What is it with Harley riders?

[AnotherBueller]

Its like chicken soup.. It can't hurt. I can without any doubt whatsoever tell you that I have less instances of distracted drivers almost turn into me on my "loud" bike than I have had on a quieter harley full dresser. I don't know exactly how many ..But I certainly north of 150K miles on road bikes..I have seen a lot. Many people ignorant to their surroundings..texting, playing with a radio, dealing a phone etc. ..If you are behind them..you see the irregular driving as you approach the car..If they are distracted by what they are doing...would you rather have some sort of audible notice for them to look around..or rather ride beside them in stealth mode.. It's really not that hard for me to decide.

loud pipes save lives

 

[AnotherBueller]

Okay, I haven't read every post in this thread, but I think Harley riders are afraid to let their machines idle for very long. They shake so much that parts start falling onto the pavement. A few blips keeps the engine revved higher with less self-destructive vibration. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[tacticalturnip]

There is no in between..Once you let the camel get its nose in the tent..The rest is coming in too.

The in-between is having sense enough to live by the Constitution, not letting the Government get this large, and having respect for those around you.

There is an in-between, we just passed that line a long time ago.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I have plenty of yellow and orange shirts that I wear on the bike..Also fairly loud pipes..Every little bit helps ..Far too many clueless people out there oblivious to their surroundings. Especially those French Canadians

There is not that many French Canadians going to the USA ... or you are the one biking to their province? if its that dangerous maybe you should stay in Boston.

 

[Jstpssng]

loud pipes save lives

Yeah, right.
I will admit that I did almost cut a bike off… I was crossing a 4 way and he must have come around a corner, hard. I was checking left and right as I pulled out and all of a sudden he was there, accerating hard and reaching for another gear. I was stopped before he saw me, and he had plenty of room to get by.
I never heard him until he backed off… funny thing when the pipes are pointed behind you.

Since then I’ve walked where it happened, and taken measurements on Google Earth. I even thought about stopping at the police department as I believe there is a camera at that intersection. It really bugged me as I have always tried to watch out for bikes. Yet I stopped in plenty of time and left plenty of room, had it been a car I would have forgotten about it long ago. Had he been traveling at somewhere near the posted 25 mph speed limit it would have been a non issue. I don’t know how fast a Harley can go in second but that’s the speed he was traveling at.

Perhaps if he could hear he might have been paying more attention to his driving, rather than leaving it up to everyone else to drive like he was at Louden.

 

[Mike sandor]

Poll Question

Which of the following do you find more annoying:

(a) the aforementioned "Harley" exhaust noises, or
(b) young men sharing their musical tastes with the world via their cars' sound systems?

Steve

B all day long!

 

[Rockbadchild]

Yeah, right.
I will admit that I did almost cut a bike off… I was crossing a 4 way and he must have come around a corner, hard. I was checking left and right as I pulled out and all of a sudden he was there, accerating hard and reaching for another gear. I was stopped before he saw me, and he had plenty of room to get by.
I never heard him until he backed off… funny thing when the pipes are pointed behind you.

Since then I’ve walked where it happened, and taken measurements on Google Earth. I even thought about stopping at the police department as I believe there is a camera at that intersection. It really bugged me as I have always tried to watch out for bikes. Yet I stopped in plenty of time and left plenty of room, had it been a car I would have forgotten about it long ago. Had he been traveling at somewhere near the posted 25 mph speed limit it would have been a non issue. I don’t know how fast a Harley can go in second but that’s the speed he was traveling at.

Perhaps if he could hear he might have been paying more attention to his driving, rather than leaving it up to everyone else to drive like he was at Louden.

I think speed kills is way better moto then loud pipe save lives... people will say that and have a loud pipe but will drive 10-20 miles over the speed limit with the worse front light ever and don't use their turning signal and its not like bike don't have horns ether... my bike is always on high beam during daylight.

One place where I kinda agree with loud pipe save lives is with snowmobiles despite being very annoying for everybody else... and not like everyone else saying it I can give a examples, when going back country with multiple snowmobile and you are all playing (carving, wheeling, climbing hills and ect) in one area with low visibility like precipitation, night or a gray day and or uneven terrain I have to admit it helps knowing when they are accelerating and where about they are, you have more then on sense working for ya. But yet still extremely annoying especially at night.

 

[GeneV]

Nor a license plate, or any regard for traffic laws. Try riding up Broad Street around Montgomery Ave sometime In Philly…. It’s like all illegal bikes swooping through traffic, wheelies and boom boxes that’ll shatter old windows.
Its like a dystopian scene out of a Mad Max movie.

They'll do that in Chicago too, swarming downtown in the middle of the night.

 

[Egon]

B all day long!

Run them side by side so they cancel out on decibels and have to up the noise!

 

[Egon]

Since some seem to think to loud noise garners safety attention. Perhaps removing mufflers from all vehicles should be happening! (So the truckers know we are there!)