[black hills]

I stole this post from http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/ind ... 282.0.html

I think it explains a lot about why people don't like bikes:


A funny thing happened on the way to the office... (I've always wanted to start a story like that) Ok, it wasn't really funny and I wish I wasn't there.

To add to the perpetuation of the bad image, I pull up to a traffic light behind a loud cruiser. Off to the right a guy was up in a bucket truck working on some cables on the utility pole. Another guy was standing behind the truck, about 15 feet below and a few feet behind the guy up in the bucket. I'm just about parallel with the guy on the ground, the cruiser in front of me about parallel with the front wheel of the truck.

The bike was LOUD. Like, rumbling my chest loud, and of course the guy couldn't just let the damned thing idle. Nope. BLAP BLAP BLAP RRAAAANANANANANANANANANAAAA BLAP BLAP BLAP RRRAAAAAANANANANANANANANANAAAAAA. I'm fairly certain the average air-cooled v-twin shouldn't be revved to redline without a load on it. But hey... what do I know. Out of the ~250 or so race-ready engines I built over the years, one of them actually grenaded, so I guess I don't know.

The guy up in the bucket yelled down to the guy on the ground. I couldn't hear him. The cruiser was too loud. The guy on the ground cupped his ear and the bucket guy yelled again. I couldn't hear him, but hey... I'm in my full faced helmet. Surely the unhelmeted guy on the ground could hear him, right? Nope, this went on a few times. Finally the guy on the ground walked over and (presumably, I couldn't hear) asked the guy to stop revving long enough to hear the guy in the bucket.

The biker obliged... by taking his throttle hand off long enough to give the one-finger salute. The utility guy, much to his own credit, handled it very professionally. He put his hands up in a placating, "had to ask" gesture, then walked away. The guy in the bucket yelled down again, but even at idle, this bike was too loud. Just crazy.

The guy looked at me, sitting there on my sewing-machine-quiet CBR as if to ask "you with this guy?". I just put my hands up in that same way, shook my head no, then shrugged. The light eventually turned green and Mr. RevItUp tore out of the intersection, deafening us all as he went.

I hung back, shook my head, gave a quiet sigh, and pulled out in a most civilized and refined manner.

So, if you happen to read this, Mr. Cro-Magnon idiot me-too guy with yet another Paulie Sr. mustache, thank you. Thank you oh so much for perpetuating the stereotype and for making us all look bad. Again. May your bandanna be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels. May your air-cooled v-twin grenade on Main Street in Sturgis. May your barber screw up and ruin your stupid mustache. May your pickup truck no longer be capable of hauling your bike trailer. And may dust settle upon your chrome. And may all your friends see it when it does.

 

[biod929]

excellent post.

 

[texascop]

Most people who buy those "air cooled V-Twins" do so for the lifestyle. That "tough" guy probably rode off to his computer programming job which, by the way, likely requires him to remove all the Ebay pleather prior to sitting down at his cubicle. Back when I worked traffic I stopped a lot of these guys for intentionally blowing out eardrums at underpasses and 99% of them are white collar geeks out trying to look like Mr. Billy Badass.

 

[Tombstone]

Call it maturity, call it getting older, call it whatever you want to call it, but I outgrew the need for public adulation/approval a looong, looong time ago. My last set of non-stock pipes were on a bike I rode from 1978 to 1980. I was born in 1960, do the math. Nowadays, I openly scoff at those loud-pipe throttle-lusters who just can't help themselves and rev their engines to bark their exhaust at each and every opportunity for all those non-existent "ooooing" and "ahhhhing" onlookers, silently lusting after the chest-pounding alpha-male with the "oh so terribly cool-sounding machine". News Flash -- it pisses off WAAAY more people than it impresses and before the "loud pipes saves lives" dogma comes out for yet another round of dead-horse abuse, remember that too is a highly debateable position. As always, ride safe, ride often. 8)

 

[Mad Cow]

Things like this may be one of the reasons there's less camaraderie between sport bike and cruiser riders. They stereotype us from a guy like this , many of us stereotype them as being the type that always dart in and out of traffic , pull wheelies on the interstate at 60 during rush hour and generally ride like they have a death wish.

 

[crew]

:click: :wink: I like decel pop ... :!:
:fullsize:


I miss homely ...

opinions vary ...

all blessings ...

crew

:crew:

 

[chris H]

That "tough" guy probably rode off to his computer programming job. Sitting down at his cubicle.

