[Apriliarider]

With the weather finally past the rain and overcast of the winter here, there have been a lot of bikes out on the road recently. One thing that I noticed is, a rather large number of the old Ninja 250s out and about. I don't think I've ever seen this many, not even when they were new.

Even my wife commented on the number of old style 250s out and about. Then there are the squids. You know the type. Out riding in shorts and tank tops even when the weather isn't exactly warm. There was a series of posts on our local community awareness page a few days ago.

Apparently a kid riding an SV650 was pulled over by CHP and ticketed for doing 117 MPH on Hwy 80. 8 minutes later he was pulled over by a different CHP and again ticketed, this time for doing 87 in a 65.

Tonight, on our way to pick up some wings, I saw a kid on a brand spanking new Ducati Scrambler Café. On the way back, we saw a squid on Yamaha R1 with another rider on a ZX9....I haven't seen a ZX9 in quite a while. For the 1st time a couple of weeks, we did not see a single Ninja 250.

No real point to be made, just stating some observations...you know, COVID boredom and all that......sean

 

[ducatiman]

Is it just me? Obvious I'm ageing...some observations as weather has turned here. Tons of HD, Hon-Zuk-Kawi-Yama multi's everywhere. Obnoxious LOUD exhaust on every_ single_ one.
Evidently riding at 10,000 RPM at 30mph in traffic is the chosen norm. Just who are we trying to impress?
I don't understand the loud thing...unless, of course, the fair weather crowd is going out riding short miles just to park and pose. Loud gets old quick when riding locally 100+ miles in a day.
Curiously, these guys all disappear when temps hit 50/55 and below and I'm out there near alone, I notice this reality every year. Coincidence?

 

[[email protected]]

Nope, its not just you......I don't get the loud pipes thing, either. The car drivers who most need to be jolted are deaf, drunk, wearing ear buds, or have their stereos turned up to warp nine so they can't hear a damn thing outside their car anyway. Aside from having to endure that noise yourself for however long your ride lasts, what good does it do to piss off people who are otherwise happy to mostly just ignore motorcycles? Car drivers don't see motorcycles because they aren't looking for motorcycles. Its that simple. Ride accordingly.

I think the obnoxious loudness is really more about one of the most basic of human needs. As in: Wheeeee--look at me! Its what kids do, but fortunately, later in life they grow up. (And yup, I'm a guy who, back in the day, rode a Honda with painfully loud open megaphones. Eventually I figured out that the girls were far more impressed by offering them a slow paced, enjoyable ride on a quiet motorcycle down a scenic road on a nice day.)

 

[slower]

Warm weather has created a frenzy here - it's fun to see. I hear swarms of 10,000 rpm bikes going from one side of town to the other in 1st gear, I assume. I prefer the quiet, low stock exhaust note of a Ninja / Versys 650R.

Walking yesterday with my wife, a kid went by that could not contain his excitement and started doing a wheelie to impress us. He turned to smile as he passed us, flipped straight up and dragged his tail light on the pavement!

 

[[email protected]]

Having to cough up the money to replace a needlessly smashed, stupidly overpriced tail light lens is an essential part of the growing up process. Be thankful you didn't have to give him first aid.

 

[ducatiman]

Another yahoo projecting the "mommy, look what I can do" thing. Obvious this stuff can be very dangerous on public roads.

My little 650 Honda so stealthy and quiet....love it. On residential backroads back off throttle, coast quietly, slowly, safely by walkers, joggers, dog walkers and bicyclists. I routinely get waves, nods, thumbs up, even HELLO's....including from the incorporated village cops! I much prefer being a goodwill ambassador rather than an example of obnoxious, noisy, immature vroom, vroom show-off.

 

[Apriliarider]

There are different types of loud. There's the muted but intoxicating sound of a Ducati twin on the pipe, which honestly no one I know of finds offensive. Then there's the howling shriek of an inline 4 with an unbaffled pipe that truly makes the hairs on one's neck stand up. Right along with that one is the loud "going no where slowly" sound of an uncorked Harley. Somewhere in between is my Aprilia.

From where I live, we hear what my wife refers to as the "Biker Boyz" (like the movie) on a daily basis. Unbaffled inline 4s shrieking at redline and sometimes bouncing off the rev limiter. Also, there area couple of Harley owners who live in my neighborhood who insist on revving up their bikes while going no where. (visualize the South Park episode, and the voice of Cartman saying "Fegs")

I agree with and prefer being a "good will ambassador" rather than the noisy "look what I can do" (visualize Stuart from Mad TV) a$$hat show off doing stupid bike tricks. I don't ride at stupid RPMs to make my bike emit more noise than it needs to, nor do I ride everywhere doing stunts or stupid bike tricks.

