Ever heard "Loud Pipes Save lives"?

I think this is a fairy tale. I've considered getting new exhaust with the idea something louder than stock would make me more visible.

Today I was riding to work with a cruiser behind me with OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD pipes and the only thing I could hear was this stupid motorcycle! No other sound penetrated. I realized that I am dependant on hearing other cars/trucks/bicycles/pedestrians around me. I felt like I was in a sensory deprivation chamber. I could see, but not hear anything. I think that initially the loud pipes will get peoples attention, but then it's just annoying and dangerous. Sticking with stock.

You may be right, Seche, but there is "loud," and then there's "the-chopper-from-Hell loud." I'd consider getting an aftermarket can, but not like some of the clowns in my neighborhood.

One thing I'm sure about: "Ear plugs save hearing."

I'm definitely going to upgrade my can... I may even try to make a cut-out and get a friend to weld it in for me just to be stupid... but not all cans are that loud. From what I've read here, some for our bikes, like D&D, are really loud. Most others aren't quite so loud and some come with a removable DB killer. A lot of the cruiser guys seem to like the obnoxiously loud pipes, though. I can hear some of them just cruising down a highway that's at least a mile away from me. I don't think you'll be quite that loud.

I live on a road that sees a lot of bike traffic... the cruisers with loud pipes have to be the most annoying sound to hear all day... and lame because it's still a slow-ass bike! Now, I am biased, but a nice high RPM pass just doesn't have that same cringing effect. Even my friends with cruises who hang out at my place agree... well, most of them! :wink:

Funny you brought this up. I just found this yesterday:
Shhhh! U.S. cities ask bikers to muffle their motorcycles. (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/22/business/NA-FEA-FIN-US-Muffled-Motorcycles.php?page=1)

Ever heard "Loud Pipes Save lives"?
I think this is a fairy tale...
But if it could save even one life...wouldn't it be worth it...?
(Maybe if they pointed 'em forward it would be more effective...)

rndthought wrote
But if it could save even one life...wouldn't it be worth it...?
(Maybe if they pointed 'em forward it would be more effective...)

But isn't this kind of the Hummer effect, "safer for me, screw everyone else"?

Funny you brought this up. I just found this yesterday:
Shhhh! U.S. cities ask bikers to muffle their motorcycles. (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/22/business/NA-FEA-FIN-US-Muffled-Motorcycles.php?page=1)

These laws will never work... they leave too much up to the officer to decide and are incredibly discriminate against riders. And that Ted Rueter guy needs to get a hobby... he leads a "national anti-noise group?"

But if it could save even one life...wouldn't it be worth it...?
(Maybe if they pointed 'em forward it would be more effective...)[/size]
But isn't this kind of the Hummer effect, "safer for me, screw everyone else"?
And...?
Are you saying you'd sacrifice your fullest well being for that of another...just to not annoy someone else?
Pifff! Un-American I say!

I think it is more of a "Look at Me" thing. But still, if it could save a life it is a tuff shoot-down here in litigious America...

And...?
Are you saying you'd sacrifice your fullest well being for that of another...just to not annoy someone else?
Pifff! Un-American I say!

I was thinking it's more "attitude" like driving a tank through a wee village and whoever isn't smart enough to get out of the way, well too bad.

When everybody in the near vacinity can't hear s@#t it's kinda dangerous.
And...no I'm no all that altruistic (or un american) as too sacrifice oneself.

...I was thinking it's more "attitude" like driving a tank through a wee village and whoever isn't smart enough to get out of the way, well too bad...
There we go... You ARE American thru and thru :ride One stone two birds... Model of efficency!

Which statement would be MORE true:
1) I notice all bike around me.
2) I notice all obnoxiously loud bikes around me, or even a block a way.

See...? I'm not saying it's right, but they may have a point if they arn’t all that altruistic either...it’s just loud bikes annoy you and go fast prissy sport bikes going...fast, annoy them.

EDIT>Don't take me too seriously, this is my hobby.

There is a difference between a high performance racing engine sounding very powerful and racy and some antique air cooled boat anchor sounding like the muffler fell off. Suffice to say, if my bike sounded like a coffee can full of marbles and idled with so much shaking it looked like it had epilepsy, well, I guess I'll pass.

I love the way the stock 599 muffler sounds.

