Noisy, noisy, noisy exhausts!

heh, reminds me of my MIVV carbon can on my old Speed Triple.
Loud (more boomy than anything) but not obscenely so, regularly commuted at 5am and never had a complaint from neighbours.

Although I do remember once coming off a roundabout in gloucester, seeing a little girl waiting at the crossing look at me then cover her ears.
Was quite cute as she looked excited at the same time.

Random post.

Back on topic, Im also on the side of 'loud cans save lives' but not to the extremity of some.
Modern bikes are silly quiet nowadays and tend to come with **** poor horns to boot.
The extra bit of noise when we feel the need to 'blip' the throttle comes in handy.
 
Overly loud exhausts are annoying, no matter what they are fitted on. On the discussion of louder pipes saving lives, I think there is some truth to this. While it's true that defensive riding is the main factor keeping riders safe, secondary factors are still important, and anything that gets a bike noticed is a bonus, as long as it is legal.
 
jon.bda said:
Aww noes...think of the childrens. What were you doing, burnouts on their sandpits???
:confused:
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No I was considering the effect my actions were having on others, how this would effect their perceptions of me as a motorcyclist and therefore their opinions of and behaviour towards myself and other motorcyclists. I beleived that I was perpetuating a negative sterotypical image of motorcyclits and chose to stop doing so because I perceived this course of action to be the best for all concerned.

I hope the above clarifies the piece of my previous post you quoted without any context and mocked. I also hope that it also gives you some insight into how you can contribute towards a thread rather than injecting pointless throwaway one liners which seem to be your forte.
 
as a "proffesional"(lol) driver i would have to go with the bikers and say a loud(er) can can and will make you more noticed. the majority of drivers on the roads these days are complete flipping idiots, who cant use mirrors and cant give their full attention to driving for any more than a few seconds. the amount of near misses i have in the taxi because people dont see you or dont look is terrifying, ten times worse i'd imagine if you ride something that is smaller and a lot less visible to the average muppet on the road. so even if it only saves 1 life out there then yes i have to agree with the loud cans save lifes thoughts

oh and pfft bikes-loud try a scooby with a straight through exhaust (which most of the council estate hooligans seem to have these days) much much louder than anything you find on a bike. had many experiences of kids being woken up at night with the scream of a boxer engine and full chat going past the house
 
PieEater said:
No I was considering the effect my actions were having on others, how this would effect their perceptions of me as a motorcyclist and therefore their opinions of and behaviour towards myself and other motorcyclists. I beleived that I was perpetuating a negative sterotypical image of motorcyclits and chose to stop doing so because I perceived this course of action to be the best for all concerned.

I hope the above clarifies the piece of my previous post you quoted without any context and mocked. I also hope that it also gives you some insight into how you can contribute towards a thread rather than injecting pointless throwaway one liners which seem to be your forte.
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I won't let you down...

'motorcyclits'

:D:D:D:D

...bet your in AIM ain't you...
 
Dogbreath said:
Sorry but it's this kind of attitude that ensures a lot of people continue to hate bikes and bikers. I get mightily pee'd off with stupidly loud bikes at unsociable hours, there is a time and place for this.

Loud exhausts may help other road users to notice you, but in the same way that headlamps and dayglow vests don't stop car drivers doing stupid things you certainly can't rely on a loud exhaust to keep you safe. Riding skill and experience is far and away the most important factor in staying alive.
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I leave for work everyday at around 3-5am (yay for 17hr days), but I make sure I keep the revs down and leave the urban area as quietly as I can (no blipping of throttle etc)

But, it is tough.... it's not a attitude, it's just there is nothing you can really do about it. If op really wants peace and quiet he need to move somewhere quieter maybe.

'tough luck', that is what I would say if my neighbour approached me about my bike... I wounldn't fit a quiet pipe for him under any circumstance

no one here is saying you can rely on anything to stay alive, but I as said earlier it's layers of defence, the more layers the safer it is for you. The list is endless... road postioning, road awareness, nice bright lights, noisy pipe, bright clothing, body armour
 
PieEater said:
in certain circumstances I can see that a loud can may alert a driver to a motorcycles presence. However due to the fact that the exhaust(s) and therefore the majority of noise is focused to the side of but mostly to the rear of the bike, I can't see that "because it makes car drivers aware of my presence" being a justifiable excuse to annoy / upset pedestrians and home owners that live on busy biker roads. Perhaps the increasing number of bikes with excessively loud exhausts upsetting people has something to do with the increasing number of car drivers that seem less inclined to let me filter past them to the point of actively pulling over to the right to block my progress.

