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Buell Motorcycle Forum » XBoard » Buell XBoard Archives » Archive through August 24, 2008 » Loud pipes and the LAW ??? » Archive through August 21, 2008 « Previous Next »

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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 02:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I like my exhaust just the way it is. But the way things are going it seem's we'll all be answering to Johnny Law sooner or later. I found these units and don't know but they look like they will fit in a Drummer anyway or can be made to fit. They say they do not hurt performance but thats also to be seen. Take a look and give an opinion.

http://www.rocky-mountain-performance.com/
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Ez_rider
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:31 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Interesting. They don't say how they "Auto-adjust", but I assume the inner restrictor changes diameter or collapses with higher flow, producing less backpressure at higher rpm and more backpressure at lower rpm.

Not sure if they actually work or not, but it's a clever idea...
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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:40 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I kinda thought for those times that you know you may have a problem with the man they might be ideal.
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Glitch
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:46 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I don't get how they're supposed to work.
Unless it's only a baffle.



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Jaimec
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Don't look now, but the XB12's already have such a system from the factory. It's called the "Active Exhaust."
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Glitch
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:49 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

The 12's exhaust isn't loud.
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Slaughter
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

It's already (technically) against the law to have a pipe that is not DOT and EPA legal. Very few of the laws are actively enforced but they do give the officer the opportunity to respond more heavily when he pulls a JERK to the side of the road who starts getting an attitude.

It's becoming much more common in CA - especially in the areas where sportbike riders are doing their best to create job security for med-evac helo crews.
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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:54 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Glitch its just a baffle. just a screw to remove. Won't harm performance. Some people have problems leaving their hoods because they feel they are to loud. With these you can pull them off in seconds and throw them in a tail bag or what ever.
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Glitch
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:55 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 03:56 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Your right Steve but maybe this will help some in drawing less attention to ourselves ??

(Message edited by bads1 on August 20, 2008)
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Buellinachinashop
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 04:15 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

"The 12's exhaust isn't loud."

There's lawn mowers louder than stock XB's.
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Jaimec
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 04:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

On full throttle with the stock exhaust the XB12 is quite loud. It sneaks past the EPA because the EPA doesn't test the bike at full throttle. At the standard throttle opening, the servo keeps the exhaust valve closed (and quiet).
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Greenlantern
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 04:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Don't want to start any kind of "loud pipes debate", but I like my "quiet " exhaust. It may fail on occasion to attract the "right" kind of attention, but it never attracts the "wrong" kind of attention.
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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 04:46 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Then again we aren't talking about stock mufflers. We are talk'n about Aftermarket mufflers that people may want to quiet down on occasion.
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Randomchaos
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 05:09 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

These appear to be ideal for Straight pipes, which have no baffling in them whatso ever, and usually result in a midrange power loss due to loss of back pressure. These look like they adjust the amount they baffle depedning on the pulses from the engine. The faster/closer together the pulses, the higher the rpm, the less back pressure, the more noise, and the more horsepower. Slower pulses, more baffleing, more back pressure, lower RPMs, more torque, less noise. Also, the less throttle you give it, the more baffling, the less noise.
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Werewulf
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 05:28 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

its looks like nothing more than the old trick of putting a large eyebolt or welding a washer to a bolt, to make straight pipes on a harley work better....
the advantage of the washer welded to the bolt, was that you could change the angle of it to fine tune the pipes...
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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 05:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I didn't post this for performance. I posted this for the many of us that have aftermarket mufflers that at certain times cannot be loud.
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Slaughter
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 07:43 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I'm wondering how to deal with it here in CA. I run the Race can on my streetbike and while I have the stock pipe in storage, I'd rather not add another dozen pounds of weight to the bike if I don't have to.

Our local patrol officer in the twisties here - the legendary Officer Stout - actually owns/rides a Buell and isn't bluffed by somebody on a bike that has the word "BUELL" stamped on the can.
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Bads1
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 08:22 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Steve,
I'd say your SOL. I just thought this may help in the attention department.
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Unibear12r
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 08:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Yikes! I'm glad you passed that along Steve. I'll remember that when I'm on that side of the mountain in the future!
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Teeps
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 08:41 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Slaughter Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Our local patrol officer in the twisties here - the legendary Officer Stout - actually owns/rides a Buell and isn't bluffed by somebody on a bike that has the word "BUELL" stamped on the can.


