Yeah you are, I’ll let you figure it out.
Slow down tough guy.
Let me complicate for ya! Doppler…by your logic you can’t hear a car horn if you’re standing behind the car. The louder the noise, the bigger the effect.
Huh? I enjoy riding, simple as that. If my bikes pipes make me feel safer, I’m gonna go with that.
To me the whole “loud pipes save lives” debate should be left to to people ride motorcycles because if you don’t, your opinion is invalid. Some riders believe it and some don’t, but I know guys who won’t ride without gremlin bells, so who knows who’s right.
And believe in leprechauns and unicorns.
Sure I can hear the car horn, even from behind the car. No one is saying that ALL of the sound of your Harley is going out the back. Jeez. The car horn is aimed forward, as are sirens and other devices designed to warn people in the path of a vehicle. Your pipes are aimed out the back, unless you have done some serious re-engineering.
I’m no tough guy, don’t know where that came from, not everything is a personal challenge. All I’m saying is that the idea of loud pipes save lives, if it were true, would have some kind of evidence to back it up by now. You have anecdotal evidence and a “feeling” that it makes you safer. I have anecdotal evidence that it is safe to ride without loud pipes, and I think loud pipes are simply a “hey look at me” disguised as something valid.
Also, I didn’t realize the Doppler effect was applicable when sitting at a stoplight. Which is where this thread started.
The light turned green and traffic started moving again.
If you’re having a lot of close calls, I’ve gotta go with the consensus - you’re the inattentive one. One thing riding a motorcycle does is improve your situational awareness and ability to predict bonehead moves - my bike time has made me a better driver in the car as well. And you’re kind of being a blowhard about this, which leads me to think that you’ve never had any sort of formal instruction.
As for the OP: while I’m not a fan of louder bikes (or cars, or anything, really), when I see someone revving at a light - which isn’t often - I look to see what Ducati they have. 
If it’s not one of those (tricky idle when cold, especially in city traffic) it’s typically some high-strung sport bike they’ve modded to be almost unusable on the street but still want to ride. This kind of thing is why some guys have 3 or 4 bikes -not everything works as a city commuter, tourer, cruiser, etc.
Pop quiz time
-
A car horn is the loudest when you are:
A) Standing behind the car
B) Standing in front of the car
C) Sitting in your living room
D) All of the above are equally loud -
. A straight pipes on a motorcycle are the loudest when you are:
A) Standing behind the motorcycle
B) Standing in front of the motorcycle
C) Sitting in your living room
D) All of the above are equally loud
If what you claim is true there should be some peer reviewed studies that support your claim.
Cite them please. This is GQ not IMHO we deal in facts so please back up your claim.
Are there any sort of variable suppression mufflers?
As in…relatively quiet at idle and lower RPM’s and low load, but opening and getting louder at full throttle? Or is that the way most of the larger bikes, (as in low-rider Harley types) are muffled? I actually thought that someone had cleverly engineered such a muffler the other day, as I REALLY heard him when he opened it up, about a 1/2 mile a way…I live within earshot of the 101 in California, so I pretty much hear all sorts of interesting things…:eek:
If you really want to ensure that you go home to see your kids, then don’t ride a motorcycle.
Look, you don’t live in Libertaria. You live in a world where you ride your bike on public roads, maintained at taxpayer expense, on a registered and (presumably) inspected vehicle, with a license granted to you by the state. You share those roads with thousands upon thousands of other vehicles. You coexist with people who live in the areas through which you ride.
There is no right whatsoever to set your own rules, or to decide that the peace of others is simply not your problem. If you really think you have such a right, then you necessarily grant my right to put a siren on my car and drive it through your neighborhood in the middle of the night, because that siren will increase my odds of going home to see my family. And the right of anyone else to do the same. At which point your home would become unliveable. So really you’re freeloading. Your “right” to loud pipes only works because mostly others are socialized enough to realize that they have some obligation to the community in which they live and ride and drive.
Not that I’m aware of, but certainly a bike will make more noise at high RPM.
They have these for some cars (Maserati comes to mind), I don’t know of any for bikes.
All motorcycles are rather quiet straight from the factory. That’s why when you decide to get one you have to factor in the expense of swapping out the pussywimp pipes for something more, er, visceral.
31 years of law enforcement here and I’ve honestly never heard of a car alarm preventing an auto theft. All they do is annoy the public. Answer= ban car alarms!
Damn lazy cops. :rolleyes:
coughcough*
Of course there are “noises” and there are “beautiful sounds”.
The fact that I have certain toys and live in Milwaukee has nothing to do with my opinion on this! I swear!
Are non-riders allowed to point out that the people that annoy us with the loud pipes, and holler “loud pipes save lives” are also most likely wearing inadequate safety gear?
The three most important things that you can do as a rider are
- Always be aware of your surroundings
- Wear an adequate helmet
- Wear reflective gear that is designed to protect in case of an accident.
If we saw Harley guys and other loud bike enthusiasts doing these three things, maybe we could sympathize with your beliefs that you are just protecting yourself. But when I see these people not taking the most basic steps to protect themselves it calls into question their motives for the loud pipes.
The former. When the light changes, I rev slightly and then, as it’s revving down, ease out on the clutch. I just seem to get a smoother acceleration that way. I doubt anyone even notices.
Of course they are. You ever see the “loud pipes save lives” guy wearing the fluorescent yellow reflective vests? I never have. Usually the guys wearing the vests are the guys on the quiet BMW bikes.
I’ve noticed a huge difference in volume between my normal driving and when I open it up to merge onto the highway. He probably just really cranked it.
