# I Am Duly Awestruck By Your Loud Vehicle. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411 "2005-05-11T16:48:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![1320](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/3d9bf3/32.png) [@1320](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1320)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/101 "2005-06-10T17:06:45Z")
I have been watching this thread with some interest, and for sure there have been some great points made. I agree that there is little need to have the loudest possible set of pipes on a bike, though I personally enjoy the noise. I really don’t buy the argument that “loud Pipes Save Lives” That said, here is my own situation: I am an avid Drag Racer. Racing has been a passion for me all of my life, and I am really not interested in a quieter hobby. Most every summer weekend, I take my car and go racing. In order to do this, I need to load the car onto my open flat-bed trailer. This happens early morning Saturday, at around 7:30am to load the car, and late (if I’m winning…) on Sunday, often between 8:00pm and 9:00pm, but potentially as late as 11:00pm. I usually stay at the race track overnight. The car, being a race-only item, has open exhaust and is horribly loud, and would drown out most Harleys. Making matters worse, the loose racing-type torque converter requires me to rev the car up somewhat in order to get it to move. This all happens behind my garage in my very quiet suburban neighbourhood. I do my very best to minimize the noise that I do make, limiting the running time of the car to out-of-the-garage & on-to-the-trailer. Even with this limited amount of running time, there is still a ton of racket being made. Since my trailer is an open-deck, I can’t really load the car Friday evening, or unload it Monday, because it would be sitting outside (and inviting vandalism). The configuration of the car prevents me from adding a set of mufflers that I could then remove upon arriving at the racetrack. For what it’s worth, I have never received a complaint from anyone in the neighbourhood, and all of my closest neighbours are quite supportive of the car. That does not mean that there isn’t someone around who secretly loathes my routine noise-making, just that they haven’t said anything (to me anyway). In my opinion, I’m just a regular guy trying to enjoy my hobby. I realize that to do this can be an inconvenience to my neighbours, and where possible, I try to minimize this. But at the end of the day, I’m still making a bunch of noise. The question is, of course, Am I an Asshole? The noise that I make with my obnoxious race car is not (to me) any different than the guy across the street who mows the lawn/uses the snow-blower at 6:00am, or the guy with five dogs that seem to have regular barking contests between the hours of 10:00pm and 5:00am, or even the lady who has the three screaming kids beside me in the restaurant/grocery store/line at the DMV. Does this make these people assholes? Are we all assholes? Live and let live? Your feedback is welcomed. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/102 "2005-06-10T17:33:09Z")
Seeing as how this thread’s already bumped, I’ll just mention that someone on a Harley-type bike went down our residential street the other week, causing us (in the back yard) to cover our ears, and _setting off all the car alarms on the block_ as he went by. Now, if it’s who I think it is (nice guy, plays the bagpipes decently, etc) and it happens again, I’m certainly going to bring it up with him. I don’t think anyone in this thread could argue that they need their bike to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/103 "2005-06-10T17:48:22Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > Absolute HorseShit. Loud Pipes cost rights. 30 years of riding, 20 years of working in the industry, 17 years racing and 6 years of having an asshole neighbor with an unplugged “Hardly-Ableson” have taught me this. > > Proper safety equipment, including a SNELL full-face helmet, save lives. Loud pipes get you banned from prime riding areas. Try and keep up. I have conceded the point you are making and have already fitted the bike with different pipes. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/104 "2005-06-10T20:55:11Z")
> [@1320](#): > > The car, being a race-only item, has open exhaust and is horribly loud, and would drown out most Harleys. The car is loud due to necessity while Harleys are loud due to an option. Not quite the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/105 "2005-06-11T05:33:03Z")
Jeez folks, 99% of the metro areas in this country have noise ordinances… Us them, get the offenders a ticket or jailed and quit whining… If the law refuses, go to the news media… But do something besides bitch about it. You don’t have the stones to go tell them your self, call a cop… These people are infringing on your rights. Stop them. the law is on your side. \*::Try to remember that most rights are a two way street and when you are on the wrong end of the ‘asshole stick’ figure it is just payback for those you forced to do it your way.:: \* Bawahahahaa ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/106 "2005-06-11T06:48:36Z")
