[hamoid]

To me the sound of those big bikes is a form of terrorism. They rise my blood pressure, increase stress levels and make me hate. Try living somewhere where every 20 minutes such bikes make the windows of your flat shake and you can't hear your TV or your partner talking until the bike is gone. Why do I have to suffer this every day of my life? I can't wait until the ICE is part of our primitive past.

[bayindirh]

I understand that performance engines need unobstructed exhausts up to a certain point, but pipes tuned to amplify this sound is distracting at best, damaging your ears at worst. I don't like them.

They become hazardous in tunnels, underpasses and other closed spaces. Ultra loud pipes kill my ears' locating capabilities and I can't mentally place the motorcycle to the correct place so I won't unintentionally endanger it.

The place I live has many more motorcycles in recent years and they drive dangerously to save time (delivery guys), and it makes my life as a car driver much more harder.

If you always drive in my blind spots and have loud pipes to blind my ears, I cannot see you, even if I very hard to try. So please be a little more considerate.

[ericbarrett]

Hear hear. Noise pollution is one of the biggest reasons why I never want to live in a city again. And loud-pipe motorcycles are by far the biggest contributor to that—more than garbage trucks, delivery vehicles, truck engine (jake) brakes, or even sirens (except in New York where the sirens are inexplicably loud even outside the urban canyons of Manhattan).

[noir_lord]

Euro 4/5 big bikes are surprisingly quiet off the floor then they swap the exhaust and it's loud as fuck.

I'm a motorcyclist and I'll be moving to a larger bike next year but I want one that is as quiet as practical, on bike comfort is better if you don't scream every time you go over 5K.

[KozmoNau7]

> "I understand that performance engines need unobstructed exhausts up to a certain point"

As a motorcycle and car enthusiast, that point is way beyond any sort of reasonable level of performance for public roads.

[rorykoehler]

Performance engines belong on the race track

[VBprogrammer]

I don't know what to tell you, I'm normally a pretty sensible type. Stick to the speed limits, have a small sensible car etc. But on a motorbike the noise of the exhaust while riding a motorcycle is intoxicating!

[ubercow13]

Lots of 'intoxicating' things are incredibly selfish or even endanger others, that doesn't seem like a justification for anything.

[berkes]

I live in a nature area, on a curvy road (a dike). On sunny days, the amount of motorcycles passing is insane: several hundreds.

Of those, under 1% is like you: rediculously loud, shifting gears too late, etc.

Me and my neighbors are so fed up with those 20-something noise pollutors per week, that we're working with our regional govt to ban all motorcycles on these roads, or re-arrange our road so motorcycling is no longer fun, here. Apparently that is the only route left, now.

So congratulations: you've managed to spoil a hobby of hundreds of motorcyclists. (Besides being annoying as hell, obviuosly)

[VBprogrammer]

You seem to be projecting. My motorbike always had a street legal exhaust on it and it wasn't particularly loud.

Perhaps you should spend less time worrying about a little bit of noise, especially during daylight hours, presumably on mostly sunny days.

[bayindirh]

Can you be underestimating how sound propagates in silent environments, and our brains are so efficient at filtering background noise?

Since the pandemic started, traffic around my home decreased tremendously and, even smallest traffic became bothering. In sparsely populated areas, that oddball sound is much more disturbing to residents which are used to silence.

BTW, getting angry to people who we don't know personally is not very productive IMHO.

[VBprogrammer]

I'm intrigued about which part of that response you thought was angry?

The front elevation of my house is less than 15ft away from a reasonably busy road. I'm no stranger to the perils of noise pollution. In fact, around one week a year, last week in fact, the M25 (the London ring road) is diverted overnight along our road. This means we have heavy trucks passing our home all night long. We also live under the departure route for Heathrow (though that's been relatively quiet this year!).

I think people should live and let live though. Otherwise we end up in a situation where people are constantly trying to ban other people's hobbies. Off-road driving, motorcycles, horse riding, light aircraft, playing the drums, road cycling, caravaning, beer gardens, smoking weed, barbequing, DIY, fixing up old cars etc. They all have something someone else could find objectional if they lack joy enough in their own life to want to cause misery in someone else's.

[NikolaNovak]

Absolutely. To you.

Other 10,000 people you pass be dammed.

[PopePompus]

I recently had to move because of the noise caused by people like you.

[bayindirh]

Any engine can be intoxicating. Especially 3.0L V6 and upwards.

However, having an intoxicating piece of equipment doesn't allow anyone to drive recklessly in public roads, endangering yourself and others.

This the the thing I can tell you, as a son of a rally driver.

[goldenkey]

Inhaling the exhaust is intoxicating too. Not all of us want to destroy our lives for cheap thrills.

https://youtu.be/eEdf0R5ypsg

https://youtu.be/GO6guuJtPkM

[tartoran]

Harley’s exhausts make me sick even if I cover by ears, the sound vibrates through my body. I also dislike a tool reving all the way up his standing crotch rocket in front of my house, it’s both bad for the engine and done to draw attention and annoy others, why is this even allowed? Or the exploding sound which makes my dog enter a panic attack? They install some special exhausts pipes for that, how is that legal?

[graton]

From my understanding a stock Harley coming out of the factory is relatively quiet. They manufacture them to meet legal requirements.

It is just that majority of owners seem to replace exhaust system components to give it that "Harley sound".

Here is somebody doing a decibel test of their stock Harley: https://youtu.be/4LzFC1Ts7PE?t=63

[mrweasel]

Some motorcycle have an insane high volume bass sound that make me physically sick.

