somehow they crossed this:




with this:

I know that some bikers own their bikes for efficiency, but many are just pleasure riders and they take joy in the rumble of those tail pipes rattling windows as they zoom down the road.

For many, it is a lot about the noise.

that rumble telecasts a sense of power and I do believe that's part of the attraction to bikers.

you need to check out the south park episode about loud bikers

I used to 'scooter quite liberally'. Mine's at my brother's house in NJ now. I bought it when gas went up into the $4 a gallon range because I had a long commute to work. I just kept the stock pipes on mine so it wasn't loud at all. I got a very loud horn instead. Most riders get those loud pipes added on. I never cared for that. If this bike would have been available back in '07, I probably would have bought it instead. Loud pipes don't really save lives. Safe driving does. Unfortunately for me, I got clobbered about a year and half after getting mine. The person on the cell phone got away too. I'm OK now, but I will never commute on a bike again. It was fun while it lasted. I'm glad HD is doing this either way. We should all be riding, or driving electric vehicles in most cases. I will only ride for pleasure in the future. I learned the hard way. Anytime you get on a bike it's a crap shoot with the other drivers around you. Yeah it's hard to let go of a good old gas powered vehicle, but if HD can make this cool, that's a good thing!

So you can hear them in case you don't see them while driving, which happens a whole lot.

Down in Florida, you have a lot of drivers that can barely see a school bus.

I don't ever recall being alerted by a loud motorcycle on behind the wheel. Most cars today are pretty quiet inside and those noises are negligible when drivers keep their windows up.

But sitting in my living room, as they decide to accelerate while going past because there is open road, it only serves to drown out any conversation or the radio or television in my house. And at 2AM it pulls you right out of bed.

You would have to show me some pretty good statistics on the noise being intentional for safety because there would be just as many countering that as the noise level has to be hard on the bikers ears as well as bystanders.

The city here has a bylaw against noisy motorcycles. My town (suburb) does not. Let's just say I never hear them when I'm driving, even slowly around town but when the bikers down the street decide to work on their bikes and rev them constantly then ride up and down the street every weekend, I fucking hear it. And I don't hear anything else while that is happening.

The most common crash is the car turning left in front of the motorcycle. The person in the car typically is not going to hear the loud pipes from that direction. Loud pipes are best heard behind the motorcycle which doesn't prevent accidents. Loud pipes MAY help prevent a car from changing lanes into a MC without warning but so will a loud horn activated by a defensive rider. Loud pipes are for show, they are not about MC safety.

I worked with a bunch of guys who all bought Harleys and made them loud just for the sake of loudness. A lot of them also had boats they did the same thing to - presumably to scare away the whales?

One of my coworkers even opened a Harley dealership (BTW, he had a really loud boat but the maiden voyage landed it on the breakwater in Chicago)

who will REVREVREV up that bike when going by someone. If they see anyone in their yard, especially closer to the street, they will do it. People also do it with their loud ass cars.

rrrrmmmmmm(sees someone in their yard)rrrmmmRRMMMMMMMMM

I have suspected that from a lot of them.

Still, a better manliness booster than, say, an assault rifle.

But without the loud farty noises, the gray beard n' bandanas crowd won't like it.

I'm actually very surprised to see Harley taking such a bold step forward, though. There may be hope for HD yet.

That will be the determination of its maket.

And screw the people who want loud pipes. The only reason why they like it is that their hearing has been shattered. Meanwhile, those of us who can still hear have to suffer. There was a time when noise regulations were enforced.

This guy will be near silent. Bliss!

One hurdle the company has yet to address is the limited range offered by electric motorcycles. The batteries must be recharged after about 130 miles, and that can take 30 minutes to an hour.

As my Sportster, and after 130 miles I don't mind being off of it for a little while lol

I don't know if that's at Portland, Oregon. Here's a video from Portland:

And no gear shifting; just throttle control

As for where the video was filmed for the Killacycle, I have no idea. I only know it exists in order to show people just how quick and powerful an electric vehicle can be

The Isle of Man Time Trials were the first big event (I think) to race electrics, and they definitely do some amazing things:

so the technology in that has already been surpassed.

Isle of Man: curbs and gutters, stone or brick walls lining the right of way, light poles three feet away from the street, hedges at every turn. What could go wrong?

Last year the winning electric bike averaged 117 mph - the current all-time record is 132mph. It doesn't sound like much but on that course it might as well be the world (even the slowest dino-bikes, the Ninja 650s, are still a couple ticks faster). Given the ludicrous top speeds on the mountain though, I wonder how much comes down to handling/acceleration vs. sheer top end.

Not much went wrong this year, there were only two fatalities. I'm sadly quite serious, that's a pretty low number all things considered.

I'm still not sure ehynHarley riders are allowed to disobey all those muffler laws. I'm glad so many of them refuse to wear helmets

Sooner than 'several years' please.

we won't even get a warning - because we won't hear them.

The nice thing is, once you get going 60 or so faster than traffic, the cagers are pretty much stationary so there's no worries about unexpected swerves, lane changes, or braking.

Of course, there can be too much of a good thing (speedo in in kph, 300 = 186mph)...

With Harley Davidson, 60 percent of the cost is the privilege of the label.

Chinese commuters will be excited

What I hate is that I can't walk my dog down the street when they pass by, it hurts her ears and she goes nuts barking.

It's just not right to have a vehicle that loud. A neighbor of mine, has a regular touring motorcycle, and he removed the muffler. It's as loud as a car without a muffler. It's way out of control.

I'm in the South Bay of So Cal where there are a couple of bike shops, so we get more than our fair share of the loud ones.

HD has been outsourcing more and more of their bike components.

For the record I will never take HD seriously until they balance their engines.

The next bike I buy will probably be a Honda or suzuki, that v Strom is pretty impressive.

The 'B' is for balanced, in reality it's counterbalanced. No shake rattle and roll. I can read a license plate in my mirrors from 50' away even after having a 'Big Jug' upgrade to 96 cubic inches. With the full 'Screaming Eagle' upgrades my gas mileage has increased from 32mpg to 38mpg hwy.

Been riding for 45+ years and I've seen more a'holes on sport bikes than I can shake a stick at.

BTW, I reject the moniker of 'Biker'...I'm a motorcycle enthusiast.

Yeah, I know, first post and all but I've been a silent member for the past 8 or so years.

My first Vote was for McGovern and haven't missed an opportunity to vote 'D' in over 40 years.

(waves) Hello DU!

Last edited Fri Jun 20, 2014, 10:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Do you know if all the revolution engines are counterbalanced?

Welcome to DU btw.

But part of the joy of owning a road bike is getting it out on the highway and enjoying the scenery, sometimes for hours, days, even weeks at a time. If money and garage space were no object, I'd love to own one of these. Until then, I'll continue with my '08 Kawasaki.

That look is the last thing that comes to mind when I hear the words Harley-Davidson

Looks pretty kickass though.