Motorcycles w/no mufflers? Why?

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I can sort of see wanting to own a motorcycle. Not my thing personally, but I think I can intellectually grasp the appeal. I just wanted to say that up-front, that I have nothing against motorcycles per se. Or motorcycle owners in general. Or at any rate I'm TRYING like hell not to.

But my tolerance is really starting wear thin here. I happen to live in a town where it seems half the white population owns a Harley or one of the Japanese wanna-bes (Kawasaki 1000s*§, etc. the ones at the high end of the HP scale) and I swear to Christ the first thing they do after shelling out $35,000 or whatever for a factory model is spend another small fortune having the things "customized." Which seems to primarily involve removing the muffler, or replacing it with a make-pretend one that does squat about noise.

And the noise is unbelievable. Especially if you get 20 or so of these knuckleheads going by, all looking like they're on their way to audition for a spot in the Village People. If I've got the windows open conversation (phone or f2f) is impossible, and once in a rare while small stuff like pens or paperclips will actually rattle on my desk.

I don't frickin' get it, but I'm becoming increasingly irritated by it. Especially on weekends. I've already had two groups go by this AM, and I guess that's what has inspired this mini-rant. Yes, I do live in an apartment that fronts a busy street, yes, there's other noise from time to time, and yes, I took both of the above into consideration to some extent when I moved in. But, man, nothing compares to the frequency of this nonsense or I guess you'd call it the intensity of it.

But putting my pity-party aside, is there any reason (other than to be a complete dickhead) people do this kind of thing? Some sort of childish "pay attention to me, me, me" kind of thing? I can't believe it does much one way or the other to the bike's performance, or if it does the difference is minuscule. And there are motorcycles that go by that are about as loud as the average car, so I am presuming this crap is deliberate.

Eh, whatever. I guess I should be glad I don't have sensory issues, other than to most perfume and after-shave. I can live with it, but I sure as hell don't like it. And, yeah, despite my above declaration it is starting to sour me on motorcycle owners in general. Unfair, but getting woken out of a sound sleep at 2AM at least once a week during riding season will do that kind of thing to me.

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* - Observation # 1: One of the few towns around here w/motorcycle cops uses Kawasakis, not Harleys. I worked up the courage one day in a coffee shop to actually talk to one of the cops, and I basically just noted that I thought "you guys" (motorcycle cops) only rode Harleys. He was actually friendly and gave me a pretty detailed explanation of all the mechanical problems Harleys have (of which I understood nothing, other than that the "V-Twin" engine is very maintenance intensive, and still has lots of problems even when well maintained) and how once they switched over they had bikes they could rely on, which required less maintenance and even lasted longer. He said he hoped they never went back. Plus that a certain percentage of all new Harleys were Japanese anyways. Apparently there are no longer American manufacturers of certain parts vital to motorcycles, so Harley has to import them. So much for "Milwaukee Metal," I guess.

§ - Observation # 2: The above kind of solidified my view that people who buy Harleys are all about the sizzle and nothing about the steak. Maybe that's unfair, dunno. They sure as hell don't buy them for stuff like acceleration from a standing start. An $8,000 used, beat to crap "crotch rocket" (Ninja, etc.) will eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert in that category, and not even Harley owners will deny that.

I know quite a lot of bikers, or did, don't see them much now.
So I will attempt an answer.
Firstly, they just loved the sound.. Especially if they had a lot of power. Also was seen as a kinda badge of honour in that I think all new bikes have to have mufflers. Might not have used the words but muffled sounds meant a "wimpy" bike. I'm simplifying but you get the idea
And safety, for bikers and pedestrians because it's nigh on impossible not to hear them coming...
And I daresay just a little playful "badass-ery" so to speak.

My dad has a Harley but he doesn't know the group I knew and I think both sides would concede he's not a biker, per se, just a guy who likes to ride.
Plus he replaced a triumph bonneville with that Harley and as I understand it this is equivalent to sacrilege

Most people remove theirs because they like the sound and they actually want it to be louder, for a whole host of (largely stupid) reasons.

