Quote Originally Posted by RK-REX View Post
My bike does however, have a loud exhaust. It's a performance modification.
Interesting.

From an engineering perspective, sound == energy. So, the louder an engine is, the less efficient (without the use of a muffler, which does nothing but baffle the compression wave coming down the pipe to drop the amplitude and smooth out the sine wave)

Wouldn't you get more performance out of it by tuning the engine such that more energy is transmitted to the drive mechanism than wasted going down the pipe?

That said, I can understand how allowing the exhaust to escape unbaffled would improve that side of the performance equation. Less back pressure and all.

Here in Southern Scottsdale, we get a lot of the "weekend rider" crowd. They tend to be less polite about their motorcycling habits than the every-day bikers, I think.