Those Harleys and the obnoxious noise they make - a rant

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by srandallf

whether or not any safety course mentions loud pipes as a safety feature or not is irrelevant.

if you have the balls to get on a motorcycle, and I assume many of the cry babies on this thread do not, ill give you two bikes.

go out on the highway with a quiet bike and then go out on a loud one. ill bet you youll choose the loud one, whether you like the sound or not

being next to teenage girls who are driving their cars with their blackberries in there hands, 90 year old geezers who cant turn their necks to check over their shoulder, while your bike is running practically silent is terrifying. go ahead and try it. youll crap your pants.

those that do ride bikes and prefer a quiet exhaust system...thats your right. you have bigger balls than i do. i wear my full face helmet and gloves and boots. i still want to be heard. trust me, if i am stuck in your blind spot, you will hear me. my exhaust is much louder than my little pipsqueak of a horn.. tweet tweet.

i would prefer to live another day, than worry about upsetting somebody because i am loud

now, while i favor louder pipes just because i do like the sound of an air cooled V twin harley or DUCATI or my own in-line 4 with ram air and carbs... i will admit that i have heard the occasional bike that is so goddamn loud that i wonder how the hell anyone could stand to ride it. you can blame the Discovery channel for that trend.

its not usually harleys that are absolutely ridiculously loud..its these custom ugly chopper builders that have sprung up out of nowhere since Jesse and the talentless idiot Orange County guys came into the main stream on cable tv

Ill agree with the ninnies on this thread that this minority of bikers have taken it too far

what i dont understand is this general stereotyping of people with loud motorcycles. Since i was a little kid, ive been exciting by loud engines. cars, bikes, boats, airplanes, snowmobiles. Im one of those types that walks towards the sound with a beer in my hand. im not a lowlife or a poser or a dirtbag. some of us try hard to avoid disturbing people. i dont sit in my garage and rev my ninja all night. thats just stupid. i wait till im out of the neighborhood to rev it. do i still set off car alarms and piss people off? yup. i can think of a ton of things my neighbors do that piss me off, like running their central air conditioning 24 hours a day for a week when they go out of town and its 60 degrees out. do i get crazy about it? no.

I have been riding since I was 10 years old. I have ridden the Iron Butt, WERRA road racing, trials and commuted, travelled and for pleasure for over 4 decades. I ride proactively, which takes a little more brain power than blasting a noise (mostly behind) yourself to try to alert people you are approaching.

Balls are a poor choice to use to judge intelligence. Try brains instead. Although most Harley riders seem to lack both balls for performance (thats why they ride such slow outdated bikes) and brains (thats why they dress and act the way they do).

Loud noises are fine for the race track, but a very poor choice for public roads. Your right to be a idiot stops at the point when it affects my immediate enviroment, just like smoking, urinating on the street, a cranked up car stereo and car alarms, loud pipes on any street machine show a striking lack of concern for other people.

May all the drivers around you have the same care about you that you have demostrated for them.

[rcooled]

One issue not touched on in this thread is why excessive vehicle noise is virtually ignored by law enforcement. One reason is that the fines for such violations are pitifully small.....just chump change for most. It's hardly worth an officer's time to cite someone for loud pipes...much more cost effective to nail some sap for riding solo in the HOV lane or running a red. If the fine for loud exhaust was $500 or more, you'd see cops tripping over themselves to write tickets for it. Fines are minimal and enforcement remains lax because of lobbying efforts by organizations like SEMA and HD itself. These expensive exhaust systems are a cash cow for aftermarket manufacturers and retailers alike. HD sales would suffer greatly if they were forced to run quietly...their image is their main selling point and that racket they make is a key part of it. If you want to change the status quo, contact your local lawmakers and let them know how you feel.

