Loud Pipes Debate...

[stryken]

LOUD PIPES COST MONEY!


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I would like to get a shirt made up with that phrase on it. I have nothing against loud pipes, in fact I want some myself but this is the only thing they really do for certain. Everytime I think about spending the money I realize what other more useful mods I could do and end up spending the money on those.

 

[abacall]

Personal experience says yes.
I was in my friend's car, windows down. He was about to pull out from a side street into a major road when he heard a loud exhaust (R6) he stopped and checked again. He would have nailed the bike, but didn't because he heard it. He got an earful from me.

Bikes are not visible to the normal motorist's eye, so anything that brings more attention helps.

All of you thinking your pipes are saving your lives need to look up the doppler effect.

Ok. I've heard the Doppler Effect being used as an excuse many times. I don't get what this has to do at all with the subject.
The Doppler Effect only changes perceived pitch (wavelength), and had NOTHING to do with volume. Unless I don't really get the idea, and there's something I missed.
Orientation of the sound-making device has an effect, sure. But sound does reverberate and bounce, and you can hear it even if it's facing the other direction.
The other facet that seems to be ignored by the BS flag wavers is that not all cages are moving, with their windows up, and music blaring. Sure, there are some. However, that does not detract from the simple fact that some do hear you coming. Which therefore MUST increase your chances of being noticed.

 

[Cuba]

The argument that if the driver is listening to their loud stereo they wont hear you is true. So is the fact that if they close their eyes they won't see your rediculous saftey vest or yellow helmet, but that doesn't mean it won't assist you in being noticed in many other situations. Stock I had the normal car creeping into my lane incidents, and people deciding to walk across the street right in front of me without looking. Neither has happened since the 2bros. install. The other day a buddy told me he heard me ride the entire way home from his house, heard me stop at the intersections, heard me throttle down before the sharp turn, heard me shut it off in my driveway a half mile away. It is just a piece of the puzzle, it can help just like a bright jacket can in some situations but not all.

 

[abacall]

Some info about Doppler Effect:

The frequency of the sounds that the source emits does not actually change. To understand what happens, consider the following analogy. Someone throws one ball every second in a man's direction. Assume that balls travel with constant velocity. If the thrower is stationary, the man will receive one ball every second. However, if the thrower is moving towards the man, he will receive balls more frequently because the balls will be less spaced out. The inverse is true if the thrower is moving away from the man. So it is actually the wavelength which is affected; as a consequence, the received frequency is also affected. It may also be said that the velocity of the wave remains constant whereas wavelength changes; hence frequency also changes.

The siren on a passing emergency vehicle will start out higher than its stationary pitch, slide down as it passes, and continue lower than its stationary pitch as it recedes from the observer. Astronomer John Dobson explained the effect thus:

"The reason the siren slides is because it doesn't hit you."

In other words, if the siren approached the observer directly, the pitch would remain constant (as vs, r is only the radial component) until the vehicle hit him, and then immediately jump to a new lower pitch. Because the vehicle passes by the observer, the radial velocity does not remain constant, but instead varies as a function of the angle between his line of sight and the siren's velocity:

 

[SANGER_A2]

You need a "both" option.

 

[sxty8goats]

I have a loud car, a loud bike (the Shadow) and the FZ6 w/ stock exhaust. I'm not anti loud but I don't beleive it saves lives. My CB750 was Loud, The sv650s was stock. The only bike I've ever been cut off in traffic while riding was the CB 750. I was in the lane next to the guy, Car infront of me and alble to see the face of the driver who cut me off in his side view mirror. So if he bothered to look, he would have seen me. Lucky for me, the car behind me was paying enough attention that they didn't rear end me as I hit the breaks.

At this time, I have no plans on swaping the exhaust on the FZ6, it has enough power for me and I like the peaceful ride I get with stock exhaust. The GTO is only loud becasue at the time I modified it, I couldn't get the power I was looking for with a stock exhaust. And it is sexxy loud.

 

[Nefilim]

There should be an in-between option. Personally I have stock pipes but if I had the money I would spring for Two Bros.

