I'm seeing a disturbing trend lately. People are swapping out their nice dual pipes for dual small diameter long length pipes. Then they're removing the baffles. This creates a loud, ear piercing volume of sound with no low bass. It has that brrrrappp sound. What power the bike had is gone. I've been told it's old school . Well, if this is the sound of old, then they should let it stay in the past. LOL

 

Draggggg Pipeeesss. Cheap and loud.

 

When I got my bike it had no baffles, the original owner had taken them out. I put them back in. It's not much quieter but it sounds and runs alot better.

 

The older you get the more you appreciate nice mellow tones out of your mufflers, those straight pipes are not for me, it's even worse when you have to follow behind them. I guess to each his own..

 

The appreciation of the sound of open pipes is inversely proportional to the age of the assailed subject....

 

Loud doesn't always mean cool. There is a middle ground meaning throuty. It's gotta be pleasant to the ear. My bikes all have middle shot length pipes and no baffles and sound great. In all my years working on engines, an engine that can breath well produces more torque and horsepower if properly tuned. Most people change pipes, breathers, carbs etc.. without adusting the timing and carburation of the engine and sure you might get lucky but most likely you won't.

 

My cousin bought a hundred-dollar set of drag pipes for his softail and used forceing cones in the exhaust. Too loud for my tastes. If we ride and he leads, I usually get him to ride to the right side so I don't get the full brunt of the sound. Just loud and harsh.
My exhaust...on the other hand... is stock and the sound insulation is burnt down to a beautiful sound with that carb chirp. Its loud when you get on it but not overbearing. Plus I can still hear my radio when its on.

 

Not only do I hate following a bike with straight pipes, if it's also carb vs FI they usually stink because they run 'em so rich your eyes and throat hurt for a week afterward. No thanks, it's a free country and it's your bike and money, but I'll ride alone before i have to do that again.

 

If you change your pipes it alters the back pressure that is applied to the engine. If you're gonna spend money on pipes, be sure to spend money on a proper carb tuning, or fuel injection mapping. The idiot who owned my bike spent $1200 on new pipes and it was popping and stuttering a lot sometimes. Got a dyno tune and now runs smoooth.

Also aren't the air cleaners tied with the baffles? If you remove the baffles it also removes what cleans the air out of your bike, so that's why it smells bad.

 

I don't care what others do with their pipes. I don't like street sweepers blowing dust on me but that is okay also because I don't let people with street sweepers get upwind. If you got pipes I don't like to hear then I make sure you are not riding near me so the volume is where I like it. All this stuff is easy.