I think there might be a reasonable solution to this loud pipe issue that could make everyone happy. Back when I was young & irresponsible, we all liked to make a bunch of useless noise with our cars, too. In order to keep the cops off our backs, we would install a device called a "cut-out". This was spliced into the exhaust system just ahead of the muffler and operated by a push-pull cable from the cabin. Around town, we kept them closed and didn't draw any unwanted attention but once out on the open road, we opened them up and made all kinds of noise without pissing anyone off. Something similar could work for the HD crowd, too.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by stuartj

Well Jeff, seems its not just me who thinks HD are fashion statements for tools, as you pointed out a little while back.

Yes, they are. The bikes have become too accessable to nincompoops with too much money to blow on their toys. Most know little about them, other than where the gas goes in and the noise comes out. They only have a cursory knowledge of HD's place in motorcycling history, and are only trying to live up to their hopeless missunderstanding of a breed they have read about in their coffee table books; a breed they can never be. Much like the modern Porsche owner.

Originally Posted by stuartj

Aside from being obsolete, bloated, charmless, evil handling wheel barrows that make chaff cutters sound like Ferraris, any company that is content to produce a 1300cc engine making 50hp ought be closed down, if not on environmental grounds then on the basis of sheer engineering incompetence.

Aside from being an obsolete, bloated, charmless, evil handling charactature of what they once were, any company that is content to produce a rear engine sports car that is now getting its arse handed to it by more modern designs (while artificailly holding back their own more modern designs) ought to be closed down, if not on environmental grounds, then on the basis of sheer German stubborness.

Originally Posted by stuartj

Im sure many of us didnt find your post above very positive or uplifing either. Why cant you post something edifing, like that nice boy mule?

I typed all of that with a positive, uplifting smile on my face.

[VINMAN]

If Harleys where made in Europe, would you guys hate them so much?

[Mule]

V-Rod? The noise guys hate 'em.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by RPKESQ

I have been riding since I was 10 years old. I have ridden the Iron Butt, WERRA road racing, trials and commuted, travelled and for pleasure for over 4 decades. I ride proactively, which takes a little more brain power than blasting a noise (mostly behind) yourself to try to alert people you are approaching.

Balls are a poor choice to use to judge intelligence. Try brains instead. Although most Harley riders seem to lack both balls for performance (thats why they ride such slow outdated bikes) and brains (thats why they dress and act the way they do).

Loud noises are fine for the race track, but a very poor choice for public roads. Your right to be a idiot stops at the point when it affects my immediate enviroment, just like smoking, urinating on the street, a cranked up car stereo and car alarms, loud pipes on any street machine show a striking lack of concern for other people.

May all the drivers around you have the same care about you that you have demostrated for them.

Have you ridden your bike in the same areas that I have? I doubt it. Have you ever even ridden in the USA? do you know what the streets and drivers are like around here?

I learned to ride street motorcycles on the streets of manhattan. God bless you for surviving on a quiet bike. good luck to you sir. i do think it takes more balls than i have to ride a quiet bike, i also think its ignorant and stupid unless you are riding out in a corn field or across the desert

I ride with extreme intelligence and skill and the loud sound of my bike its just one added bit of safety. You dont believe it? then we disagree

I also drive my truck with care and skill and caution. Yet, ive nearly run over a few motorcyclist that i did not hear because their bikes were quiet.

my bike being loud is hardly showing a striking lack of concern for other people and your insinuation that i do not demonstrate care towards my fellow drivers when you have never met me or experienced my driving shows what an arrogant ass you are. safe travels to you

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by RPKESQ

Balls are a poor choice to use to judge intelligence. Try brains instead. Although most Harley riders seem to lack both balls for performance (thats why they ride such slow outdated bikes) and brains (thats why they dress and act the way they do).

and your insinuation about Harley riders is not only insulting to motorcyclist in general but is very effective in demonstrating what a foolish ignorant idiot you are. some people like to ride slow....you apparently think such people are lacking in brains? not everybody needs to have a bike that excellerates to 190mph. i used to have a Harley. yes it wasnt that fast, but i very much enjoyed putting around the country side, touring and taking in the scenery. I guess i have no brains because it wasnt a high preformance bike?

