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I always assumed that the point of loud vehicles was to assert dominance by being an asshole. If people are annoyed and upset then it is working exactly as inte

• dazc 5y ago
  This explains a lot of modern day behaviour, thanks for pointing out what should have been obvious. Yet here I have been all these years thinking these people didn't realise what they were doing.
• reader_mode 5y ago
  I don't have aftermarket pipes - but your post is clearly from perspective of someone who doesn't ride. Sound is an essential part of the riding thrill, riding my bike past 10k RPM gives me F1 sound and insane rush. I suspect riding an electric motorcycle would be much less thrilling that way and make me more aware that I'm on a suicide machine. I regularly get small children approach me on motorcycle and want to pull the throttle, then get scared, then want to do it again, there's something primal about that, it's (mostly) not about other people.
  • uglycoyote 5y ago
    Sure.. I get a kick out of twisting the throttle on my Yamaha a couple times but I totally disagree that it is an essential part of the experience. If you could sell me a completely silent but very powerful motorcycle I would buy it. And even if you are thrilled by the sound, there comes a point (when you put straight pipes on) where it clearly becomes less about whether the rider can hear their own bike and more about whether everyone else can. So As someone who has spend hundreds of thousands of kilometres on a motorcycle I totally agree with grandparent post here, once it gets to that point where you are changing your exhaust to make it louder, it out is mostly about egos and images.
    • reader_mode 5y ago
      IDK - I had a few biker friends (before I moved last time, pretty much stopped riding since my son was born, going to sell the bike any day now), they would use DB-killer but if we went off riding twisties they would pull it out and just enjoy the insanity. There was one guy who would ride without dbkiller all the time, he was a dick in general, so there's that.
  • toolz 5y ago
    If you're knowingly annoying people for your own pleasure, I don't much care what your intentions are. You're either intentionally mean or too self centered to consider your actions effects on the people around you.
    • jqcoffey 5y ago
      Or, more generously, just young and immature and not completely cognizant of the impact of your actions on others. In a different lifetime I had a few bikes including a TL1000R that was just plain intoxicating to ride with aftermarket pipes. There is no way in hell I could do that to my neighbors at this stage of my life, however, and I often cringe at the actions of my younger self. Nowadays, I refuse to even use gas powered garden tools for noise (and environmental) reasons.
    • reader_mode 5y ago
      I don't disagree with the conclusion but it's equally self centered to think someone is doing something just to annoy you - so if you just said "loud pipes annoy me" I have no problem with that statement, if you say "bikers are installing loud pipes to annoy me/others" well that's just wrong and I'm giving you insight into what the actuall motivation is.
  • NikolaNovak 5y ago
    As I said (GP here) - I rode motorcycles since 2008; I'll grant you that sound is absolutely part of the fun - but loud aftermarket exhausts, detonating straight pipes, etc which are the subject of the topic here -- I feel the world's balance is overwhelmingly on the negative in the "joy to self" vs "average impact to others". I understand many people put the aftermarket pipes "for themselves", at least consciously, or at least claim so - but I feel at best, it's a degree of self-centerdness to not realize impact on others. I see it on Subaru forums too - fellow WRX/STi owners moaning about their neighbour's complaints and cops stopping them and people giving them dirty looks etc etc - obliviously blind that it was themselves who brought in on by installing ridiculous loud exhausts. A factory exhaust on my bikes gave me plenty of thrill, and while I did put a high-flow cat on my Scoobie, I searched for an exhaust with nice sound but quieter actual dBs than stock. Few things are B&W - but there is a loudness at which point it really really is about others. (note that when you say "past 10k RPM", it sounds like you likely have a sportsbike, and as you say a stock one; those can be loud at high revs, but generally speaking the loudest bikes in my experience tend to be modified cruisers and wanna-be Harleys. Also note that rider may not always get straight opinions from friends, depending who wants to fight what battle when - e.g. last summer, a rider was revving his throttle at a friends' cottage and boasting about his aftermarket pipes; given we were both guests, I politely nodded and meandered away... but everything for the rest of the evening confirmed the image I formed the moment I heard his pipes :-/)
    • reader_mode 5y ago
      I'm not trying to defend anyone - I'm just saying that looking at it from the perspective of "they are just doing it to show off" etc. is not really my experience (there's some of that for sure) I'm not a fan of aftermarket exhausts, stock one is plenty loud for me and doesn't disturb anyone while I'm riding normaly. I especially dislike the grandpa chopper bikes that sound like tanks, like you said my sports bike gets insane at >9k RPM - but I don't ride insane in populated areas.
      • NikolaNovak 5y ago
        I think we are likely indeed converging to a point of agreement. Things are usually on a spectrum and not binary; I agree that part of the thrill of ride is the sensation - vibration, noise of wind and engine, gravity forces, etc - and certainly manufacturers of both performance bikes and cars frequently tune the engine and particularly exhaust for desired image and sound. I still maintain though that there is a wrong side/portion of that spectrum, and that e.g. a straight pipe on a Harley does far more negative impact on others than positive impact (real or perceived performance, rush, etc) on the rider.
  • throwaway894345 5y ago
    I don’t ride, but I’ve often considered it as a hobby. Even still, I wish people who just really like noise would get themselves some headphones instead of disrupting everyone else, damaging their hearing, interrupting their (even indoor) conversations, waking sleeping children, etc. It’s incredibly selfish behavior and I can only imagine people who behave this way are compensating for something. I almost buy the “loud pipes save lives” angle but if you need to deafen others to protect yourself maybe motorcycling just isn’t an institution worth keeping around. That said, I don’t think it needs to come to that.
