Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes What bike's exhaust note stirs your soul?

Let's face it, the sound of a properly tuned exhaust, at least for most americans is part of the soul of your machine. Some manufacturers get it, some don't. What are the best (or worst) sounding exhaust notes you've heard? There are no wrong answers, since this is about opinions.

Personal favorites: Yamaha Vmax and Royal Star-amazing when properly uncorked. Almost sounds like a hopped up small block chevy running around a racetrack. As intense as a motorcycle has a right to be.

Ducatis, pick one, an unabashed staccato howl that makes you understand the romantic involvement that Italians have with there machinery.

British Twins, particularly 270° cranks. Quirky, off beat, both in your face and subtle at the same time. Much like Monty Python, some people understand and appreciate it, others scratch there head.

The worst ones: Honda VFR interceptors. amazing that yamaha and honda can both create a V-4 with such dramatically different souls. The interceptor sounds as hollow and flat as the Vmax sounds nasty. A total let down.

BMW Boxers- Typical Teutonic efficency and engineering (form follows function etc.) The machines are wonderfully designed and utterly soulless with regards to exhaust note. To find the passion and soul of Germany, look to their Brewmasters

I like the old British twins with drag pipes and especially going up the hill at hill climbs. The thump of the 360 deg crank is great!

Small block Chevy with cherry bombs on it too.

Old BMW boxer with straight pipes sounds cool too.

Well , I'm biased but I suppose it would have to be LOLA'S ( my BA ) Thunderbike exhaust note , it's her way of saying "throw yer leg over me , big boy" . Next it would have to be another biased opinion , my wifes' '07 1200 Sportster . It's a Harley , but ya gotta love that iconic , lumpy thump .

Ducati and Katoom V-twins and of course Triumph inline twins and the sweet sound of the inline triples. Worst is Honda v-twins and BMW flat twin.

Ducati 916.
Britten. ( go here to hear it )http://www.britten.co.nz/
Honda RC30.

All the above on the TT course.

The best note: Parallel Twin with Dunstall reverse cone "Decibel" Slip-Ons.

The worst note: Harleys, they sound too much like a Yamaha Road Star. They even sound slow.
(I'm serious, by the way - I just don't like the HD sound)

A well tuned Triumph twin with Dunstall pipes is the sweetest note out there. Extremely deep tone and not loud at all - until you burn the glass out of the muffler. You can even hear a little puff of air with each pulse.

Here's a link. She's got her baffles in, but no fiberglas:
Dunstall Pipes On A NewBonneville

I can think of lots of great sounding bikes. And a lot of them come from the land of the rising sun.

I do not care much for HD sound, and i do not like loud pipes. You dont have to be loud to sound good.

Here are a few of my favorite sounds.

Just about any Ducati.
Suzuki TL1000S with Yoshimura pipes...sweeeeet.

Honda Seeley CB750F1, what a great sounding bike that was
Honda CB400F with a Seeley pipe,
Both of these were from the 70's

Most multi cyclinder Jap bikes sound nice to me, with or with out a performance pipe.

As for Two stoke sounding bikes,
Suzuki GT380 with Micron expansion chambers,
Yamaha RD250/350LC with micron pipes
Suzuki RG500 Gama (square 4), sweet sounding straight of the showroom floor

Norton Comando, Nice
Triumph Twins, Nice

BMW Boxer engines. I like them a lot.

and lastly, and yes, admittedley this is EXTEEMILY loud, and no, sorry. It is not a bike. But, there are not many sounds in the world that sound better and stir the soul more than a Ferrari F1 V10 engine spinning at 19,000 rpm.....now thats sheer bliss.

Give me a well tuned Dunstall kitted Norton or a Vincent at full throttle going up a hill
Hoffo

I love the way that the modern triumph 270 twins sound, but for me there is something in the sound of a Guzzi with a proper exhaust that gets the blood boiling.

For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAsfsNG8B5g

Droooolllll.

Harley WLA 45, Vincent V-Twin , Triumph Twins , Norton Cafe (Commando) , Kawasaki Z-1 , Kawasaki H-1 (two stroke and my first bike)

All of them that don't sound like a sewing machine or are whisper quiet. Even a Harley with a nice aftermarket exhaust makes me perk up.

The sprint has a wicked exhaust note when you listen for it. The sound of that triple engine braking is like a symphony.
A nice lumpy harley is good, a pack of 270 triumphs is great.

There is a sound I forgot I love the Allison 12 cyl sound as well as the Packard.

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All of them that don't sound like a sewing machine

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You would not have liked the sound of my first bike then,



Mine was in JPS black and gold colors.

Ever heard a Moto Guzzi with a nice set o' pipes on it?

Mmmmmmmm!

But come to think of it, if you put a "nice set o' pipes" on just about anything, they sound pretty good...not too loud, mind ya, but I think almost anything can be made to sound at least "non-objectionable".