Really loud pipes are really annoying. I like to be able to start my bike at 6am and not wake up all my neighbors and have them hate me. I have had really loud pipes before and they are tiresome.
As quiet as a stock 599 exhaust note is, making it a little louder is not going to make it "really loud" i.e. "really annoying".
Can't say it is only a cruiser thing though as funny as it is to here the super-loud bikes spit and stall at lights.
I rode a friends 2006 VFR and that thing was way too quiet, sounded like the George Jetson's spaceship.

EDIT>Don't take me too seriously, this is my hobby.

I wish it could be my hobby too. no worries :wink:

must admit I notice the loud obnoxious a block away.

I love the way the stock 599 muffler sounds.

What sounds? It's quietest bike I've ever (not) heard!

I love the way the stock 599 muffler sounds.
What sounds? It's quietest bike I've ever (not) heard!
:lol: Stock is a sewing machine.

As quiet as a stock 599 exhaust note is, making it a little louder is not going to make it "really loud" i.e. "really annoying".

Humm... all relative I guess. Either my pipe is "obnoxiously" loud or my neighbors overly sensitive (or the 99.9% shot, it's a combo). I usually coast in from a block away just to keep the...
.
.
.
...peace... :lol:

Fabric exhaust is normally too silent, but there is no need to be really annoying IMHO.
Some years ago I had a Suzuki GSX1100 (1984) modified and tuned (1230ccm) with a home made exhaust. That’s the most? extreme (bad?) sound I ever heard from an inline four.
Very effective when lane splitting, the cars normally moved a long time before I come up on the side.
Sound records exist here:
http://folk.uio.no/joakimt/namlyd/namlyd.html
Track 12 and 18.

Although, I do like the sound from the original exhaust on the 2007 599, but I do believe it’s louder or otherwise different than most of the other bikes? I haven’t looked up any sound records for this one, but it should be somewhere on the net.

My accountant likes that saying about saving lives. But she's a cruiser type, so I only follow her financial advice. :wink:

Anyway, I haven't seen one study or report yet that shows any causal link between loud pipes and reduced injuries or fatalities in crashes. But I have seen a few locals chase after cruiser riders with firearms at the ready. I've also seen drivers of large pickup trucks tailgate loudpipe types a lot more than they do me. Getting noticed isn't always a good thing...

I spent alot of days sitting at the Crossroads of Time at Deals gap, talking with friends, and having to stop our conversation whenever a group of Harleys would pull out headed up wheelie hill, making the drag pipes scream, only to wobble through the gap in minimal control at 15 mph.

So I came up with this saying: http://www.pjsparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=60&products_id=485

Well, my first part of that should be on its way soon... still working on the second part, though. Still only 2k under my belt. Maybe in a year or five, I'll be really safe...

Maybe in a year or five, I'll be really safe...
Dangerous thinking that...

PJ :thumbsup
The Rnd Corollary 1 of The PJ Crossroads Cruiser Theorem: If R's go fast...imagine what learning to ride that thing could do...

Loud pipes save lives...

by letting us know when harleys are on their way home from the bars...



:lol:

Funny you brought this up. I just found this yesterday:
Shhhh! U.S. cities ask bikers to muffle their motorcycles. (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/22/business/NA-FEA-FIN-US-Muffled-Motorcycles.php?page=1)

I just installed an aftermarket mivv slip on. yikes..its loud but i know for sure its not louder than the harleys i see and hear in the streets,. yikes...hope im safe.. :(

This reminds me of one of my favorite bike quotes

"If loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride correctly could do! "

Loud pipes do two things well: piss people off, and generate revenue streams for "loud pipe companies."

Some guy on a V-twin roared by me from behind recently -- scared the crap out of me. A startle like that is not what any other motorcyclist (or driver, or pedestrian, or ... ) needs.

Grrrr.... :evil:

(FWIW: I love the sound of a VFR.)

Well, there's a point when you're just obnoxious. I don't think my pipe is that bad...

If you want to be startled, try riding down a road next to a railroad in traffic. The first time the train blows its horn, you'll think there's a big ass truck breathing down your back. Freaked me out so bad today...

As a rider and as a driver, I prefer the louder sound of an aftermarket exhaust (within reason) on most any bike. It grabs my attention in a non-disruptive way. The only ones that really bother me are the V-Twins that roar from blocks away. That excess is ridiculous.