    • reader_mode 5y ago
      Loud pipes argument is bullshit in my book, I've been riding for 5 years now and never had a traffic accident, defensive riding is the only way to be "safe" (you're never really safe on a bike, even a little gravel on the road can mean you end up in a coma), relying on other drivers having to notice you is a pointless gamble, just assume they aren't going to and drive accordingly. Also I notice people get startled by a loud bike approaching - and the last thing you want is to startle an insecure driver.
    • captainredbeard 5y ago
      People aren’t deafened by them, only annoyed. That said, I can’t stand loud bikes!!
  • sicromoft 5y ago
    "Being an asshole is an essential part of the riding thrill." Fixed that for you.
    • reader_mode 5y ago
      There are plenty of places where it's "safe" (in the not endangering others sense) to ride at high speed and loud
  • 1-more 5y ago
    If you've ever supertucked on a road bike and broken the speed limit down a hill you'll see how little sound has to do with it.
• cat199 5y ago
  Me as well, until I bought Forza Horizon and discovered my car had a turbo.. I don't dispute that some loud exhausts are the result of exactly what you describe, but also many are motorheads who have less restrictive exhaust systems for performance reasons or just to enjoy their vehicle (unfortunately sometimes at the expense of other peoples hearing)
• Soulsbane 5y ago
  I love this comment! I live out in country and it seems like every jackass with a Harley has to add some noise pollution just so they enjoy the freedom of the open road.
• russellendicott 5y ago
  I have this same theory with road cyclists. I have no problem with someone bicycling to get to work but there are many other types of exercise that don't involve blocking traffic by making other drivers terrified to hit you. It's like doing jumping jacks at a gun range. There must be a dominance factor at play.
  • vincentpants 5y ago
    Homie, it has nothing to do with you or your work commute. Cyclists have every legal right to be on the road as a car and if a shoulder lane isn’t safe enough to cycle on then it’s safest and recommended and the law to take up a whole lane to ensure assholes like you don’t risk their safety/lives by trying to squeeze past them in the same lane. Best to just treat them as a car and try to practice patience.
    • tobesure 5y ago
      >Cyclists have every legal right to be on the road as a car and if a shoulder lane isn’t safe enough to cycle on then it’s safest How many man hours are wasted by cyclists who take up the road and drive at half or less the speed limit? Isn't that sort of selfish, asshole behavior? Why should their desire to exercise in public supercede that of everyday people trying to go about their lives? Sure, it may only be a couple of minutes of inconvenience for the driver stuck behind a bicyclist, but collectively there is a significant externalized cost and I think people have every right to be infuriated by the selfishness.
    • russellendicott 5y ago
      But why would someone choose road cycling for exercise over running on a sidewalk? Road cycling is very expensive and inconveniences people.
      • pmontra 5y ago
        Cars are usually more expensive than bycicles and inconvenience people too. Don't get me wrong, I've got both a car and a bicycle, not 100% for road cycling but count it as if it was (it's a gravel bike.) For me cycling beats running 100-0. I can easily pedal 100+ km but I can't run 100 meters, too tiresome. Furthermore I see 100 km of the world vs a small area around my home. Ultimately it's all subjective. Each of us likes something different and it's OK.
• johng 5y ago
  I’ve always said that an exhaust should only be as loud as the vehicle or motorcycle is fast. I put exhausts on my vehicles and motorcycles that free the flow of air which makes the engine (an air pump) perform better. I never put one on a slow vehicle just to make it louder. Consider this the same as overclocking a cpu. You are burning up more electricity than you “need” to, all for your own personal greed or need for speed? The door swings both ways.
  • art0rz 5y ago
    Except my PC doesn't wake up the neighborhood.
    • imoverclocked 5y ago
      It might produce EMI though. (if we are picking nits)
      • imoverclocked 5y ago
        Wow, downvoted into obscurity despite factual basis. Overclocking can in fact produce EMI. I realize that audible noise is very readily recognized as harmful. It’s been studied and proven to be harmful, as have other forms of pollution. I think EMI affects less people directly but it’s still noise.
        • NikolaNovak 5y ago
          I think you're down voted due to ridiculousness / perceived intellectual dishonesty. You're putting the argument that overclocking a CPU, due to increased impact, is analogous to putting a straight pipe on a Harley. I would imagine that difference is sufficient number of orders of magnitude different to be a fundamentally ignorable comparison, and obviously so. A loud pipe has an immediate and continuous demonstrable negative impact on hundreds and thousands of people per trip. You would need to show me some reaaally good studies to show that increased (not just baseline) EMI of overclocking is even readily detectable through the faradey cage of computer case and then three houses down the road, and distinguishable in the noise of street transformers, Fridges, laser printers, etc.
• mioasndo 5y ago
  'I don't like loud vehicles therefore anyone that drives one is an insecure asshole trying to assert dominance.' Maybe the point of loud vehicles is to make you feel better about having a quieter one?
• jh86 5y ago
  I hope this is not in poor taste, but I find it pretty relevant to the discussion (and hilarious) https://youtu.be/ipDmsxQVxIM https://youtu.be/ipDmsxQVxIM
• galaxyLogic 5y ago
  No not necessarily by being an asshole. By being loud. Animals do it too like lions they have a mighty roar. But they only roar when they are afraid. No? Why would they otherwise roar?
  • pedalpete 5y ago
    I suspect you are partially correct, they will roar out of fear to try to scare of the other guy, but after a successful take down, they'll also roar to show their dominance, in order to assert their position.
  • naikrovek 5y ago
    you're right, they don't do it to be an asshole. they do, however, do it to feel like a badass, and they like feeling like a badass because they're an asshole. if you start looking for it, or rather, start understanding that it's there, you will soon see an alarming number of people doing things solely because it makes them feel like a badass. it is 100% of the entire reason to live, in some people.