You Know Your Exhaust's Too Loud When...

[vifferman]

rode a K4 viffer with under seat carbon yoshis a couple of weeks back - the booming thru the seat was phenominal! could still hear the whine from the front though...

Ahhh - the 2002 and later VFRs don't have gear-driven cams; they were replaced with conventional camchains, supposedly to 'save weight', but in reality I think it was to reduce the noise emissions. When (in 1998) Honda moved the VFR's cam drive to the right-hand side of the cams (it was previously in the middle), it made it much louder. The noise really gets on my nerves sometimes, especially riding on a constant throttle downhill.

11. People take a step or two back when you start the bike.

Heh heh... When I first got the VTR, we went to visit my sister-in-law in Oratia. I went on the bike because the battery was flat and I needed to give it a run to charge it and no battery charger. (It turned out to be a faulty R/R, but that's another story). When I left, I had the bike sitting in her gargre, and she came to say goodbye. When I cranked it up, she did literally jump backwards, and nearly pissed herself. Yup, it was loud alright!

Same thing wouldn't happen with the VFR, as it doesn't like starting with any throttle; just turn it on, wait for the FI light to go out (signalling the error-checking's complete), tap the starter button, and away it goes.

[vifferman]

My friends used to at least have the jug on by the time I rolled up on the TS125 - they reckoned they could hear me several streets away.

I can believe that. When I was at high school, I had a friend with a BSA 250 Star that his Dad had bought for $50. It was a bargain - apart from needing the seat recovered, and the forks straightened (easily done), the only problem was a coked-up muffler. When they cleaned it out, the broomstick knocked the baffles out. Ooops...
I lived up the top of a street about 1.5 km long, and could hear my friend coming from about 2 km or so away. It wasn't actually LOUD, just loud and distinctive. Very nice bike it was, and capable of 85mph two-up.

[Bren_chch]

Cant beat a louder than usual exhaust in traffic, when I go thru stopped traffic towards the lights or just riding generally in the city I can actually see people looking in mirros to see whats coming, which is a good thing makes me feel comfy that they know i'm there!

[marty]

my wife has the garage door opener next to the bed, and the door is always open(ing) for me when i aqrrive home at 0530am.

so is it the fairing design channelling drive train noise up that makes the k4 viffer engine noise pronounced? it's much louder than the TL or a busa.

[Lou Girardin]

Eh! What's that? Speak up will you!

[marty]

i've heard the occasional bandit that was a little louder than stock too. and how about the gsx1400 with single carbon pipe - they sound GRUNTY (silly word i know, but can't think of anything else)

[vifferman]

my wife has the garage door opener next to the bed, and the door is always open(ing) for me when i aqrrive home at 0530am.

I've got mine in my jacket pocket, and push the button when I'm about 50m away. Sectional door's so slow to open though that I still have to wait for it to go up. Apart from one time, when I misjudged it slightly, and whacked my helmet on the bottom of the door as it was going up... OOps...
I'd planned to install the opener inside the fairing somewhere, and hook it up to the headlight flasher via a relay (to keep my hands free), but decided in the end that the KISS principle was best, and just left it in my pocket. Usually works, although a few times I've had it open/shut when I've bent down and activated it by mistake.

so is it the fairing design channelling drive train noise up that makes the k4 viffer engine noise pronounced? it's much louder than the TL or a busa.

I dunno.
The one I rode sounded pretty quiet, but I know what you mean - the camchain whine/whirr from both that and the CBR600RR I rode are louder than some other makes of bike. Better that though, than the horrible rattle many Hondas get (like 4 of the ones I've owned) when the camchain and/or tensioner craps out.

[vifferman]

Incidentally - has anyone ever been pulled up for having a too-loud zorst on their bike? Or been pulled up for summat else and been told off for this? :spudwhat:

I short-circuited this on the VTR, by checking with a testing station and a bike shop about whether the modified zorsts would pass, then had the 'spuds' made for it. Never had an issue once these were fitted, even though it would've failed a formal dBa meter test. (Didn't help that the cans were stamped with some bollocks about "These mufflers comply with blah blah blah and have been certified as not exceeding 92 dBa blah blah", because a particularly picky/observant/bureaucratic tester would've been able to determine they'd been modified.