In situations where you're just cruising along in a straight line, loud pipes don't really amount to piddly since the sound isn't going to reach anyone but the people who can already see you. I think good reaction times and experience are far better in your survival than a pair of loud pipes.

However I have noticed that in my usual commutes in downtown urban areas or in parking lots, I seem to be noticed far less than on my old bike - a Honda Shadow ACE with V&H exhaust. Approaching intersections when I have the right-of-way becomes dangerous because most cagers just glance out once and go if they don't see anyone - and they usually don't since there's a lot of parked cars that hide my presence. On my old bike, hearing that growling coming from *somewhere* was enough to make them at least look around for a few more seconds before pulling out.

Furthermore, I never had any issues with pedestrians crossing before. Now, almost every week when I'm doing my runs, I have some guy on a cellphone barging out into the middle of the road from behind a SUV.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

JUST LIKE YOUR HORN, YOU CANNOT RELY ON YOUR LOUD PIPES to save your life!

However, in certain situations, you can use it to your advantage. I too find myself riding in traffic around 8000k rpms so that the cagers besides me may hear me. That's a big maybe. But certainly I'm not relying on them to save my life. There really is no way of telling because the path of travel will remain the same for you and the cagers.

For those who say it's useful from preventing bad lane changes, true up to a point, but if you see someone coming over, you need to react by using your horn and at the sametime, execute a corrective measure. Most riders only have the ability to just brake or swerve, they forget about using the horn entirely, until maybe after the fact.

The only way to save your life is by relying on how sharp your mental as well as your riding abilities are.

Here's a test....see how you do....

http://www.600riders.com/forum/track-tech-riding-techniques/20615-knowledge-perception-test.html

 

[Stumbles06]

It may be just co-incidence, but I haven't had a cager pull into my lane on top of me since installing my Leo's.

As has been said, it may not SAVE your life, but I'll take any little bit of help that I can get to get stupid cagers to notice me.

Rely on your reflexes and general awareness to save your life, and everything will be great

:rockon:

 

[bigdog9191999]

like most i dont think they will save your life on there own..

but, the smiles per miles is where it is at and if they help in even a handfull of situations they i think they are worth it.. like some others have said too you can wear "bright" colors, but dont allways get seen... i really like the scorps on the fz as they sound great without being "too" loud..

case in point most situations yes it can HELP but is not the only saving grace..


my ext. cab 1-ton dually has lots of lights and 40 series flowmasters behind my big block.. and i still get some that will pull out in front of it.. but it helps sometimes and makes me smile so oh well..

 

[cv_rider]

My first bike was a pitifully wimpy Buell Blast, but it came with an aftermarket K&R (or maybe K&N) exhaust that was louder than hell. It was so darn loud that I didn't like riding over 45 mph because it hurt my ears. When I'd ride at a normal pace/rpm through neighborhoods, people would be glaring at me because I was making such a racket. I put a stock exhaust back on so that it sounded like an electric lawn mower, and I hugely preferred it.

I've never had any desire to swap my stock exhaust on FZ6 to something loud. I personally don't object to loud pipes, as my interest in motorcycles impart a tendency to hear loud engines. But I do think that beyond a point, they get obnoxious, and there is no good rationale for that. If you feel you must be that obtrusively loud to be safe, you shouldn't be on a motorcycle.

I subscribe to "ugly high vis vests and riding with high beams on during the day saves lives." With that strategy, I've had very few instances of people pulling into lane and generally not seeing me (except yesterday in Napa Valley where apparently everyone was drunk on wine tasting).

 

[jerdman89]

I voted yes because since I put on the M4's I haven't had as many close calls riding thru town. I can actually hear them echo off the buildings around me. But idiots are idiots and there are some people that just aren't going to notice you. As a great t-shirt said "would you drive any better if i stuck that cell phone up your ass." Loud pipes are good for critters too. On at least six different ocassions I've redlined it while slowing down for a deer on or beside the road and it jumped as high as I stand tall and went back to the woods. scares small animals too but it's easier to just go around them.

