| Author | Message | ||
     Desmo900 |
Howdy, I just passed the 1000 mile mark on my 07 uly, and was wondering what i can do for extra horsepower, but here is the catch, I need to keep near the stock sound levels of the exhaust. I leave for work at 4:30 am and my neighbors have had enough loud pipes with my Ducati. | ||
| Chrisb |
Just leave it alone. The small gain in hp from the available pipes isnt worth pissing people off and voiding your warranty. | ||
| Red_chili |
Ditto. I am seriously considering bailing on my Spec Ops pipe for that reason. I leave my house at 5:30, and though no one has complained, I wanna be a citizen. | ||
| Hughlysses |
There might be one no-noise change worth checking into: DirectLink can be used to re-tune the stock ECM, but I don't know if anyone's tried this yet or not. You might be able to slightly improve the power, torque, and or driveability. You could ask Al Lighton at American Sport Bike or one of the other sponsors if this is a viable option. | ||
| Treadmarks |
0530...Thats burning daylight.  I try to politely rumble out of the neighborhood at 0500. It's not so bad if you just idle out. I need the extra noise on the way home in traffic, just to remind the cagers that I am next to them.  | ||
| Stevem123 |
I like to blip the throttle as I pass by the lady putting on makeup while on the cell phone. Funny to watch the stuff go flying as she smears the lipstick up the side of her face!  Works best when lane splitting! BC Steve | ||
| Paochow |
I'm lucky I live near the top of a hill. Makes for a quite getaway, granted the neighbors a block down probably hate me. | ||
| Thunderbox |
I don't think justifying noise as a safety issue is reasonable. Just get one of those friggin irritating stereos that make you and everyone else deaf. That way you can have your "safety noise level" when required and get out of the driveway at 530am without alienating your next door neighbors. What a bunch of malarky. You are 100 times more likely to be shot and killed for making obnoxious noise than you are to be saved by a noisy exhaust. I put a Drummer on my Uly for exactly 7 days took it off and was thankful to have sold it. No thank you. But the 1 HP I got on the dyno was really something else. Yah | ||
| Paochow |
I like to blip the throttle as I pass by the lady putting on makeup while on the cell phone. Funny to watch the stuff go flying as she smears the lipstick up the side of her face! Now thats just mean  I can relate: Since installing my Stebel, it's great to see another jackass rolling through the stop sign into my path of travel... Sounding the horn and watching them frantically slam the brakes, drop their phone, spill their coffee, or what ever else they were doing instead of driving. In the past it was up to me to slam the brakes, now how the tables have turned.... | ||
| Treadmarks |
I don't think justifying noise as a safety issue is reasonable. Apparently, you have never commuted on your motorcycle in Miami. Miami has been selected as the town with the rudest drivers for three years straight.(That's a fact, Jack) On my daily driver, I will have the loudest horn, the brightest lights and the most annoying pipes + what ever else it takes to survive. YMMV, as this is probably not needed in your town. | ||
| Hooliken |
Not to fuel the fire but I do think that being heard as well as seen is a safety factor. I am not saying in all cases this is true. I am lucky enough to live in a rural area and do not deal with the day to day gridlock that many of you do (especially my brothers to the north in DC). I have been in heavy traffic on most of my bikes and when people can hear you as well as see you (if you chose to make yourself as conspicuous as possible) you are much more pronounced on most commuters already overwhelmed radar. But for some the noise is just noise and I completely understand that. But arguing that others being able to hear you does not add to your overall visibility is sort of ridiculous. | ||
| Roadrailer |
I have watched cars change lanes into open-piped bikes right next to them. And they do nothing to protect your from the left turner coming from the opposite direction. If you need to be heard, buy a loud horn. Works when you need it, and doesn't annoy the locals when you don't. Hell of a lot more effective than exhaust noise. Besides, if they're not using their main sense, sight, I'm certainly not going to trust their hearing. Proper lane positioning and situational awareness are your friends. | ||
| Aussiexbox |
Hey redchilli if you get rid of the spec ops,i would look at buying iy off of you if you want to sell it outright! And don't worry about where I live,I can soon arrange frieght. | ||
| Thunderbox |
