Time for my summertime Harley rant...

Spent the morning up on the Dragon and ran upon a HD outfitted for a long drive ie garbage bags over his luggage but the guy couldnt ride the curves and was holding up a long line. I pulled over for a couple of bikes thinking that he might give for the biking brothers but they finally just passed him and took off. A Toyota 4x4 caught us and I pulled over to let him put on some pressure and it finally worked. The HD hit a pull-off and I was able to get by. I told E that it had to be a Porsche thing since he wouldnt pull off for me in the 911. Otherwise it was a good day with rain only on the NC side of the Dragon.
In east tennnessee, the cops no longer even try to enforce noise rules due to biker environment.

foxtrapper wrote: I have a quiet harley. I occasionally blip the throttle so I can see. At idle my harley shakes so bad my eyeballs rattle in my skull and I can see anything. Blip the throttle and the engine smooths out and I can see what's going on around me.

That's a great answer and makes sense. That's all I was wondering, if there is a particular reason for blipping the throttle so much and now I know. Nothing against bikers or HDs at all just why the constant blipping?

during the day I do not mind them too much. One of the places I lived at was on a side street that if you took it, would allow you to bypass the light at the end of the main road. Every weekday at 5:30am during the warmer weather when your windows are open, a Harley rider would come blasting down my road, running it up to redline on the 1-2 shift. Just the thing to do to in a residential neighborhood.

foxtrapper wrote: I have a quiet harley. I occasionally blip the throttle so I can see. At idle my harley shakes so bad my eyeballs rattle in my skull and I can see anything. Blip the throttle and the engine smooths out and I can see what's going on around me.

Yeah, this. I have stock mufflers on my Harley (I know, shock, right? Take away my patch.) A little blip on the throttle takes the shake out, to see the clock, odometer, etc.

Having once gotten a noise ticket on my sport bike, with the factory exhaust, few things bother me more than straight pipe cruisers. If I could figure out an easy way to do it I would install a cutout on my bike specifically to allow me to pull up next to those cruisers and blast them with 12k rpm.

RealMiniDriver wrote:

foxtrapper wrote: I have a quiet harley. I occasionally blip the throttle so I can see. At idle my harley shakes so bad my eyeballs rattle in my skull and I can see anything. Blip the throttle and the engine smooths out and I can see what's going on around me.

Yeah, this. I have stock mufflers on my Harley (I know, shock, right? Take away my patch.) A little blip on the throttle takes the shake out, to see the clock, odometer, etc.

But with real mufflers, we still don't "hear" them. Bip away.

I always want to yell, "TUNE THAT berkeleyING THING, WILL YAH?" at the bippers, but they wouldn't hear me anyway.

In reply to nicksta43:

Maybe we should all demand that the government makes it illegal to change any portion of the exhaust of any type of vehicle from stock. That would solve everybody's problems.

You are missing the point. That's what we are trying to avoid. Those few "enthusiasts" that don't know where to draw the line are going to ruin it for the rest of us. We are the minority, most people could care less about modifying their cars or bikes. They frequently group us into the same category as the few that cause all the trouble. When the general public finally gets fed up, we will all lose.

Ain't nothing an uncorked rotary with a little too rich a tune and a side dump can't fix......

In reply to Boost_Crazy:

I know, I was being sarcastic.

Of course, the last biker I interacted with was super cool and loved the fact that my winter meats had purple steelies- his only comment was that he wished they sparkled. I explained to him that in the 5 minutes it took me to make the decision to paint them grape purple, I was unable to locate sparkly purple rusto.

iadr wrote: Loud pipes can't save lives for the simple reason that the sound of a bike looks like a comet- not the Mercury, but like Halley's (sp?) comet. A secondary effect noted by Mr Doppler...compression of the sound ahead of a moving object doesn't just raise its frequency- it suppresses the conveyance of that sound. Oh, and to answer the other question- locally, the reason the bikes don't have to abide by the sound regulations that cars do, is that the Po-po are bought and paid for by the H.A. So there's that.

Loud pipes help. When I'm in LA I hear the lane splitters with loud pipes way before the quiet ones, so I know they are coming and give them extra room.