> [@1320](#): > > Your feedback is welcomed. If you’re that concerned about making noise, would it be doable to mount a winch of some sort on the trailer, so you could just put the car in neutral and winch it onto the trailer? ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/107 "2005-06-11T09:25:36Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > However read #8 The single most common accident is from a motorist turning in front of a motorcycle. Loud pipes just aren’t gonna help here, they are pointed the other damn direction. :smack: Headlights, and helmets will help pre and post accident, but pipes aren’t since the sound is headed the wrong direction. The pipes are not only loud behind the bikes. There is substantial bass in the loud pipes, and as we all know… low frequencies are significantly more omni-directional than highs. The argument that the loud pipes only work backwards is counter to the argument that they are so loud, my ears bleed from across town. This is a long thread, but still not ONE cite that states that loud pipes do NOT save lives, and actually several, including the one above, that the increased presence of loud pipes could potentially decrease the types of accidents where regular vehicles move into the space of the bike. If loud noises didn’t increase the presence and awareness of a vehicle then cops, and ambulances, and fire trucks would only have lights. This is not to say there isn’t and shouldn’t be an upward limit to the volume of the pipes, or that riders shouldn’t be aware and conscious of the people around them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/108 "2005-06-11T14:52:13Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > The pipes are not only loud behind the bikes. There is substantial bass in the loud pipes, and as we all know… low frequencies are significantly more omni-directional than highs. > > The argument that the loud pipes only work backwards is counter to the argument that they are so loud, my ears bleed from across town. > > This is a long thread, but still not ONE cite that states that loud pipes do NOT save lives, and actually several, including the one above, that the increased presence of loud pipes could potentially decrease the types of accidents where regular vehicles move into the space of the bike. If loud noises didn’t increase the presence and awareness of a vehicle then cops, and ambulances, and fire trucks would only have lights. > > This is not to say there isn’t and shouldn’t be an upward limit to the volume of the pipes, or that riders shouldn’t be aware and conscious of the people around them. Exhaust pipes are semi-directional, I think you will agree that the sound from a bike is louder behind it than if front of it. More than once I have stood on a street watching (and listening) as a bike come by. ::: As it approaches::: nice bike, but a little loud ::: As it passes::: Holy fuck that’s loud! Your comparision to a firetruck/police car has a flaw in it. The siren on an emergency vehicle is pointed forward, not to the back. Even with that sometime people don’t hear the emergency vehicle approaching. So loud pipes pointed the wrong way really aren’t going to help much in the most common type of accident between bikes and cars. ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/109 "2005-06-11T16:51:57Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Exhaust pipes are semi-directional, I think you will agree that the sound from a bike is louder behind it than if front of it. More than once I have stood on a street watching (and listening) as a bike come by. > ::: As it approaches::: nice bike, but a little loud > ::: As it passes::: Holy fuck that’s loud! > Your comparision to a firetruck/police car has a flaw in it. The siren on an emergency vehicle is pointed forward, not to the back. Even with that sometime people don’t hear the emergency vehicle approaching. So loud pipes pointed the wrong way really aren’t going to help much in the most common type of accident between bikes and cars. Sorry, but I disagree. Loud pipes can be heard from all directions; the low frequency (omnidirectional) screaming rumble of the pipes can indeed be heard from the front, side, and rear. Louder from the rear, yes, but loud from the other sides as well. Emergency sirens are made to be heard from blocks away and use a **high pitch sound** ,more directional sound that gives a more clear indication of the direction that the emergency vehicle is coming from so vehicles blocks away can pull over, or stop, or not go through the intersection. Motorcyclists are not concern with announcing their presence from blocks away, but when they are behind or to the side of your vehicle. In this scenario, if you don’t see the motorcycle (the cause of many motorcycle accidents, as cited in the Hurt Report), but if you hear the god-awful loud pipes announcing the bikes presence, (maybe they are passing you in the next lane), you are less likely to pull an unsafe maneuver and cause the biker to dump his ride, or worse. ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/110 "2005-06-11T16:54:41Z")
I want to repeat again, there is clearly an upward limit, beyond which the sound is overkill, and obnoxious. The goal is not to have pipes so loud that windows shatter when you ride by, but loud pipes do infact reduce a riders risk of accident. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/111 "2005-06-11T17:03:28Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > I want to repeat again, there is clearly an upward limit, beyond which the sound is overkill, and obnoxious. The goal is not to have pipes so loud that windows shatter when you ride by, but loud pipes do infact reduce a riders risk of accident. Frankly, at this point I don’t care whether they save bikers’ lives or not. Find yourself a toy you can enjoy safely w/o making so much beshitted racket. Your fun doesn’t trump the peace and tranquility of everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/112 "2005-06-11T17:25:24Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Frankly, at this point I don’t care whether they save bikers’ lives or not. Find yourself a toy you can enjoy safely w/o making so much beshitted racket. Your fun doesn’t trump the peace and tranquility of everybody else. Why the undue anger? I have already conceded that there is a point where the volume is obnoxious and rude. But to suggest that all bikers are assholes, or that they have little dicks (as was stated several times earlier) is ignorant. Isn’t the point of this board to fight ignorance, not disseminate it? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/113 "2005-06-11T17:57:58Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > Isn’t the point of this board to fight ignorance, not disseminate it? Not anymore… \*::: sigh :: \* ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/114 "2005-06-11T18:41:41Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > Why the undue anger? I have already conceded that there is a point where the volume is obnoxious and rude. But to suggest that all bikers are assholes, or that they have little dicks (as was stated several times earlier) is ignorant. Isn’t the point of this board to fight ignorance, not disseminate it? Did you read my OP? Dickweed across the street is the primary target of my not undue anger. I honestly would have to struggle to feel anything but schadenfreude should he run that Harley under a truck. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/115 "2005-06-11T18:48:30Z")
