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Comment by brett40324 | Hacker News Reader

"In SF we have these bastards who love nothing more than to rev up their engines and make noise, on residential streets, at night."

This is pretty much everywhere in the US. Aside from local ordinances, there is nothing you can do about. To call people bastards for a loud bike is one thing, but have you ever heard 'loud pipes save lives'?

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On the highway, that's fine, on busy streets, that's fine. I get it. On quiet residential streets, at night, it's being a selfish prick. Normal bikers accelerate and are heard but aren't overly noisy. These other people on the other hand intentionally want to be annoyingly overly loud.

The sequence is, slow for a stop sign or intersection, full throttle, then heavy breaking for the next block, full throttle, mind you, modified, again. It's infuriatingly annoying.

Agreed. The problem I see with similar comments here about noise and the character of these (fair to say overly obnoxious) riders, and how it affects your life, is that the same can be said of All of other loud vehicles. It's like complaining about the character of people with too loud of music blaring. They like it loud. They're different than you. This is America, where it's loud, and youre free to be loud too. This coming from someone who is especially sensitive and irritated by noises Im not making myself.

All loud vehicles piss me off, and so do people who play music too loud. Your right to be loud stops at my ears.

“Loud pipes save lives” is ridiculous. If you need to be irritatingly loud to be safe then your hobby is too dangerous.

Your right to be loud stops at my ears.

I wish soundproofing standards for buildings were much higher.

Apartment listings only ever focus on just one of the major senses, vision. They make sure the photos look good with prop furniture and just the right lighting. But the experience of actually living in a place involves all of the senses.

I would love to see an apartment listing saying "60dBA soundproofing", "99.9% odor isolation", etc. All of the senses matter.

That would still mean you can't enjoy balconies.

I used to want a balcony until I lived across from a building with balconies. Especially during summer, there's always someone having a loud party until late at night, and it's a different unit every time so harder to enforce noise limits and clean air smoking bans. So the downside of balconies is you have to share noise/airspace with everyone else with a balcony.

> This is America, where it's loud, and youre free to be loud too.

I'm in Japan and have the same problem with kids with modified exhausts being loud in quiet neighborhoods. This is Japan, where people are NOT loud, and it's even forbidden to talk on the phone on a train or bus.

Assholes are assholes around the world.

That's not how it works, unfortunately. In a society, you have the right to be loud. You don't have the right to infringe on someone else's right of quiet enjoyment. It’s also common courtesy. Noise pollution is a real problem and it is pollution

> have you ever heard 'loud pipes save lives'?

Yes I have, and it's complete and total nonsense.

Here are a few good articles on the subject: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/stop-saying-loud-pipes... https://canadamotoguide.com/2016/07/29/the-truth-about-loud-...

tl;dr version is that basic physics says most of that noise goes backwards, so while a driver may be more likely to notice a louder bike the majority of the increased noise is going in exactly the wrong direction to be useful.

It's a bogus claim made by people trying to justify their annoying exhaust choices.

You'll note that the people who tend to be most vocal about "loud pipes save lives" also tend to be the ones wearing little to no gear and/or riding like jerks. We're not talking about the most safety conscious people out there.

As someone who drives an ATV on gravel backroads, with drunk assholes in automobiles, I completely disagree. After a few obviously intoxicated (on alcohol, and/or pills, and/or unknown, because they told me...) people commenting that they heard me coming around a blind curve because I would floor it for a split second to announce myself, I will contine to appropriately be loud. This not only applies to backroads but especially 1-track offroad trails where people on horses will hear me and be able to prepare ~45 seconds before I arrive at my slow, but dangerously deaf, speed (because of my helmet).

Though, I am a very considerate and conservative rider, whose default is to putter along and disturb as little as possible, especially around humans but I try to respect nature as well. Harleys... yeah, I mostly agree with you.

> but have you ever heard 'loud pipes save lives'?

Then by doing it to show off at red lights etc. they are taking lives by putting loud pipes in constant legal jeopardy.

”but have you ever heard 'loud pipes save lives'?”

When the riders who use that phrase don’t wear helmets (and they usually don’t), it seems more than a little insincere.

It’s odd. In the U.K., hearing loud motorbikes is pretty rare, apart from the occassional 16 year old. Different cultural traditions, I guess.

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