MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Why aren't Tanfan's farts noise violations?

True.

Though I don't hear much with my heavy metal blaring.

You should mow your lawn this Saturday at 5am. When he complains point out that his Harley is 4 times louder.

I do understand that is is totally annoying but the problem is most bikes are a hard start when cold and take some time to warm up.
You have to remember that the engine is totally exposed and no protection from the weather, even in the summer time when it's hot as hell they still need it. the constant reving of the engines is to help warm it up quicker, plus bikes like to die when they are cold and not being kept at high RPMs

I agree about going out and mowing your lawn early in the morning for payback. I actually do feel bad when I start up in the morning and need to warm up for 10 minutes, my bike wont make it 20 yards out of the driveway with out dying if she isn't warmed up.

I love the Southpark episode where they make fun of Harley riders.

I was just thinking of that.

That is Harley Davidson's great reluctance to join the 21st century at work. Almost all other bike makers have solved that problem with ECU maps that regulate fuel injection according to the engine temperature, air temperature etc.

Love the HD brand, image and almost everything it stands for -- absolutely hate the lack of R&D and ancient technology they are peddling.

Somebody above stated the "pipes save lives" mantra. I just wanna point out that not all bikers live by this. I stay the hell out of blind spots. I look into cars to seek out distracted drivers (seeing a guy on a phone is a dead giveaway -- but there are lots of clues). I adjust my lane position to maximize my response time. Beyond that, I'll take my chances. Accidents happen, and I've made a conscious choice to use a vehicle that exposes me to danger, and I accept the danger that comes with it. I don't need to become a moving noise and environmental hazard to stay alive. My consciousness level when riding a bike is about 5x greater than when driving a car, and that's what I rely on to manage risk and stay alive.

How can you get a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt, yet you are fine riding a motorcycle without a helmet or no tickets for riding in the bed of a truck?

My former foster kid, and her BF have both taken helicopter rides to hospitals in two separate bike accidents. They both had training courses. They both were wearing protective gear. What could go wrong?

They were both dumbasses, riding like they had no care in the world, cocky and out to have fun on their bikes. When you act like you own the road, you become part of the road.

Thankfully they are both ok, but they are part of the reason that my kids wont have bikes until they are older. Young drivers make the crappiest bike riders. Too much confidence, not enough common sense.

As you say, lane position, looking ahead, knowing what the other drivers are doing, being aware of everything that is happening around you and anticipating everyone's worst move. That is the best recipe for staying alive on a bike.

I have stock pipes on my V-Star. I wish they were just a smidge louder, but not a lot. And since I cannot guarantee that they would be just a "smidge", it is not worth the investment to me. A guy a work with runs open pipes. Stock pipes with the baffles taken out. So, no muffler at all. Why does he do it? Because he is an asshole. He is an attention whoooer who thinks it is cool to make others uncomfortable. Douchenozzle.

Loud pipes have a purpose. To a certain level they are cool. And to a certain extent, they do save lives. But my own personal opinion is that there should be a limit to how loud you can go. Your mileage may vary.

Edit: I agree 100% with Royals assessment that louder pipes do not let people ahead of you know that you are there. But if it keeps someone from changing lanes into you, then they served their purpose. But I am NOT an advocate of loud pipes, I want them just loud enough that a car next to me can hear that I am there.

I agree with pretty much everything you posted, especially being conscious about staying out of other drivers' blind spots, but at some point if you are passing a car you have to enter the blind spot. I do think having louder pipes can help in certain situations. When I had stock pipes on my bike I had a guy in a Cherokee try to merge into my lane on I-75 when I was right next to him. He had no idea I was there. If having louder pipes on my bike means that there is less of a chance of that happening, then it is worth pissing off a few people along the way.

When you drive with your kids in the car, people look up in admiration, and later they go on to tell their friends about the rogue hero who keeps his own family safe by making excessive car noise. You are a true patriot, my friend, keep on rollin'.

See PolskaSpartan's post right above. Going by "pipes save lives", why not have car drivers also modify their exhausts to emit as much noise as possible or just lay on the horn all the time (they too have an interest in people knowing that they're in their blind spot). Soon traffic noise will be unbearable.

Loud pipes are not the answer, imo. Merging on highways is high-probability behavior that has to be accounted for by adjusting your position wrt their blind spot "just in case" they want to merge. When passing, you do spend a fraction of a second in somebody's blind spot -- get to the extreme far side of your lane -- you now have a ton of response time, and almost an entire free lane if some car driver wants to be an idiot. When you're passing, don't go more than 20-30mph faster than the traffic in the adjacent lane. If you're lane splitting, you simply have to accept that car drivers are sitting ducks at that point -- even if they did everything right, you're invalidating the data from their blind spot checks / mirror checks at a rate they simply cannot anticipate, and you're occupying space they cannot account for. Not saying "don't lane split". Just saying, understand that if you end up getting into an accident while lane splitting it's unreasonable to blame the car guy.

And car guys -- don't get effing road rage when we bikers do lane splitting. Just deal with it -- it happens.