Do loud pipes save lives?

[Lostinthe50s]

Does my loud bike piss you off? good. Cuz I ain't giving up my Conti's.

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by Mad Kiwi

Sorry 64 strat, but you could just as easily have pushed the horn button. if not easier...

I have ridden and raced bikes my whole life. In my experience The ONLY people who support "loud pipes save lives" are the bogans that want a loud bike and don't give a rats ass about the social implications.

I mean as a huge motorsport enthusiast i love a nice exhaust note but some of the open pipe Hardley Davidson bikes around here are simply ridiculous, just stereo typical people trying to prove they can and will buck the system. Tough guys on the open road....

Eventually you will end up with the same as we have here after all the boy racers got carried away, rules and regulations that prohibit even mild exhaust noise, tickets for "loss of traction" etc....

IMO YMMV.

sorry, but you see, her window was up, had the cell phone to her ear towards me, I did hit the horn but the bike's horn is high pitched and feeble... she heard the motor blip though. Keep in mind, I don't flaunt the pipe noise. But it definitely works to get someones attention that isn't paying attention. I've proven that to myself several times.

I also could have just pulled in the clutch as I did but instead slow down and taken the risk that the car(s) behind me also slowed down and didn't bump me and then just let the careless 'twit' take the spot on the road I had just previously occupied. But I decided to try and get her attention so she knew she had just f***ed up, which she did. I'll bet she looks more often now before changing lanes.

So, it is not black and white. Been riding 38 years, been on the pavement twice, first time was my fault, the second time was a foreign female drivers fault going the wrong way but that's a whole 'nother story.

and by the way, I'm not in favor of a Nanny state either.

[Boblets]

I have a Two Brothers exhaust on my Suzuki Bandit. It has a nice throaty tone and definitely louder than the original pipe. It is nowhere near as loud as some pipes that most likely have had the baffles removed and so far I have not attracted the attention of traffic police.

I would never entrust my safety on the road to the sound of my exhaust. That would imply that the average driver is sufficiently aware of their external environment to hear me coming and to then give me some space for safety. This seems hardly likely when I have on more than one occasion observed drivers oblivious to the screaming siren and flashing lights of an emergency services vehicle right behind them.

I suspect that those who champion the safety features of excessively loud pipes may be wankers.

[TeleAnon]

. .

[Lostinthe50s]

Y'all better be turning those amps down!

[chippertheripper]

Originally Posted by TeleAnon

If I were writing the laws.. you could have pipes as loud as you want, provided they exit within 12 inches of your ear, while being pointed directly at you.

Lolz. Even if there contis?!

[Toto'sDad]

I wish the people who make all that noise with their loud pipes had to listen to them from the other guys perspective, the guy who can't stand them. I'll bet the guy with the loud pipes would be the first to complain if he was your neighbor and your amp was up too loud.

[Joe-Bob]

Originally Posted by J-man

Surely there is an equally, if not more effective way of achieving the same end that doesn't involve annoying the crap out of everyone you pass?

Sure there is!

You could just ride around with insanely bright high beams on all the time so that you blind everyone around y.....oh.....wait.....uhhh...

[TC6969]

Its not the pipes, its the "Riding Vest"

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by DesmoDog

The same thing has happened to me in my car. Luckily my car has a device known as a horn. Pressing a button makes it blare, which luckily has resulted in the same accident avoidance as your loud pipes.

The above pipes weren't loud enough to keep the woman from starting to move over so they didn't save any lives there. Bikes don't come standard with loud pipes, people have to buy them from the aftermarket. Aftermarket bike horns cost less than aftermarket pipes, horns don't require you to rejet/reflash the bike to make it run right, and I can hit my horn button quicker than you can pull in the clutch and rev the engine. I can even accelerate away from something while activating a horn. With the clutch in, you're just coasting. Given all that, it would seem horns are capable of saving more lives than loud pipes are?

Your anecdote does nothing to convince me loud pipes save lives any better than other solutions.

But I pretty much agree with everything else you were talking about.

PS - yes, I do ride, for the last 20+ years now. And a couple of my bikes are less quiet than when they left the factory so I'm no saint either...