I'd also like to throw into the mix that riding with an illegal exhaust potentally voids your insurance as your vehicle is not road legal.

I've ridden with illegal exhausts before but since I started to see how this effects kids and therefore their parents view of bikers I have stopped. The last time I was knocked off my bike (3 years ago) I had a race can on my Speed Triple, so from my experience loud exhausts dont prevent accidents.
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Making bikers look intelligent and considerate.


jon.bda said:
Aww noes...think of the childrens. What were you doing, burnouts on their sandpits???
:confused:
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Making bikers look stupid.


Flukester said:
'tough luck', that is what I would say if my neighbour approached me about my bike... I wounldn't fit a quiet pipe for him under any circumstance
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Even if it is illegal?
 
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Personally I live in an area with a lot of modified road tuned rally spec cars/touring cars, and a very small number of bikes.

Anything that makes a noise is annoying. Part of the argument that anything that helps you be more noticeable is a plus as a biker is true. Don't think relying on having a loud exhaust helps you though, your horn is there for a reason.

Realistically though, most roads with footpaths wont have speed limits that would require anything near 15,000rpm.

The whole thing in my opinion is about attitude. Driving around in towns making ridiculous noise is just pointless. (You aint getting to those traffic lights any faster).

Truth is, the fact that bikes are noisy and fast is part of the appeal of them, same as it is with cars. Noisy, flashy, fast. So unless anyone intends on starting some sort of petition to Westminster regarding changing DB limits for exhausts, it's a pointless argument, either way.

There are no bad bikers, or bad drivers. It's a personal attitude thing.

For now, I'll continue riding sensibly but having fun, whilst avoiding the 3~5 cars that I have to dodge daily whilst excessively using my horn as I pass them... :)
 
Kaeo said:
For now, I'll continue riding sensibly but having fun, whilst avoiding the 3~5 cars that I have to dodge daily whilst excessively using my horn as I pass them... :)
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^^ This!

On the way from Romford to the City this morning, a blip on the throttle as i change down made a fool in Ford Focus stop his phone call long enough to realise he was cutting into my lane, that and the "leaning on the horn to attract his attention".

Id like to know how many people in this thread ACTUALLY ride daily and I dont mean "weekend when its dry" warriors.

I plan to fit a rather fruity Yoshimura can to my GSXR750, for no other reason than to get me noticed by cretins in cars. L O L
 
growse said:
I think you'd have a hard job finding a motorcyclist who 'relies' on their exhaust to keep them safe. I think what the proponents would argue is that it helps. Ie - if you were to ban them, motorcycling would get a little bit more dangerous.
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They are already "banned".

I appreciate this is a difficult topic as many bikers (including myself) enjoy the sound of a bike with loud pipes, so it's difficult to be objective. During the day and on rural roads, or in city traffic I don't have a problem with it, but in residential areas early in the morning or later in the evening I do think it's very anti-social. For most of the population a bike blatting bast with loud pipes at these times is no better than the cretins rattling peoples windows with their sub-laden cars and appalling taste in music.
 
Dogbreath said:
A very clichéd expression, and I doubt it's validity. I'm willing to bet defensive riding skills can save an awful lot more lives than noisy exhausts.
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yeh but defensive riding and a loud pipe do the job even better! one of the biggest causes of crashes is drivers not knowing a bike is there, a loud pipe solves this problem
 
metbandit1 said:
yeh but defensive riding and a loud pipe do the job even better! one of the biggest causes of crashes is drivers not knowing a bike is there, a loud pipe solves this problem
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If only it did :( The cars that don't see you are mostly the ones in front of you, and since your exhaust is pointing the other way it's not particularly loud inside a car until you actually pass them. If they have the volume cranked up on the radio then it would be very easy not to hear even a noisy bike approaching from behind.
 
Dogbreath said:
If only it did :( The cars that don't see you are mostly the ones in front of you, and since your exhaust is pointing the other way it's not particularly loud inside a car until you actually pass them. If they have the volume cranked up on the radio then it would be very easy not to hear even a noisy bike approaching from behind.
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I'm sorry, but I don't fully agree with that. You can hear a noisy bike or car exhaust no matter which way its pointing - of course it will be louder if its pointing right at you, but the issue here is not how loud the pipe is, but whether it creates enough noise to create an awareness of a bike in the vicinity.

With regard to x sat in their car with the volume on the stereo cranked up, you are right in saying it would be easy not to hear the bike. However, this really is in the minority of cases and the point here is that a loud can will generally make car users more aware of your presence. :)
 
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