about having to wear a helmet, too.

[Tucson_Tim]

The same guys who say the loud exhaust is for safety probably complain about having to wear a helmet, too.

I'm dragging my own thread off-subject here but...

A whole 'nother weird thing about motorcyclists - not wearing a helmet. The reasons they usually give are:

1) Don't want anyone tellin' 'em what to do.
2) I can't see or hear as well - it's not safe.
3) It will break my neck in a crash - it's not safe.