I would seriously push for a ban on fat hogs in the city. I've lived in two places here in LDN where neighbours had big fat Harley type bikes with derestricted exhausts loudly advertising the smallness of their civility.

I've often lain awake at 7am listening to these people drive off, impacting the lives of literally thousands — tens of thousands! — of people along whatever route they take.

I can't believe it's tolerated in this context. Go live in Arizona!

It's so that car drivers can hear us and remember to look up from their phones and not kill us.

Seriously though; the noise issue divides even the motorcycle community. Advocates will tell you "loud pipes save lives" and are usually the equivalent of "car guys" that live/breath bikes. Other will tell you that the only defense is defensive riding and it's annoying.

I agree it's annoying, my bike isn't that loud, but anecdotally when I've ridden louder bikes I feel safer; riding a bicycle I feel invisible. I always hear loud bikes before I see them.

I wouldn't mind a louder bike, because I love the sound of engines; but I'd feel self-conscious riding it around my house. The sound wouldn't be a problem for my hearing because I wear custom ear plugs.

Exactly: the sound isn't a problem for you (the riders), but it's a big problem for the people that live around you.

Sure, but I'm suggesting that the lack of a sound also presents a problem for us, the riders.

I don't think riders need extremely loud exhausts to be safe, but an exhaust sound adds an element of safety that cannot be ignored. It's the same reason why all vehicles are fitted with horns, after all.

I think people might be more understanding if they rode a motorcycle in a busy city for a few months, and realised how many drivers (at least in my city, London) are far too busy looking at Facebook to drive.

Driverless cars can't come soon enough; though I'm sure that road will lead to motorcycles being made illegal anyway - but that's another story...

One of my driver's ed instructors was a rider who opposed loud pipes. His reasoning was that drivers ahead look left or right to find the sound, often drifting slightly when they do. Then the risk of the motorcycle being hit is increased anyway.

People confuse power with competence.

The attention-getting signal of extreme volume followed by the false impression of competence triggers hormonal response of interest.

Drape yourself with the carcass of a dead animal (that someone else prepared) and you're the skin deep image of an alpha seeking procreation opportunities.

If people ever used their heads, motorcycling would retreat to the practical, enjoyable activity it is at baseline. But in a confused society of scarcity, with a curious blind spot to unenforcing this branch of noise laws, the benefits of the "loudness mutation" to the individual are great.

In the city it helps make pedestrians, and to a certain degree cars, more aware of you, especially if filtering / lane splitting.

And some people just want attention.

you know, it's funny, i've never seen a loud motorcycle rider wear a high visibility vest or helmet. in fact they're usually wearing nearly all black.

A loud machine seems more powerful. If the sound is deadened, people often feel like something more than the sound is lost. For similar reasons, some new cars play engine noise through the car's stereo system.

Compensating for something.

I know. I'm happy it's winter in Denver now, because the amount of motorcycle traffic is so much less. The noise motorcycles with pipes produce is right up there with emergency sirens.