Many motorcyclists intentionally modify the exhaust as a safety precaution. The loud noise informs cars if their presence, since most cars do not see motorcycles.
Oh come on.
This is FR. Don't be insulting.
We've all heard that excuse; we all know it's BS.
Bikers like loud exhaust because it's the audio equivalent of giving the world the finger.
It's annoying, rude, selfish and juvenile. Yes it violates the rights of others just like any other disturbance of the peace does.
Some motorcyclists have actually matured beyond 16 years old and think of others.
Grow up and use a muffler. Some people have sleeping children, jerks.
(Yes, that goes for your 20-ft-tall, 140 dB pickup too, junior)
Personally, I wish all of them were sentenced to Guantanamo sleep deprivation treatments for a month or so. (Quit whining and deal with it, wimp. That goes for your 4-year-old too.)
I’d like to inform them of my presence with a ball bat.
That is bull. Motorcycles are easily seen by drivers. But, for arguments sake, if we assume they are so “invisible” that they need to be modified to make obscene amounts of noise to be safe, then they should be banned from the roads entirely.
I am not proposing this, just pointing out how ridiculous the “we make our bikes loud for safety” claim is.
I wired my car's horn to blare constantly when the engine is running for the same reason. No accidents yet, so it must be working!
Oh sure the neighbors might be a tad upset when I leave for work at 5:00AM, but it makes me both manly and safe so screw them.
If that’s what it takes for them to be safe, they shouldn’t be on the road.
“Many motorcyclists intentionally modify the exhaust as a safety precaution. The loud noise informs cars if their presence, since most cars do not see motorcycles.”
I always pull out in front of motorcycles with loud pipes.
It informs them that like a yappy little dog against a real dog, mass trumps the sound and fury of such a small thing.
You should see the looks they give you when they almost have to set their bikes on the pavement to avoid being splattered.
I don’t know why motorcycle drivers can’t just be more tolerant of my large and lumbering vehicle instead of giving me “looks” and waving their middle finger at me all the time.
It also works conversely, they can't hear an approaching emergency vehicle or a car horn......
Many years ago, I was an audiological technician, meaning I gave hearing tests. The guy I worked for had a couple of testing booths set up in a trailer he towed to a company’s worksite so we could give the employees their hearing tests.
Before putting each person in the booth, we’d interview them, asking questions about their work and home life WRT loud noise. Whenever we found someone who used loud power tools, or firearms, or other loud noise sources and refused to wear hearing protection, we’d say:
“Keep doing that, and in a few years you’ll learn a new language.”
Almost always, the person would act a little surprised, and then we’d respond by moving our fingers and hands to simulate sign language. (My boss claimed to know sign language and told me we was signing, “Dumbass.” I have no idea if he was telling the truth or not, but it got a laugh.)
Remembering that few motorcycle riders wear hearing protection helps keep me from getting too angry when one of them rides through my neighborhood at 2am, rattling my windows and waking me up. I just think, “Dumbass”, smile, and go back to sleep.