Comments on: Loud Pipes Are An Expression, Not Safety Equipment

By: Rich W

Rich W — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:20:16 +0000

Totally agree with you Scott. The only thing that really saves lives, in my opinion, is 360 degree awareness at all times.

By: yinyang1950

yinyang1950 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:55:51 +0000

I disagree, Scott! When my 08 Super Glide hit 10,000 miles I "modified" my pipes, got the Stage 1 download & hi flow/air flow installed. 34,000 miles later, I can't tell you how many times I've used those loud pipes! First day, traveling down a country road, I spied a dog running across his yard appearing to want to chase the 3 bikes coming down the road. I was in the middle. The first rider performed a precautionary swerve, but I revved my engine & the dog stopped dead in his tracks & stared at us go by. I've heard, but don't know for sure, that other animals, like deer, can hear the bike & will bolt. Problem is, they could bolt in front of you… deer are stupid that way. Besides the fact they sound great, low & throaty, not obnoxious at all, one day I pulled up to a stop light in my cage, with windows up, radio on. Happened to glance to my left & there was a whisper quiet Gold Wing… never heard him. I have been in my cage at times & literally heard & felt a bike coming up behind me. By the way, I am a lady rider, too. Sorry, but I do believe those loud pipes have prevented someone from pulling out in front of me… not necessarily by just cruising alone but by revving the engine to get their attention. I've seen them stop when they appeared to be going to pull out. You still have to ride defensively, of course. And, I don't rev my pipes unnecessarily. I use them to warn drivers & to communicate with other riders with me. You'll never convince me they don't save lives. However, I do agree we should be respectful & not rev them in neighborhoods… that is unless someone is going to pull out in front of you.

By: Tombo

Tombo — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 02:21:50 +0000

A couple anecdotes:

First, I was driving in my full size SUV and was switching lanes and saw a biker at the lat minute and got back into my lane. As the biker passed me, I could hear her loud pipes, but not until she was about at my rear door. We were going 70-80 and the pipes were ineffective at that speed.

Second, I have V&H BSS on my Fatty. They're pretty loud (louder than I wanted). I was riding down a city street that had 3 lanes both ways. A guy was tearing from the rightmost late to the leftmost and stopped in the center about 5 feet in front of me. He heard my pipes and didn't continue into my lane even though the way he was driving, it looked like he was making a quick 3 lane change (BAD!!). In this case, the loud pipes saved me from best case, a minor heart attack and at worst case, a squishing.

Point being, loud pipes are effective on 3 sides at highway speeds: left, right and front of a car. At city speeds, they are much more effective from the back of a cage (4 sides). Ya know what, I can die just as easily getting smacked at 30-45 as I could at 70-80, so saying that loud pipes are flatly ineffective is false, flatly.

As soon as I got my pipes, I realized they were loud and I have quiet baffles on order, but you know what? It's hard to justify someone's 10 seconds of minor inconvenience to me getting squished. I haven't quite decided yet.

By: poor devil

poor devil — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:22:27 +0000

Scott,just between you and I and all that will be argued over this matter. I read an articial some years back that made a lot of common sense to me, so much I try still to put it into practice each time I ride or drive. First get the big picture, try to see whats on each side and behind and in front of you.Second Aim high in your forward vision, not just the vehicle in front of you, try to see whats down the road way before it can effect what you will need to do to stay safe. Third.always leave yourself an out. Try to know to what you can do, in case you need to avoid the unexpected thing that will happen, if you ride or drive long enough!!! Fourth.Keep your eyes moving. Try to take in as much as you safely can.Do not just look at whats in the direction you plan to travel.And last but not least, make sure they see you. Flash your lights or blow the horn , I would rather get the finger for doing that what makes sure they at least see me, then wind up in the hospital or a hell of a lot worse. But thats just my 2 cents worth and if it helps just one person that reads its, I'm O K with that!