I guess everyone that owns a car that isnt a porsche, ferrari or other high performance car is without brains?

You are the type of immature biker that makes us all look like fools.

[rammstein]

Might there be an acceptable middle ground for this?

I mean, there are silent bikes mentioned here, and there are make your ears hurt at 50 feet loud bikes. Perhaps a middle ground exists where the sound is enough to get the attention of fellow motorists without actually causing pain or waking up infants 300 yards away.

Moderation seems proper here. By the way, any of you ever seen V-4 Victory- the movie with Joey Dunlop doing the Isle of Man practice run with a 35mm camera on his bike? THOSE were some cool sounds.

[911boost]

I'm with Jeff on this one, I might need to put some loud pipes on my bike, knowing that it pisses off such a huge number of wanker crybabies.

The plus side would be when I pull up next to a cage on the interstate and the tool driving it is on his or her cell phone. Loud pipes would come in handy then.

By the way, Mule, your statement on the V-rod may be one of the dumbest things you have written.

You guys don't like loud pipes, yaaaaay! I don't like 944's and 928's, and you don't hear me crying every freaking day about it. Get over it. Spend your time worrying about something you can actually change.

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by srandallf

Have you ridden your bike in the same areas that I have? I doubt it. Have you ever even ridden in the USA? do you know what the streets and drivers are like around here?

I learned to ride street motorcycles on the streets of manhattan. God bless you for surviving on a quiet bike. good luck to you sir. i do think it takes more balls than i have to ride a quiet bike, i also think its ignorant and stupid unless you are riding out in a corn field or across the desert

I ride with extreme intelligence and skill and the loud sound of my bike its just one added bit of safety. You dont believe it? then we disagree

I also drive my truck with care and skill and caution. Yet, ive nearly run over a few motorcyclist that i did not hear because their bikes were quiet.

my bike being loud is hardly showing a striking lack of concern for other people and your insinuation that i do not demonstrate care towards my fellow drivers when you have never met me or experienced my driving shows what an arrogant ass you are. safe travels to you

I grew up in Chicago and learned to ride year round there. I have lived for 5 years in Manhattan and rode year year round there. I live and ride in Los Angeles (when I am not in France, about 50% or the time) and of course ride there. If you knew anything about ridding you would know that I have ridden in the US from my post "Iron Butt, WERRA road racing" both of which only exist in the States.

So all your erroneous presumptions in your reply amply illustrates the level of arrogance and lack of civility. Again, may all other motorists display your level of civility you espouse to you every day.

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by srandallf

and your insinuation about Harley riders is not only insulting to motorcyclist in general but is very effective in demonstrating what a foolish ignorant idiot you are. some people like to ride slow....you apparently think such people are lacking in brains? not everybody needs to have a bike that excellerates to 190mph. i used to have a Harley. yes it wasnt that fast, but i very much enjoyed putting around the country side, touring and taking in the scenery. I guess i have no brains because it wasnt a high preformance bike?

I guess everyone that owns a car that isnt a porsche, ferrari or other high performance car is without brains?

You are the type of immature biker that makes us all look like fools.

I was only using your yardstick to measure how much balls obnoxiously loud bikers have. I ride both slow and fast as conditions and my desire dictate. But apart from a couple of antique motorcycles, I don't need loud pipes to compensate for the lack of handling, acceleration and braking that Harleys have.

[nostatic]

My Duc has a pretty solid rumble from the Remus pipes. It isn't open-pipe loud, but it certainly is above stock. The Aprilia has the stock exhaust and has a nice little crack but not loud at all. Once Akra ships their pipe with the Aprilia map I'll likely go that route, but it still won't be open-pipe loud.

In the case of the Duc/Aprilia, the pipe gives a few more horses, allows more tweaking to the ECU, and sounds cool without giving me hearing damage. There are guys who run baffles out and those things are just stupid-loud. Definitely belong on the track.