Dude - it's okay to take an electronic swing at billy badass but don't include a segment of society just because you're jealous. Try night school! you might just get one of those jobs

 

[12RPilot]

Funny this should come up. I've never qualified for a cubicle, but I did watch Office Space last night. :lol: If going to night school would get me a cubicle and the opportunity to watch Kung Fu with Jennifer Aniston, I'm there dude!!!

Sorry, let's get back to the topic now.

 

[Moekazi]

I think a lot of these "posers" are just using their loud cruisers as an outlet. Day after day of boring menial work for a brain dead boss in a sterile cubicle can wear on a person. Add to that going home and being a good parent/partner. Life can get pretty dull.

Sometimes you just want to be loud and obnoxious. Just say FU to the world. There's not many better ways than listening to a loud motor burn gas and smokey burnouts. There's no quicker way to feel powerful and in control than taking a firm grip of those wide bars and twisting that throttle they way you've wanted your boss's neck.

And that, friends, is how HD stays in business. The image is that if you can handle the clunky, smelly, noisy, high priced motorbike you are somehow macho, "The Man", "Effe". Not the p****y whipped wiener that you really are.

Flames start here
|
V

 

[black hills]

Sometimes you just want to be loud and obnoxious. Just say FU to the world. There's not many better ways than listening to a loud motor burn gas and smokey burnouts. There's no quicker way to feel powerful and in control than taking a firm grip of those wide bars and twisting that throttle they way you've wanted your boss's neck.

LOL... what a pathetic way to make yourself feel better?? If you want to actually improve your self esteem, go out and do something challenging. Run a marathon, enter a race (enduros are my favortie), blast through the twisities, ride a bull, sky dive, bungee jump, hang glide, hunt grizzlies with a bow, go snowcat or heli skiing, etc. there are a lot better ways to make yourself feel better than doing something any other half wit dweeb who lost his balls in junior high is capable of. How much of a "man" does it take to drop $20,000 on a POS custom, paddle your way onto the street and then sit with it in neutral while you twist the throttle?? F&^%ing stupid if you ask me. I would have prefered to see the lineman come down out of the bucket and lay the guy out!! That would have been "cool"!!! Of course bad ass biker would most likely sued??? But, as Crew says "Opinions Vary"

P.S. IMO any lineman at work is much more of a "man" than any biker wannabe..

 

[Guest]

Opinions vary about pipes, and what they represent. Myself, I have HK 2.5" Classic Straights, and they can be loud...if I get on them. I don't do so in the neighborhood, or when I am sitting at a stop light. I especially wouldn't do so if the lineman had asked me not to so he could hear his co-worker. That is a matter of courtesy, I believe, and the aforementioned cruiser rider wasn't a "badazz" as much as he was immature. Real badazzes don't have to prove it to others....they know it and show it when it is required.

Am I trying to be a badazz because I have loud pipes? No. I'm not one anyway, and won't be one no matter what pipes I have or don't have. I happen to like the sound and tone, but I know there is a time and a place where I can enjoy that sound, and I do so then for my own enjoyment. I respect my neighbors and don't romp on them, for their enjoyment.

 

[beachbumdrl]

It is not the loudness of the pipes that is obnoxious, it is the constant reving of the engine while at a stop light that gives every one else a bad name!

 

[haveme1]

i resent all of this grouping of ppl who like loud pipes.

i am not my daddy I am me. I like loud pipes just like I like loud rock n roll music.
Just cause I pefer the Rolling Stones and you perfer Hee Haw is the only difference .

I am a polite person not a bad ass. I would not do to the line man as he.
I don't go aroung thinking :that guy with the stock pipes is a puss and he gives us true bikers a bad rep" So what makes you better than ???

Alott of the quite pipe ppl seem to want to trash the loud pipe ppl. I wonder why. Sounds like "i'm better than you kinda sh&t. I say live and leave the other guy to do the same. :roll: :evil:

 

[crew]

i resent all of this grouping of ppl who like loud pipes.

i am not my daddy I am me. I like loud pipes just like I like loud rock n roll music.
Just cause I pefer the Rolling Stones and you perfer Hee Haw is the only difference .

