Don't hold back, I really want to understand this. I'm not looking to pick a fight or anything really. I just need to understand. Like everything else opinions run the gammut from love them to outlaw them. I know that some people have reasonable positions for not liking bikes. Too loud, many bikers drive dangerously, etc. Those positions are interesting too so share if you like, but what I really want to understand is why some people would want to do harm to bikers, run them off the road, etc. like it's a sport or something. Where does that come from? If you know somebody who even jokes about it ask them for me. Help me understand this.

 

I don't hate motorcycles per say. I like to ride myself. My big issue is when I am home. I live 1000Yds away from a state highway that goes from 35 to 55 and bikers just have to get on it hard right there. The noise is defening. They just have no respect for knowing how loud their bikes are vs/the proximity of neighbors. Also, It's not just me here, there are 40+ houses here.

 

I love them, cant get enough of bikes! I can see the harleys exhaust being a tad too loud for some people. As with any kind of driver, you get the good and bad on bikes too!

 

Actually around here, the ricers are worse. Once in a while you'll get a group of harleys who gun it, but most of the time it's the college kids on ricers that just pierce your ears.

 

For the most part the people that either have the super loud pipes, or the ones that are riding like a moron are the ones that people hate.

I will grant that both of my bikes are loud. I make it a point not to get on it in residential neighborhoods, especially after dark. I do the same with my ATV which also has a fairly loud performance exhaust. A few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch. The moron is always the most visible, thus they get the most attention.

 

The only problem I have with bikes isnt with Harleys for the most part, Harleys are cruising bikes. Its these dang ricers that tick me off, they want to scream and cry that no one watches out for bikes when driving but be damned if they wont fly by you when you are doing 70 m.p.h. and cut you off where you have to slam on your brakes so you wont hit them. Makes me want to keep 1 lb. bags of rice in my truck and throw hand fulls at them as they pass by.

 

Here where I live, the kids on the "crotch rockets" fly by here at well over 90mph and I live in a curve! They're crazy!

A louder than stock exhaust can be helpful in some situations. My Yamaha V-Star is so quiet that I can't even hear the exhaust when riding at highway speeds! My g/f says she can't even hear me pull up in the driveway because it's so quiet.
I would like for it to "bark" a little louder because in traffic, being heard is sometimes a benefit!

 

there are poeple that hate bikes?!?! i guess there will be people who hate something.

i myself only like atv's, but i would love to have an old harley just to show to people. i never been a fan pf riding bikes.

the noise doesn't bother me, and if someone wants to hot rod one around...good on them, my truck weighs 7000lbs, i will win that match.

but i do understand it annoying the heck out of poeple if they hear it all the time or if they come racing by their house, but the same goes towards cars or anything else, there is a time and place for everything.

 

you slam on your brakes to keep from hitting them?? when you put your vehicle up their butt, they move.

no problem with the majority of bike riders (harleys and ricers alike) it is the few bad riders that give them all a tarnished reputation.

 

I hate bikes.

Because I have no room in my garage for one.

Otherwise, I like them.

 

i dont hate bikes...i have owned them in the past and will probably own one again. the one thing that really ticks me off is the guy with straight pipes (sorry but its almost always a harley guy) that has to constantly crack the throttle and a stop light RRRUMMMM,RRRRUMMMM,RRRUMMMMMM,RRRUMMMMMM,RRUMMMMMM ..... give us a break, wont the thing idle on its own??? i dont sit there with my 4" straight piped diesel revving it up.
becaues that seams to happen so often i probably always take a dimer view of someone on an overly loud bike, and those are usually harleys

 

Some of the best sounding Harleys I've heard have been to real quiet ones.

You can actually hear the engine.

 

Just about everyone I know has been on a bike, so we all know about how vulnerable a biker is. I don't hate bikers, but it is the individual rider that causes the problem. Splitting lanes is fine, but be reasonable about it. In stop and go traffic, there's no need to split a lane a 50 mph. They're just asking for trouble in that case.

And I can appreciate a nice exhaust. As long as it sounds like it means business, like on a Ducati. A Harley actually CAN be too loud. And a rice rocket doesn't need a fart can, but it could use a good performance MUFFLER.

 

Is there some sort of law that limits that amount of noise that comes from a bike? My neighbor has a crotch rocket and when he takes it out he makes the extra effort to make as much noise as possible. You can hear that bike coming from more than a half mile away.

 

I have no problem with harleys loud or quite. I have no problem with motorcycles per say at all.

What I do have a problem with, is stupid people riding them at over 130 mph blowing through traffic, and popping wheelies down main street.

If someone wants to get out on a vacant road and splatter their brains all over the side of an oak, and someone find out about it a few weeks later, thats their buisness. Just don't put other people at risk from your stupid antics.
As for me, I like driving fast on those back roads myself, but, I'll do it in a car, surrounded by steel.