Just imagine how chaotic it would be out there if everyone had the same, noise is safe attitude. I totally agree with Roadrailer who said "if they're not using their main sense, sight, I'm certainly not going to trust their hearing." They also may have the stereo up so high they couldn't here your bike if it was in their trunk. But each to his own. I chose not to be the "obnoxious biker someone wants to run over intentionally" (Message edited by Thunderbox on June 09, 2007) | ||
| Gearloose |
I ride like I drive a semi,that being when I'm in the 'bigtruck'always watching the road and cars around you.You can almost anticipate the move they are about to make,and most of the time it's not pretty or safe.As for noise I live in a rural farm area so Uly has a D&D on it. | ||
| Hooliken |
I have been riding on the street for 20 years and like most of us I have had some run ins with cagers. But I have yet to be in a situation that "I" have not been able to avoid. I will keep going with my philosophy and will allow others to follow their own path. This is along the lines of why we choose to ride. Ask 100 riders and you may very well get 100 different answers. I agree with both sides on this argument on certain points. But being as conspicuous as possible never hurts. I am not talking wake the dead loud as in straight pipes. But you cannot tell me that if you are beside a cage on the highway and they have not seen you that being heard is going to hurt in getting their attention. I will keep doing what I have been doing for the last 20 years. Seems to have worked so far. | ||
| M2nc |
The M2 has a V&H and the Uly has the stock muffler. I like it like that. I can't remember who makes the peace maker but that would be a cool idea for a Buell. Loud when you want it, and quiet when you need it. I leave my house late in comparison to some on this thread, but most of my neighbors are retired so to me 6:30am is still too early for the M2. When I ride to work on the M2, I have become pretty good at leaving at idle, but the driveway is up hill so I can only be so quiet. As for loud pipes, people notice me as I approach the normal blind spots when I am on the M2. The M2 is loud, but far from straight pipes so what is too loud? If you want to increase detection incorporate more than one sense. Its called touch for quality and it improves the results. The same can be applied for the street. A loud horn is great when you know when to blow it and ineffective when not in use. I have this same debate at work with the fork lifts. I want beepers when the trucks are in motion, but others rather not hear the beepers all day. They preach blow the horn, but the horn will not work if the driver does not see the guy that is about to walk out from behind a rack. A loud pipe is like the beeper and allows the drivers around you to use both sight and hearing to identify your position. Loud pipes will not save all lives, but I can see where it will save some. Another advantage to the loud pipe, is looking at the confused look on the HD riders around you. They here the sound and expect one thing and see another. They seem a little more accepting of the M2 than the Uly. I know the pipe is not the only reason, the M2 is more conventional than the Uly. It's still fun to look at their reaction. That said, I can handle the M2's noise for only short rides (250 miles or less). When I am traveling on two wheels I appreciate the quieter Uly. The drone of the M2 gets tiring after a while so I can appreciate a quiet bike. | ||
| Gotj |
The noise issue is not about facts. There has been research that showed no statistical difference in the accident rates of bikes with stock pipes versus loud pipes. But you can't keep a good rationalization down. It is ironic that so many riders with loud pipes say the noise doesn't bother them because they wear earplugs! They can't put up with something they impose on others. | ||
| Ridetherejk |
If safety is why you run loud exhausts, then do you wear yellow or orange safety vests, place reflectors on your helmets and clothing, add additional safety lights to the bike? I don't think so. The phrase "Loud pipes saves lives" is total crap. It's like saying that seat belts kill because when the guy run off the bridge, he died because he couldn't get the seat belt off and drowned. I'm not against louder pipes, just really loud pipes. We all know the difference between the 2. | ||
| Bearly |
Thunderbox True what you say about the loud rap music coming from the Monte with the 22's. But... I do find myself looking around to see where the music is coming from... | ||
| Gotj |