All that said, I'm a live and let live kinda individual. I might poke fun or whatever, but really, who am I to judge others? I figure natural selection can take care of itself............sean

 

[Devilsfan]

I'm noticing more of these little souped-up, slap-a-fin-on, add-a-coffee-can cars that are obnoxiously loud zipping up and down Main Street. They gun it at the light, speed-shift, blow up everyone's ear drums...to go 30 mph.
A few of these trucks are like that, too.

 

[[email protected]]

What are they gonna do if electric cars become the only alternative? No fart can=no noise=no attention. They'll have to totally re-write the script for adolescent mating rituals.

 

[Apriliarider]

No fart can=no noise=no attention.

I dunno.....playing cards in the spokes?


😂🤣😂

 

[ducatiman]

* A gang of clowns of this ilk riding ATV's, dirt/street bikes actually stopped traffic dead in both directions on a NYC highway years ago...and proceeded to do stunting. It made regional if not national news. We even discussed it on this forum shortly thereafter.
**Good ambassadors, right.
* 2 weeks later 30-40-50 loud, screaming, weaving, speeding streetbikes head out east to Long Island (my area) via 495 the Long Island Expressway...disregarding any/every law. Passing between lanes of moving cars doing highway speeds on open roads.....at way above speed limits, street racing, purposely weaving in/out dangerously. This also made regional news.
**Good ambassadors, right.
* For many following weekends, multiple speed traps were setup on the roadway.,,,targeting anyone but really focusing on bikes. No coincidence after the previous week speeding free for all. Bottom line....doing 56 in the 55 got you the "attention" you were lookin' for.
**All precipitated by..........thanks guys.
Then there was the similar large group that assaulted an SUV driver after a traffic altercation in NYC. Made national news too.
**Thank y'all again for illuminating positive public awareness to motorcycling.

Just opining and adding to free discussion...I'm not lumping all loud bikes to the above groups, but we got some real winners here.

 

[jonh]

I've been out in the back today and I've heard a number of loud bikes riding around.
None of mine I would class as loud, I like my bikes to be quiet-ish as I like to clock up a good number of miles when I'm out and about. I do have one of the quiet'est bikes there is, it's so quiet that if the ammeter didn't move I wouldnt know it was running,...and no, it's not electric,LOL
I'm one of those "each to their own" type of people, but every time I hear the "noise saves lives " arguments I just laugh and leave, noise does one thing, and one thing only....makes you deaf ( which reminds me, I must order some more battery's for the hearing aid's,).

 

[Apriliarider]

We had some similar activity here several years ago. Dirt bikes and 4 wheelers all out in traffic on the freeways around the Bay Area. Assaulted a driver in an SUV when he bumped one of the bikes as it stopped dead in front of him. All caught on phone camera too.

Several weeks after that incident, same bunch of idiots pulled the same sort of thing on the Bay Bridge. CHP helicopter followed one group of bikes as they departed the area and continued as they broke up and went their separate ways.

Directed police on the road to their whereabouts. All caught, all arrested and information from them used to track down the rest. (round of applause for the CHP!) On another note, today was a good day for a ride.

Took my little Gixxer and went on a ride today with the guys from my old shop. Was a really good ride considering the circumstances.

On my way to meet the group at a gas station in Vacaville, I joined the freeway in my normal manner. I was astonished that I wasn't out running anyone as I zipped down the on ramp.

I looked down at the tach briefly and noted that I was sitting right around 8K! That works out to around 80 mph. So I picked out a car and just started pacing them. I was again shocked when I looked down at the tach again, and was sitting around 8700 rpm. In 6th gear no less. 2 cars came steaming past in the far left lane.

At that point, I rolled out of the throttle and check my speed. I was doing 93 mph indicated while pacing a car. Too fast for me. I slowed it down to 70s and continued on. I thought for a split second, I was doing 90ish and got passed rather handily. Those guys must have been well past the 100 mph mark.

I rounded the last bend in Hwy 80 before the off ramp I needed when I see a CHP interceptor pull onto the freeway from the shoulder. One of the cars that passed me and my pace car got pulled over. Remember, I rolled out when I realized we were over 90 and not one, but a few cars passed us.

As I took the off ramp, up ahead I could see another car pulled over by a CHP motor officer, and it was another of the cars that had passed me. This was not looking like a positive start to this ride.

Anyway, I met up with all the guys at the gas station. Once everyone fueled up, we took off to the back roads and headed out towards Lake Berryessa. It's a long weekend. I anticipated a parade of boat towing traffic headed out the same way.

Luckily, it was still relatively early and we only encountered a single boat tower on the way. Once we broke free of that, and slow rolling cars we were able to wick things up a bit. It was nice after that and we were able to make a very entertaining run through all the fast sweepers.

