There's a freeway about a mile from my house. Summer nights with the windows open, I can easily be awakened by a very loud motorcycle. The freeway is raised and I'm in a sort of canyon (no line of sight to freeway, though!!). Maybe the acoustics are just perfect for my bedroom, but I doubt it's just me. There are probably a million people within earshot of this noise.
Lest people think I'm a motorcycle hater: I owned one for years. I had a stock and quiet muffler on it, though.
> "What we managed to show is the combination of the crosswind and the temperature gradient can cause sound that's going to go vertically (to) get refracted back down," he said. "The sound was literally bent back downwards."
> The effect often happens at dawn and dusk because sound bends from hotter air into cooler air. During the day, the ground is hotter than the air above it so sound bends vertically upward.
> "Its only when the sun stops falling on the ground that the ground cools down. Then the air gets hotter above," he said. "That's when sound can bend towards the ground and become trapped."
On a motorcycle forum, someone asked whether they should upgrade their suspension or their exhaust. I suggested that an upgraded suspension affects your quality of life, an upgraded exhaust affects everyone else.
We don't need the windows open to hear the cars and such around here (and they're modern windows). We're near a freeway, but it's not the only culprit. The freeway is either silent or quite noisy depending on ambient weather conditions.
But when the cars open up, it sounds like a racetrack. We can hear them accelerating up the on ramp, up shifting as they go, and even when they hit the flyover to the other freeway.
The ratio of motorcycles to cars is actually quite low. Most of the offenders are the V8 pony cars.
To be fair, riding a quiet motorcycle is likely to get you sideswiped more if the people can't hear you at all. I've noticed the difference of head movements when changing the exhaust on my new motorcycle, from stock to a louder aftermarket. Prior, people would just veer into my lane without even checking. Anecdotal, but very noticeable difference for myself.
If "loud pipes save(d) lives", your insurance company would give you a discount for your man-child exhaust. And if you want anecdata, I've ridden hundreds of thousands of miles in every U. S. state, most of Canada, and elsewhere. Most of those miles have been with the exhaust that came with the bike when it rolled out of the factory. I've never been sideswiped, nor even once considered that a loud exhaust would do anything to improve my safety.
I sure am glad for the riding classes I've taken, however, which probably do a lot more good than obnoxious exhaust systems.
I haven’t even heard of my insurance giving me a discount for wearing a full face helmet instead of a bucket helmet.
Actually, is there a single thing that insurance gives you a discount for?
Like, I’m with GEICO and as far as I can tell, it’s only age of license without accident or ticket that counts.
Either every factor is a wash or insurance companies are keeping the spread as profit on their side or they have no means of enforcing.
Like, do you install a Termignoni and then call your insurance agent? “Hi, I got louder exhaust pipes installed. Also, I’ve decided to wear a nicer helmet. Also, I now keep my bike inside a garage. Just wanted to call about the discount”
Actually, is there a single thing that insurance gives you a discount for?
ABS, having taken a Motorcycle Safety Foundation riding course (in the U. S.), and yes, for storing it in a garage. All of those are items for which Progressive gives a discount.
I'd say I'm surprised that Geico didn't just come out and ask these things, as Progressive did when we signed on, but Geico has never done a lot to impress me. Probably depends a lot on the agent, I don't know. Anyway, doesn't cost anything to ask, and if that doesn't work, we've been on Progressive for the bikes for decades. Never filed a claim, but rates are reasonable and they give discounts for the stuff we were going to do anyway.
Anecdotally, over 25 years of riding in most every condition you can think, including several years of one-way 30 mile commute in to downtown LA, I have not noticed this.
As a corollary anecdote, I've seen (and heard), on several occasions, the rev bombing riders revving louder and longer since the person that's "in their way" is not moving out of it.
I've also, personally, jerked and swerved (a little) when startled by a loud exhaust "suddenly" appearing next to me. These events are typically followed by a crude exclamation that isn't worth sharing here.
At one point I did have a bike with a louder exhaust (I didn't keep the citation I got because of it). But the majority of my bikes are stock exhausts and quiet.
Cars swerve in to anything and everything. Especially today, the modern car cockpit is overwhelmed with distractions. But even pre-cell phones I've had to contend with kids, coffee, balloons, and animals apparently designed to convert the car drivers in to motorcycle seeking missiles.
Keep it on two, stay safe, they're not out to get you but they make a good show of it anyway.
I stopped riding two years ago after 30+ years. This was mostly based on my recent experience as a pedestrian- I just watched way too many people running stop signs while staring at their phone. Figured I'd have a good run of it and better to get out while the going was good.
