Loud Pipes Save Lives ? I don't know whether they do or they don't. What I do know is that the FIRST thing anybody in a cage says to a cop at the scene of a car trashes motorcycle accident is " Officer, I didn't even see that motorcycle " I've had some bikes that were obnoxiously loud and I agree that is an issue for all of us. But I've also had some bikes (as I do now) that were louder than stock without being boorish about it and I've seen the effect on drivers around me. I come up on them, they are checking their mirrors, looking to the right or left to find me. I can't see how that's a bad thing. We ride around on an open vehicle with no protection against going down on the pavement, into the side of another car or getting run over whatsoever. We take courses and ride defensively (which means assuming everyone else on the road is an idiot) and still we get run down, run over, run into the ditch and on and on. I'd say that whatever you can do to increase your chances of survival are a matter of personal choice. I know people who carry concealed hanguns without permits in spite of the fact that doing so is one hell of a lot more illegal than riding a motorcycle with loud exhaust. Those people chose to decided for themselves whether their personal safety is worth a potential weapons conviction. There are other examples. When all is said and done, we obey the law or we disobey the law based on our personal perception of what that particular law's effect may be on our own personal well being. While I sometimes get irritated with the immature guy on a bike who raps his pipes in all the wrong places, I'm not going to condemn everyone who runs louder than stock exhaust systems. This isn't a one size fits all issue in spite of some people thinking it is.
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I have gotten good performance with my current 103 (2007) running stock headpipes with perforamance mufflers. The old style cross over pipe providing just the right amount of back pressure needed t