Loud Pipes Save Lives

[az1103]

Noise Annoys. Just thought I'd weigh in with the other side of the debate.

 

IMHO, the only thing loud pipes do is make otherwise good people hate all bikers because of the inconsiderate few. Well, the squids trick riding on public roads do that too, but you get my meaning.

Goose

 

I absolutely agree ! One of our favorite rides has been a cruise through Long Beach to Palos Verdes along the coast. Now thanks to the "noise lovers" they are cracking down and conducting inspections to prevent changes in original exhaust systems which are illegal in calif. Guess who is going to get hassled, not just the noise makers

So to those of you who we have to thank for this

[BigShell]

I'll never ride with loud pipes again. I borrowed a friends truck one day. It wasn't as loud as some bikes, but way louder than a stock cage. I was accelerating down a nice wide street when an ambulance suddenly appeared on a side side street ready to cross the street I was on. The only reason I heard him was because he hit that special loud siren they use at intersections and I was way too close before I heard even that. In a normal cage or on my bike, I can hear them from a at least a block or more away. Fortunately, he was driving more defensively than me. He had to brake pretty hard, but I ended up locking them up trying to stop (old truck - no abs).

 

Hearing is an important tool in knowing what is going on around you. Those advocating loud pipes admit it because they want to make sure the other guy uses it. Not me. I'm not giving up a tool (hearing what is going on around me) that my help me take an action in the hopes that someone else will hear me and take action. I trust myself to do the right thing more than I do them.

 

If I feel I need to let every driver know where I am every minute, I guess I could just lay on the horn button and let the air horns inform everyone. Or maybe I could just hit the button when I need it... you know.... make a loud noise when needed... not all the time.

Edited June 15, 2008 by BigShell
This keyboard just doesn't know how to spell!

[Bigfoot]

Holy crap. If I hear one more story about loud pipes saving lives I'm going to puke. Loud pipes are obnoxious and usually illegal. If someone can show me a legitimate study supporting this loud pipe crap then I'll apologize and shut up. Ain't gonna happen though. Before anyone gets fired up I am not anti Harley. I have friends who own Harleys and I ride with them all the time. I used to have a neighbor who had a Harlery and his pipes were so obnoxious that they woke everyone up when he left early AM or came in late at night. He moved away and peace was restored and everything was right with the world.

[AZSpyder]

Loud is relative. The harley muffler I had on the S40 was unmodified. This was just a bit more noise the the stock Suzuki muffler and it very much did help me in traffic. You know, the ones you can get almost new when the Harley bunch switch their new bike to the ones no one can miss. Going from getting cut off once or twice a day (sometimes skipping a day) to nothing was good enough for me. And yes don't expect much help on the freeway but I know it helps in town.

Now I mention using a stock harley muffler and being slightly louder and people start talking about the extreme. Maybe it was a mistake to use that old saying in the header. This thread is like some of you didn't even read anything after the header and just started posting. I don't like being around the very loud bikes either. I also didn't need to go that far to have an effect. As far as a study, those groups only find what they want to find. Did anyone check out the link? I don't think the police bikes were extreme but thats where this thread seemed to go right off.

Jerry

[YamaGeezer]

Found an interesting article on the fuzz using louder exhaust. It's seemed funny that it said there was no proof that louder exhaust reduces accidents but it was very clear to me.

 

I had a stock Dynaglide muffler on a Suzuki S40. Not real loud but a bit more then the too quiet stock one. I used to average having someone switch into my lane once a day. With the muffler change it never did end up happening again, though with time eventually some blind moron would have done it.

 

I love riding my bike, but if someone was switching into my lane at a clip of once per day, I'd damn sure give it up!

[AZSpyder]

I love riding my bike, but if someone was switching into my lane at a clip of once per day, I'd damn sure give it up!

 

Not me. Some things are too important to give up. Like the low speed handling issues I had on the Venture I look for a fix.

 

Most of my commute is city streets around the edge of town, traffic lights and not terribly fast but at least a few miles between many of the lights. Trough the center of town got too intense and I tended to stay away from that area on the little bike.

 

When I ride there is a few things that got to be habit. Not staying next to a cage is one. When I go by one in the next lane I don't dally. Cuts down on the time they have to do something stupid. I also found most of the drivers that don't see you (or maybe don't look) also don't use turn signals cutting down the response time.

 

Maybe this is just a smaller bike thing. Stock pipes or not and with 10,000 miles on the Venture it so far it has only happened once. That time the joker started the change just as I came into his view and went back without actually leaving his lane.

 

Has no one else here ever noticed this with anything they owned at one time in any particular area? The loud (slightly) muffler on the little bike was like flipping a switch in reducing the problem. To my observations the effect was very clear. If some group ever did a decent study it will have to have a good cross section of different bikes, traffic and locations. I already did my study.

