| Author | Message | ||
     Adrenaline_junkie |
Maybe the New Harley thread can get back on track. Personally, I don't understand how loud pipes, flashing headlights or a rainbow helmet with a propeller on top can make the fallen log, lost load of gravel or the jackknifed tractor trailer be gone from the far side of a blind turn. I use a different technique. I slow down going into blind turns. As soon as I can see the far side is clear, I pin it.  And I've seen everything listed above and much more on the far side of a blind turn. My favorite is two pickup trucks stopped, one in each lane, drivers chatting with each other through their windows. Welcome to WV back roads! | ||
| Mtjm2 |
That's the same problem we have here in Pennsyltucky . I live near the Mason Dixon line . Lots of great back roads to ride here . However, fallen tree limbs , wild critters and slow moving farm equipment is a norm. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The other issue with the "loud pipe" theory is, as I mentioned in the other thread, heavily sound-insulated new cars, and even noise-cancelling stereo systems. Combine that with lack of attention from the drivers, and the fact that exhaust - by its definition - is pointed to where you WERE...and the "it makes drivers aware" argument isn't worth anything. At least hi-vis riding gear and flashing brakelights can be seen through windows, regardless of sound deadening materials. I agree with the OP here, though - by definition, a "blind turn" is...well...BLIND. Either YOU prepare, or YOU take the blame for consequences. There was a study somewhere, I'll have to dig, that showed how many of the "driver didn't see me" accidents were actually the bikers' fault. Bikers have to pay attention, too. Or...put cherry bombs on your car. Same theory, right? | ||
| Slaughter |
Loud pipes save lives if you're backing into danger, otherwise loud pipes just piss off voting taxpayers. | ||
| Gregtonn |
Loud pipes save lives...The theory might work, but only if you figure out how to reverse the Doppler effect. G | ||
| S2t_bama |
Thanks, I'm glad you guys have definitely proven that loud sounds don't alert drivers. I can finally take your study results to my city council and get that darn noisy fire truck down the street to stop using its stupid siren. | ||
| Xdigitalx |
When I drive... I can hear the biker 6 car lengths behind me, in traffic. I am aware he is there... I am more cautious because I can hear his engine... Even if it helps a little… it counts as helping. I wonder ... is there sound in outer space? | ||
| Ratbuell |
Sirens point forward...just sayin'. | ||
| Ourdee |
I had one of those parking lot encounters. Car pulls straight out in front of me. I stop and hit horn at the same time. Driver says, "I didn't hear you". I say, "You are supposed to look with your eyeballs". I rode off thinking, "NEXT"! | ||
| Rick_a |
Stupid cannot be fixed, loud pipes or not. I recently blared my horn at a driver that cut me off as I proceeded in a straight line, in my lane...as he nearly ran me over. He pulled beside me and asked me to apologize because he didn't see me. I went off. The front end of his car was trashed, likely from similar maneuvers, which I eloquently pointed out to him. On a daily commute blind curves are the least of my worries. Random carelessness and stupidity are. I may need a louder horn. People often don't respond to it at all, and continue on their errant and often erratic course. Dodging cars get old after a decade and a half plus of daily foolishness. | ||
| 04xl1200c |
A part of the "Loud Pipes Save Lives" discussion I rarely see mentioned is the effect the loud pipes have on the motorcyclists who are riding with it. In manufacturing plants there has been a movement to lower overall exposure to loud noise. Not only to lower the risk of hearing loss but to also increase production as exposure to loud noise reduces the situational awareness of everyone exposed to it. So while loud pipes may make a very few people aware of a motorcycle nearby, it always makes the rider less aware and feel tired. Do "Loud Pipes" really save lives or do they just make some feel special? | ||
| 86129squids |
... still wanting to install a genuine locomotive horn on ALL my vehicles. Might add weight and complexity, but it WOULD add safety.  | ||
| Crusty |
Just get a Stebel Nautilus. It's loud and works well. | ||