I generally do not hear loud vehicles directly next to me while driving down the road. Not cars or motorcycles. My own radio, tire noise, and engine noise is enough to drown out all but the absolute loudest, except maybe when I'm going very slow.
How about the pedestrians and people eating outside at restaurants? Or people in old houses with poor insulation and single paned windows?
However, I don’t like the idea of automatically ticketing people with technology devices alone despite the obnoxiously loud noise pollution from these vehicles. Police can easily hear these vehicles and pull them over for a violation.
My point (I may not have explained it well) was that a motorcycle's loud exhaust isn't saving the rider's life from me, since I can't hear it. (I'm not going to run over motorcyclists in general, though). It really sucks for those on the outside who have to deal with it. If there was automatic ticketing, I would hope there's a high burden of proof. I'm not exactly sure what that would look like.
> ”Police can easily hear these vehicles and pull them over for a violation.”
In practice this doesn’t happen, however, at least here in the UK.
Police are not issued with equipment to measure noise levels, and on a busy road it can be difficult to identify (provably and conclusively) which vehicles are making the noise.
Which is exactly why technology like these “noise cameras” are needed!
Wow that’s a loud car. What’s the decibel level inside at highway speed? My Forester is loud to sit in on the freeway but what you’re describing is crazy loud. Can’t even imagine it.
It's not overly loud. I just don't hear other loud vehicles without the radio off and the windows open, and I don't typically have the radio off and the windows open. This has always been the case for me in any vehicle at highway speeds.
I suppose it could be the opposite. A very quiet car. What make, model, and year? I’ve been looking for a quiet car. BMWs seem really quiet on the inside. My friend bought one because he wanted to shield his child from freeway homier when they were driving.
I have a 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue and a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. They are not quiet on the inside. Lots of air leaks and stuff. I just don't understand how people hear other loud vehicles going 70MPH or so. I have good hearing (according to my latest hearing test) and unless the loud vehicle is extremely loud (like big truck with a jake brake) then I've never hear the neighboring vehicles in any vehicle, not just the two I currently have.
Edit: If I'm able to hear them, it's immediately after they have passed me.
We live down the street from a biker club clubhouse. Even one of them riding by wakes us up (we'll often hear them well after midnight), scares our cats, and sometimes sets off car alarms. My faith in the police ever doing anything about this is effectively nil.
I, too, am not a motorcycle hater. While I don't own one, I'm licensed to operate one, and have several friends who are avid riders. They have stock, quiet exhaust on their bikes, like normal people who actually care about people around them.
One of the first things taught in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course is that "Loud Pipes Save Lives" is a myth: cars can't hear your loud bike until it's too late, and defensive riding is infinitely more effective than relying on other drivers to hear you. The majority of motorcycle accidents are multi-vehicle. I have been riding for many years on everything from sport bikes, dual sport, all with stock exhaust, even no exhaust on an electric bike, and I have never been involved in an accident- defensive riding works. Loud pipes should have been made illegal decades ago.
I live on a little sidestreet next to a highway. The highway is raised (due to being on a steep hill directly behind our place) and has noise barriers installed.
By and large, highway traffic is a low, background static, somewhat like the ebb and flow of a more mechanical wind.
But, because our sidestreet skips a single traffic light on a parallel street, mororbikes live roaring through it, easily louder that anything from the literal highway. At this point, I'd support a ban on motorbikes over 80db.
It looks as though 80db would be significantly above the max for a stock car. Although I would probably like to see a tax on any cars sold with over 75db of sound as it's a significant burden on society.
European type certification rules set a noise limit of 72 dB(A) for new passenger cars. This will reduce to 68 dB(A) by 2026. [1]
It’s also illegal to modify a car exhaust system in such a way that makes it louder than stock, however in practice it seems there is very limited enforcement of this.
Motorcycles are allowed to emit far higher noise levels than cars, unfortunately!
Yup. Harleys with the stock exhaust have a beautiful sound. What a shame that people destroy that iconic engineering in the pursuit of "loud". I cringe every time I see a Harley modified like that.
On the rare occasion that I hear a HD with stock exhaust, it usually turns my head with me asking, "damn, what's that sweet-sounding thing?" Sadly, they're mostly owned by chuckleheads who fuck it up with open pipes.
Acoustics play a big role. I used to live a mile from a freeway but the ground sloped gently up towards my house and, being San Diego, there weren't a lot of trees to absorb the noise. On many nights it was about as loud as standing a block from the freeway. It varied based on temp, humidity and wind direction.
I believe reaching millions of people with their sound is exactly what some people like to do. Never understood it but there are always some people like that. Especially mopeds are often severe offenders.
Not a fan of camera surveillance for such infractions though.
Lest people think I'm a motorcycle hater: I owned one for years. I had a stock and quiet muffler on it, though.