[SK]

Originally Posted by CD

SK,
That RS has drag pipes and it is loud.....too loud for me to ride behind you for long .....Something about 4 pipes screaming at you like a buzz saw singing the 5k song.

I think I could probably hear it over an F4 Phantom.....

I know they're loud CD, but they're not drag pipes..which I assume you to mean none or hardly any baffles (correct me if I'm wrong). Baron made his original Nasty Boys with a fairly heavy gauge metal. Subsequent models were thinned some when he went into full production and don't sound quite as deep. Still..I understand about not wanting to be behind em. I've had several riders with voice activated CB radios get too close behind and get a huge earful. I usually ended up as the tailgunner. In the long run though..they're just too noisy anymore, but I don't ride it enough to spend the money to change em. Guess I'll just go ride down The Strip some night when I get it back and make some noise..not that many will notice down there.

[GreyBear]

Howdy,
Just got back and saw this and figured I would chime in a bit. To me loud just to be loud isn't where it's at..but better performance means a bit louder. I try and not rack 'em coming in at 02:00 and waking up anyone. As to whether they save your bacon...well ANYTHING that makes a cager more aware can't hurt. Just like body armor won't save you in a firefight, but it cut's the odds of going home in a body bag. And to me doing everything I can to make the odds better for me is what it's all about. Like riding with one finger over the front brake and taking the experienced rider course every 3 or 4 years....it all helps. And do ya ever play "what if" when you are riding? What if that car moving up cuts in on me? What if that cage at the stop sign takes off before I clear the intersection.....just a head game but it keeps you aware of things and options...and beats listening to my own singing......

Ride Free........

[BluePearl]

Loud pipes will help get you noticed but are also good teaching aids for those cagers who pull stupid moves like cuttin you off or swirvin your lane talkin on their phone! A good crack of the throttle in an open window will wake them up quick and might help a fellow biker in the future!

[SK]

I guess my favorite thing about loud pipes is riding through the mall parking lots at Christmas and seeing how many cage alarms you can set off at one time..better'n Christmas music.

[vicrider]

I was looking at the national safety counsels stats the other day. Noticed some that were interesting but none that would show any real data. They showed stats that bikes with quiet pipes were in fewer accidents. I would guess that a lot of the bikes with stock pipes would fall in the Goldwing type of bikes. The next stat that I looked at was were most accidents happen and it showed in city driving as the highest risk and highway, freeway driving being one of the lower risk areas per 1000 miles ridden. So are the stock exhaust stats better due to where they ride the largest % of their mileage? That is a stat not shown. I still think that if you had a forty-foot tall neon sign that read motorcycle here. Had 400-decibel pipes and a headlight that slung light side to side like a freight train there would still be a cage driver out there that said I never saw him. Ride like they are all going to kill you. Enjoy it when you have the road to yourself. And never forget that the cage on the side of the road will make a u turn in front of you and never see you till you’re in the front seat with them. Mike
04 kingpin
Vance and Hines
ya it as loud as a vic gets

[SK]

Originally Posted by vicrider

I still think that if you had a forty-foot tall neon sign that read motorcycle here. Had 400-decibel pipes and a headlight that slung light side to side like a freight train there would still be a cage driver out there that said I never saw him.

Amen brother!

You know..those old farts who can't see? They can't hear either!

[CD]

Originally Posted by GreyBear

....... And to me doing everything I can to make the odds better for me is what it's all about. Like riding with one finger over the front brake and taking the experienced rider course every 3 or 4 years....it all helps. And do ya ever play "what if" when you are riding? What if that car moving up cuts in on me? What if that cage at the stop sign takes off before I clear the intersection.....just a head game but it keeps you aware of things and options...and beats listening to my own singing......

Ride Free........

If you have ever raced MX or desert, you learn to one finger the clutch and the front brake. I still have a finger looped over both and it is just natural. I also will trail brake with both front and rear when I need to. Sometimes I just cook it into a corner too hard...huh Bob .

Okay, back on point here. You mention playing "what if"? I do it when riding and driving. I look at the front wheel of a car on the right or left side of the road. If it is moving even a little I am on high alert. Never, ever ride in a blind spot. Make eye contact and if the idiot is on the phone, putting on make up and jammin' to the tunes...well get the ##$@$ out of there!

[CD]

Originally Posted by SK

I guess my favorite thing about loud pipes is riding through the mall parking lots at Christmas and seeing how many cage alarms you can set off at one time..better'n Christmas music.