[Wolf]

Incidentally - has anyone ever been pulled up for having a too-loud zorst on their bike? Or been pulled up for summat else and been told off for this? :spudwhat:

Yep - on the TS125 (it's long gone but, Gods, I'm making it infamous).

I got pulled up and told to get it fixed - much to my relief, as I thought I was being pulled up for an 80km/h blat down Norton Road (50k zone for them furreners) Cop asked me where my baffles were - the baffles were fine, there was a whacking great hole in the exhaust.

Honestly, at low revs it sounded like someone taking to the side of a corrugated iron barn with a steel pipe. Open the throttle and the increase in frequency and volume would "aggravate the problem".

[James Deuce]

Incidentally - has anyone ever been pulled up for having a too-loud zorst on their bike? Or been pulled up for summat else and been told off for this? :spudwhat:

Yes. Two weeks after I got the TRX. No ticket though, because of the Yamaha logo, part no and dBA rating stamped on them. Annoying to get pulled up on Christmas day though.

[bugjuice]

I'm always stuck with #9 with my bike.. and it's not overly loud - yet...

I have been pulled for having an excessive exhaust on my CBR250RR tho, and given a ticket. From a bike cop too.
But, the story was that one of the headers had gone with a big hole, so I showed it to him, and said I was on the way to Custom Chanbers to fix it, which I really was, so he said "well here's the ticket, but write in and contest it", which I did, with a recipt of the work, and I was let off.. 'this time'...

[chickenfunkstar]

Incidentally - has anyone ever been pulled up for having a too-loud zorst on their bike? Or been pulled up for summat else and been told off for this? :spudwhat:

I short-circuited this on the VTR, by checking with a testing station and a bike shop about whether the modified zorsts would pass, then had the 'spuds' made for it. Never had an issue once these were fitted, even though it would've failed a formal dBa meter test. (Didn't help that the cans were stamped with some bollocks about "These mufflers comply with blah blah blah and have been certified as not exceeding 92 dBa blah blah", because a particularly picky/observant/bureaucratic tester would've been able to determine they'd been modified.

Haven't been pulled up on the SV yet. (luckily)
Last time i got a warrent I was told that the exhaust was marginal. It looks like i'll have to get it repacked for the next one.

Do you have to have baffles?

[Eurodave]

I reckon its not so much the volume of sound/noise but more the quality of it. If you want to hear a good sounding bike listen to my old 850T Guzzi with Contis fitted..... a nice pure deep THUMPING, not offensively loud but music to the ears!!

[Oakie]

Incidentally - has anyone ever been pulled up for having a too-loud zorst on their bike? Or been pulled up for summat else and been told off for this? :spudwhat:

My very first ticket 1 day short of my 18th birthday was for a noisy exhaust. The cop reckoned he could hear me coming 200 metres away and I was approaching him from behind. (OK, so I guess the chicken wire stuffed up the baffle-less exhaust on the Kwaka 100 didn't work that well). I had a feeling that was the case though as a few days earlier an old fella had come out of his house waving his walking stick at me as I sat at the side of the road trying to get the damned thing to run for more than 10 seconds.

[vifferman]

I reckon its not so much the volume of sound/noise but more the quality of it. If you want to hear a good sounding bike listen to my old 850T Guzzi with Contis fitted..... a nice pure deep THUMPING, not offensively loud but music to the ears!!

Yeah, I know what you mean.
That's what that old Beeza was like, and what many of the V-twins with aftermarket zorsts sound like. Unfortunately, the Satantune on the VFR has too small a volume, and so it tends to shriek above about 7K rpm. With the V4 engine, it sounds nice though, like a small-block V* with race exhaust, but not quite as nice as other aftermarket cans (like Micron).
Can't beat that shiny polished finish, no repacking to do, and the removable restrictor though!