I am just curious about your guys' opinions on noise. I know that manufacturers except for kawasaki are coming with more quiet exhaust these days but still most the bikes out at the track are loud as, well you know what. I know that some guys think its "cool" to have a loud bike, but its driving me crazy that we are losing places to ride constantly, and sometimes deservedly so when I as a rider cant even stand the sound. So how do we fix this??? The only thing I can come up with is having promoters start really enforcing noise. I think until people are wether practice day or race day at a track are forced to quiet there pipes down. I think as a group we have proven that we will do nothing to quiet this racket down on our own. Thoughts.

Electric motorcycles...

I’ll bite. I’m for Quieting it Down, Keeping the Peace, Lowering the DB’s a tad. More importantly I’m against spending big $bucks on an exhaust system without having so much as matched it to a motor. That’s why I’m a suspension guy.

Wanna go fast, I suggest one first figures out how to navigate rough terrain at speed. It's called trust as in "Trust Your Suspension".

I agree that the current generation of 4 strokes are way to loud. I mean when you read that the new KX450 is 122db at full throttle it's no wonder we are losing areas to ride and to race. I don't think that losing a few Dbs of exhaust noise would hurt.

SIR closed because of poor management. Longview closed do to legal issue with next door neighbor related to dust.
Toes closes every spring do to water availability. Cadillac Ranch never had a permit. And I think Dairy Land was just located too close to Tree Hugger Central.

Rays Dad, are you saying noise is not an issue? MXGP got shut down mainly due to noise complaints from the organic potato farmers down the road. They have had to do multiple sound studies for their proposed new track. Cadillac Ranch was also a noise issue with the neighbor. They just found that the non permit was the quickest and easiest way to shut them down.
Noise is the biggest killer of this sport right now, whether its mx or woods riding. Heck if Ted said that we all needed to run "Q" type silencers to race his series I think that would be a good thing. If one promoter had the balls to do it, it would be easy for the rest to say we will too. Maybe Devol can start producing quiet silencers or end caps that we would have to use at their races and make a profit at the same time...

I remember having some long talks to the folks at Longview last year and it sounded like basicly the neighbor in question had a fall out with the owners. After that it seemed like anything that could be complained about was camping, dust, and noise as well.

My question is how many of us honestly could tell or feel the difference in power if the bike was quieter?

I'm not calling anyone out but think about that for a second, would you be any faster or slower.

This is the type of conversation I was hoping would come from this. Something NEEDS to be done.@ Rays dad, noise is an issue, it might not be the only issue but its something we CAN control. Part of the reason why I brought it up here is because we have promoters on here that I want to see do something about this. I am not going to say that I have the answer, but I do have some ideas.
So then Ted and SMC members, are you guys doing anything with noise? Just curious, not an attack by any means.

The Folks at Longview told me the Sani-Can business next door was tired of cleaning the dust off there equipment, I guess it was a real big problem for them. I am just not so sure noise will ever be an issue at the tracks where Ray and I ride or have ridden.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rays Dad,

its really all the manufacturers fault. i mean they have been making these loud bikes for years now. they improve these bikes every year yet hardly anything is done about the noise

Is it really the manufactures fault that we as riders are putting on "race exhausts" on bikes and then going to a ORV park or where ever to practice? Or better yet trail riding with loud ass mufflers. I think we as riders and racers are part of the problem at some point we need to look in the mirror and ask if we are the problem. I know that my 250 2 stroke is no where close to being as loud as a 4 stroke. I repack the silencer every few months and have no problem with riding or racing with a spark arrested muffler.

I have also noticed that my fellow SMC member Justin Anderson looks like he runs a 450X muffler on his Honda although I've never asked if that is in fact what it is, but his bike is quiet that is for sure

I would welcome the promoters to push for quieting the noise people could run Db dawgs or devices like them. I would wonder how many guys would cry around if this were put in place and render that $500+ exhaust to loud

quote:

Originally posted by B Sharkey:
its really all the manufacturers fault. i mean they have been making these loud bikes for years now. they improve these bikes every year yet hardly anything is done about the noise

Sorry Sharkey I gotta disagree with you on this one. The manufacturers are doing something about, well some of them anyways. Then it doesnt really matter when we go out and buy aftermarket exhaust with the biggest port in the end that we can find so that spectators as we ride by get their ear drums blown out.Then some think its cool to have a loud bike. You know the old saying "loud pipes save lives", but they also annoy and ruin places to ride. I think that as riders we need to take ownership of this and do something about our pipe choices, but I dont see that happening.

When I had the Yoshimura exhaust on my 450 I did a comparison test. I rode a few laps in full Yoshi race mode. Then a few laps with the spark arrestor in quiet mode. Then swapped out the stock exhaust. There was a noticeable difference in power between the three, as well as noise. The thing is, as long as it feels more powerful people will buy it and put it on, nevermind that they can't use all the power. I'm in that boat but the bike did feel more lively uncorked. Mandatory FIM soundtests at every race and track are the only way. Unless everyone is doing it, the aftermarket guys wont produce quieter pipes. We can do our part, via peer pressure also. FWIW, my RMZ450 has the stock exhaust on it now. The Yoshimure pipe busted at the mounting weld and I threw it away.

I tried an aftermarket pipe on Rays 450 and it seemed to loose some botton end so switched it back to stock, same thing with the 250 smoker. But my 250f has PC ti and runs so sweet I wouldn't go back to stock unless required to do so.

sorry but it isnt enough really. its one thing when a old guy like myself rides but when you hear a top intermediate ride at the track whether it be local or a private place its loud as hell because they are on the gas ALL the time. how do you bring that noise level down?

I put an FMF pipe on my bike so I could have access to a spark arrester. It's pretty loud, but sounds better than the Kawy stocker, which sounds horrible.

As for power curve, well it's noticeably more powerful, God know's I needed it. Those Kawy's are pretty anemic in stock form.

how does that compare to the leo vince you had. that sounded really nice

Try this first: Drop the alcholholic diet, drink only water, eat really really clean, find a away to get some weekly cardio workouts in 3 days a week with a few situps, pushups and pullups, then do light strect afterwards, drink more water all day and don't forget to always eat clean and don't forget to drink water only all day every day. Then you can run the stock slowest queitest exhaust made with stock suspension and you will be AMAZED how great your bike will handle and how usefull the stock slow power is. You will be able to bust out 30 min motos..

quote:

Originally posted by TRA-742:
Try this first: Drink lots never water, eat really really bad find a away to get some wicked couch time in 3 days a week with a few video games then do light nap afterwards, drink more beer all day and don't forget to always eat junk food and don't forget to drink
Beer all day every day. Then you can run the stock slowest queitest exhaust made with stock suspension and you will be AMAZED how great your bike will handle and how usefull the stock slow power is. You will be able to bust out 30 min motos..

Fixed it!

nobody is going to run quiet exhaust until they have to.

face it, there's more kids riding than adults. what do kids complain about???? other kids having faster bikes and tricker stuff on their bikes than the other kids...

what does the dad do? goes and drops $300 on a pipe to make the kid happy.

nothing will change that until it's required. by then it will be to late. bikes are getting faster. faster = more hp. more hp = more noise.

my bikes were always really really really loud, but it wasn't the exhaust making that noise..... it was the intake (airbox) sucking mass amounts of air, because of the modified engines.