"I like to blip the throttle as I pass by the lady putting on makeup while on the cell phone. Funny to watch the stuff go flying as she smears the lipstick up the side of her face!" If you're serious, a Stebel would get the same result. No need to bug the rest of the populace the rest of the time. If you're serious, I hate to think of the woman's thoughts when she's judging whether she has enough time to pull our in front of me or another biker. It even could be you. I don't understand that thinking (if you're serious). | ||
| Lorazepam |
Just a thought, but from what I have read, loud pipes lose more rights than save lives. I find nothing amusing about a bike that is so loud it sets off car alarms. Get a loud horn and be loud when you need it. Those who insist on very loud pipes will someday find themselves with no place to ride. | ||
| Hooliken |
I like nothing more than an exhaust system that lets you hear the heartbeat of your chosen ride. I have never been a fan of exhausts that are so loud that you cannot deal with riding your bike for more than a few miles without inducing a migraine and hateful looks from all those around. That being said this topic is definitely a subjective thing. I have yet to own a single modern motorcycle that the factory exhaust did not require a little assistance to not only allow the air pump to breath but also tune the exhaust not to my liking. The simple fact that just about every bike I have owned that is, let's say 2000 or newer, is in a ridiculously lean state of tune from the factory to pass ever stringent emissions regs. Leads me down the path to better breathing. Unfortunately many among us do not change an exhaust for that reason. They put on an obnoxious exhaust for what we all know are the completely wrong reasons. On a side note. One of the beautiful things about living in this country of ours is the freedom to choose your own exhaust without government intervention. I am, "for the most part," a law abiding citizen. When our favorite uncle steps in and says that I cannot under penalty of law change my exhaust then I will not. But for now I will do what I am allowed to help my bike run at an optimum level while trying to keep the sound to a dull roar. This is only one mans opinion and as always I could be wrong. | ||
| Stevem123 |
Gotj, My thinking was "WAKE UP AND DRIVE!" I got bumped a while back by a similar woman changing into my lane without looking. I didn't go down but received damage to my bike in the process and a single finger wave as if it was my fault? Honestly I don't care what she thought of me. The first thing out of every cagers mouth is "Gee officer, I didn't see him".... My bike is not obnoxiously loud unless I really get on the throttle. I also think straight or "Drag-Pipes" are too loud but of course "loud" is a subjective satement that differs from one person to the next. So I guess what I'm saying is I want to have my cake and eat it too. There are as many good arguments both ways as there are bad ones. Sooner or later we probably won't have a choice so I elect to enjoy what I want within reason until I no longer have the choice. If the boombox bass cagers and the tuner car kids with fart sounding exhausts can play, why can't I? BC Steve | ||
| Gotj |
BC Steve, As I said in my post, a Stebel would have done the same and wouldn't bother everyone else the rest of the time. "Sooner or later we probably won't have a choice...." Agreed. Thanks for the help in speeding it along. George | ||
| Hughlysses |
I have a very similar situation to M2nc; I've got an S3 with a Drummer muffler and a stock 2007 Uly. The S3 definitely speaks with authority, but it's really louder than I'd like it. The Uly's exhaust is quiet as a mouse. One neat thing about the Uly though- I think the rider gets a lot of good engine sound from the open airbox on these bikes. I know you can really hear it when you whack the throttle and it sounds GOOD. Maybe we'll eventually see Buell come out with an exhaust like the current (legal) Screaming Eagle models. (Message edited by hughlysses on June 11, 2007) | ||
| Arcticktm |
Those of you that think a Uly stock is too quiet should have been at the BMW RA Rally at Biltmore Estate (Asheville, NC) last weekend. I rode the Uly there, and got a lot of compliments on the "throaty" sound (stock '06). 'Course among a few thousand BMW's, it doesn't take much to stand out. The couple of piped Harley's there stood out like a sore thumb, especially in the family tourist crowd at Biltmore. I will stay stock for now. BTW, I live in a "rural" area, and I don't appreciate open pipes anymore than big-city types. Just because the cops don't know how to enforce the sound and emissions laws does not change the fact that these open pipes are already illegal. Of course, so are the jetting changes I used to make to my dual sport bikes... | ||
| Dr_greg |
Yay! I am so happy to see this thread. I started a thread on quiet a while back and inspired a very thoughtful discussion. |
