| Author | Message | ||
     Coal400 |
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=14495725 NPR talks about noise regulations, and loud pipes. HD is mentioned almost exclusively. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
well the reporter was in milwaukee wi. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
If NPR is on it, I think we're screwed. The liberal eco sheep live and breathe NPR. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Is it considered liberal to listen to Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers from NPR's Car Talk? Those guys are great. | ||
| Nondual |
I've always hated the 'Loud Pipes Save Lives' crew. Harley cruisers are abusive regarding this...as a fellow motorcyclist, it irritates me every time I have to hear someone's bike from four blocks away. | ||
| Mikej |
The other day I was sitting at a traffic light waiting to turn left in our car. A 4x4 diesel pickup was next to us, radio blasting full volume. I made a comment that I wish he'd close his window. Light turned green, he rattled off, I noticed his windows were closed. Windows closed and I could hear his radio clearly in my vehicle next to him. Louder than most bikes, Harley or otherwise. Noise is noise, some targets are easier to target emotionally though. | ||
| Kcfirebolt |
+1 on the quiet pipes. I hate for people to hear me coming . . . particularly when I'm ripping through the backcountry towns on Sunday morning. I'd rather the local law man stay in church, rather than skip it and come looking for me. I ride with a guy with StainTunes on his ST2. The law can hear him coming for 3 miles (we tested it once). As for other people, I think people should be able to do what they want with their bikes. People should also factor in "consideration for fellow humans" when making those decisions. Just my $0.02. | ||
| Mikej |
Nondual, I've got an indirect relative with a Triumph 600cc sportbike. When he gets on it I can hear him from more than a mile away. It's not just Harleys, and it's not just cruisers. I like the WileyCo muffler I have for my M2, but I don't run it anymore, not even the new one I got to replace the broken-strap one. Sounds good, bike runs good with it, but I don't need the attention it draws at 5 in the morning. Our current noisey neighbor is down a few houses with a Harley barhopper Dynaglide with straight pipes who loves to decelerate on it and get the exhaust popping, I can hear him from almost a halfmile away in town. Stereotypes, easy to focus on, hard to live down and change the perception of. | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
For the most pipe I don't like loud pipes. I love the sound of a rumbling exhaust, it's music to my ears. But most "loud" pipes are excessively loud and just annoying. I feel the same about cars (both muscle cars and imports) it should only be loud when you really get on it. I've always thought the "speak quietly but carry a big stick" philosophy was best. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Is it considered liberal to listen to Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers from NPR's Car Talk? Those guys are great. The one redeeming program. | ||
| Glitch |
I have the Buell Race on my bike, while it's louder than stock, it's not really loud unless I'm getting on it. There's a Motorcycle Cop that cruises our neighborhood, and surrounding area. I feel I'm going to be alright as long as his bike (Harley Police) is louder than mine, and it is. I hate straight pipes, drag pipes, or whatever they're called. Seems like I always get stuck behind them (until I can pass) in the mountains. Those pipes seem to be loud, even at idle. There's a sign at T.W.O. that says "Loud Pipes Risk Rights" | ||
| Bikertrash05 |
I'm in the 3rd camp. I like my stock, good mpg, "can hear it when I get on it", "not deaf when I get to work" pipes, but since I live on a newly surfaced county road, I love hearing loud HDs and IL4s flying by. Either way, the EPA sucks! | ||
| Terribletim |
I'm not going to get into whether loud pipes are helpful or not. But let me say this - When did it not become freedom of choice? Why is it still ok to drive by my house at 2am with your bass speakers in your trunk rattling my windows? Why is it the people who never rode a motorcycle make all the motorcycle laws? | ||
| Glitch |
When did it not become freedom of choice? EPA laws have been around for years, it's just that now they're being enforced, in some areas. Why is it still ok to drive by my house at 2am with your bass speakers in your trunk rattling my windows? There's a law here against that, but it's enforced as much as the loud pipes, not very often. Why is it the people who never rode a motorcycle make all the motorcycle laws? Because they're the ones getting elected. | ||
| De50man |
"Why is it the people who never rode a motorcycle make all the motorcycle laws?" Aye, that is the real question we should be asking. I don't see how people think it is fair, or maybe they know it isn't but don't care because it is not them. I'm all for loud pipes, I love the beautiful sound of an air cooled v-twin doing its thing. However, there is a point where it becomes obnoxious. I also firmly believe that anything, whether it be loud pipes or modulating headlights, that gets a rider noticed, can't be entirely bad. This is of course, my personal opinion. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
