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by bserge 1749 days ago
I hear them outside and am happy for them, they don't have tinnitus. Yet.

I used to like the sound of engines, still do, but I never understood the farty exhaust tbh.

2 comments

Yeah it’s just being a nuisance for the sake of it.

There was one who lived over the road from me a few years back who would rev his broken exhaust bike at 5am and wake everyone up. About three weeks later his motorcycle mysteriously caught fire in the early evening. There were people smirking out of their windows enjoying the schadenfreude. There’s still a puddle of aluminium melted into the ground where it died.

> Yeah it’s just being a nuisance for the sake of it.

It's a lot like rolling coal[1]. No actual safety purpose, people do it simply to project insecurity and irritate others. Sometimes I think society is too tolerant of purely antisocial behavior, but I guess in the US everyone has the freedom to be a donkey.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal

Oh joy that’s terrible. Had no idea anyone did that.
Sadly this won't help in the majority of cases. Their insurance will just pay for a brand new bike with the newest and noisiest tech installed.
Hint: they wear protective earplugs.
The bastards!
The protective earplugs are to combat wind roar and hearing loss over a lifetime. The non-Harley folk wear them too.
Correct. My bike has a stock exhaust and sounds like a sewing machine, but I wear earplugs mostly to protect against the constant wind noise at speed.
Is that not accomplished by wearing a helmet? I haven't been on a motorcycle in over a decade, but I recall it being pretty quiet in the helmet.
No, there's more than enough noise to cause permanent hearing damage.

Obviously higher speeds=higher wind noise; you might be fine < 35mph (~ 55kmh) in a city, but anything above that hearing protection is advisable.

"Measurements of motorcycle riding noise levels vary, but are generally around 85-95 dB at speeds up to 35 mph, climbing to 110-116 dB at 65 mph"

I had a pretty nice helmet, and it was absolutely not quieter