Loud Pipes Are Killing Motorcycles

My XS has a Mike's 2 into 1 with the shorty megaphone and mechanical baffle. It has a nice tone but is not loud, I have had no complaints from any of my neighbors. My last dirt bike (WR400 Yamaha) had an FMF 'Q' series pipe, again nice tone but not loud. My rotary powered race car has a Dynomax turbo muffler and I made a 'turn down' to point the exhaust down, it's pretty quiet. Since I autocross it and that often is in close proximity to housing, I'd rather lose a few HP on the top end than lose another AX venue, there's few enough as it is. That's called being a good neighbor.

I spent several years in OHV trail system management in South Carolina. Several of us created an organization called SCORE which was aimed at adding more OHV trail in the state. We did or damndest to create a new trail system in a state forest, we actually got as far as laying out the suggested trail and marking it with paint, then GPSing it. It got shot down. Why?

The #1 issue to non-OHvers was noise. That led not only to the loss of this trail system but also to the cancellation of my club's enduro which used to be held on Forest Service land. We got REAL lucky; we found a private hunt club which has some 8500 acres which gladly allows us to use it in the off season. We run under AMA/FIM rules which cap the sound level at 92db, BTW.

The non-OHvers in every case cited as their justification loud street bikes. So don't for a minute think that your loud pipes don't affect others because damn straight it does. Sorry you drag pipe types have to be so selfish.

Going back to lead. You cannot use lead shot for ducks or geese, however, you can use it on dove, in the same field you shot those geese earlier. Ya, that makes sense.
It all goes back to one thing...money and who makes the biggest amount of noise.
I do not like being told what to do, I will not do it, so go eat poo!!!

Just like our public tracks here. The majority of the people who showed up for the meeting were anti-motocross/trail riders, with a lot of power in the local politics. Most of the riders never showed up. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. They made one phone call to the EPA and all the tracks were shut down due to erosion. Then they showed videos at the meeting of tracks in California and the erosion it caused. The videos just poured on the visuals of torn up trails bleeding into the bays, trees marked up by bikes hitting them, oil and fuel spills in the woods, loss of habit and animals forced from their mating/bedding areas by racing, trash, ect. Hell, I almost voted against it. In the end the EPA said that there was erosion, though small, it would only grow, so they closed 3 places. All the pro-enduro didn't show up for the vote. If everyone from the track would have been there, there might have been a slight chance.

This shouldn't bother me, but some how it does. So, I'm really done now.

Kinda selfish attitude when it comes to loud pipes. You say you wont change because it is your right, unfortunatly the powers will use whatever means they have to change legislation and the more the people, (Motor bike riders) , stick to there own agendas without a compromise the easier it is for the lobbyist's to get their way.

Using the excuse that loud pipes save lives is a deadend argument, as the findings are that is is a myth. The only ones who belive thatare the ones who love to have loud pipes.

The worst thing about this is the law is in place to fine and stop the loud exhausts but because it is not enforced then we end up with lobbyists gaining attention and the polies using these sorts of things to stay in power.

We, (bikers), should be encoraging a stamp down on the existing laws, Get the noise reader, do some testing and find out why the laws are not being enforced and ask why. The worst of 2 evils is to do this or when the new laws are implemented, there is an automatic crack down and then we are all worse off

To be honest a lot of this is caused by the Harly Bregade who belive that Harly's have to be loud, and any chopper/bobber with straight pipes,(fad on the rise), is not helping either

Why not start our own petition asking why are law inforcment not doing there job enforcing the noise code, By getting the same petitioners, (who are complaining), on your side then the statis quo may be salvegable.























































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My take on loud pipes is, there is good loud and bad loud. I'm talking all across the motorcycle spektrum. From dirt bikers to dirtbag bikers. The good loud is usually a rider with some knowledge and common sense when it comes to performance of their rides and spend money on well engineered product. The bad loud comes from morons who have all the kids education savings wrapped up in wordrobe and some image type of bike. Has no commen sense or knowledge of anything more mechanical than a can opener, and end up buying cheapo engineered garbage because their beer drinking buddy said they made his bike really loud.

