Police Department installing louder exhaust systems on thier motorcycles

[Tab B.]

I don't have any scientific research to back me, just typical casual observation from over three decades of riding. I really don't hear much of the loud exhaust from another bike, when it is behind me, and its' pipes are pointing away from me. That becomes even more so after you factor in ambient wind noise inside my helmet at highway speed. Then even more still when I'm on a long ride and am wearing ear plugs to try and save what hearing I have left. When a bike gets close enough for me to hear appreciably, I have already "aquired the target" in my mirrors before I've heard it. I have been rear ended three times, so my mirrors are now my best friends. Maybe I should borrow from what little I understand about sound from my stereo system. Low frequencies are very non-directional. That's why subwoofer placement in a room isn't as specific as where the other speakers are placed. The "strongest" place would be in a corner, or what is called a "quarter space". That reinforces the low frequencies. What has this to do with a loud exhaust? You have a point source going in one direction, with no reinforcement. In the case of a typical big twin, the sound is lower on the scale, so is less directional at the very least. So, if I'm in front of this source, I don't hear all that much of it. Certainly not enough for some to try to justify having annoyingly loud pipes, under the shallow pretense of saving their own bacon. Getting back to sight, having a headlight on, or even one of those modulated headlights, has been, for me anyways, far more effective in getting my attention.

[womper]

i wonder if the cops have instead opted to install these on all their bikes...

[tricker]

Originally Posted by Rickster

Next time you wake up in the middle of the nite to a sound you cant account for, than check out the whole house before you can go back to sleep, remind your self how much sound doesn't register with you.

That is why I like having my dog. He hears something he isn't used to and he lets me know immediately. I'm pretty sure he wanders the house at night and is a light sleeper cause he's sleeping right now.

[Rickster]

You are of course right when you say that loud pipes play a very small part in getting other people on the roads to notice us, really loud pipes do a lot to get us noticed in a bad way, that needs to change, but I'm talking about pipes that sound good, not the window rattlers, and your right when you say we all should be more aware of what's going on around us when we are driving/riding, but the sad fact is that there are a lot of people out there that are in fact not paying close enough attention to there driving, and from my own personal experience I get suprised a few times every year when I become aware of a bike close by me because i heard them before I see them.

I do not believe loud pipes put some sort of magic shield around us when we ride, but I also believe that only blind people, and to a smaller degree deer hunters understand just how important sound is when it pertains to us being aware of our surroundings.

[womper]

1st rule of riding a motorcycle ...

ride as if you are a ghost that can't be seen or heard

[Davecm203]

Originally Posted by womper

1st rule of riding a motorcycle ...

ride as if you are a ghost that can't be seen or heard