Harley rider gives GS rider some riding " tips"

So when I came out of the Mcdees in Michigan, a lady was standing at my bike,puffing away,and we struck up a conversation about bikes/ riding. While we we talking a group of 6/7 Harley's rode by,all with the loudest pipes possible,effectively drowning us out while they passed.

I commented how much I disliked pipes like that and she quickly rebutted me declaring that " loud pipes DO save lives" because.......her husband had been able to avoid "lots" of crashes by twisting the throttle with the noise from the pipes making front end crashes avoidable.

After my shocked silence I gently suggested that perhaps riding skills and proper gear " yes,we are always safe,we always wear our helmets"..... Might make a suitable replacement for ear splitting pipes,she vehemently disagreed.

Not to mention that I was thinking she may want to think twice about getting on the back of her mans bike....but I digress......

She noted that my pipes were very quiet and to be safe I should put much louder pipes on.

I toyed with the idea of bringing up the mystical powers of a gremlin bell,but I had enough to think about by then.....

I thanked her for her conversation wished her safe and happy riding and quietly rode away,blinkers blinking my intention, flashy brake light doing its flashy thing,high vis stitch,shoulder checking and thankfully was able to safely rejoin the flow of traffic unscathed,upright and in one piece,thank goodness!!!!!!

Cheers Harley rider!

You shoulda' spoke up....Darla needs the business..


This STUPID loud pipes crap needs to be put to bed.


Funny side short story- we live in a very rural area, our town has less than 600 people.

A close-by neighbor recently asked me how I made my bike so quiet (a 1992 BMW K100RS4V with stock exhaust). He was surprised when I told him that mine was OEM and all the others had made theirs louder.

BTW, we are in a HD area- probably 40 or 50 Hardleys to 1 or 2 of any other brand.

Front end crashes avoided huh. Failure to understand the laws of physics is no reason to think that you can break the law.

Loud Pipes Save Lives!!!

LOUD PIPES DO SAVE LIVES!!!!!!!

Not really, just wanted to scream that. I bought a used Harley with V&H short shots on it. They were maybe 30" long with no baffles and OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD.
Thing is, the bike ran terribly with no appreciable back pressure. I honestly don't know why you would do that to a perfectly fine motorcycle. I bought a set of stock headers with slipons for cheap on CL and the bike is so much more enjoyable now.
Now, for fairness' sake, some of the worst offenders are metric cruisers. So please don't blame Harleys for ALL of the noise.

Thank dog you are kidding.

All week long during Laconia bike week packs of life style apehangers ride past my office, actually rattling the windows.

Maybe someone wants to tell me how this makes 99+% of the population (non-MC riders) want to accept MC's right to the road.

I love bikes. But when somebody wants to impose their NOISE on me, I strongly object.

Smoking cigarette saves lives.

I pulled in to a gas station to buy a pack and the car in front of me got rear ended by the truck that waz behind me, see...if I had'ent needed smokes I would have been in the middle.

LOL.... Live to ride!! .... 15 miles.. every other sunday.. for breakfast!

Those wild HOGS!!

Knew a guy that was saved by smoking during the Beirut Bombing because he was hanging out the window smoking when the bomb went off. Literally blew him out the window into the bushes, saving his life.

The only sticker on my bike at the moment:

Loud pipe jerkwads... we have a shop in California, near the 1. Lotta bikes come through town, many loud children on their noisemakers. EVERYBODY hates them. Maybe they do know how obnoxious they are and love it, like a spoiled brat in a public place. Buncha spoiled children. If only they were house trained.

You have interacted with another victim of H.D.'s marketing dept.

Here I thought loud SHIRTS save lives.... :huh

A friend is walking to the mail box and stops 10' away to light his cigarette. A car comes around the corner goes over the curb and takes out the mailbox he would have been in front of if he had not stopped.
Same guy is visiting his grandmother. She asked him to go to the store one block away. He stops to have a smoke before the store and watches the train going by derail and land in front of the store.

I always thought it was better to be seen rather than heard. I like to have the lights all lit up day or night. If Joe no-mind is in his car with the windows up and the music cranked he isn't hearing anything.
Loud pipes save lives like little beany helmets save heads.

Don't forget the mystical power of the do-rag.

I owned a Moto Guzzi V50 Monza way back when. Me N the Spousal Unit were living in south Arlington, TX at the time and my commute was about 20-25 minutes along two major highways. Sunday evening the SU finds me in the garage removing the mufflers off the Guzzi. She asks "what r u doing". I just wanted to hear how the bike would sound... I grinned and told her "loud pipes save lives." She shakes her head and sez your gonna get a ticket.
Coming home Monday evening there is an access road with no connecting roads. About mile long straight. I leave the green twisting the loud handle. wrap the little bugger up in every gear. Stop at the end red light and turn right and again start twisting on the loud handle. Crest the hill about middle of third gear and notice a M/C cop sitting in a side road. Start short shifting and back the noise level way down. The cop pulls me over, DOT's my bike, I still had OK tags on it. He writes me a ticket for no M/C license. (had recently moved to TX from OK). Starts to walk away, turns back and sez, "I heard you from the first green light, put the mufflers back on." He likely would have pulled me over... but the pipes sure drew unwanted attention at the time.

Harley folks don't make their pipes loud to be safer. They do because it's always and forever will be, the quintessential cruiser exhaust note. If you're not part of the culture, you'll never understand. Deal with it and move on!

BTW...My Tiger is so quiet, I'm glad it has a gear indicator to help me know what gear I'm in.

"H.D." does not make or sell loud pipes.