Recycle Bill i agree with you . Where i live in Canada every type of motorized sporting event has been affected because of noise complaints.I have said it before some of us are our own worst enemy when it comes to improving the public image of our sport.I love the sound of any high performance engine at full song or going through the gears but the public streets is not the place.As far as noisy pipes saveing lives i have seen a lot of motorcycles with loud pipes involved in tragic accidents.It does not matter how loud your pipes are we already know 50 percent of the other drivers can not see us even though they had to pass a vision test to get their driving permit. There is no hearing test that i am aware of so how do you know that the other 50 percent might not be deaf.

The problem for us isn't where we stand on the issue but in understanding that the issue involves politics and politics involves politricksters on both sides who play the voters and force everyone to the extreme ends of the pendulum.

Personally, I think 100 to 106 db is an acceptable figure-- a happy medium-- but knowing how politicians work you can bet they'll push for and get the 80 db that is already required for new motorcycles. Politics never settles on a happy medium because a happy medium means the problem is solved and when the problem is solved the politicians can no longer coax money out of the lobbyists.

And if you think the motorcycle industry is going to help us out... All new motorcycles are already at 80 db and below on new stock motorcycles and the industry will be more than happy to help us out by selling us stock pipes or new motorcycles to replace our old noisy motorcycles.

To add insult to injury, it's physically impossible to get air cooled, solid tappet engines to run as quietly as water cooled engines with zero clearance hydraulic valve mechanisms. I can't say for certain but I doubt that an XS or old Sportster can be brought down to below 80 db and still run. Don't believe what is currently a street legal motorcycle can't be regulated off the road? Try tagging and insuring a 1903 Harley-Davidson or most any other 100 year old motorcycle. Most states simply won't allow them on the road.

And lest we forget, the fastest growing segment of the motorcycle industry is currently super quiet electric motorcycles and when civilians start comparing our old bikes to quiet electric motorcycles the pressure will get even greater.

The sky is falling... Maybe. But when it comes to politics, stranger things have happened.

Loud pipes saves lives is BULLSHIT! Rider education, NOT driver education saves lives. I don't know the current stats, but some time ago I did daily safety talks and used motorcycle info quite often. About seven out of ten motorcycle accidents were the cyclists fault. Look up some safety statistics if you don't believe me. But all of that aside, this is America and we should retain the right to modify our motorcycles. We will eventually be our own demize if we as riders don't smarten up about these issues.

There is loud and then there is just plain too loud.

If it's too loud, you're too old.

Please note that I NEVER agreed with the phrase, "Loud pipes save lives". Only paying attention does that.

+1 Capt Zoom,I am with U on this one.
Who are these guys that try and tell us how it is out there when they most probably never ridden a bike.Yes motorcyles will continue to be involved in crashes and it's the fact that when a bike is involved it will be highlighted moreso.I am talking as a rider since I obtained my licence at age 16 and the cagers attitude have NOT changed.How many times do you hear the lame excuse "Oh I didn't see you"?What about all the times when you are riding along a highway and someone decides to lane change on you and if it wasn't for the quick blip on the throttle to let them know you are there.Loud pipes DO save lives and they also assist in defensive riding.

hi guys,,,, i,m treating this with the contempt that it deserves,,, as i,ve seen loud pipes SAVES LIVES in traffic and highway use,,, i,m in australia ,,, where its 98decibell,,, and according to the epa.. or nomnuts experts the bike must be moving at exactly 100k when they take a reading,, end of story ,,,,,,on my 1980 gs1000e,,,, i have 4 into1 with a megacycle made muffler stamped 98dec... in my garage ,when i ring its neck it sounds like a train coming,,, my 1976 xs650 has 45mm headers and exhaust with alloy tracker mufflers ,,, ,i have repacked them previously and yes in town i quitely ride around never reving it as it does bark when it gets up to 4000 etc .. and clearly even in australia harley owners have different rules for them,,, it appears,,,bitch to your polititians start with the locals that really do need to listen to you and work your way up ... they are not beyond us the voters ....regards oldbiker

Bull Shit, if you think loud pipes are saving your life then you're a fool and have no business riding. The ONLY thing loud pipes do is piss off the people around you. Loud pipes do more to turn the public against motorcyclists than all the toy rides put together.