Oh if this ain’t just [PERFECT](http://www.angryflower.com/raaaam.html) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/116 "2005-06-11T19:09:21Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Oh if this ain’t just [PERFECT](http://www.angryflower.com/raaaam.html) Post #96 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/117 "2005-06-11T22:57:44Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > Exactly **tdn**. I have a VERY loud bike for safety reasons. I want someone to know when I am coming up on thier blind spot. Ever heard the saying “Loud pipes save lives”? > > . [Old Jewish Lady] So Bike with Ethel Merman [/OJL] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/118 "2005-06-11T23:21:05Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > Sorry, but I disagree. Loud pipes can be heard from all directions; the low frequency (omnidirectional) screaming rumble of the pipes can indeed be heard from the front, side, and rear. Louder from the rear, yes, but loud from the other sides as well. My point exactly. They are not as loud from the front. According to the Hurt report the single most common accident was a car truning infront of a bike. So the louder pipes = more safe does not hold up for the single most common type of type of bike/car accident. > [@](#): > > Emergency sirens are made to be heard from blocks away and use a **high pitch sound** ,more directional sound that gives a more clear indication of the direction that the emergency vehicle is coming from so vehicles blocks away can pull over, or stop, or not go through the intersection. And still they have problems being heard over the windows up, A/C, and the radio, not to mention 3 kids in the back. > [@](#): > > Motorcyclists are not concern with announcing their presence from blocks away, but when they are behind or to the side of your vehicle. In this scenario, if you don’t see the motorcycle (the cause of many motorcycle accidents, as cited in the Hurt Report), but if you hear the god-awful loud pipes announcing the bikes presence, (maybe they are passing you in the next lane), you are less likely to pull an unsafe maneuver and cause the biker to dump his ride, or worse. Many not the single most common. Furthermore I have been in traffic and watched in my mirror as guys on bikes split lanes. Most of those bikes aren’t that loud when I have the windows up and the A/C on. Warn me? No. Anoy the neighbors yes. Now when I am riding my bicycle it is a different story loud bass note clearly audible as the bike approaches (up to a block, maybe a block and half away depending on ambient, as they pass loud to the point of pain. ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/119 "2005-06-12T00:37:16Z")
**Very** loud bikes are obnoxious. It is possible to ride a “loud” bike in a residential area without being a dick about it. So the OP should be angry , and I think they were, at the specific dickhead that purposely throttles his bike to make the pipes scream. But it is the rider’s behavior, not the pipes or the bike, that is the cause of ire. This is no different than the assholes that drive cars through the subdivision like it’s an Indy raceway. Not all car drivers are assholes, but those dickheads are. We should BAN all drivers in subdivisions just because a few, several or many of the drivers are completely inconsiderate of the safety of the others in the area. But the illogical argument some of the anti-loud pipe people are making is that the bikes are SO loud, your ears bleed, but they are not loud enough to cause a driver in their close vicinity to hear them. You can’t have it both ways. You are just wrong if you claim that the directionality of the pipes is such that is inaudible from the front and side, but deafening from the rear. And I will repeat again, because you don’t seem to be grasping the concept, the emergency alarms are high pitched, and very directional, this is because they want to be heard and located **from a distance**. The offset for this is that the sirens are not as penetrating as the deep low frequency rumbling and screaming of tail pipes. An example of the omni directional power of low frequencies is when that teenager with the booming bass drives by, the bass penetrates, you can feel it in your car, in your home, but the equally loud high frequencies do not have the same penetrating effect. I stand by my assertion that a reasonably loud motorcycle is less apt to be in the type of accident where a automobile driver is unaware of their presence and cut them off, or otherwise impedes on their legal driving space. This does not mean that the pipes need to be as loud as an open header dragster, or that the rider gets a free pass to be an inconsiderate dickhead in residential areas. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411/120 "2005-06-12T08:54:36Z")
When I was a kid, we used to stick a bunch of playing cards, or strips of flexible plastic to the inside of the forks on our bicycles. The strips would be made to stick out and cach the spokes, and when you rode it made a revving type sound (to our ears anyway). It wasn’t very efficient, it meant you had to pedal somewhat harder to get the same speed…but the nose was cool to us. I reckon I must have been around 10 or 11 years old at the time, seems loud pipe bikers do similar things to achieve the same results on a bigger scale, pity their maturity hasn’t moved on from boyhood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-duly-awestruck-by-your-loud-vehicle/303411.md?page=7)