 

Jerry

[BEER30]

Study , Test , Reports , Opinions , so what ! I've noticed that loud pipes has helped me . Being along sides of cages in blind spots to critters up ahead with better hearing than most here . They hear ya whether you think so or not . I've noticed them when in my cage and I am not that crazy or senile just yet .

 

At least the critters look up or make a movement for me to see them up ahead for me to take precautions . If it makes a cager mad because of loud pipes , well at least I'm here to tell you about it . I respect the fact that most do not like loud pipes . If you like for me to ride in the rear , that's ok with me . Just give me the respect of asking whether than complaining after the fact .

There's a difference in just running louder pipes and just racking the pipes for attention . Heck , I see cages with loud pipes and squalling tires everyday . I guess I better join a cage forum to start some beef with that !

 

To each there own and at least respect one another .

 

BEER30

[Snarley Bill]

Stirring it. Heck, I was just supporting your contention. Now I could be wrong, but if not seeing many deer is a validation of the safety feature of loud pipes, not seeing African lions would be an even stronger arguement to prove that loud pipes are a safety feature...

+1 :clap2:

[1BigDog]

Study , Test , Reports , Opinions , so what ! I've noticed that loud pipes has helped me . Being along sides of cages in blind spots to critters up ahead with better hearing than most here . They hear ya whether you think so or not . I've noticed them when in my cage and I am not that crazy or senile just yet .

 

At least the critters look up or make a movement for me to see them up ahead for me to take precautions . If it makes a cager mad because of loud pipes , well at least I'm here to tell you about it . I respect the fact that most do not like loud pipes . If you like for me to ride in the rear , that's ok with me . Just give me the respect of asking whether than complaining after the fact .

There's a difference in just running louder pipes and just racking the pipes for attention . Heck , I see cages with loud pipes and squalling tires everyday . I guess I better join a cage forum to start some beef with that !

 

To each there own and at least respect one another .

 

BEER30

 

Dang it Gene...and I was just about to test out the "SMELL" theory........:rotf:

[Snarley Bill]

loud pipes save lives, like helmets kill. people will look for any excuse to defy the law. i have nothing against loud pipes. like i said i have a couple of bikes.that are loud and one that annoys the hell out of me, and everyone else. they are both illegal cuz they no longer have the converters on them. if i get a ticket i pay the piper. i'm not going to try to whine my way out of it with some cock and bull story that i'm trying to save lives. get real people take responsibility for your own actions for a change. if you don't like the law don't gripe about it get it changed, or live with it.

[Scooter]

Having loud pipes is just the same as a little kid putting the baseball cards on his bicycle. It sounds cool. Thankfully, little boys do grow up. There is another saying out there, "Loud Pipes Lose Rights!" Just look at what some cities are doing with the banning of aftermarket pipes. Having loud pipes falls into the same category as the helmet debate. You'll see bikers wearing the boots, wearing the leather chaps, wearing the leather jacket claiming they want the protection, yet they won't wear a helmet.

 

It's all about image. They want to portray themselves as some bad ass biker, instead they come off looking like an idiot. While the loud pipes may stroke their self image, all they do is irritate others. How about another motto,

"The Louder the Pipes, the Bigger the '@$^?*@&'!"

 

How's that for stirring the pot?

[Snarley Bill]

Having loud pipes is just the same as a little kid putting the baseball cards on his bicycle. It sounds cool. Thankfully, little boys do grow up. There is another saying out there, "Loud Pipes Lose Rights!" Just look at what some cities are doing with the banning of aftermarket pipes. Having loud pipes falls into the same category as the helmet debate. You'll see bikers wearing the boots, wearing the leather chaps, wearing the leather jacket claiming they want the protection, yet they won't wear a helmet.

 

It's all about image. They want to portray themselves as some bad ass biker, instead they come off looking like an idiot. While the loud pipes may stroke their self image, all they do is irritate others. How about another motto,

"The Louder the Pipes, the Bigger the '@$^?*@&'!"

 

How's that for stirring the pot?

i agree with you, the two i have with loud pipes were done for performance on one ,and i don't know what the heck i was thinking on the other one. wish i could quite the zx14 down, and paid to much for the v&h exaust on my v-star to take it off. did do baffle mods on both to quiet them a little. if the cops get me, no excuses. bill

[Stoutman]

I used to have a Yamaha 650 I bought used with some glass packs. It was pretty obnoxious first thing in the morning when I left for work. I had to spend a few weeks living with my sister while my first house was being finished. One of her neighbors threatened me if I woke him up one more time on the weekend. I re-packed the glass in the pipes but it was not good enough for him. Good thing my house was finished before that escalated.

I enjoy the Harley pipes on the V4. Just enough rumble, without the obnoxious noise.

The young man that worked the financing on my pickup truck is a GSX rider. He told me he just put the loud pipe on his bike. My retort was that loud pipes just make you deaf. His reply: "What?" I don't think he wanted to hear me. We both left the argument at that.

