Community | July 08, 2008 | 10 comments

Loud Pipes Do What?

source: http://www.motorbyte.com/mmm/pages/safety/safety40.htm

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All other things being equal, a loud motorcycle probably gets more attention than a quiet one, but at what cost? Is this good attention or bad attention? Let's think about this.

Ignoring the fact that many aftermarket pipes are illegal, motorcyclists who defer to the wisdom, "loud pipes save lives" are sadly misinformed. Riders who believe that an ear-shattering exhaust note actually increases safety are either kidding themselves or rationalizing self-indulgent behavior. Fact is, loud pipes do more to hurt motorcyclists than help them, the attention they draw to a rider is not worth the negative public image they create.

It's rooted in physics. Unlike an earthquake, which emits waves in a sphere away from its epicenter, sound waves can be directed. (A good example of this a megaphone: if sound waves were not directionally sensitive, megaphone users would all be deaf.) The pressure wave emitted from an exhaust pipe is pointed away from and behind the motorcycle. To hear it from anywhere other than directly behind the bike, you rely on the resonance of the pipes and reflection of the sound waves off of other objects, like cars, signs, buildings, etc.

In other words, the only time the loud pipes draw attention to a motorcycle in traffic is when the bike is facing away from the motorist. In most cases, facing away from the motorist means riding away from the motorist: increasing the separation of bike and potential hazard. The only possible situation in which a car can to pose an external threat to a motorcyclist when the bike is facing away from the car is if the motorist is backing up or (following) behind the rider. The threat exists, but only marginally: the Hurt Study found that a whopping three percent of accident hazards come directly from the rear (or the "six o'clock" direction).

by Pat Hahn
http://www.motorbyte.com/mmm/pages/safety/safety40.htm
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10 comments // Loud Pipes Do What?

  • ralala
    • 0
      ralala  

    • loud ass motorcycles drive by the burrito shop where i work and the sound is deafening. sometimes the floor or windows shake. i kind of like it, but it's weird to think that if a car had a modified exhaust that made a booming crazy noise, the cops would be all over them.

    • 3 years ago
  • cibalin
    • 0
      cibalin  

    • I totally agree that louder is not better. And usually the bike is already gone and in the distance and you are still able to hear it. Too much!!

    • 3 years ago
  • THEREisHOPE
  • stopnoise
    • 0
      stopnoise  
    • THEREisHOPE:

      It was a myth created by the addicted to noise society so they can justify the use of noise. The big problem it is that most of these people get deaf by their 30's, 40's or 50's and will end up to cost tax payers big money by claiming health care disability. After that, as a disable, they can use the ADA to go around and lobby the laws to make transportation louder and louder.

      What? I cannot hear it? Make it louder Mr. Judge!!!
      Noise, we need more noise!

    • 3 years ago
  • jahbini
  • MrBigShot21
  • stopnoise
  • jahbini
    • 0
      jahbini  

    • I can only speak from my personal experience on my old Moto Guzzi 850 Eldorado: I felt safer when I could hear all the traffic around me.

      The noise from my own pipes would obscure traffic sounds, and only tell me where I was, and I already knew that. So, I prefer quiet pipes, thank you.

    • 3 years ago
  • dankitti
  • stopnoise

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