There is a such thing as to loud though. There are two guys with harley that pass my house sometimes. they have straight pipes and you can hear them coming 3 miles away. There is also a guy with an old orange suzuki of some kind with a hollowed out jardine pipe. It's ear ringing loud and sounds like crap.

 

[jmerch44]

I ride with 2 bros and I love it. I am the type of person who loves when the cager next to me rolls up their windows because I'm interrupting their phone conversation. I love pissing off the neighbors. I love pissing off the cops. I love not being able to hear anything except my pipes. I love being totally obnoxious (spelling) and rude.

peoples perception of crotch rockets will never change, people dont even have to see riders being stupid and they will treat them like they are. Its like drugs, you cant change it by creating a war against it, its to deeply embedded. I am the type to roll with the punches. If you think I'm a squid and I have a death wish and that I'm rude because I ride a crotch rocket, fine, I'll do just that. When a girl accuses you of cheating for 10 years even though you werent and then dumps you for it, your gonna think, I might as well have cheated. Thats how I view riding a crotch rocket. I was guilty of breaking every traffic law as soon as I bought it, so I might as well break every traffic law, and thus, I have no traffic tickets (go figure). I just make sure that I dont endager anyone else around me, but I will be rude and loud until the day I die because its fun and whether I do it or not, people are gonna assume I did.

loud pipes dont save lives, you do! learn to ride better everyday you ride. And BTW this is totally my opinion, so dont attack my like I'm scum!:rockon: Live clean, Ride durtty baby!

 

[sxty8goats]

I was in my cager behind a Honda Shadow a few weeks back that was so loud I had to roll up the windows. It was loud to the point of distraction and in my opinion, a safety hazard. I watched a car next to me and they were paying more attention to the bike infront of me than the road in front of them.

I had my buddy take my Shadow up and down the street so I could listen to see if mine was that bad. Cobra pipes w/ baffels. It was maybe half as loud.

 

[Oblinox]

theres a whole cd about this!

CDBaby | Prydein | Loud Pipes (save lives)

 

[FZ1inNH]

Loud pipes, no loud pipes.... Jeeez!

LEt me say this... Your RIDING SKILLS and your ability to PRECEIVE DANGER and plan your escape route saves your life. I don't care HOW loud you are, the in the end the idiot cager WINS over a smaller bike each and every time.

Heed the t-shirt... ride and be aware of your surroundings. Seek your escape routes as they change by the second. If you rely on loud pipes AND/OR a horn, you're almost dead already.

This is MY opinion and I am entitled to it. I apologize to no one and do not expect you to agree. I do expect you to analyze this and develop your own opinion.

Ride safe all!

 

[Cali rider]

Wow, lots of well-reasoned opinions on this subject. As mentioned by most everyone above this post, I believe it's the riders skill and attention that truly saves lives. Horns, vests, loud exhausts, etc. are only useful if someone NOTICES them, which is out of your control.

Nice to see a touchy issue like this discussed with thought and not emotion.

 

[DefyInertia]

The only time I think they would help is when splitting lanes.

Tastefully loud is cool with me, but too loud is just too loud and pisses off the public. I thought it was cool when I was 18.

Now a race bike a WOT on the front straight is very cool...but like with most things, there is a time and a place.

I LOVE my quiet bike.

 

[chunkygoat]

Loud pipes attract attention, including attention from the police. There are obviously exception (distracted cagers, loud music, etc). I honestly believe you are more likely to be pulled over on a loud bike than on a not-so-loud bike. I feel like it attracts more attention thus making others more aware of your presence. Rely on them to be seen? Certainly not. But are more people going to hear you coming (including the cops)? Yes.

My head is like a magnet for loud vehicles. I love the sound of a roaring engine, and whenever I hear one - I lose all focus and yank my head in the direction its coming from.

I like to think others do the same.

Just my opinion.

 

[pkoosa]

I love my quiet bike too. I sold my Leo Vince's and haven't looked back. I spent the money on a Total Control Riding class with Lee Parks, a better ROI IMO. I ride like no one see's me anyways, and depend on my skills to keep me safe.