Loud exhausts save lives or Now Oakland P.D. are onboard with this idea!

[MendoDave]

http://tinyurl.com/4kwdfw

[DY]

http://tinyurl.com/4kwdfw

Bill to taxpayers:  $22,500 plus tax and installation.  Yay. 

"Oakland officials acknowledge that the noisy pipes, when tested, averaged 93 decibels - well above the federal legal noise limit, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council."

At least now when bikers in Oakland get pulled over for loud exhaust, they can bring this up as an argument.

[NAKID]

Bill to taxpayers:  $22,500 plus tax and installation.  Yay. 

Hence, all 30 of the department's Harleys were sent down to the central maintenance yard for a muffler makeover, at a cost of about $15,000, according to City Hall insiders. Another 15 newly purchased motorcycles were ordered with the louder pipes, though at no extra charge.

[DY]

"Over in Oakland they like it loud - so loud that all 45 of the Police Department's Harley-Davidson motorcycles have been equipped with shiny new tailpipes, at a cost of $500 apiece, to rev up their roar."

I see it now.  I only got to the first sentence in the article.   I shoulda read the whole thing. 

[NAKID]

[ROBsS4R]

So next time we get pulled over for loud pipes we can pull this card on them 

[m1moto]

    Loud Pipes Rule

[CougarSlayer]

Switch up time indeed.

-Panthro

[the ron]

funny i was going to post a poll on this topic. there is no doubt in my mind that a loud exhaust helps you. just as a blinker tells someone you are going to turn, your exhaust tells them that you are there. its just that simple

the ron

[the ron]

Bill to taxpayers:  $22,500 plus tax and installation.  Yay. 

"At least now when bikers in Oakland get pulled over for loud exhaust, they can bring this up as an argument.

that probably wont work, its the same as having tinted windows or having a glock 9 on your hip. it will probably just piss them off. that would be my guess and indeed that is how i get through most of my life, guessing

the ron

[Privateer]

i can't find it, but I'm sure I read somewhere that loud pipes aren't safer.  The direction, amplitude, and frequency of the exhaust note isn't directional enough or something like that.  Frenzied searching produced no result.

It's a psychological thing, nothing else.


andy

[wbeck257]

Thats why cops change their sirens when approaching intersections -- differnt noises grab drivers attention. If it is the same noise approaching you don't get the same reaction.

The moto-cops here in my town have been running straight pipes on their Harley's for a while. They are almost as loud if not louder than my udder. (But we don't have a noise regulation here... I don't know about cali...)

[erkishhorde]

+1 on the exhaust not actually being much safer. Noise is directed toward the rear of the bike - where you've already been, not forward - where you're going so oncoming traffic and people turning out of streets/ driveways don't hear you a whole lot sooner. Plus, with the level of sound deadening in many vehicles nowadays I have a hard time just hearing sirens let alone a motorcycle.

If the bike is cruising at speeds under 35-ish I'd say a driver might be able to hear them before they carelessly turn in front of you but anything faster than that and you're still gonna get hit. The difference is that they'll turn to look at you as they're turning so you can see the look of surprise on their face.  But at the speeds I think the noise will help I can generally stop in time if someone pulls out in front of me.

That's not to say that I haven't been saved from getting hit a couple times by blipping the throttle. But all of these were in parking structures/lots where someone almost backed into me. In which case a horn could have done the job just as well. 

[Ducatiloo]

I saw a bumper sticker that said, "If loud pipes save lives, think what learning to ride would do."   

[eyeboy]

I saw a bumper sticker that said, "If loud pipes save lives, think what learning to ride would do."   

i want one!