Hear no evil, see no evil?

[nerrrd]

Not a Hi-Viz means safety thread...just let it go.

My bad shouldn't have mentioned it.

[Maha]

My bad shouldn't have mentioned it.

You were not the first, the gun jumping started early on.

[EJK]

Simple question really.

On a motorcycle, is it better to be seen or heard by other road users in the first instance?

Can’t be both, it’s either one or the other that ‘first’ alerts other road users as to your whereabouts on the road.
For me, it is being seen. As a driver, I notice/see a bike in the rear vision mirror way before I hear it. It also applies to forward vision.

Ofcourse, cause light travels faster than sound.

[buggerit]

Not a Hi-Viz means safety thread...just let it go.

What brought the question to mind was, how good my bike sounds with the stock pipe, which lead to ''What the general consensus would be over sight V sound of a bike'' so far it's a resounding swing towards being SEEN.

I have noticed that hawks and other livestock hear my bike a lot better than the ute and are well clear of the road when I am on the bike but in the ute it is not unusual to have to take evasive action, the bike has a Leo Vince can.

[Wayz]

If a knob head is texting and driving sight or sound doesn't apply!

[iranana]

I ride like everybody in a car is deaf and dumb. Seeing as your exhausts are pushing sound away from the direction you're moving, being heard isn't very likely. When lane splitting, being noisy helps but a lot of people listen to music/their radios quite loud. I like to keep my bike up in its power band when I'm filtering through traffic - makes a racket and allows for a speedy escape if necessary But all the while my eyes are looking as many places as they can...

[skinman]

No one has mentioned how much fun it can be being as loud as possible especially alongside parked cars.... I kind of miss that but not on a longish ride
Have noticed going from a loud bike to a quiet one that the biggest difference is with pedestrians, black & loud makes emm run, quiet & they dawdle (untill I find the horn, thats nice & loud)

[Banditbandit]

Yeah - I noticed the same - getting a very quiet BMW after the loud bikes I had was quite a shcok .. and I couldn't scare the hell out of pedestrians that way ...

Then I got the bandits - even quieter (until I put an AM can on one ...)

[baffa]

As said earlier, sight normally beats sound.
However, sound can beat sight.
If there is a noise in the background, I feel this is more noticeable than something in your peripheral vision, eg sight beats sound if they are obvious sights/sounds, but when it comes to "background noise" sound can often beat sight imho.

My approach when in traffic is to be intimidating. Not staying in the same place in your lane, not keeping the same revs, I move around a little bit, move my head, and tend to use revs to make a bit of noise. If people notice you, or feel slightly intimidated, they seem less likely to ignore you, and also less likely to tailgate, which I fking hate.