I'm glancing thru the latest HD enthusiast mag and see a letter from a CA. motorcycle cop. he basically says that he has decades and 100s of thousands of miles of riding experiance in CA where lane splitting is legal and he has seen many times where loud pipes have alerted car drivers that normallymay notseethe bike that a motorcyle was near.....bottom line was in his experiance loud pipes do indeed save lives..I was surprised the letter was printed in the mag...but anyway I feltchalk one up for my side

 

I don't see how anyone can argue against the fact that a loud bike alerts cagers to your presence. Common sense...

Chris

 

I agree butyou see in a lot of mags that its a "myth"...

 

I know that when I'm in a car, I hear a bike before I see it if it has pipes. And quiet bikes splitting a lane have surprised the heck out of me.

 

Oh, I hear ya. I see people on websites and in mags argue that loud pipes don't alert cagers to a bikers presence. How in the hell they can say that with a straight face is beyond me. These people must not use much common sense.

Chris

 

Works if you are along side, but not approaching an intersection where most car/motorcycle accidents occur.

 

Usually wakes them up as you cruise past the blind spot.

MikeM

 

When I thought about this, in a state where lane splitting is legal, I could see the value in loud pipes. Then I rethunk (?) this and determined that a bike coming up from behind you, the sound of the pipes don't really hit you until the bike is alongside. By then it could be too late... I still think it's a myth that loud pipes save lives. It's possiblethat loud pipes could be a detriment and startle the cager into making them do even more stupid things behind the wheel. Just my take...

 

I was riding in my car about a month ago in the left lane on a 2 lane parkway crusing with traffic. Out of nowhere I hear the sound of a harley in my right ear & glance in the right mirror. Nothing was there until I glanced over my shoulder. There it was right in a perfect blind spot by my right rear door/fender. If it was a quiet bike I would have never heard or seen him. Not that I was going to pull into the right lane anyway but I immeadiatly saw the danger of someone else pulling into his lane. Lesson learned for myself, don't give a cager the opportunity to make that mistake. The pipes did alert me that he was there. V&H Big Radius with Thunder Mountain Baffles, the life savers

 

Don't forget those that have there music blaring louder then most pipes....