Once past all the sweepers, the road opens up a bit, and I was just kinda cruising as it isn't all that entertaining. One of the kids from the old shop picked himself up a 675 Daytona after his deployment. He passed me quite rapidly, and as we were leading a group, I just let him go.

Gone he was too. After the long, wide straight away, I got to the corners and he wasn't even in sight. I just maintained my pace and after a couple of corners, I see a CHP interceptor going the opposite direction. I though Mr. 675 would soon be sighted sitting on the side of the road, receiving his "performance award". As it turned out, it was his lucky day.

We made it to what is known as "Poser's Corner" and stopped to shoot the breeze and split up the ride. Those wanting to ride farther and longer were heading out through Butt's Canyon and over to Napa. The rest of us were going the short route and back home.

As we departed the corners, there was a massive parade of boat traffic heading to the lake from the way the rest of us intended to ride home. Good thing it was all opposite direction.

Saw tons of bikes out as we headed back. Mostly sport bikes, and mostly European. One group appeared to have a CHP motor officer escort. Probably 30 of them, nearly all Euro bikes. Saw just a few HDs out.

A little bit further along, we encountered a line of cars going the opposite direction all stuck behind a boat tower. As we went by, I realized they were all exotic sports cars. I was able to pick out a Ferrari, and a Bugatti Veyron followed by what looked like around 10 Audi R8s.

The 4 of us who returned on the short loop, had a nice flowing and fun ride. Interrupted here and there but given the circumstances previously mentioned, it was a good day. I was home in just over 2 hours.

The little Gixxer needed to be taken out and run, as it hadn't been ridden since Laguna Seca last year. The guys who did the long loop reported they all made it back without incident also. Win-win.

 

[[email protected]]

As a follow up to the loud pipes discussion, I just stumbled on a funny news article about what happened to a guy who was the proud owner of a very late model Mustang. Apparently the newest 'Stangs come with an exhaust that can be electronically adjusted for more or less restriction (and noise) right from the driver's seat. Although the car already had Ford's state-of-the-art performance exhaust (which is probably quite good) he made the stupid decision to tack on an expensive Borla system which made it even louder when it was in performance mode.

Not being satisfied with one stupid decision, he chose to drive the car in full performance mode up and down the streets of his own neighborhood. At least one neighbor must have been suitably impressed because when he went out to start his car one morning, it would barely run and soon stalled. The problem turned out to be that overnight someone had filled both of his shiny new Borla exhaust tips with some of that expanding foam-in-a-spray-can crack sealer. There was no permanent damage, but the point was made.

 

[Davenay67]

As a follow up to the loud pipes discussion, I just stumbled on a funny news article about what happened to a guy who was the proud owner of a very late model Mustang. Apparently the newest 'Stangs come with an exhaust that can be electronically adjusted for more or less restriction (and noise) right from the driver's seat. Although the car already had Ford's state-of-the-art performance exhaust (which is probably quite good) he made the stupid decision to tack on an expensive Borla system which made it even louder when it was in performance mode.

Not being satisfied with one stupid decision, he chose to drive the car in full performance mode up and down the streets of his own neighborhood. At least one neighbor must have been suitably impressed because when he went out to start his car one morning, it would barely run and soon stalled. The problem turned out to be that overnight someone had filled both of his shiny new Borla exhaust tips with some of that expanding foam-in-a-spray-can crack sealer. There was no permanent damage, but the point was made.

Read the same story. I think some good ol' russets may have been a cheaper noise-insulation fix.

I'm genuinely surprised that Ford lets the Mustang be so loud. Many of the late models are really bordering on obnoxious....like HD loud for HD speed (i.e. lots for little). My old GT was a fraction of the sound volume compared to today.

 

[Apriliarider]

That reminds me of myself a bit really. Not the whole driving up and down the street making as much noise as possible but the whole noisy car exhaust thing.

When I was young and fresh in the Air Force I was stationed on a Navy Base. My roommate and I had the two loudest vehicles on the base. It's okay, it was Southern Maryland and they both fit right in.

He had an old Honda of some description that had been abandoned in front of the barracks. The Petty Officer of the Watch let him take it because there were around a dozen abandoned motorcycles sitting there and he was having them all towed to impound that particular day.

It had cored out pipes and was loud from the day he resurrected it. But hey, he got a free motorcycle out of it.

I had an old 1969 Impala, 327 3 speed column shift with Black Jack headers and dual Cherry Bomb mufflers. I drove that noisy bizatch all the way from the East Coast to Washington State via Texas and Colorado. IOW, the longest way possible.

Loud doesn't bother me so much. Repetitive a$$ hattedness does. Loud and repetitive a$$ hattedness will likely garner the same kind of reaction.