Ah yes, another loud pipes thread.
I always advocate for "tasteful" exhaust. Yes, sound makes a difference - it is one of our 5 senses after all, and yeah, the more senses you are on someone elses radar, the better your chance of survivability.
Anyone arguing otherwise is also arguing against the effectiveness of the horn that every motorcycle has as well. If sound makes no difference in the goal of letting others know you're there, why bother with it?
Do I mean obnoxious deafening straight pipes?
Nope, not at all. But sound DOES matter. As someone who drives a vehicle every day of my working life (for 24 years and counting) in which motorcycles can completely disappear in my blind spots, trust me when I say that when there's a bike next to me with an exhaust that's actually audible above all the other noises,
yeah...I hear it sometimes before I SEE it.
That alone should speak volumes about the effectiveness of tasteful exhaust.
Ride like you're invisible, ride defensively, etc etc etc...blah blah blah, yeah, I agree on all of that as well. But if you ride on big highways/the 401/US interstates, and ride any sort of meaningful distance every year, it's statistically inevitable that you ARE going to be in less than ideal locational traffic placement situations on a fairly routine basis, be it in heavy traffic, passing or being passed, etc etc etc. Everything that provides an aid to letting others know YOU ARE THERE is of benefit.
And pul-leeze on the argument that sound only travels backwards.
