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One thing to understand, my Harley riding brethren, Harley cannot be targetting you. They are clearly targetting new riders. The combustion engine is a hobby as
by ph33t 9y ago
One thing to understand, my Harley riding brethren, Harley cannot be targetting you. They are clearly targetting new riders. The combustion engine is a hobby as much as anything for 1/2 the riders I know; for them, it's the fun of owning a bike. Unless you have a lot of money, the only way to fix an oft-broken motorcycle is by doing yourself. I've owned a similar (not Harley) bike for a number of years. Parts are always vibrating off off the damn thing. It is loud; I do believe it helps make you visible. Yes, that is anecdotal, but I have ridden bikes with all types of pipes and I find it 100% true. I am much safer (heard) with my La Chopper's Curvedd pipes than the very quiet stock pipes; meaning, many fewer close calls.
So, they are looking for riders that don't care that their machines will (ostensibly) be more reliable (less vibration), saves money on fuel, and is quiet and efficient. I care about none of those things, BUT I want Harley to stay in business, and if they can do that while attracting new riders, I fully support them.
A side note, gas sport-bikes accelerate insanely fast now ... imagine how fast they will with an electric engine ... scary!
- cujo 9y agoThe main issue I have with Harley and all the loud bikes is that riders are remarkably rude and inconsiderate. Yeah, I'm passing a very general comment around, but I don't think it's wrong. Any time you ride that thing past someones home you wake everyone up if they're sleeping and completely ruin any sense of quiet that may have existed. If your neighbor fired up a chainsaw (or six) 20 feet from your house at all hours of the day, I imagine you'd consider that neighbor similarly. So if they loud bikes go away, I'm all in favor. I think you're all acting like jerks for riding them.
- jacquesm 9y agoSecond that. I have lived on Overtoom in Amsterdam, one of the main avenues in and out of the city center. On any given night there would be 1000s of vehicles using that road. But for some reason the hey look at me motorcycle crowd would love to open up their throttles at 3am, you never heard anybody else except for the occasional ambulance.
- cryptoz 9y agoI was under the impression that motorcycles were made to be artificially loud, as just like the existence of the engine, the bike being loud is a major selling point. Is this true? The problem is that they are so fast. So if you call in a seriously scary and illegal noise at night the culprit could be a state over before anyone arrives. So it's obviously a non starter and nobody calls the police. But then there is a cultural of it being normal and so the problem never goes away and only gets worse. Motorcycles are your right to ride if you have a license. Scaring the living daylights out of people every day is not.
- jacquesm 9y agoNor is waking up whole neighborhoods for your own gratification.
- Gracana 9y agoStock exhausts are not terribly loud, though it's hard to make something that's automobile-level quiet in a motorcycle sized package. I wouldn't be opposed to a noise restriction, provided it was implemented reasonably.
- 0xcde4c3db 9y agoExactly. One could argue that bikers are disproportionately responsible for this problem, but they're far from having a monopoly. There's no shortage of people with a "tuned" Civic/Impreza/Neon or cheapskate businesses operating shitty old trucks, at least in my area.
- matte_black 9y agoLoud pipes save lives. A life is worth more than having motorcycles pass you by without disrupting your peace and quiet.
- hfdgiutdryg 9y agoHi-viz clothing and a headlight modulator are far more effective.
- pletnes 9y agoThis is so true. I’ll be happy to see Harley bankrupt and biking forbidden. Not to mention the insane velocities and traffic hazard the bikers pose. Source: have lived near a road.
- KozmoNau7 9y agoThe bikes aren't the problem. Stock bikes are surprisingly quiet. As someone who likes riding (Suzuki Bandit 600, Yamaha XT660X) and is perfectly happy with stock pipes, I don't appreciate being lumped in with the idiots, and I would absolutely fight against a ban.
- princeb 9y ago> Any time you ride that thing past someones home without any context I could imagine you were talking about a Lamborghini.
- paulie_a 9y agoI doubt the "loud pipes save lives" concept holds water. The normal rumble of a Harley doesn't bother me. When one of those riders goes out of their way to gun it through residential neighborhoods just to be obnoxious they should be fined
- jdavis703 9y agoIt absolutely does. Maybe not in a residential neighborhood, but when it's rush hour, and I'm stuck on the highway in my truck with bikes splitting lanes, its really nice to get an audio warning that one of them is coming by at a close distance.
- paulie_a 9y agoSo loud pipes just distracted me from the other 30 vehicles on the road.. Thanks And thankfully soundproofing of cars makes those loud pipes irrelevant. They are kind of like car alarms, if I happen to even hear them, obnoxious, I ignore it
- acct1771 9y agoYou're contradicting yourself, and I can't figure out why.
- paulie_a 9y agoIf the soundproofing in a vehicle fails me, I mentally tune out the constant obnoxious and consistent noise of things like loud pipes. Id rather pay attention visually to the vehicle's on the road including motorcycles, not be distracted by one asshole on the road
- Mountain_Skies 9y agoI'd find that argument more compelling if not for the fact that most of the noise is focused behind the motorcycle instead of in front of it. How about we get rid of the intentionally loud exhaust system and replace it with a forward facing speaker playing ice cream truck music. In the name of safety of course. Doubt many Harley riders would go for that even though it is congruent with the claims of a desire to use noise to make a cyclist's presence known to other drivers.
- pwaai 9y agoPart of the big appeal is the loudness of the bikes. I don't think I would want a harley if it was quiet....also if you don't like it because it's loud, chances are that you will not enjoy it and will hold negative connotations with it. Granted there are assholes that like to knock out your side mirrors but loud bikes definitely make themselves aware of other drivers when their cross section visibility is much less than a car. I would think that the more scorn you show for these bikers, you are just upping their own sense of glee.
- cujo 9y ago> I would think that the more scorn you show for these bikers, you are just upping their own sense of glee. I don't doubt it, but it does make my point. Loud pipes == jerks.
- cobbzilla 9y agoI read that some people [1] actually enjoy being woken up at 2am by the roar of a motorcycle engine. Imagine that. [1] https://www.theonion.com/wow-check-out-that-motorcycle-revving-1819583871 https://www.theonion.com/wow-check-out-that-motorcycle-revvi...
- walshemj 9y agoEspecially if you can hack them to play around with the power delivery - the weight of the battery might make handeling tricky on a bike though. A Hybrid scooter in the classic Italian style or the Honda c90 style might make sense for delivery riders deliverooo etc