This is a turbocharged GSXR which belongs to a friend of mine:

On the other side, there is an oval flange about 2" tall by 4" long welded to the side of the downpipe from the turbo.

When he runs the bike with the dump pipe open (which is almost never), the noise will make your brain itch, even with the turbo.

It's enough to make the most seasoned HD knuckledragger complain.

Theres a whole lotta whining going on around here, since the Hardly Ridison guys are being targeted with a specific law, aimed at their exhaust. The bitching and moaning is almost as loud as the bikes.

The only guaranteed quiet bikes around here are ridden by the H.A. They are also ATGATT, full face helmets and all. They are bright enough to know they can't give the cops reason to pull them over- you see a traditional loud piped chopper with a greaseball riding it, he's not affiliated.

Trans_Maro wrote: This is a turbocharged GSXR which belongs to a friend of mine: On the other side, there is an oval flange about 2" tall by 4" long welded to the side of the downpipe from the turbo. When he runs the bike with the dump pipe open (which is almost never), the noise will make your brain itch, even with the turbo. It's enough to make the most seasoned HD knuckledragger complain.

That looks scary. I wanna ride it.

foxtrapper wrote: I have a quiet harley. I occasionally blip the throttle so I can see. At idle my harley shakes so bad my eyeballs rattle in my skull and I can see anything. Blip the throttle and the engine smooths out and I can see what's going on around me.

I am suspicious some of them do it because the motor sound like it about to die. They can idle fine like that of course, but with any other motor if it was idling like that it would have a few rods poking out of the crankcase.

In reply to mndsm:

234 hp at the rear wheel...

HE says it's pretty civilised, I don't believe him.

Back when regular gas was available if you idled for too long the plugs could load up with lead deposits. You had to clear the throttle by blipping it or the engine might stall when you try to take off from the intersection.

These days I suppose you'd run into that with 100LL (4X the lead of regular) but I doubt 99% of bikes need to run it. The practice has probably distilled down to riders doing it today to read their gauges at lights.

iadr wrote: Loud pipes can't save lives for the simple reason that the sound of a bike looks like a comet- not the Mercury, but like Halley's (sp?) comet. A secondary effect noted by Mr Doppler...compression of the sound ahead of a moving object doesn't just raise its frequency- it suppresses the conveyance of that sound. Oh, and to answer the other question- locally, the reason the bikes don't have to abide by the sound regulations that cars do, is that the Po-po are bought and paid for by the H.A. So there's that.

The previous owner of my Suzuki 750 Katana I used to own had removed all the packing from the Yoshimura exhaust, and it was certainly louder than stock. I can't tell you the number of times I had people look over into my lane as I approached them. I don't get that with the Miata, until after I honk the horn at them for improper lane change.

im in! i wanna bitch too! loud pipes don't save lives, situational awareness does. first know that i believe that 99.99% of all wrecks (i didn't say accidents cause that's a moronic word to use) are caused at some level by BOTH INVOLVED PARTIES. theres RARELY a case where someone in a wreck was entirely in the right.

that said, i think it should be completely legal to open your door when some jackwad comes down the stripped line between stopped traffic. AND his insurance should have to fix your car.

i also think that i would 'start seeing motorcycles' more if they weren't doing 40 mph OVER the speed limit. how am i supposed to judge distance when theres only one headlamp, and hes doing 130?

to hell with all of em, i want a brushgaurd on a diesel F350 and diplomatic immunity.

-J0N

In reply to jmthunderbirdturbo:

Text book example of how to make yourself sound ignorant and come of like a dick.

Too bad they don't teach classes in Sarcasm Comprehension, because nicksta43 needs to attend one.

In reply to ddavidv:

I never wus no good in skool noways, caint teech me nutin.

understood … re. the hatchback thread

In reply to ddavidv:

Clearly, you're not paying attention, either, as this thread is bitching about Harleys. Jmthunderbirdturbo's post was obviously about crotch rockets, as Harleys cannot exceed the speed limit by 40mph or go 130mph. It's just not possible for Harleys to go that fast.

I have no problems with loud exhausts until I have to plug my ears or have trouble actually changing my own gears because every sense is hearing a too loud exhaust.