I removed mine on both of my bikes because both my bikes are black and I'm very small (although I would have preferred not to). I have enough near misses because people don't notice me or pull out anyway thinking I can brake as quick as a car can (which we can't, btw). Brake too fast / the wrong way and you just come off (especially while cornering).

If I hadn't removed the mufflers, I definitively would've crashed a couple of times by now since the noise is one of the few things a car driver will notice, especially at dusk when we blend in with the road more. My bikes aren't overtly loud in the first place either, nothing near the sound of a Harley or an old Ducati.

Just today running down to the store someone pulled out in front of me too quickly, I braked as had as I could and swerved slightly and only just missed them and worse I snapped my brake cable in the process.

As for why people buy Harley's (I won't go into the mechanical problem because I will talk all day), it's more along the lines of why you would buy an old mustang if you were a car owner. It's about the history and the fact that they are classics than anything else, not to mention the status.

Last edited by Kjas on 22 Apr 2012, 6:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

Theres like some mentioned the sound improvement and theres also like a select few car guys out there who remove the mufflers and catalytic converters on their cars for more power. My dad falling into the latter.

I'm wondering why they speed with no mufflers in front of my house throughout the day & sometimes middle of night

Are you on a curve or a good straight-away? The road next to my complex is one long straight-away and there are always people who go hell for leather (car or bike).
If you're on a curve, they're just really fun and hard to resist.

ETA: The OP indicates he/she is from Mass. - possibly take comfort that you're not in a year round riding area?

Straight-away on a somewhat major highway so it seems somewhat dangerous for them to be going that fast back n forth

A good road is a good road, Nick.

We don't discriminate

I like bikes, and I really like the sound of twins or single cylinder bikes. Having said that I still think a lot of bikes are too loud and making a lot of noise in a built up area, especially at night, is just being inconsiderate.

The power improvement from doing this is usually very small and in some cases it actually reduces power. However the deeper and louder exhaust note makes it feel like you have more power.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkqCmVXXbk4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-vPZIc2EfA[/youtube]

When I get a motorcylce I plan on taken the muffler off to make my bike sound aweomse

When I was looking to move there was a flat listed as being on a "quiet street". It was a few doors away from a biker bar. I had a friend that used to live near that bar and it's not quiet at all, at least not when a bunch of people on motorcycles decide to leave at the same time.

Whatever technical reasons people might choose to give for removing/replacing the exhaust system, it's all BS. It's all about the sound - the louder it sounds, the faster you think you are going. That, and you get lots of attention - people might not know what a dick you are otherwise.

Its a straight-away, but one that gets lots of foot-traffic on the sidewalk, so if it is an audience they want, most of the time they can get one. Plus, where I live is in one of a series of buildings 4 to 8 stories tall fronting the street on both sides. Hadn't really thought about it before, but for about a quarter mile or so I guess you could get something akin to a "canyon effect" going with reverberation. Even though its not a solid wall of buildings, its probably close enough. And as best I can figure this is the only spot like that within 10 miles or so.



Be sure to put that on the application if you ever apply for life insurance.



I'm agnostic on the whole global warming thing, but I gotta admit it was warm enough in Fall 2011 that it seemed most bikes were still on the road almost to November, some into it. And were only off it until, meh, a couple of lunatics were actually out in February, but most seemed to be back on the road by March 1st. Certainly by mid- to late- March, anyways.

Anyway, things are quite a bit different around here than they were in 1816 - The Year Without a Summer (link), for better or worse. Though I guess I'd rather have the Village People wanna-bes than foot long icicles in June, must grudgingly admit that.

Or, heck, Boston's latitude is actually SOUTH of that of Paris, Milan, and Marseilles and is within spitting distance of that of Rome. I'm guessing it wouldn't take a huge shift in the Gulf Stream to make the eastern US warmer and/or parts of Europe colder.

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Oh, yeah. And the consensus opinion appears (to me, anyways) to be slightly more in favor of no mufflers = a dickhead w/attention issues than opposed to that idea. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

It might be "noise" to you but it's "music" to me.