Two consecutive days, same red traffic light, two different crotch rockets nearby. One rider revved his engine almost continuously as we waited for the light to change. It was annoying to say the least. The other rider never revved once. He simply idled until the light changed an off he went. Is there any mechanical reason for the constant revving or is it more of a “Hey! Look at me!” kind of thing. The second guy seems to be the exception to the revving rule. And this is not limited to sport bikes. H-D riders are probably the bigger offenders. The louder the bike the more the need to rev, or so it seems. (I know - confirmation bias) They can’t be so poorly tuned that they are in constant danger of stalling at idle can they? ALL of them? If so, simply idle at a slightly higher RPM, please. Nobody really cares how bad you and your bike are.
Sometimes, performance mods can make a bike less “streetable”. However, louder exhausts can just be a look-at-me thing or it can be a part of the mentioned performance mods.
I think that the kinds of engine performance mods that result in an unreliable idle (and therefore requiring constant operator attention to prevent an unintended stall) are exceedingly rare; most riders are revving their engines because
A) they like the sound of it, and
B) they want to draw attention to themselves.
(mostly B.)
Years ago when I rode, I first had a battered old Norton and then a battered old Triumph. Neither idled well no matter how much I tinkered with the carbs, so I did have to blip the throttle sometimes to keep them running at idle. But I only did it when I heard the idle start to drop too low. Neither bike was particularly loud.
Cars have mufflers. Don’t they make them for motorcycles? This has bothered me for decades. Some of them are so load the drivers should be ticketed, IMO.
Cars have more room for an exhaust system/muffler. Also, back in the days of air cooled engines, muffler noise was less as the mechanical sounds from the engine were picked up by the sound meter yet not the human ear. With water cooling, the muffler can allow more sound yet still be legal.
And yes, there are plenty of after market systems that are over the limit.
It used t be normal for race track bike to be set so that idle was not possible. Firstly as they were to “peeky” and as the last thing you want when you fall off is the thing running and maybe towing you down the track if your trapped by it. Street bikes may have the first reason but the second is just a matter of macho posing.
Everyone always assumes it’s a "hey look at me, I’m a douchbag’ thing, but I think a lot of people forget (or dismiss) that a lot of bikers just like the sound of their own engine or that it’s just fun to do and ignore what the other people may be thinking of them.
When you sit at your desk or walk around and click your pen even though it annoys the piss out of everyone within earshot, do you do it because you want everyone to look at you or because you like doing it and you’re not really thinking about the fact that everyone else has to listen to it?
I know, it’s not a perfect analogy, but answer it. It’s really, really annoying when you click your pen, so why do you do it?
I’ve had a few BMW motorcycles and they are nice and quiet. They idled properly too so no reving needed.
All motorcycles come with mufflers. You’d be stunned at how quite a Harley Davidson is when it’s direct from the factory. Many of us put aftermarket pipes on that draw out more power from the engine. Some may be a tad, uh, louder than stock pipes.
But that’s a beautiful sound, especially out on the road.
pkbites:
Not to the rest of us, it ain’t.
I almost never rev my bike at lights- I do find, however, that revving right before I release the clutch helps with a smoother takeoff from a standstill. My bike’s also pretty quiet, though.
Are you talking about just adding throttle as you engage the clutch (so the RPM rises first, and then falls as the clutch begins to engage and drags the RPM back down during the launch), or are you talking about a whole separate throttle-blip event just before all of that that?
I have aftermarket pipes on a couple of my Ducatis. They’re not really quiet. They do provide free-er revving and extra HP.
I don’t rev next to cars unless some douchenozzle pulls up thumping their music that threatens to vibrate nearby buildings to collapse. A rev limiter run in their window usually does the trick.
A lot of folks simply don’t like bikes of any kind, so I generally don’t throw fuel on that fire…
Before any biker, comes in and states “loud pipes save lives!”
No.
No they don’t. You’re just using that as an excuse.
Not to anyone else.
Look, I’ve got close to half a million miles under my belt on various motorcycles. And I like the sound of the engine as much as the next guy. But there are laws about noise levels. And I’m always amazed at the apparent total lack of enforcement of those laws.
I really hate the sound of some dipshit riding down my street in the middle of the night with straight pipes, often setting off car alarms as he goes. For some reason the Harleys are the ones that set off the car alarms. The higher pitch of the Japanese bikes don’t seem to do it. I don’t know if it’s the pitch, or the fact that the Japanese bikes usually have some muffling, as opposed to the straight-through pipes that too many HD riders affect.
Bullshit
“Peeky” 
"Straight-piped You’re talking about that huge noise which is in motion, not a bump-up in idle rpm, which is the most what-a-fucking-douchebag moment, right?
Are you asking what straight piped means? Straight pipes means no mufflers. It’s literally just a pipe from engine to the back of the bike. On some bikes that can be blindingly loud and I’d imagine illegal in most jurisdictions.
Cite?