I will sometimes use the throttle to get someone's attention, but usually I use it to get out of the situation. Having available torque is necessary for urban survival. Slow and ponderous without the ability to do a decent roll-on will get you flattened in LA.

[911boost]

I agree about the Remus Todd, my BMW had an almost "droning" sound to it at highway speeds with the full Remus kit.

The pipes (along with other upgrades) allowed me to change the maps on my HD. I didn't go to radical with the upgrades, as I still wanted the good gas mileage, since I commute 120 miles a day on it.

If I lived in CA, or rode where you did, I think I'd have one of the KTM Duke's, or a super motard bike of some sort. Something small, light and quick.

Bill

[Shadetree930]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

I totally forgot, I gave you guys a dose of WOT leaving Pats, did it sound good?

Oh yeah, it sounded GOOD!

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by RPKESQ

"Iron Butt, WERRA road racing" both of which only exist in the States.

I used to go out to watch a friend who ran WERRA out at SIR (now Pacific Raceways) in Kent. Absolute insanity (in a good way). These guys were proud of the fact that they were riding the only truly "open" class of road racer left. At the time (late '80's) the weapon of choice for the rank and file was the GSXR punched out to ~1300 cc's, running on methanol. Kenny Roberts Jr. showed up one year with his daddy's factory Yamaha 500 GP bikes and showed everyone the fast way around. The Gixers would reel him in like a fish on the straights, but his braking/handling advantage was too great for the big bikes to overcome. Anyway, fun times. First place I ever saw a "no fear" sticker on a bike rider's helmet...

I've done too many Iron Butt-esque runs (the "easy" 1000 miles/24 hours version) to even remember, just never bothered with the documentation to get the license plate frame. I ran into a guy doing the national rally two (maybe three?) years ago at a dam on the Columbia. He was on the Suzuki twin, equiped with an extra tank disguised as luggage on the passenger seat. He had a GPS mapping unit, a V-1, some sort of lazer jammer, and more lighting than most desert racers. He had departed Denver (I think) the day before, and had been out to the Northwestern most point in the lower 48, out on our Olympic Peninsula already that morning. He was planning on being somewhere in So Cal by midnight. Holy smokes. I think he said he had to average 1500+ miles a day for a week to be in contention. Yikes...

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by BSiple

If I lived in CA, or rode where you did, I think I'd have one of the KTM Duke's, or a super motard bike of some sort. Something small, light and quick.

Bill

The Shiver qualifies:



Not "light" at over 400#, but rides light. Plus I do a fair amount of freeway miles so I don't want something too light. It is plenty quick though. The 750 v-twin is a *really* great engine.

I still want to get a Multistrada or possibly a leftover Caponord for longer 2-up stuff.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by RPKESQ

I was only using your yardstick to measure how much balls obnoxiously loud bikers have. I ride both slow and fast as conditions and my desire dictate. But apart from a couple of antique motorcycles, I don't need loud pipes to compensate for the lack of handling, acceleration and braking that Harleys have.

i made no presumptions in my reply. i asked you a question. i dont give a damn about competitions and dont care to know anything about what they are or where they are held. so, despite what you think because of my lack of knowledge of all the amazing competitions youve been in, i still know alot about motorcycles and riding them

i wasnt using "balls" as a yardstick for anything. I said it takes balls to ride a bike on the street, period. which it does. and i think it takes balls to ride a quiet bike, though I believe its a dumb thing to do because its difficult if not impossible to hear them.

i never said balls = intelligence.

there is nothing intelligent about riding a motorcycle whatsoever. i love it. but its a deadly activity. Surfing in waters inhabited by great white sharks also takes balls, but doesnt seem too intelligent. Despite that, surfers and bikers of all kinds get my deep respect because they presumably are pursuing their passion, despite the inherent risks. sure there are a few bikers that hop on a bike because they want to "show off" or "live the biker life" because they have money to blow on a new toy

so what?

Ultimately, if they end up loving riding bikes, who gives a damn what they ride or what kind of clothes they like to wear or what the reason is that they got into it?

Do I care if somebody wants to put long leather stringy things on their handle bars? no. i wouldnt do it, but that doesnt mean that the person doing it is an idiot or is lacking in brains any more than the person who thinks its cool to put white gauges on their 911. its a subjective matter of taste and your post was obviously insulting and lacking civility so why dont you take a look in the mirror

you stick to your quiet bike and ill stick to my loud bike, ok mr worldy traveller? and regardless of what kind of crap bike you are on or ridiculous outfit you are wearing, ill give you a wave and thumbs up anyway

[911boost]

Todd, that is pretty damn cool. I agree about the lightness as well 9one of the main things I didn't like about the BMW R1200GS, was I felt the wind pushing me all over the place). Are all of the plastic side panles easily replaced, meaning if it tips over, can you just shrug it off? I think if I was riding in a city, or very traffic rich enviroment, that is something I would consider.

Bill

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by srandallf

i made no presumptions in my reply. i asked you a question. i dont give a damn about competitions and dont care to know anything about what they are or where they are held. so, despite what you think because of my lack of knowledge of all the amazing competitions youve been in, i still know alot about motorcycles and riding them

i wasnt using "balls" as a yardstick for anything. I said it takes balls to ride a bike on the street, period. which it does. and i think it takes balls to ride a quiet bike, though I believe its a dumb thing to do because its difficult if not impossible to hear them.

i never said balls = intelligence.

there is nothing intelligent about riding a motorcycle whatsoever. i love it. but its a deadly activity. Surfing in waters inhabited by great white sharks also takes balls, but doesnt seem too intelligent. Despite that, surfers and bikers of all kinds get my deep respect because they presumably are pursuing their passion, despite the inherent risks. sure there are a few bikers that hop on a bike because they want to "show off" or "live the biker life" because they have money to blow on a new toy

so what?

Ultimately, if they end up loving riding bikes, who gives a damn what they ride or what kind of clothes they like to wear or what the reason is that they got into it?

Do I care if somebody wants to put long leather stringy things on their handle bars? no. i wouldnt do it, but that doesnt mean that the person doing it is an idiot or is lacking in brains any more than the person who thinks its cool to put white gauges on their 911. its a subjective matter of taste and your post was obviously insulting and lacking civility so why dont you take a look in the mirror

you stick to your quiet bike and ill stick to my loud bike, ok mr worldy traveller? and regardless of what kind of crap bike you are on or ridiculous outfit you are wearing, ill give you a wave and thumbs up anyway

Apparently logic is not your strong suite. Your statements "i wasnt using "balls" as a yardstick for anything. I said it takes balls to ride a bike on the street, period. which it does. and i think it takes balls to ride a quiet bike" are of course quite contradictory.

But, your lack of safe riding knowledge or skills set is also quite self evident, from your statement "whether or not any safety course mentions loud pipes as a safety feature or not is irrelevant" , you are dismissing a knowledge base much greater than your own.

Another wanker who thinks that a lack of knowledge and skill is made up for by being loud and obnoxious.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by BSiple

Todd, that is pretty damn cool. I agree about the lightness as well 9one of the main things I didn't like about the BMW R1200GS, was I felt the wind pushing me all over the place). Are all of the plastic side panles easily replaced, meaning if it tips over, can you just shrug it off? I think if I was riding in a city, or very traffic rich enviroment, that is something I would consider.

Bill

The plastics are replaceable, but not cheap (it's Italian after all). I'm likely going to get axle and frame sliders - that will help if it gets knocked over. I'm usually pretty careful about where I park, but people often don't give a damn.

And on a sad side note, last weekend I parked in a short stretch of red between two metered spaces (about a 5' long section of red) and got a ticket ($75). Usually the meter people cut motorcycles some slack, but not this one. This wasn't in front of a hydrant or pose any safety risk - they paint it red just for further demarcation of the parking spaces.

Live and learn...