On a similar note though (heh), there’s a muffler system I’m kind of interested in. It’s a variable muffler- normally it’s baffled and relatively quiet, but if you press a button it opens the baffles… making it louder, but giving you better acceleration. I don’t want a loud bike all the time, but I would like the option of having more power if I need it.
You would be surprised at muffler technology. Yes, today’s motorcycles have been designed to be quiet at idle yet provide very little backpressure at wide open throttle (WFO). The incentive for this is great, as the manufacturer has to meet the strictest noise limits for the area he is selling his product, but wants it to have the least amount of reduction in power, so their bike appears to have more power. The manufacturer will spend millions on an engineering group to optimize not only the muffler to reduce the most noise while providing the least backpressure, but optimizing the engine to work well with said muffler.
The aftermarket pipes engineering groups design their product so a one-eyed monkey with a crescent wrench can put the pipe on his bike, and even then, they spend an inordinate amount of time solving customers with installation problems.
The point is the best solution is what comes from the factory. The manufacturer is working hard to make sure that is true.
To be fair, I think H-D now forbids its dealers from selling open pipes, because of the image of a loud HOG on the road scaring the bejesus out of the little old lady when it passes her on the highway. It scares the bejesus out of her because she doesn’t hear while it’s behind her, but once it passes, she gets 140dB until it gets a half mile down the road.
excavating (for a mind)
Yes, but once again the sound travels forward and the louder the pipes the farther forward they travel.
I have no idea how you could test this, subjects would have to know what they were doing making them more aware of the motorcycles. Perhaps if they tested the bikes for loud pipes post accident we may know the ratio. Maybe the bikes with loud pipes are in less accidents, I don’t know, but if there any cites to say they don’t make a difference I would be happy to look at them.
It may have started there, but it seems to have changed direction.
I never said I was having a lot of close calls. I had one last year. Four way intersection with a three way stop, I had the right away going straight through the intersection. The women on my right pulled out right in front of me and I ended up sideways in the middle of the intersection. I was driving my friends QUIET bagger.
Yes I have had formal training. I was racing motorcycles at 13 and was asked three years ago to become an instructor for our local motorcycle training program.
Seriously? Are you really asking for a cite for the fact that the louder a moving objects noise is, the bigger the Doppler effect. That’s just silly.
I agree, which I pay my share of.
You can ask any biker what their biggest obstacle is when riding and I’ll guarantee you that they will tell you it’s those thousands and thousands of other cars on the road. Out of all those vehicles I promise you that there are plenty of idiots who are not paying attention, and you can argue all you want, but it’s not me riding my bike causing accidents, it’s them. The last few years they have came out with a motorcycle headlight that flashes like a stinger on a firetruck,modulating headlight, I have no idea if it helps but I assume it does just as I assume loud pipes help.
Here are some short videos of modulating headlights:
You’re assuming that I am breaking some kind of noise law, which as far as I know we don’t have here.
Sure, but the they also have follow the rules and laws of safe driving which a lot of them don’t. I really don’t want to go looking for cites, but I am pretty sure that most of the frontal collisions involving motorcycles are caused by the driver of the car, and it’s because " they didn’t see the motorcycle". I know there are plenty of idiot motorcycle drivers that are driving way too fast, doing wheelies, stunting and not paying attention, but most of us are aware of our mortality and can see the consequences of tangling with a few thousand pounds of steel. Trust me when I say it’s the other cars on the road that take the joy out of riding.
sure, if you don’t mind me pointing out that it annoys me that lots of non riders in cars don’t pay attention and pull out in front of me.
I am
I do
I usually do.
Late to the thread. I haven’t read it, but I have to reply to this.
No, it’s not a beautiful sound. When an un-muffled Harley pulls up beside me on the road, the pressure waves impinge on my eardrum. This causes my eyes to flutter, and I consider it dangerous. Have you tried to have a conversation or listen to the radio with an un-muffled Harley beside you? Riders who insist on removing their mufflers are inconsiderate, and can cause a dangerous situation.
My motorcycle can out-acellerate, out-turn, and generally out-perform any Harley, and it’s very quiet to boot.
To the OP: I concur with the first repliers who said that blipping the throttle at a stop helps – or at least helped – keep the engine running. My 2-stroke Enduros’ spark plugs could load up pretty quickly at idle. Older 4-stroke motorcycles sometimes don’t idle well. I don’t have to rev mine at stops, so I don’t.
I don’t have to prove that loud pipes make a difference in accident statistics. I’m not the one engaging in behavior that others find unacceptable. It’s near impossible to prove a negative, so it seems like YOU should be able to provide some legitimate cite for your side of the argument. I have to imagine there is an entire industry based around marketing and selling aftermarket pipes, surely they have some evidence that loud pipes save lives, eh? They have the most to gain from a proven connection, so if such a connection existed, they would be shouting the data from the rooftops.
But they aren’t. What they are shouting is LOOK AT ME, just like your pipes. Harley corporate as much as admits that they are selling image and lifestyle, not performance, not safety.
In many of your posts, you’ve inferred that loud pipes make you feel safer. I suggest it stops there. You have convinced yourself, with absolutely no evidence to back it up, that loud pipes save lives, and nothing will change that. Still doesn’t make it true.
Yes, I have been on a Harley. I’m sure they have positive attributes, but compared to my bikes, it felt like wrestling a pig.
I have a two motorcycles, both of which are safer than your Harley, by virtue of their ability to out-accelerate, out-brake, and out-maneuver your cruiser. Both are quieter than the typical “piped” cruiser. Therefore I coexist with my fellow commuters without forcing on them a wall of sound. I have nothing to prove to justify my behavior, or my choice of bike.
This.
One of the many things the “loud pipes save lives” crowd fail to understand is that their obnoxious behavior angers car drivers and increases their hostility and aggression toward motorcyclists.
And safety goes down as a result.