Slaughter,

Just don't give him a reason to look.
I actually like seeing the CHP out and about in Malibu; keeps the squids' speed down. Better for them, better for me...
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Buellinachinashop
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 08:47 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I got pulled over here in Milwaukee by a cop who knew they Buell Race Can wasn't stock. I'm actually thinking of painting the damn thing black.
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Rr_eater
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 01:21 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Interesting thought, does the drummer, when complete, still have the EPA stamping on it??

Hmmmmmmmmmm

Bruce
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Jlnance
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 05:50 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Interesting thought, does the drummer, when complete, still have the EPA stamping on it??

Last I checked, it did. Which I think will someday get someone in a heap of trouble.
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Ez_rider
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 10:01 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

To this day, I've never been pulled over or ticketed for loud pipes, even after riding Harleys with straight drag pipes, thunder headers, etc, for the past 15 years along with two buells, both with race cans.

I really think it all comes down to "how" you ride, and whether the officer is looking for a reason to pull you over or not...
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Buellinachinashop
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 10:11 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

In the Milwaukee area there's a directive this year, after many many citizen complaints, to enforce loud pipes. I think you're going to be seeing that more and more now that people are turning to motorcycles for trasportation.
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Xl1200r
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 10:51 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

To this day, I've never been pulled over or ticketed for loud pipes, even after riding Harleys with straight drag pipes, thunder headers, etc, for the past 15 years along with two buells, both with race cans.

I really think it all comes down to "how" you ride, and whether the officer is looking for a reason to pull you over or not...


My thoughts exactly. I've only three street bikes in the short time I've been riding. The first was a Sportster that at one point in it's life was able to set off a car alarm just from driving by.

The second is the Buell, which has done the same in it's current state.

The third is another Sportster (1964) with drag pipes (not my choice, it's what it had when I bought it), and is the loudest of the three. Never a ticket.
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Hexangler
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 10:53 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Motorcycle has been my primary transportation for ten years now. And I've been riding for fun for twenty-five.

I like my stock pipe on the 12r. No hassle factor.

And it is quite loud if you know how to blip the throttle to open the active exhaust, and then hold it on.

My bike is fastest when she is almost out of gas. I've been loosing weight too!
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Sarodude
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 10:58 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I have loud bikes. I also HATE loud bikes. I don't like the thought of disturbing my neighborhood and being a nusance.

However, my bikes are workhorses. I commute on them - around 57 miles each way every day - through some fun twisty stuff, downtown LA traffic, suburbs of Valencia and soccer moms, and a WHOLE LOTTA lane splitting on the 5 and 110.

If I couldn't split lanes, I'm not sure I'd be riding. And if I didn't have the loud bike, I'm not so sure I'd be (ear?) splitting lanes. So, no loud bike, no ride bike. Maybe.

I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but laws in Ca are interesting. You can't wear earphones / headphones that block outside sound. That would seem to imply that you must be able to HEAR to be a driver - legally. Well, there are no laws about how much ambient sound must permeate a car's structure! (plus, I'm pretty sure the deaf can get a driver's license) Cars are getting heavier and more soundproof and people have more and more distractions (the BS handsfree law is an amazing, shortsighted joke) and ANYTHING to get folks to know I'm there is, in my opinion, a necessary evil.

What's really funny, really, is that it ain't just the cagers. The number of apparent newbs on bikes (maybe newbies in the context of commuting as opposed to recreation) seems to be skyrocketting - and a lotta these cats are as bad as some cagers in terms of not knowing that you're coming up on them. No use of mirrors, common sense, or Spidey senses. The same lobotomy inspired schlepping about as done in a car - just on two wheels.

In my opinion, the only thing worse than a loud bike is a quiet bike. Hopefully Johnny Law will continue his Selective Enforcement.

-Saro
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Ez_rider
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 11:21 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

"The number of apparent newbs on bikes (maybe newbies in the context of commuting as opposed to recreation) seems to be skyrocketting - and a lotta these cats are as bad as some cagers in terms of not knowing that you're coming up on them. No use of mirrors, common sense, or Spidey senses."

I know exactly what you mean. I came up on a BMW rider yesterday afternoon in fairly heavy traffic on the freeway, and I pulled up on his right quarter about two bike lengths back and fell into the two-wide riding mode, him on the left (in front), and me on the right a couple bike lengths back. I know he must have heard and/or seen me in his mirrors, but the idiot couldn't stay on the left side of the lane. He kept wandering over to the right side of the lane, directly in front of me, then back to the left side, etc. I saw him glance in his mirror a couple times, so I know he saw me. And this was on a fairly straight section of highway, not the twisties!
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