*** please excuse edit ***

Alott of the quite pipe ppl seem to want to trash the loud pipe ppl. I wonder why. Sounds like "i'm better than you kinda sh&t. I say live and leave the other guy to do the same. :roll: :evil:

:fullsize:


Very affordable and it can give you exactly what you want ...

There's plenty of sound bites on the web ...

Download exactly what you want and set your "player" on loop ...

That way you have exactly the sound YOU want to hear .... and grant the same freedom to others ...

There is a difference between "freedom" and license ...

Loud pipes deny others of their rights and freedom ...

The world will never be perfect ...

... so it is foolish to wait for such in order to do the next right thing ...

Crank it up :!:

We like it loud :!:

opinions vary ...

all blessings ....

crew

:crew:

 

[texascop]

That "tough" guy probably rode off to his computer programming job. Sitting down at his cubicle.

Dude - it's okay to take an electronic swing at billy badass but don't include a segment of society just because you're jealous. Try night school! you might just get one of those jobs

I made $75k last year without programming a single computer. Not enough to get rich, but I do okay, so no thanks. If you're so insecure with what you do for a living, why don't you try to grow a sack and try law enforcement where you can serve someone other than yourself?

 

[Brew]

Opinions vary about pipes, and what they represent. Myself, I have HK 2.5" Classic Straights, and they can be loud...if I get on them. I don't do so in the neighborhood, or when I am sitting at a stop light. I especially wouldn't do so if the lineman had asked me not to so he could hear his co-worker. That is a matter of courtesy, I believe, and the aforementioned cruiser rider wasn't a "badazz" as much as he was immature. Real badazzes don't have to prove it to others....they know it and show it when it is required.

Am I trying to be a badazz because I have loud pipes? No. I'm not one anyway, and won't be one no matter what pipes I have or don't have. I happen to like the sound and tone, but I know there is a time and a place where I can enjoy that sound, and I do so then for my own enjoyment. I respect my neighbors and don't romp on them, for their enjoyment.

i resent all of this grouping of ppl who like loud pipes.

i am not my daddy I am me. I like loud pipes just like I like loud rock n roll music.
Just cause I pefer the Rolling Stones and you perfer Hee Haw is the only difference .

I am a polite person not a bad ass. I would not do to the line man as he.
I don't go aroung thinking :that guy with the stock pipes is a puss and he gives us true bikers a bad rep" So what makes you better than ???

Alott of the quite pipe ppl seem to want to trash the loud pipe ppl. I wonder why. Sounds like "i'm better than you kinda sh&t. I say live and leave the other guy to do the same. :roll: :evil:

Both of these guys have got it right. What the hell is up with all of this "us vs. them" bull$h1t?!?! Some of us like loud pipes. Some of us don't. I love to hear mine, but as KenzX said, I am also considerate enough not to crank 'em up when or where it might create a nuisance for people around me. Don't come off as all holier-than-thou just because they're not your cup of tea.

Also, my bike's not air cooled and it didn't cost anywhere near $20,000, but oh gosh, isn't there anything I can do to be in the cool kids club with the bike I've got?? Pretty please? :twisted:

 

[black hills]

I don't think it has anything to do with wether you like or dislike loud pipes. It has more to do with those who half more than 1/2 a brain compared to those who have none. Sure you have the right to do what you want, but when it starts to affect others they have the right to do something about it. I like the idea of live and let live, but some people must think it means I can do what ever I want and the hell with everyone else. If that is what you think you will soon find things don't always go your way.

 

[Scattergun]

Now I'm confused. I have a friend who is a PGE Linesman and rides a Harley with loud pipes. What should he do?

 

[Brew]

I don't think it has anything to do with wether you like or dislike loud pipes. It has more to do with those who half more than 1/2 a brain compared to those who have none. Sure you have the right to do what you want, but when it starts to affect others they have the right to do something about it. I like the idea of live and let live, but some people must think it means I can do what ever I want and the hell with everyone else. If that is what you think you will soon find things don't always go your way.

I really hope you're not implying that those who don't have loud pipes "have more than 1/2 a brain" and those who do "have none." Might just be me, but that's the way your reply reads.

 

[crew]

Now I'm confused. I have a friend who is a PGE Linesman and rides a Harley with loud pipes.

:a13: What should he do? :a13:

:click: ... put the lime in the coconut ...

.. of course ...

Thanks for asking ...

Get it straight ... :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:fullsize:


but ...

opinions vary ...

all blessings ...

crew

:crew: