Loud Pipes

Last month when we were coming back from Murfreesboro, TN, we were heading north on I 81 when some guy passed us on some kind of Hardly a Davidson. The pipes on that thing were so loud it actually hurt our ears. Now mind you, we were running about 80 miles an hour with the juke box on, so things weren't exactly quiet. I'm a firm believer in "to each his own, but that was crazy! I wish someone would tell me why people do this. It certainly doesn't sound good. It's too loud to know what it sounds like.

I have Screamin' Eagle pipes on a couple of my bikes, and a set of Sampson Short Shot drag pipes on another one. The Sampsons are about as loud as I want to go. Yes they are baffled and, you can carry on a conversation standing beside the bike while it's running.

I ride with people that have Kirkers, Bub Reinhardt's, and Vance and Hines on their bikes and they sound good. They have that deep low rumble that makes a V-Twin sound like it's supposed to. I could ride behind them all day.

In defense of louder than stock pipes, I have been riding down a city street and see a car pull up to an intersection, and start to pull out in front of me. I pull in the clutch, rev the motor (I've tried the horn, but I always turn on my left turn signal, go figure), and they see me. You have to understand my big bike has a head light, two spots, and two Motolight running lights, but for some reason, people don't see you until they hear you. So I suppose you could say "loud pipes save lives", but use a little common sense. Please.

The biggest problem is that a few "look at me, look at me" people are going to have all of us riding bikes that sound like sewing machines (you know the ones I mean).
Have a good ride and keep the shiney side up.