[BuddyRich]

Half the cages are so quiet on the inside now that they won't hear you anyway. And the other have have their music up so loud they can't even hear an emergency vehicle.Or they are talking on the phone and can't see or hear. I'll stick with my not so loud pipes so I can hear what's sneaking up behind me if I should miss it in my mirrors. Tried the loud pipes when I was younger and the only effect I got was a headache after a couple of hours on it.

[Ferrantelli]

Well folks, I read it all and everyone has good points. Following is a letter I wrote to the editorial editor of RIDER magazine, and pretty much shows how I feel.

 

 

 

 

Loud Pipes

 

 

I have been a reader of RIDER Magazine for as long as I can remember and for a long time have wanted to write my opinions on some motorcycle issues surrounding our chosen form of recreation. After reading the response by Tom Rohde and your answer in the December issue, I was compelled to write to you. I know that everyone at Rider Mag. is against "Loud Pipes". Although I hold Rider Mag. and it staffs in high regards I must disagree with you on this issue. But before we continue I'd like to tell you a little about myself. I was born in Italy and as a child have always wanted to ride some kind of motorized two wheeler. At 17 years old I was able to afford my first bike in Brooklyn New York. I am 48 now and have owned 14 different motorcycles from dirt bikes to 3 wheelers etc. of which 4 I still have. My penultimate bike was a Kawasaki Vulcan 800 classic which I recently replaced with a Yamaha Royal Star Venture. Weather permitting I always used my bikes to commute to work in and around New York City (yes we do ride in the city) and for the last 19 years from Long Island to Brooklyn and/or Queens with an 80 miles round trip (on the LIE or the parkways we must either be very brave or very desperate to ride just ask Clement).

Back to the subject at hand the "loud pipes", I will concede that loud pipes may annoy a (large) number of people and give riders another negative strike to work against (God knows we need all the help we can get as it is). Also that the majority of riders hide behind the slogan "LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES" just to attract attention and tell the world look at me I am a mean hard a-s rider etc. etc.. However on my Vulcan I logged 46,000 plus miles. I was cut off on average 6 to 7 times on my daily commute by SUVs, cars, commercial trucks, school buses, and city buses. One of the first changes I made was to install Cobra pipes and a jet kit myself. The first thing I noticed was how crisp and responsive the bike became and that the incidents of being cut off came down to less than half. After a couple of years of this I was bothered by the noise level on the way home, since traffic was lighter and I kept a brisker pace. Once again I went back to the OEM pipes and sold the Cobras on e-bay. Again the cutting off increased significantly. I searched for a solution and purchased Hard Chrome long pipes, hoping that the pipes were long enough to keep the sound well behind me and with the provided baffle it would meet my needs. But again after a little over a year I was tired of the loud noise that followed me whenever I rode. Struggling to find a compromise I attacked the OEM pipes. With a lot of patience and hard work I was able to remove the end baffle on my original pipes and installed them. I was very pleased when I tried the bike. The performance was still there and the sound level was loud enough to keep that safety level I had gained with aftermarket pipes but yet quiet enough not be annoying, but rather pleasant.

I am now riding my Venture and once again I am faced with that struggle of deciding what to do with the pipes. I love the bike in its stock form, I would rather not change a thing. I know I will not give up riding, but I still want to get home to my family at the end of the day. Although the Venture is one of the biggest bike made today and I have installed numerous LED lights at the back I still get cut off, or have drivers alongside of me just come into my space thinking there is no one there. After my horn blast and my clearly upset body language I get an apologetic wave as to say "Sorry I didn't see you". That would be of very little comfort when I am pushed off the road into a pole or some other roadside obstacle. I was considering duck taping one of those yellow hazard lights on the top my helmet.

I truly believe that there is a gained level of safety with louder pipes. But there needs to be some discretion and common sense. I will leave or come home anytime day or night with my bikes, but I do not pull the bike out of the garage and let it idle nor do I blip the throttle. I start the bike and pull out immediately or pull in the garage and shut it off. Even when cold, today's bikes can be started and driven away immediately by a capable rider.

I am willing to accept that the loud pipes annoy people in general just for the small gain in SAFETY for us riders, after all they are the ones we are trying to protect ourselves from!

 

Although load pipes may have a greater value of safety in very crowded urban streets than country roads, yesterday me and my wife were cut off at least twice on a 250 mile trip on the Taconic Pkwy. I do not need any studies nor do I want to put my life and the lives of my love ones in some one else's hand. In my qualified opinion there is definitely a safety advantage to louder pipes. I say do what you must to be SAFE regardless of who that may annoy. Your life and well- being is more inportant then some ones feelings.

[Guest Mackinawman]

Before switching to the RSV had a Suzuki LC1500 Intruder with Vance & Hines Longshots.