My house backs up to a road. This road just happens to be the shortest route to run south for police, ambulances, and fire trucks. I hear them all the time. I would love to get the use of the sirens banned. They annoy me. The HD's, IL4's etc. that run that same road don't seem to bother me as much. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I'll never forget a moron I saw in Helen, Georgia during Octoberfest. Octoberfest in Helen isn't a biker thing, it's a family oriented event where people walk around and visit little shops and such. This leering idiot was at the main crosswalk revving his open piped mega-motored custom to impress the citizens. Just about everyone around me said something disdainful about motorcyles and motorcyclist general because of one poor decision making beanie head. I couldn't blame them one bit. | ||
| Tommy_black_shark |
I live about 3 miles away from, and about 1000 feet above US76 in Blairsville, GA. Sometimes late at night I can hear the loud Harleys blasting down the highway. That doesn't bother me half as much as the guys who ride their loud dirt bikes past the posted signs onto our property out the back. I've never seen them, but I can hear them and they are out very early on weekend mornings. For whats its worth, the local cops have never to the best of my knowledge set up roadblocks to check for loud exhaust, but they are out regularly looking for speedy riders and no drivers license all the time. | ||
| Terribletim |
Here's another one to think about. . . Here in the NorthWest (Seattle to be exact) they are putting medics on motorcycles. The thing that gets me? They will be wearing vests that inflate if they part company with the bike like an air bag. How long until those people who never rode a bike but make all the laws tell all of us we have to wear that vest too? How much fun will you have on your XB with all the gear they will force down your throat? Eventually, you will be so "geared-up" that you won't be able to move or ride. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I can think of a few situations where some airbag underwear could have really helped. | ||
| Terribletim |
Airbag Underwear!?!?!? I almost don't want to ask, but I can't help it. . .WHAT THE?!?!?! | ||
| Pregrid |
Wellllll, I gotta chime in. First of all I ride a 98 S1 with a V&H on it with NO packing. Yup, none. Is it loud? Yup. Do I like it? Yup. Do I rev it at stop lights to impress? Nope. I like it beacause I like it, and when I'm splitting lanes on the way home from work when the traffic is doing 10-15 mph EVERONE knows I'm comin', and a LOT of people give me room. It's for fun, it's for safety, no, survival. Simple as that. I don't like the intrusive music, either, bue I LOVE the sound of horsepower. Call me predudiced, don't care. Dave | ||
| Cowboy |
I like loud pipes if they are tuned for H.P.and the motor has been steped on, How ever the kid that lives next to me rides a 883 that is bone stock but is running stright pipes(not very fast or strong) he drives me crazy. | ||
| Nondual |
I've heard sports bikes that go over the line too...and really, it depends where you live. I used to live out in the sticks (heck, I'm from the U.P.!) and out in the sticks, who cares if your pipes are a little loud. Here in LA, it's just too much noise already. Yes, the loud stereos are obnoxious and should be kept in check for the same reasons - the same with those 'air horns' that are psychotically loud. The only thing that loud pipes have going for them is that they DO make 'invisible' bikers visible. | ||
| Thin_air |
If I am forced to put the stock exhaust or motor configuration back on my XB or my other Harleys it will send me over to the other side. Our bikes come so choked down from the factory that the only way to make them even remotely perform on the level of any other bike on the market is to modify the shit outta them. Don't make me buy another brand, I swear to buddha I will..... Thin Air | ||
| Cowboy |
There is many ways to step on your motor and more beneficial than opening the pipes, and if it is not done right it is down right harmful. I think more power is lost in street bikes than is gained.( it must be tuned on dyno to be correct) as a old 1/4 miler I have been there. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
One of the nastiest bikes I have ever heard is a guy who rides with us who has a Bandit 600. The V&H pipe he has on it is down right obnoxious. At certain points, it has the same effect as hearing a dentist's drill. | ||
| Thin_air |
+1 what Cowboy said. I however have motors that are built from the wheels to the heads, the Thunderheader being the last piece of the puzzle. My Thunderheaders aren't always loud, just when you hamfist it. I am running a D&D on the XB. I also have the race tuner and modified airbox. It is pretty tame in comparison to the 95" HTCC motors. I have spent considerable time and funds building these motorcycles and it would make me sick to part with even one. I will if I start getting hassled about pipes. That will be the final straw for me. I also feel that this pipe crap has been largely brought on by the mother company, not the government. They have a ton to gain by eliminating the aftermarket competition TA | ||
| Cowboy |
I do agree with you. and nothing is as nice as a tuined exhaust I just hate the stright pipes with no purpose but to make noise. | ||
| Thespive |
All I want is a better sounding, better performing exhaust - I want sound, not noise. --Sean |