Bike horns are a joke.... don't you think? At least all the ones I've owned are.

Do you remember bikes from the 30's, 40's, '50's & '60's??? I sure do, I remember back in the '60's a certain '39 Knuck a friend owned. Then I had friends with late '50's Pans that were very audible. And so on, the only reason they are quieter now is because of Big Brother mandating it for the motor company to so equip to a certain dB level and they will be allowed to stay in business to sell murdersicles. Nice, huh?!? (hint: nanny state)

So, if we are going to pick on loud bike pipes... then I want every loud airplane (piston or jet), every obnoxious truck, no more loud concerts, all gas or diesel lawnmowers, no more loud car stereos, no more rocket launches, NOTHING! I want ALL the noise addressed. To the point that if you phart too loud, I want a ticket written to you with a big fine attached. I want the pain to be spread as far and as wide as possible. Then we'll see how everyone feels about it.

Have fun! be safe... shiny side up.

[J-man]

Originally Posted by Joe-Bob

Sure there is!

You could just ride around with insanely bright high beams on all the time so that you blind everyone around y.....oh.....wait.....uhhh...

Or possibly a horn, as has already been mentioned.

[hannigan]

Darn, I was hoping it was a bagpipe thread...

[Lostinthe50s]

Originally Posted by 64Strat

So, if we are going to pick on loud bike pipes... then I want every loud airplane (piston or jet), every obnoxious truck, no more loud concerts, all gas or diesel lawnmowers, no more loud car stereos, no more rocket launches, NOTHING! I want ALL the noise addressed. To the point that if you phart too loud, I want a ticket written to you with a big fine attached. I want the pain to be spread as far and as wide as possible. Then we'll see how everyone feels about it.

Have fun! be safe... shiny side up.

AMEN!

[TheRumRunner]

Been riding/racing for 43 years now.

Loud exhausts are the bane of responsible riders everywhere.

A**hats on straight pipe Harleys have forced local municipal (aka county) lawmakers to pass dB limits on noise. Now in some prime riding area's we have LEO's setting up roadside monitoring stations and pulling over responsible riders on fishing missions.

Thanks a**hats.

DW

[Skully]

Bike horns are a joke.... don't you think? At least all the ones I've owned are.

So modify the horn and leave the pipes alone.

[Jimclarke100]

For me the jury' out on loud pipes. Being a sometime biker myself (I run a rat XS650) I can kinda see the argument, but I'm not sure how much water it holds.

Still like the tale from an old biking buddy who rode an old Triumph Bonnie Chop, nominally with VW beetle silencers. On a trip out to Wales, it had been raining and the bike was running like a pig so John'd popped the baffles out to try to get the bike running cleaner. Some while later in the journey he pulled in to the Severn Bridge service station on the motorway only to be surprised to find a police car pulling in behind him. They had been following him for something like 20 miles with the blues and twos going trying to get his attention - he just hadn't heard them.

[telefunken]

Someone should put them on electric cars also. Those things are silent. I've almost been hit in parking garages at the mall. You look and then cross and those things seem to come out of nowhere behind you!!! AND YOU NEVER HEAR THEM

[Lostinthe50s]

Funny, I was reading somewhere that they are going to add artificial "noise" to e-vehicles for just that reason.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011...on-nissan-leaf

[adifferentbreed]

It must be overgeneralize/insult/argue/troll week here. I'm so glad people can discount others actual experiences from the safety of their computer chair....geez.

[Toto'sDad]

Originally Posted by 64Strat
So, if we are going to pick on loud bike pipes... then I want every loud airplane (piston or jet), every obnoxious truck, no more loud concerts, all gas or diesel lawnmowers, no more loud car stereos, no more rocket launches, NOTHING! I want ALL the noise addressed. To the point that if you phart too loud, I want a ticket written to you with a big fine attached. I want the pain to be spread as far and as wide as possible. Then we'll see how everyone feels about it.

Well, at least where I live, all the things you mention don't make as much noise as the beer belly crowd do with their loud pipes. And while the tone in my under pants is to die for, so far the neighbors haven't complained, at least about the noise.