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If you pick each section of my post apart and take it without the context of 'in conjunction with other modifications' then ofcourse
I'm not a huge bike nut but be honest does that 6-7 bhp make a noticeable real world difference? Fair enough if your a track racer your going to appreciate it but in every day riding conditions?
My comments are based on what several biker types I know do and at least three of them have to swap there exhaust back to standard each year now the 'dodgy' MOT place they used to frequent has been cleaned up. They also all admit to driving slower with less revs to try and keep the exhaust note down when in built up areas or in the precence of anything resembling a copper.
If your riding on the public roads within the safe limits of both the road and the conditions I'm not sure that the extra 20BHP is going to be hugely noticeable as it's not like you were lacking before hand? The second half of this comment sounds more like a re-map than a sports exhaust which could have been achieved even with the standard pipe but that could be my lack of bike knowledge
Can see the point if your a track day/race nut but can't really see the need for making a very very fast raod bike a tiny little bit faster when it's highly unlikely your pushing it to it's standard limits anyway.
OK you seem to have decided to take my comment about being used in conjunction with other modifications as being a pro stupidly loud exhaust statement. It wasn't. The point I was making is a correctly set up bike (that includes exhaust system, brakes, suspension, tyres, air/fuel mapping, ignition and gearing) is more efficient, gives better torque and bhp delivery thought the rev range in each gear and actually reduces fuel consumption as well as removing the retarding in the first three gears (I have a Suzuki).
The three bikers you know don't seem very bright. A bike going so slowly looks more appealing to a traffic officer than one that's making safe progress in line with the speed limits and road conditions. MOT testers don't check noise levels as of approx 18 months - 2 years ago, it's at the testers discretion if the bike is overly loud to check it and any idiot can remove 'Not for Road use' from an exhaust given 5 minutes with Autosol and a polishing wheel, as to why they'd need to is beyond me, the majority of well designed road legal can's produce very similar results to the full race systems when set up correctly so i don't see why they'd bother
You ask if a 6-7bhp gain is noticeable, the answer is yes. Most drivers would agree 25-35bhp in a car is noticeable (more or less so depending on the car but we're not talking automotive exotica here), in fact in most cases people pay a lot of money for performance mods in an attempt to deliver those kind of returns. A car weighs ball park of say 1 tonne ? A bike weighs less than a fifth of that, and as such 6-7bhp translates to 30-35bhp on a car. Is that noticeable ?
Then you've got the weight saving. While some bikes have great balance with the weight kept low and relatively centred, a lot don't, worst of all the exhaust is usually on one side or the other unless it's a twin. You'll also find even at normal road speeds a rider will corner one way better than another, if you ask them why they'll normally say it feels more stable in one direction than another. Sometimes it's just personal preference but look at it another way an after market pipe normally weights a fraction of the OE one. With the headers it's a similar story 22lbs of front weight with mild steel or 8lbs with titanium (my own bike). Again 14lbs isn't a lot until you realise it's approx 8% of my bikes weight, now with a full system fitted you're talking about loosing anything from 12-15% depending on the bike.
So now is it usable day to day ? Yes. Here's why: A small minority of other road users have no concept of motorcycles, if it's smaller than them on the road it doesn't exist. They will pull out without warning, they will cut you up, they will try and defy the laws of physics by attempting to occupy the same space as you at the same time. Anything that aid's you avoiding this minority of unobservant drivers is of benefit, be that the ability to go from law abiding and about to be killed to out of the way in a quarter turn of the throttle in any gear or simply because they hear you then i'm all in favour of it. If you're not then that's your right, I don't need you to agree with me and if you do or don't it still doesn't make everything I say right, it's just my opinion but then again i'm the one who did 24,000 miles a year on a bike until recently
Back to the OP's issue, could be a genuine assumption by someone who's never been round a bike that the bike is broken and they're trying to be polite and point it out, go with the softly softly approach and explain it's actually working perfectly but mention if it's such an issue for the person complaining then you're open to reasonable suggestions.
Which I like, personally, but you've got to realise it can annoy people, and if you're doing something that distracts people in the office where you park, then you've got to expect stuff like this. 
