Can motorcycles, Harleys for example, be engineered to run as quietly as cars? It annoys the hell out of me that I would get a ticket if my car had a defective muffler, but motorcycles can be outrageously loud and its ok.
There are a couple in my neighborhood which really disturb the residents, legally, apparently.
New Harleys are as quiet as cars. People take the baffles of the mufflers and run them wide open. I bought high performance pipes for mine, took the baffles out, cut them in half and put them back in. Sounds great. Now it’s only loud when I want it to be.
I think you need to go get in the guys face and tell him ‘what for’ and threaten him with reporting him to the police if he does not fix his bike to the letter of the law.
Or just call the police.
If you get no satisfaction from them, write to the paper and get a TV spot to make your statement to the citizens of your town and you might get a movement working.
Just whining on a message board will accomplish nada. You got to get in those guys faces, they are just all yuppies anyway.
Stand up for your rights…
Or, hire a lawyer and start a class action suit…
Just do something…
It needs doing…
Loud pipes save lives.
Anything you can do to improve your ‘visibility’ on a motorcycle will help you in traffic. It’s amazing how invisible you are to most automobile drivers when you’re on a motorcycle. If they can hear you, at least they know you are there.
That said, straight pipes are excessively loud. They’re also bad for your valves, and reduce horsepower. Anyone who runs them is either mis-informed, or an inconsiderate boob. Possibly both.
As Meaty Beaty said, you can have the best of both worlds. Loud when you want, quiet when necessary.
Basically, HARLEYs are loud because most Harley owners are inconsiderate, and police are too lazy to write tickets.
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Loud Harleys are dangerous.
No, I mean it. My ears are sensitive to pressure waves. My left one is very sensitive. Not that my hearing is particularly accute, but here’s what happens: The pressure waves his my ear drum. They cause my eyes to ‘flutter’. This happens if I’m calling someone on the phone and the ring in my handset is too loud. It’s very uncomfortable.
Harleys are worse. Not only is it disorientating, but it can also be painful. When I was in L.A. I’d often drive with the window down. So there I am, driving along, when a Harley pulls up next to me and sits there. My eyeballs start to flutter, my ear starts to hurt, and I become disorientated. Okay, it’s not so bad that I’m going to lose control of my vehicle. Raising the window solves the problem anyway. But even so, the loud pipes are causing a distraction. Yes, I’ll talk on the phone, listen to the radio, or have a bite to eat while I’m driving. But I’m in charge of the distraction. My burger or drink or phone will fall to the floor before I’ll let them get between me and my driving. Bikes with loud pipes I have little control over. And they’re causing physical effects to me, and I assume other drivers. This is not a good thing on a busy freeway.
‘Loud pipes save lives’? The major part of the noise is behind the bike – after the rider is past the most likely dangers. A case can be made that loud pipes help keep people away when the bike is alongside a car, but most motorcyclists (as opposed to bikers) ride quiet motorcycles and they have little trouble maintaining separation.
I think there is some disagreement on this.
My buddy commutes to work through London traffic on a motorcycle every day. His last holiday was a road trip to Portugal and back, making full use of the fact that continental speed cameras only take photos from the front. He is a bike nutter, and yet he is of the opinion that only show-off mooks have loud aftermarket pipes, and anyone who has them needs to be beaten with a sack full of doorknobs.
And in response to the OP, you could theoretically make a bike much quieter than a car since there is less aerodynamic and tire noise to worry about, and the engine is smaller. I’m not aware of anyone having tried this though.
I disagree. On the highway, the sound is behind you. Around town, the horn works just as well, although I tend to blip the throttle as well just to make sure.
I always ride like I’m invisible, nobody can see or hear me.
This I agree with.
This isn’t actually complete hogwash. It is, however, about 97% hogwash.
As Johnny LA has noted, loud bikes are by no means uniformly and omnidirectionally loud - they are loud only when next to or behind the rider, and only when the bike’s engine is under load. Coasting to a stop, they make rather little noise - which means that driver ahead who isn’t alert and is about to pull out from the cross street gets essentially no audible warning.
If Harley plots were at all serious about the ‘noise saves lives’ thing, they would instally a klaxon that directed noise ahead and operated all the time. The fact that none of them do this allows us to understand that “Loud pipes save lives” is an insincere attempt at rationalization.
While driving in traffic (in my truck) my first alert to the proximity of a motorcycle sometimes is hearing it. I think there is some validity to the Loud Pipes Save Lives theory.
Also in my 30+ years of riding motorcycles I have seen car drivers look up, startled, when I roll on the throttle and start to make a little noise. Obviously they had not been aware that I was next to them until they heard me.
For the record my Sportster’s pipes are slightly louder than stock but not anywhere near straight pipes.
I have nothing to say other than: when I am down in LA and sitting in traffic and a Harley decides to lane split- it scares the crap out of me. Out of nowhere there is a REALLY loud noise right next to my window.
Yeah, no fun.
And my dad has a Harley, the damn thing wakes me up every morning when he leaves. So yeah, loud motorcycles are no good. They should all be silent, so I can sleep.
I also say “Loud Pipes Save Lives” is 99% hogwash! I had a motorcycle for a few years. Yes, you are amazingly invisible to cars on the road. So what? Drive with even more caution. Only people doing things on bikes they shouldn’t be doing need noise to alert people. Also, when I drive a car, that souper loud Harley whizzing by me scares the crap out of me sometimes making me jump. Oh, that’s good so I probably just jerked the car in opposite direction of the Harley. Yea, for him. Not so good for someone on the other side. Most of the loud Harleys I hear are tearing up local streets. Yea, I rode. Behaved ALL traffic rules, was ever more cautious then when I’m in a car. I enjoyed it very much. And the ONLY time I would “split” a lane, if you could call it that, was a stop light. I would tool up on the right shoulder ever once in a while, to get in front.
Just ride safely like you should. You don’t need Loud Pipes. I promise you can still enjoy the open air feeling.
Just my HO!
I’m not that much against loud pipes. I certainly wouldn’t miss them if they went away, but then again I kinda like the rumble of a Harley and the deep throaty purr of a Ducati, as long as they’re not right by my window.
Loud pipes aren’t going to save you when you hit the deck. Many people I see riding loud bikes are minimally protected so I don’t see safety being a big concern with them (of course not all loud bike riders are necessarily LPSL advocates). So I’ll add my vote to the “lame rationalization/99% hogwash” folks. If anything, in the area of making a bike noticeable to motorists, Conspicuous Frontal Surfaces Save Lives.
Regarding to OP’s car muffler - I think the reason you’d get a ticket for a defective muffler would more likely be on the grounds of emissions violations rather than the decibel level. There are plenty of loud cars out there.
Motorcycle rider here.
First off, the loud pipes argument is pure crap.
I, too, despise those louts who put on straight pipes or modify their stock pipes to make them ear-splittingly loud.
The reason most cops don’t give out tickets for loud pipes on bikes OR cars is that most departments:
dont’ have the money to buy decibel meters for their staff
have much higher priorities.
So, while anti-noise ordinances are on the books almost everywhere, they are rarely enforced.
What I don’t get is why exhaust pipe manufacturers can legally sell pipes that, when installed, would lead to noise violations in 99% of the localities in this country.
A muffler doesn’t have anything to do with emissions. It just controls sound. Those loud cars you hear? Illegal. Should be the same with motorcycles, but you’ll never see one get a ticket for it, while I know LOTS of people who have gotten npise violation tickets for their cars.