About noisy 2

[Petrus]

Not R18 specific so in Biergarten.

At periodic inspection the horn is an item checked.
Now if that should work, the logic is that we should also be able to héar it no?!

This applies to the general thing of same. I mean the hearing is one of our senses informing us about our surroundings. Imo this applies to traffic et al too. See the mandatory functional horn.

So what about sound systems and (on bikes) ear plugs?
A sound system audible above road/wind level is per definition drowning out peripheral sounds.
Same thing ear plugs. Regardless of them being tuned to wind noise frequencies they raise the threshold of peripheral sounds.

The exhaust sound also enters this area. A louder exhaust not only is illegal, nor just more annoying for the rest of the world, it also raises the threshold for peripheral sounds to be audible.
Same thing loudspeakers in the fairing. In otself same as in car with the extra of also being audible for the r.o.w.

My highly personal take on it all is that I do not have a sound system on while driving a car. Never mind riding my motorcycle. I úsed to in the previous centurey when doing lost of mileage on my K75 untill I had a near escape with a truck I would otherwise have héard. I double checked looking but I should have already heard it.
Same thing loud pipes. While I lóve a good exhaust note ánd think loud pipes saved lives, not the past tense! Modern cars are só well sound insulated and occupants listening to their entetainment systems, the exhaust not will go largely unnoticed. Back to the horn... obvious no? That too is nowadays hardly noticed anymore by the tinned road users. Have you tried recently, tried warning a car driver with your motorbike claxon?

Ok, now us on our R18s.
How loud does your sound system in the fairing need to be for you to hear it inside your helmet at highway speeds?
Is that louder than the exhaust note?
Etcetera.

By all means of course think whatever you think and do whatever you feel you should. It is imo a sobering perspective for the safety features and perception of crash helmets:
Risk = the chance on a mishap x the seriousness of the consequences.
A crash helmet adresses part of the latter.
Awareness of the surrounding adresses the former.

 

[skidward]

I personally think open air sound systems on a motorcycle are the stupidest thing. It's only good for Harley Bros who like to cruise around town and blast their music to the whole neighborhood.

 

[Petrus]

I personally think open air sound systems on a motorcycle are the stupidest thing. It's only good for Harley Bros who like to cruise around town and blast their music to the whole neighborhood.

over here it is all but exclusively a Goldwing thing. But then the only times I have seen pop down wheels was on Goldwings too. I remember he first time I saw it for both btw. A sound system on a motorcycle seemed as alien as pop down wheels. The Goldwing when it first came out was itself totally beyond my perception of motorcycles too. Nów I appreciate it for being the stunning ground breaking innovation it was. It was the AMF HD days so go figure.