[04gto]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

And I can say personally that loud pipes don't save lives. I've had run ins where clueless cagers would still drive right into you. In regards to the noise thing, my Ducati superbike has a loud exhaust. My Ninja not so much. I do what ever it takes when I enter my neighbor in respect of my neighbors not to be an ahole with the exhaust noise by upshifting to keep the RPMs low and coasting with the clutch pulled in. But that's just me being respectful.

RE: "stanced" cars:

I am very much a function over form kind of guy, not just when it comes to cars, but everything in life. If it is an air scoop or spoiler, it has to be functional, not for style. Having said all that cars that are "stanced" to the extreme so as not to be safe or worse, drive like shit are often unsafe and fucking stupid. I am sure the owners IQ levels are completely inline with there suspension setup. To each his or her own I guess.....

I completely disagree that loud exhausts do not potentially save lives for motorcyclists.

I am a motorcyclist been riding bikes on and off road for 33 years. I am also a "cager" for more than 22 years and I drive/ride more than 30k miles every year. Loud pipes do not always help but there is many circumstances where they will definitely save lives. Just because most "cagers" are completely oblivious to motorcycles and do not hear your bike, does not mean that 0% do. Case in point here in LA when commuting as a "cager" there has been MANY times when I was going to make a lane change on the freeway only to hear an exhaust note (often from a Ducati as there are tons of them here) and cancel my lane change only to have a motorcycle appear out of my blind spot. I have also many times been splitting lanes on my motorcycle and been in the exact inverse of that situation where a car or bus only noticed me after I revved or blipped a little on my GSX-R 1000. Any time that someone can hear your motorcycle or see you in traffic it can save your life. Exhaust helps in the same way that a reflective strip or bright color might help out at night.