Did notice many of them 4 legged critters headin for bush as we went by.

Thank God they headed fer the bush and not across the road.

I do have to admit - enjoy the peace and quiet of the RSV after riding the Intruder for 6 years.

[hipshot]

i have no qualms, about other people using loud pipes.

 

what does STARTLE the crap out of me, though, is a "harley rider", who pulls his clutch in about a half a block before he get to a red light.

they just kinda "coast up" along side of you and then , for some reason that only BI-POLAR H D riders understand,the "goose the throttle" about 4 times. after the initial shock, of the first one, the other three , are just road rage generators!

HUSH , squidley, i don't see anything funny about it!

just jt

[spyderhead]

That's all loud pipes are good for. Seems folks with loud pipes suffer from some other shortage (perhaps anatomical) in the same way some folks have to buy the biggest gun. You know, short _____ equals big gun; short ____ equals loud pipes.

Some of us actually ride. Not just barhop. Have a friend with a Big Dog. Beautiful piece of art. Not a functional bike, but beautiful as art. I ride to Canada, to Arizona, etc., from MS every summer on an 05 RSTD; if I had to do it on, let us say, the Big Dog I would be in traction until the following summer. In short, loud pipes have nothing to do with "safety" just like riding a rolling piece of fine art has nothing to do with riding. Both just say . . . "Hey, look at me!"

[Ferrantelli]

Yes, I do own a BAR Browning 308 semi-automatic high-power rifle made in Belgium and I load it with 230 grains cartridges. It is accurate beyond what the eye can see.

[spyderhead]

Meant nothing personal, of course. I have an assortment of Bushmasters, Glocks, and Winchesters myself. My point was that noise attracts attention. Just as art attracts attention. What others choose to ride (my friend's Big Dog, for instance) is none of my business. But, to try to make the argument that loud pipes are somehow safe is as ludicrous as the anti-helmet argument that not wearing a helmet is safer because the rider's peripheral vision is less impeded. To make an obnoxious amount of exhaust noise is (where allowed by law) one's own choice; however, I think it needs to be clearly stated that there are many of us who think loud pipes more than a personal choice: it is a public nuisance.

[VTirelli]

All I know is, I've been driving fire trucks and ambulances for 30 years, Police Cars for 23 years. We are equipped with lights, sirens and air horns. I defy ANYONE to stand in front of my engines which are equipped with mechanical sirens (not those wimpy electronic junks) while I wail the crap out of it for a minute or 2, and not get split eardums.

My point?? EVERY damn day (including today), I come up on people while I have everything screaming and they don't move. I will bet anyone here a week's salary that those sirens are 3 to 4 times louder than ANY motorcycle pipes. So what would make any reasonable person think that their pipes wiill make a difference to those clueless cagers?

[Snarley Bill]

bottom line on this whole thread. to each his own on loud pipes. if some one does'nt like them to bad. to say they save lives is about as rediculous as it sounds. just say loud pipes save lives out loud to your self and then think how stupid that sounds. think i'll put a straight pipe on my lawnmower so the neighbor don't get run over.

[VTirelli]

Just to clarify that I'm not being hypocritical here, Brad DID drill out my baffles at Don's....and I asked him to do it because I like the way they sound..period. I don't think for one minute that it's going to make a difference with people seeing or hearing me on the road....oh yeah .......Brad?? BTW.....Sam says its still not loud enough!!

 

[AZSpyder]

bottom line on this whole thread. to each his own on loud pipes. if some one does'nt like them to bad. to say they save lives is about as rediculous as it sounds. just say loud pipes save lives out loud to your self and then think how stupid that sounds. think i'll put a straight pipe on my lawnmower so the neighbor don't get run over.

 

The bottom line to this thread is slightly louder pipes are heard or can't you read! It worked for me yet you think it is stupid for even saying it out loud. See if you can hear this, IT WORKS FOR ME and keep your stupid comments to yourself. I could still hear the tires of cars around me but some goof stretches it to the point that we don't even hear sirens!

 

Maybe some of you should have paid attention better and not hijack a thread complaining about extreme instances. If you think that there is no way exhaust sound level make any difference in another driver knowing you are there no matter what just stick your fingers in your ears and repeat after me "la la la la la la I can't hear you".

Edited June 16, 2008 by AZSpyder

[V7Goose]

Hey all, this is an emotionally charged issue. I know that I have very strong feelings about it, as do many of you. We have had a chance to express our thoughts here, but I doubt that there is much new to add. At this point, no one is going to be persuaded to change their view on the subject from this thread. My concern is that the comments are beginning to get pretty personal and verge on insulting each other. Each new jab seems to require another personal barb from someone else. This can be very destructive to what we have here as a group on this site. Why don't we all just back of this topic and let it die a natural death here, OK? Thanx!

Goose