If the rider thinks it helps them get noticed in traffic, then fine, but then they should also have on a hi-vis jackets and helmet, which most don’t.

[tartoran]

It gets me utterly sick as well and covering my ears does’t help much. I don’t think the only intention is be heard but to be noticed by absolutely everyone, awake or asleep. It’s a show off

[hotz]

Hi-viz doesn't work though. I use to look like a walking highlighter, I might as well have been invisible. Put on aftermarket exhaust and people know I'm there. The difference in behaviour was crazy.

[igetspam]

Wear a white helmet. People notice them because cop. I loved my black and red shoeis but the white gets more eyes.

You're on the mark about hi-viz gear though. It's sometimes helpful but bikes are generally invisible.

[mrweasel]

Sorry, I don’t understand why you’re downvoted, because that’s kinda interesting. Has someone wrote the sound also don’t help in many cases so that could indicate that many aren’t paying enough attention while driving or we’re lacking some way to make bikers visible (both motorcycles and bicycles).

[PopePompus]

If you can't find a safe way to use your mode of transportation without ruining the quality of life of your neighbors, perhaps it's time to find a new mode of transportation.

[wwalexander]

If you can’t find a way to sit in front of the AC and listen to the radio without clogging roads, burning fossil fuels at a double or triple rate, and impeding your visibility so much that you regularly endanger the life of your neighbors, maybe it’s time to find a new mode of relaxation.

The USA is one of the few countries where motorcycles are uncommon and seen as a surprising choice, probably due to our laughably simple drivers test that doesn’t even require knowledge of how to drive a manual. Motorcycles burn less gas, cause far less traffic, and cause far less damage to others when accidents occur. The single reason why motorcycling is dangerous is because of 4-wheel drivers, who constantly:

* Change lanes/cut you off without signaling * Slam on their brakes without signaling * Try to merge into your lane when they are next to you * Read their phones and do all of these things

When I say constantly, I mean (in my city) every block or two of riding. Motorcycling is an exercise in constant scanning for the next person who is going to intentionally or unintentionally try to kill you, and having a loud exhaust is a way to quickly get them to realize they’re about to do so. It’s hard to see car drivers constantly put us in danger by (illegally) not paying attention for their own comfort, and then insinuate that it’s the motorcycle riders who are the problem.

One last note - I think most HNers are talking about loud sport bike exhausts like Yoshimura here, not Harley exhausts that sound like thunder every time you let off the clutch. These exhausts are normally at an acceptable, sociable noise level but can get much louder when you rev high, which is nice for blipping the throttle to get the guy next to you scrolling Spotify to look up before he sideswipes you.

So, even though I’m recovering from the multiple fractures I received after going over my handlebars, to avoid hitting a car that turned left in front of me in an intersection, who may never have seen me at all, I think I’ll stick with my mode of transportation. And you can stick with yours, and turn the radio up if you find the noise of motors on a motorway that unacceptable. I certainly do think a lot of riders take it too far, or just do it for attention. But I don’t think it’s fair to blame them in general for doing anything they can to counteract the lack of care and attention paid by people in cars.

[bellazeus]

The downvotes are because the loud pipes thing is a myth, especially on the highway. MSF classes actually cover this.

[hotz]

Aftermarket exhaust and slight left/right swerving movements beats hi-viz. The swerving is meant to catch the eye's attention in the side mirrors.

Many people also drive with earphones on so whatever external noises they hear is debatable. I'm betting most bikers will agree that hi-viz alone doesn't guarantee that you're visible.

[Enginerrrd]

Not sure I agree with the exhaust, but the weaving seems to help a LOT.

[GuB-42]

> To me the sound of those big bikes is a form of terrorism

Small bikes are way worse. These 50cc two stroke engines, often illegally modified with loud exhaust. Not only they are as loud if not louder than a big motorbike but they are so slow they linger around for a while, often it populated area like cities.

They are popular in France because you only need to be 14 to ride one (vs 18 for cars) and you don't need a license.

[henearkr]

I believe that by "the sound of those big bikes" the commenter does not know the bike characteristics other than by their sound, so it's the same either with a physically small or big bike: what he is stating is that he does not like the big sound.

That's true that there are big as well as small bikes with an horrendous sound, they are equally harmful.

I agree that they should very quickly belong to history (or museums). I wish that this new Yamaha concept will accelerate bikes electrification.

[hamoid]

You are right. Big or small bikes, buses, trucks or a driver trying to quickly burn as much fuel as possible in their car are all disturbing.

A difference is that some of them are not trying to be loud on purpose while others are. That's what triggers me. Their violence.

If smoking is not allowed I don't understand why this is, or why rules are not enforced. Changing homes is much harder than changing sidewalks.

At least there's hope. Seeing silent electric bikes go by makes me smile.

[formerly_proven]

Only god knows how much I hate those things. I don't think there's ANY vehicle as infuriating as a two-stroke scooter driving down a street slowly while revving its engine to death. Their stink and noise makes fighter jets blush. Frankly, the permanent hearing damage the riders probably get is well-earned by being such an enormous moron.

[snarfy]

Yeah crotch rockets are another level all together. When they open up the throttle on the freeway near my house I can hear them still going at least 2km away!

[eplanit]

I've always seen people who need/crave loud noises, bright/flashy colors, lots of bling, etc. as just not very bright people. It seems to correlate with lower-than-average intelligence. My theory is that those minds need more 'kinetic' stimulation in order to feel good. So far, after 50+ years of anecdotal experience I've found very few exceptions.