5 ms·

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 a

by e40 5y ago

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.

raxxorrax 5y ago
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.
JKCalhoun 5y ago
Owned four Harleys, like you, mine were stock, quiet. People are surprised to find out Harleys sound almost like sewing machines when they are stock. Almost.
- mikestew 5y ago
  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.
- wildrhythms 5y ago
  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.
whartung 5y ago
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.
- rabuse 5y ago
  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.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    Maybe you just shouldn't ride a motorcycle if, in order to feel safe, you feel the need to unreasonably increase your level of noise pollution.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - whartung 5y ago
    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.
    - drums8787 5y ago
      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.
plushpuffin 5y ago
That's happening to you because sound is refracted by the atmosphere at night and bounced back toward the ground. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43154773 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43154773 > "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."
01100011 5y ago
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.
vgeek 5y ago
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2_E1ap9d4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2_E1ap9d4 This comes to mind for this thread.
kelnos 5y ago
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.
StockHuman 5y 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.
- mchusma 5y ago
  I was looking to see if 80db made sense or not as a limit. Looking at these sources: https://alexonautos.com/cabin-noise/ https://alexonautos.com/cabin-noise/ https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/exactly-how-quiet-are-cars-at-different-speeds/ https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/exactly-how-quiet-are-cars-... 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.
  - Reason077 5y ago
    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! [1] https://www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/fuel-consumption-co2/fuel-consumption-guide/cars-and-noise/#topic-title https://www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/fuel-consump...
wildrhythms 5y ago
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.

by e40 5y ago

raxxorrax 5y ago

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.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

Owned four Harleys, like you, mine were stock, quiet. People are surprised to find out Harleys sound almost like sewing machines when they are stock. Almost.

mikestew 5y ago
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.
wildrhythms 5y ago
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.

whartung 5y ago

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.

rabuse 5y ago
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.
- kelnos 5y ago
  Maybe you just shouldn't ride a motorcycle if, in order to feel safe, you feel the need to unreasonably increase your level of noise pollution.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- whartung 5y ago
  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.
  - drums8787 5y ago
    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.

plushpuffin 5y ago

That's happening to you because sound is refracted by the atmosphere at night and bounced back toward the ground. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43154773 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43154773 > "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."

01100011 5y ago

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.

vgeek 5y ago

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2_E1ap9d4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2_E1ap9d4 This comes to mind for this thread.

kelnos 5y ago

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.

StockHuman 5y 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.

mchusma 5y ago
I was looking to see if 80db made sense or not as a limit. Looking at these sources: https://alexonautos.com/cabin-noise/ https://alexonautos.com/cabin-noise/ https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/exactly-how-quiet-are-cars-at-different-speeds/ https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/exactly-how-quiet-are-cars-... 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.
- Reason077 5y ago
  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! [1] https://www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/fuel-consumption-co2/fuel-consumption-guide/cars-and-noise/#topic-title https://www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/fuel-consump...

wildrhythms 5y ago

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.