SK, I know for the most part you mean this in jest but, we need to realize that this is where a lot of our problems with the EPA are coming from...In fact, I think it needs to be another "hot tater post"...

[SK]

Originally Posted by CD

SK, I know for the most part you mean this in jest but, we need to realize that this is where a lot of our problems with the EPA are coming from...In fact, I think it needs to be another "hot tater post"...

I'm kidding for the most part, but most of the cage alarms are just ignored. Those pipes on my RS though..just have an affinity for setting em off.

[Sleepy]

Originally Posted by CD

If you have ever raced MX or desert, you learn to one finger the clutch and the front brake. I still have a finger looped over both and it is just natural. I also will trail brake with both front and rear when I need to. Sometimes I just cook it into a corner too hard...huh Bob .

Okay, back on point here. You mention playing "what if"? I do it when riding and driving. I look at the front wheel of a car on the right or left side of the road. If it is moving even a little I am on high alert. Never, ever ride in a blind spot. Make eye contact and if the idiot is on the phone, putting on make up and jammin' to the tunes...well get the ##$@$ out of there!

Yep! if you wanna find out how well brakes and pads and the such work, give 'em to CD and he'll let you know just how trusty those anchors are gonna be..the man ain't shy about scrubbing off a lot of speed mid corner. I cover both levers as well but I don't get in quite as hot. I tell you what kinda freaks me out are the "spinner" wheel covers. you know, the car is stopped at an intersection..you see the car..look at the wheels....they're "moving" you start taking evasive action...I'm not liking that kind of stuff at all

[SK]

Sleepy, some of those spinner wheels cost more than our bikes!

[Sleepy]

I'm still not a big fan of 'em....not a lot of 'em here ..it's the old winter season that keeps folks from spending lots of money on rims.

[hotroadking]

Originally Posted by SK

Sleepy, some of those spinner wheels cost more than our bikes!

Most of them are rentals though LOL

ON the finger on the controls I used to do that, still do to some extent on the throttle hand more to relieve numb fingers by stretching out my hand.

Interesting thing though, MSF advises against it, I'm thinking why, if my fingers are on the levers I'm faster because I'm there righ? Well on the track (MX) you ride like that 100% of the time, but on the street you may forget and put you fingers back around the grip, then if you've developed a habit of riding with fingers on the trigger you could get in trouble.

Thinking is you have you hands in the wrong position so you grab for the brake but nothing happens because you didn't reach for the brake,

izzzat muddy enough of an explination,

Point being that muscle memory has a lot to do with how we control our bikes, so whatever you do, do it 100% of the time, then when you need it the reaction is second nature and you have a higher survival rate.

After that I try to ride fingers not on the levers, interesting it took me a while to get back to that comfortably so it kind of validated to me what they were saying.

Back to topic, pipes, you can't quantify a problem with only half the data, you would have to count the number of bikes with louds pipes in the total population to extract a viable number.

Say for example you have 100,000 bikes in a given area, and in that area 80% have loud pipes, 20% Stock, and you have an accident rate of 20 in a year, then for the numbers to work out, you'd need more than 80% of the accidents to be with loud pipes to show a difference that is significant as the population rate to accidents must be considered a factor.

[scooter]

Yes sir, Sleepy,

it WAS me that started it.

I seem to have a nack for starting things like this, yanno?

scoot

[maxpower_hd]

I also have a V&H Pro Pipe. Although it is definately louder than stock, it isn't really that loud unless you get on it. You can keep it fairly quiet if you actually try, like at 2:00 AM. My buddy on the other hand has narrow straight pipes on his bike and the are down right abnoxious.

I have been in many situations living in New England, not too far from the city of Boston, in heavy traffic situations where the sound of my pipes made the differnce between getting cut off or driven into and not. You can tell by the sudden jerking motion back to their original lane of travel after you give the throttle a crack. Then the apologetic wave from the driver because they didn't see you. I don't believe I ever saw any statistics covering that.

The thing is, there really isn't a good way to "prove" loud pipes save lives. It is a matter of opinion and opinion is generally based on experience. My 20 years of riding experience leads me to believe that loud pipes can help save lives. Can I prove it with facts? No. Can anyone here "prove" they don't? I doubt it.

I've said this before having had to endure a statistics class in college. You can make statistics support or oppose whatever you want depending on the information you gather and which pieces you decide to use.

Just my $.02.