I've always been against loud pipes and still am because of their annoyances to others but I will admit they did save my ass from being run over by a big rig but these special groups that lobby our politicians for their own public agenda values can kiss my butt thinking I'll abide by some ridiculous law requiring my mufflers adhere to Db percentage levels set to their standards. My mufflers are glass pack for that vintage twin tone and that's the way they'll stay,regardless of the Db reading.

Too many of you are confusing the issues. I'm not arguing that loud pipes save lives or loud pipes don't save lives. What I am saying is that loud pipes are killing the thing we all like to do-- ride motorcycles. Forget yourselves and think about your grandsons. Wouldn't you want your grandsons to be free to enjoy motorcycles just as you enjoy motorcycles?

Blue the potato Digging has begun and I could whittle one down to fit in my ear! They will be on every corner soon.

XSLeo Got a picture of that Horn I'm interested

Jack said:

I've always been against loud pipes and still am because of their annoyances to others but I will admit they did save my ass from being run over by a big rig but these special groups that lobby our politicians for their own public agenda values can kiss my butt thinking I'll abide by some ridiculous law requiring my mufflers adhere to Db percentage levels set to their standards. My mufflers are glass pack for that vintage twin tone and that's the way they'll stay,regardless of the Db reading.

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I spent 28 years driving those big rigs-- the old rigs were so loud we couldn't hear motorcycles and the new rigs have so much insulation we can't hear even the loudest motorcycles. The drivers of those rigs can't even hear most other rigs. Your story goes against all odds but then sometimes things work out that way. Maybe the driver had his window down, maybe he heard you but don't expect to be heard again.

Enough tickets and you'll change your tone or stop riding. How many is enough? I don't know how deep your pockets are.

tx650 said:

+1 Capt Zoom,I am with U on this one.
Who are these guys that try and tell us how it is out there when they most probably never ridden a bike.Yes motorcyles will continue to be involved in crashes and it's the fact that when a bike is involved it will be highlighted moreso.I am talking as a rider since I obtained my licence at age 16 and the cagers attitude have NOT changed.How many times do you hear the lame excuse "Oh I didn't see you"?What about all the times when you are riding along a highway and someone decides to lane change on you and if it wasn't for the quick blip on the throttle to let them know you are there.Loud pipes DO save lives and they also assist in defensive riding.

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If you have time to blip the throttle you have time to blow an air horn.

oldbiker said:

hi guys,,,, i,m treating this with the contempt that it deserves,,, as i,ve seen loud pipes SAVES LIVES in traffic and highway use,,, i,m in australia ,,, where its 98decibell,,, and according to the epa.. or nomnuts experts the bike must be moving at exactly 100k when they take a reading,, end of story ,,,,,,on my 1980 gs1000e,,,, i have 4 into1 with a megacycle made muffler stamped 98dec... in my garage ,when i ring its neck it sounds like a train coming,,, my 1976 xs650 has 45mm headers and exhaust with alloy tracker mufflers ,,, ,i have repacked them previously and yes in town i quitely ride around never reving it as it does bark when it gets up to 4000 etc .. and clearly even in australia harley owners have different rules for them,,, it appears,,,bitch to your polititians start with the locals that really do need to listen to you and work your way up ... they are not beyond us the voters ....regards oldbiker

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If we're ever able to document that loud pipes save lives then our governments will force us to turn our pipes facing forwards in order to "protect us."

Ghetto said:

There is loud and then there is just plain too loud.

If it's too loud, you're too old.

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Whipper snapper.