Yeah, but you cant drive down the road blasting a horn all day. The cops frown on that. It just makes cars aware of you.
Did I insult you? Yeah it’s the pit, but that doesnt mean you can’t show some self control.
No, it doesn’t make cars easier to hear. Yes I have tried it. And no you don’t go deaf from ridding motorcycles. I’ve been riding for over 25 years, I know people who have been riding for 50. None of us are deaf…seriously. Never met one person who is deaf from riding a motorcycle. ever.
Not really. The bad motorcycle accidents I’ve seen friends and customers get into (one of them fatal) involved a car turning in front of the bike. That does fit your stats, and thats how it usually happens. And the excuse the car drive always gives is that they didn’t know the bike was even there. With loud pipes you know a bike is there blocks away. People look for the source of the loud noise.
THE AMA is more concerned with public image than anything else and always has been. I don’t really pay much attention to them.
I guess it depends on whether or not you think this is a bad thing.
Hell, even ambulances and fire trucks drive me nuts, because I can hear them but I can’t see them and I don’t know where the hell they are. And, again, because of the Doppler effect, if they’re coming up behind you the sound waves don’t get to you very much earlier than the vehicle itself does. I once heard a fire truck approaching, and when I looked in my rear view to see where it was it was less than a car length behind me.
In any case, pipes that are loud enough to be heard blocks away are LOUD when they’re in the next lane over. Incomparably, ear-shatteringly, unnervingly, undesirably LOUD. The few situations where it might be helpful do not justify the 95% of the time you’re just making a god damned racket. Practice better riding to deal with that 5%; it ain’t hard to put yourself so the cars around you can see you. If you have to ride in their blind spot, you damn well better be aware they may turn in front of you.
You’ve been extremely lucky:
Emphasis added.
You could make up some bumper stickers that say “LOUD PIPES MAKE MY BALLS FEEL BIG” and apply them to offending bikes.
Well, that is a subject of debate. Here’s a few real world examples of what I’m talking about.
I had just finished doing a carb job on a customers bike in Utah and he was driving to work. it was stock Suzuki 4 cyl, with stock exhaust and car driver turned in front of him approaching from the opposite direction. He left a wife and 4 kids. The driver said he didn’t hear or see the motorcycle. Now if he had a loud exhaust system the auto driver would have heard him, and would have looked…hopefully. We’re not talking about something fool proof here but something increase the odds for the rider.
another mechanic friend of mine did a long stint in the hospital when a lady without insurance pulled off of a side street in front of him. he was riding a honda sport bike he was road testing for a customer. The lady pulled all the way out in front of him before she noticed there was a motorcycle even there, then stopped in a panic right in front of him. Her excuse was she didn’t even know he was there. Again, load pipes would have made her look.
And I’ve know a lot of other nearly identical situations with friends and customers.
as for if its a good thing or not? Well, I think it is. it isn’t the motorcycle coming up from behind, like was pointed out above. most bad motorcycle accidents are because of people who are looking right at the bike head on and still dont see it.
I tend to get a bit on edge when people authoritatively spout so much incorrect information in a single post. And besides, you’re of the group that is being pitted. 
Don’t take it personal. Perhaps I should have said, “This statement is fucking moronic.”
I mentioned the trailers as an aside, but I was imagining backing into the parking space.
That’s not what the Doppler effect describes at all. Sound travels at about 750 miles an hour through air. If a bike is going, say, 50 miles an hour, the sound is still going 700 miles an hour faster than the biker. The Doppler effect describes the frequency shift, so the compressed waves will have a higher frequency as they approach you, but their speed will still be at least 600 miles an hour faster than the bike. Similarly, the waves will be longer as the object travels away from you, giving a lower frequency sound.
Fair enough, I’ll shut up about it. :o
No, it’s not luck, its just that the noise levels that high don’t generally occur at the riders position but occur behind the bike. You can still hear it mind you, but those ear shattering engine noises aren’t as loud where the rider is sitting. Source: my DB meter.
Even my BWM R80 would have been uncomfortably loud if you put your ear right behind the exhaust…and that was one quiet bike when Riding.
Except it wasn’t incorrect.
I’m not, in fact. I don’t currently ride a motorcycle with loud pipes. I’m speaking to the issue at hand.
I don’t, it just speaks volumes about your lack of character and real argument.
You should have. It would have been incorrect, but it would definately been a more civil approach.
The two anecdotes you provide are ifs. “Now if he had a loud exhaust system the auto driver would have heard him.” That’s nothing but speculation. If he had loud pipes, the driver might still not have noticed. He was inattentive enough not to see the bike, he may well have been inattentive enough not to hear it either.
When I’m riding – or hell, just driving down the road in my car – I’m watching for hazards. I see a car in the left turn lane coming down the opposite direction, I’m eyeballing it until I’ve passed it. I don’t know if he’s going to swing out in front of me or not, so I want to be ready if he does.
Again, pipes defer the responsibility of your safety onto other people. I’ve ridden as if I were invisible ever since I got my first car, and I’ve never gotten in an accident that I caused. (Even the ones I got into were still minor fender benders.) When you act as if you’re invisible, then any time someone does see you is simply a bonus and not something you have to count on. Sure, there’s times when something happens that you can’t avoid, but like as not you couldn’t avoid it in a car either.
ETA: Okay, that’s not entirely true. Once I made a move thinking an oncoming car could see me. We missed each other by inches. I don’t do that any more.
Um, your dB meter sucks or you don’t know how to use it. Also, read the rest of my cite which I didn’t quote:
Loud pipes are very useful in identifying which way and when the car should swerve when tryng to take out the asshole-flute.
Sure. Like I said, it’s not a foolproof cure, just something to increase the odds in the riders favor.
Absolutely. I always assume the other guy doesn’t see me. I’m the most paranoid rider in the world, and the only times I’ve ever been hit it’s been stopped at a light and hit from behind…(it’s happened twice). Neither time loud pipes would have made a difference. All I’m saying is that it gives you an added edge. in some situations. It’s not a excuse for poor riding.
Or I was doing a test on a different bike than they were. I do know how to use a DB meter, and it was functioning properly.
Fair enough. Now: is that added edge worth waking up a block’s worth of neighborhood at night, or disrupting them during the day? Is it worth putting adjacent drivers’ and your own hearing at risk? You may not have lost yours, but I don’t think the probability is debatable, especially given QED’s link.
Ah, a unity sample size. How scientific.
I think that as long as you don’t go out of your way…like really reving the bike up going through a neighborhood at night…sure, I do.
I don’t agree that this is the case.
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You may not have lost yours, but I don’t think the probability is debatable, especially given QED’s link.
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If you are running a bike that is putting out 120 db at the rider position…No, thats not a good idea at all. But most bikes don’t do that. My harley didn’t, and it was fairly loud…when I had it. My guzzi may have, and I put quieter exhaust on it because it was too loud.
well…I had a fairly loud harley, I took a reading, and it was not nearly that high of a DB reading…not high enough to be a risk (it’s been a few years, I don’t remember the exact specs but not so loud as to require hearing protection.). Every other bike I’ve riden since then has been quieter by a good bit(my first guzzi was louder, but that was before I got the meter).
So, No, we’re not talking a scientific sampling here but enough to know that if your cite is saying every bike is that loud they are testing the wrong kinds of bikes.