Poll: How Do You Feel About Loud Pipes?

I'm not familiar with any empirical evidence that loud pipes save lives as some are fond of saying, but I can say with reasonable confidence that loud pipes do irritate people - non-cyclists in particular - and don't do the greater motorcycling fraternity very much good.

My Versys had an aftermarket (loud) exhaust installed when I bought it. It sounded very boy racer-like but soon became really irritating, especially on anything other than a short ride. Fortunately the bike also came with the stock exhaust. I re-installed it and became much happier. Quiet is a good thing when it comes to hearing what's being said in my helmet speakers and what's going on around me (like Woots said).

As far as weight saving and the ever-popular supposed increased horsepower/performance, I would be better off (and healthier) if I lost the weight difference between the stock exhaust and the average aftermarket muffler rather than spending a boatload of my favorite currency on noise. And, short of a series of dyno sessions that accurately record before and after performance data, seat of the pants "evaluations" are probably too subjective to serve as meaningful testimonials. If I had spent a boatload on a Yoshi, of Two Bros, or any other costly exhaust can, I'd be likely to attest that the result was a noticeable performance boost, rather than merely noise.

Having said all that, I'm officially a geezer and no longer crave the loud go-fast things that I did in my youth. Well, that's certainly more than two cents worth. Am I capable of a short answer? Naaah. :grin2:

gmast1100 said:

Don't even get me started. I just got back from a first great 2000 mile trip on my Versys 650LT. A friend invited me along. He also had another friend along whom I'd never met. That friend rode a Harley. My friend was on a Nomad. His friend rode in the rear for a reason!

After all the Gold Wings and all the ST's I've ridden, I just can't stand the noise. And it has never been proven that 'loud pipes saves lives'. It's a Harley myth.

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Many more biker owners than Harley owners put loud pipes on their bikes. Very popular with the sport bike crowd and I've even seen Goldwings with 6 inch pipes on them. My '01 Kawasaki Voyager XII came with cobra pipes and I hated them. I would always end up short shifting.

Anyway, back on subject, when I was in a rental car in California on the interstate I decided that there was some merit to loud pipes. But that is only because of lane splitting and only in California. I could hear a bike even though I didn't know where it was. This kept me holding my lane position. The onus is on the rider to not linger in the blind spot because after a certain amount of time I would assume it is a super loud bike somewhere else on the road.

So other than California and the race track, I see no place for loud bikes, cars, trucks, etc.