Well spoken, Sir.

 

I too feel they do save lives (or accidents at least). I know I usually give a little more 'throttle' when in the left lane (or HOV Lane) when passing truckers and also where on-ramps are. Seen way too many people here in WA who come down an on-ramp and then fire their lil Civic over 3 lanes of traffic to get directly into the HOV lane. I use my pipes for NOISE and if needed (watching them) my horn as well.

 

I agree with Craig,what is loud, most noiseordinances use a decibel number. I will say this, louder than stockis not necessarily obnoxious. My Rinehart's can be a nice rumbleor if I want to let a cager know he/she is cutting into my lane onmywheel or side I can make them bark, they will move back into their lane pretty muchevery time.

TheHarley horn button is in a unfriendly user spotIMO, might not be for you, but it is for me, but my hand is always on the throttle. Like saidthe bark from myexhaust can perk a deer up or scare a dog off of me that camerunning at me to chase me or bite me, I'd rather make some noise than go down and take out the riders behind me or hurt or kill my passenger.

For sure I use every resource of riding safe that I can both mentally andphysically, I always have my lights on bright, my spots on and I do pay attention, I just can't control whatothers do, so I consider my louder than stock pipes a resource and yes I have used them more than once to help ward off danger.

Ifpolice cars/ambulances/firetrucks, any emergency vehicledidn't have sirens that wail loudly (louder than a noise ordinance law)how in the hell would you know they were coming, just how many wrecks would they cause if they relied only on their horns, there is a reason they use loudsirens? To get your attention is why.

Ican't say louder than stock can save my life, as that noise could never give me CPR, but it sure can get attention of otherswhen needed that might helpkeep me out of harms way.

 

I love loud pipes – both on 2 wheel and 4 wheel vehicles. Do I have a set on my bike- no. DoI believe loud pipes will help my safety while on the bike? Not really and here's my reasoning. I also drive a big Dodge Cummins Diesel pickup truck and when I have my XM radio turned up and the windows closed with the AC on heading down the road unless you are right next to me with straight pipes I will not hear you. My opinion is that anything I can do to make me more noticeable (more light both upfront and out back) going down the road the more safe it makes me. Several weeks back I road with a group of friends (all makes of baggers) most with very loud pipes and honestly it is hard in a group to hear emergency vehicles etc that come your way when you have 10 or 15 bikes all running straight pipes or loud aftermarket mufflers. So it goes both ways. IMO this argument will never have a clear winner regardless of what the poll’s outcome is but man there is nothing like the sound of a well tuned Harley with a nice set of pipes going down the road.

 

Well, I doubt the people that "receive" the charity would care how loud our biikes are. Their primary concern (as it should be) is that there are people willing to give, and notworrrying about how nice and quiet we are while doing it. I know where you are coming from, but on the other hand, in our society at large, loudpipes come in somewhere around999th in terms of pressing issues facing us. I'll be honest, loud stereos don't really bother me either. Guess I'm an enigma in that arena. I have bigger fish to fry than to worry about some guy's bike passing me, and me being able to hear his pipes. These crybabies in these bedroom communities must have all of lifes problems solved, and now they are working on loud pipes. Kudos to them.

 

I got my dyna last Aug. & had people pulling in front of me often. I seemed like every day. I mentioned it to a buddy of mine who has been riding daily for a long time. He said make the bike louder. I drilled 2 1/2 inch holes in each baffle & it rarely happens anymore.