By: Reg Kittrelle

Reg Kittrelle — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:47:25 +0000

Well put, Scott.
Substituting noise for riding skill suggests that you shouldn’t be on the motorcycle in the first place.

By: Paul Phillips

Paul Phillips — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 23:13:58 +0000

Scott – You are absolutely correct on this issue and if the knotheads out there don’t get the message from you, they are going to receive it ‘Loud and Clear’ from the legislators. The Noise Nazis are on the march and the California stock pipes law is just the start of a legislative snowball rolling downhill directly at us.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:50:30 +0000

Loud pipes lose motorcyclists rights. As is well known and actually decently reserached, loud pipes do not save lives.

The negatives: they risk permanent hearing loss to the rider and his passenger. They irritate the neighbors and entire neighborhood when you ride with your loud pipes. They LOSE RIGHTS! — check it out, there are tourist areas, condos and resorts that specifically ban motorcycles…. and you can jut bet the ban is related to loud bikes!

I agree totally with the author… if you need more notice from a car , get a loud horn. Stebel horns are loud as a truck and will get you more better notice than trying to pull your clutch and blip your throttle.

By: Flat Black

Flat Black — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:25:25 +0000

Country Boy- $50? the loudest bike out there? Ok, Go to your local drag strip and sit at the far end of the stands when the bikes are lining up. Then send that $50 to the Boys and Girls club.

GA Thunder-My statement was that sound is not unidirectional, not undirectable. Nowhere in my post did I state that it would be as loud in front of the bike or from any perspective. Speaking of science, there is an interesting law that states the ratio of capital letters and punctuation marks to lower case letters and proper punctuation is directionally proportional to “troll-ness.”

By the way, I have stock pipes on my bike and I like them.

By: Harley Shelton

Harley Shelton — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:16:27 +0000

Scott, very well written article. I throughly enjoyed a couple of your comments, and points of view.

But you missed something…
here is my face book post…

No mention of Quiet steel by ford, no mention that all auto manufactures have gone to great lengths to eliminate road noise, wind noise, engine noise. all in the pursuit of a nice quiet ride. the difference between cars and trucks made just… 10 years ago and those produced today is night and day. Today’s cager cabins are literally sound proof, thus allowing very little noise through the body of the vehicle. thus making the average vehicle driver deaf, or unable to hear what is going on around them.

I have loud pipes but not so obnoxiously loud that i can’t hear what is going on around me. I have never been hit by a fire truck or ambulance or police cruiser. How ever 3 years ago i was broad sided by a work truck that made an illegal left hand turn from a parking lot.
I was lucky and walked away after some recovery time. that driver said I could hear you coming, but he did not see me until it was way too late for both of us.

We as bikers should use good judgment when we ride and take into consideration that most cagers are at best inattentive to what they are doing at that particular moment when they cut you off or worse.

any good rider can keep their pipes in check, and keep them selves out of a bad situation just by using common sense.

My neighbors may not like my pipes, at seven in the morning, As a matter of fact at least one has had the balls to say so and suggested i start my bike further down the drive way. I try to be respectful of all of them a majority of the time. they know when i am leaving and they wave when i come home.
So yeah it is personal preference to have louder than stock pipes.

If you want to hear a loud vehicle sit next to a garbage truck in traffic
I guarantee that a garbage truck is louder at idle than any harley with drag pipes .

That is my 2 cents, now pull up your big girl panties and deal with it….

By: Les

Les — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:54:04 +0000

I think, again this is my opinion after several years of riding (on and off since 1960) When I was younger loud pipes were a MUST! It just sounded cool. Today it is easy to be lulled into false security with “loud pipes”. Vigilance is your best security, look in all directions at once. Watch the idiot on the cell phone, look for the teen driver, soccer mom, the old man, did I miss anyone? Stay attentive to changing road situations, look ahead several cages, and Most of all, keep eyes on the traffic not your bike!` I have had two wrecks in my life and both were not paying attention to the road conditions.