# QUIET muffler for sportbike? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463 "2002-12-04T16:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/41 "2016-07-12T17:52:32Z")
I guess Jax didn’t make it back in one piece, or maybe at all, 6k on an R1 in top gear, don’t do it folks - or you too will become a zombie ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/42 "2016-07-12T18:00:56Z")
“Quieter than a lawnmower”? I have some neighbors who mow their lawns while wearing noise-cancelling headphones, so that doesn’t sound very quiet. I’m wondering how an electric motor could be that noisy. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/43 "2016-07-12T18:12:54Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > “Quieter than a lawnmower”? I have some neighbors who mow their lawns while wearing noise-cancelling headphones, so that doesn’t sound very quiet. I’m wondering how an electric motor could be that noisy. it’s not the motor, but the gearbox. EVs typically don’t need a multi-speed transmission, but do typically need a reduction gearset. you can use straight cut spur or bevel gears (noisy as hell) or helical spur or hypoid gears (quiet.) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/44 "2016-07-12T20:19:22Z")
You know folks, there’s a cheap and easy way to cut your bike’s howl back by about half. That’s for when you’re rolling past a cop, going through a hospital zone, or picking up your girlfriend under the glare of her grumpy dad. All you have to do is drive gently and shift early, at least until you’re out of that situation. Don’t worry about your engine; it has more than enough power to run at lower revs. Sure, it’s great fun to run red-line through the gears as if the hounds of Hell were at your heels. That’s why you bought this fire-breather in the first place. You don’t have to ride that way every mile of your life. You know that powerful machine is under you and, after a minute or two, so does everyone around you. Who is left to impress? Even people who heard you from a mile away are impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/45 "2016-07-12T20:25:24Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > … Who is left to impress? … Your father. Or your mother. Those bastards _never_ die. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/46 "2016-07-12T23:34:16Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > “Quieter than a lawnmower”? I have some neighbors who mow their lawns while wearing noise-cancelling headphones, so that doesn’t sound very quiet. I’m wondering how an electric motor could be that noisy. My electric lawnmower is pretty quiet… But yeah, when I was a groundskeeper it was required that we wear earplugs when mowing and trimming, professional gas-powered mowers and trimmers are LOUD. ---
**Author:** ![Kedikat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463/47 "2016-07-13T01:08:48Z")
Looking at the stock and after market mufflers on the GSXR. The after market ones are a lot slimmer. Louder of course. But, if you got a splitter on the pipe, you could probably mount two. Upper and lower. Get ones with the tune-able add or subtract baffles. Long a go, the mufflers on an old Honda 400 twin rusted out. I rigged two of those red Thrush flow throughs onto it. Didn’t look too bad and sounded pretty good. A guy on a Harley pulled up with me in a 7/11 lot and loved it. Chuckled, but said it looked and sounded good. Cheap too. My current Suzuki DL 650 is a pretty quiet bike. Not a rocket, but nice torque. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quiet-muffler-for-sportbike/140463.md?page=2)