Boarding the ferry the other day I got to talking with another biker I've known for awhile as he showed me his "new" bike. Actually the bike isn't really new, it's a "juiced" Buell (tuned headers, different cam and various other stuff) of some age that the former owner had turned into a drag bike, with a claimed 129 HP. It had wheelie bars and flat slicks and stuff when my acquaintance bought it.
Since this guy uses it as a commuter, of course he removed the wheelie bars. The tires he kelp for a bit, but the bike was essentially unsteerable with the drag-racing ties on it so he changed those out. He's pretty small (weighs maybe 140 lbs.) and the bike's quite light as well, so it's ridiculously quick. He tells me the bike is very tricky to drive. Very little throttle movement gets you gobs o' go-fast. He gassed it too much once and ripped 4 teeth off the drive belt. So he had to replace that.
Here's the interesting part. It has an actual muffler on it and it's not unduly loud. Of course, he probably has learned to drive the thing at mostly 40% power or less, but still it shows that noise is just that - noise.
Since this guy uses it as a commuter, of course he removed the wheelie bars. The tires he kelp for a bit, but the bike was essentially unsteerable with the drag-racing ties on it so he changed those out. He's pretty small (weighs maybe 140 lbs.) and the bike's quite light as well, so it's ridiculously quick. He tells me the bike is very tricky to drive. Very little throttle movement gets you gobs o' go-fast. He gassed it too much once and ripped 4 teeth off the drive belt. So he had to replace that.
Here's the interesting part. It has an actual muffler on it and it's not unduly loud. Of course, he probably has learned to drive the thing at mostly 40% power or less, but still it shows that noise is just that - noise.