| 1313 |
 | ||
| Rick_a |
I wear earplugs. I don't see how people ride without 'em. Just the wind noise itself is relatively deafening, especially at highway speeds. | ||
| Ourdee |
Any ride over 100 miles and I wear ear plugs as a means of survival. I used the Stebel Nautilus today when a car tried to share "MY" lane on the interstate. Car stopped interring my lane for a second. Saw it was a bike and came on over with a couple of feet to spare. I was carrying and had bad thoughts. People don't care about anyone else. (Message edited by Ourdee on August 04, 2018) | ||
| Buellish |
A 114" Harley cranked up at TWOS today and for the five minutes it took for him to fasten his helmet and get his fellow Pirates lined up,no one in the parking lot could have a conversation over his loud pipes.If that doesn't piss off the neighbors they must be deaf. | ||
| Rick_a |
Typical. They care more if you're in a vehicle that would majorly damage theirs in a collision. People seem oddly at ease with potentially killing someone so long as the result is only a small dent or minor scratches in their vehicle. | ||
| 86129squids |
I 1000% recommend the Stebel products. Without the costly and involved installation of said train horn, they're the best in the biz. Just wire up a relay properly, mount horn properly, and let 'er blow. Got a repurposed Yugo horn on the Beemer, as good as a Stebel, cost me $0. | ||
| Damnut |
Every stebel I have purchased shits the bed after a couple of years. Nice horns but I haven't had any luck with their longevity. | ||
| 86129squids |
Hmmm. Now that you mention it, the one I put on the GF's car is a bit asthmatic nowadays... been a few years since I installed it. Did my best to orient the bell away from blasts of weather/rain, but hey. I guess one could always head to a junkyard and scout out a good Cadillac/Volvo/high-end car horn for cheep... | ||
| Ratbuell |
I tell ya, a 2018 Goldwing has one HELL of a horn. I think they did buy old stock of 1976 Cadillac horns. I have had a stebel behind the flyscreen in my Uly for a few years now, still going strong. Make sure you wire it direct to the battery, and use the horn wire for a relay trigger. These things need JUICE. | ||
| Damnut |
That's the way I wire all of them. My S3 has one and it sounds like a drunken 4 year old trying to play a bugle but very softly. | ||
| Torquehd |
I once wrecked an FLHR on a blind curve, when I worked at the dealership. A pickup/trailer combination was taking his time turning left across both lanes. I had the rear wheel locked up the whole way but by the time I hit him I had slowed from 60 to maybe 10 mph. Bent the forks, crunched the fender, popped the windshield off, but that was it. In all fairness, it did not have loud pipes. But then again I didn't lose my life, so this post is really irrelevant to the topic. The only things that would have mitigated the accident would have been less speed or if the motorcycle had weighed less. | ||
| Pwnzor |
which I eloquently pointed out to him. I'm thinking your eloquence likely bordered on grandiloquence. | ||
| Rick_a |
It was mostly swearing and gesturing while screaming at the top of my lungs, "LOOK AT YOUR BLEEPING CAAARRRRR!!!!"  I was in a most chaotic area during rush hour with people randomly figuring out which lane to be in at the last minute and I was a bit tired of being everyone's would-be pinball. This guy was a most blatant jack hole. It seems impossible that he could not see me as I was more or less even his driver side window. For the past several years it had gotten to where I was pretty nonchalant over being nearly being ran over, until I bounced off an idiots car not too long ago. I've been a little more feisty since then. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Lately I've been getting stuck behind a herd of turtles a lot. at the end of a long day. At least they usually space out enough for me to hit the throttle for a little slalom run to freedom. Cages are for rain and snow... Z | ||
| Slaughter |
I think I see your problem: REAR WHEEL!?!? (Message edited by Slaughter on August 06, 2018) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Wait... There's a brake on the front wheel?  | ||
| Ourdee |
Brake on the front wheel. That will either flip the bike or slide the front end out from under it! \sarcasm Imoji {ON} |