(oh..I just thought o' one...an Ariel Square-4...with "nice sounding pipes" of course...I think that sounds kind'a like a flathead Ford V-8)

suprised no one mentioned Vincent yet they sound great too.

Check out my post on page 1, can't forget a Vincent once you've heard one bellowing
Hoffo

A Speedmaster, of course! The JCW shorties put the sound right underneath you, not out back. I love the sweet spot between 80-100mph.

Beetlejuice, my old KZ1100 Spectre. V&H 4-1 blooey pipe. It just sounded like power.

Honda Valkyrie. With open pipes, they sound like a Porsche Carrera.

Honda XR650R. The Baja King. It sounds like this big, growling bear of a bike.

Darn saw the Norton (totally agree) but just skimmed right over where you said Vincent.

Okay, I'm not afraid to say it, i love the sound of a harley.

Grandmother's Plymouth 4 powered Henderson really sounded nice. Too bad she sold it to move to the west coast between VE and VJ day.
I do like the sound of a real (= not jap) V2 with cams and pipes, especially my old flathead 80, Panhead and Ironhead. Both the old 650 Triumph and my America have a special sound to them. The Brit build Indian 650 a friend of mine had until the gearbox locked up at 60 MPH had a really good sound to it. Seems he was putting a bit too much effort into shifting fast and bent a shift fork.
On 4 wheels, the early MoPar Hemis had a really good sound, but the best 2 were The 59A and 59L block Ford products and (gasp) pre 1950 Studebaker 6's with split manifolds.

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Honda Valkyrie. With open pipes, they sound like a Porsche Carrera.

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There's a guy around here That I've met a few times, has a Valk with 6 into 6 pipes. Muffled but with performance type, it sounds great.

A built VW pancake.
Probably reminds me of days of desert racing my Baja Bug (sigh) .

I have the Victory 6 in my 55 Studebaker Champion. It's a great car to drive good gas mileage too.

Ian! You've got a '55 Studie?! Cool! I've forgotten if the Champion has a B-pillar post or not. Either way, I like mid-50's Studebakers. They were some of the cleanest and un-cluttered designed american cars of that era.

Let's see a pic.

It's a 2 door hard top. No pillar and no window frame. Early 55 they changed the windshield in late 55. Mine has 77,000 miles on it and I'm 2 nd owner. You can see the front end in at least one of the pix of my chopper in the photo post.
can see the nose in this shot.

The sound of any well tuned motor in it's power band sounds good to me.

The sound of most any bike can be changed significantly by swapping pipes and cams so it's hard to pick any particular make model as a favorite.

A question for the folks who admit they don't like the sound of HD. Didn't Triumph make a concsious and admitted effort to try and duplicate the sound of the HD V-Twin with the America? That's a bit ironic.

A guy at work had a BA that wasn't tuned very well and had stock pipes with the baffles punched out. I though it sounded like crap. He now has a T-100 in completely stock trim that sounds like an electric drill. My wife's BA is tuned and has the factory "off-road" pipes and that thing is LOUD and sounds good although I would like to see the tone a little deeper.

Her Shadow 600 was tuned and wearing Jardin pipes and that thing sounded really nice. It sounded like a much bigger, faster bike then it was.

I am always surprised at the number or "sounds good" comments I get at stoplights and such on my massaged and cammed HD EVO with Python pipes.

One of the best nights sleep I ever got was at the Elkview campground during Sturgis bike week. The tent was a hundred yards from the highway and the ebbing and flowing of the many many bikes that went by lulled me right to sleep.

Wow! Now THAT'S a great lookin' old Studie there, Ian!

I THINK!!!

(don't knock yourself out there guy!)

It has great lines but is in bad need of new paint.

Never liked the EVO or it's sound. Sounds like a dump truck to me. Shortest lived HD engine design ever. EVO had a good top end. The early Evo that still had the Shovel bottom end was a good engine. I like the HD sound if you are talking Knuckle, Pan,Flathead or even Shovel ,but needs cams and higher compression to do it for me.(Flathead doesn't need anything just love hearing those run.)

The Evo is without question the most reliable motor HD ever produced and saved the company from going down the tubes. HD now had a motor that could go 80000 miles without major work rather then 10000 miles.

I believe the TC-88 would be the shortest lived engine design ever produced by HD. The only reason they went to the 88 from the EVO 80 was because of the bigger is better mentality of the average consumer. Then they had all kinds of problems getting things right on that one. Now they are going through the same thing with the 95-96 motors.

Sound (as in exhaust tone) is 90% a function of pipes when comparing 45* V-twin engines. You can pretty much make em sound any way you want. You sure can tell a Shovel from an EVO by listening to the valve train noise but I'm not so sure I couldn't fool you at least some of the time by playing muscical pipes.

The bottom line for me is that when I hear an HD I know right away that is is an HD.

The same is true when I hear a Triumph.

That, among a couple other reasons, is why both of these great bikes have space in my garage.

my old Triumph 750 with dunstalls!! A Harley with a good set of pipes (not wide open dragers) and MY BA with SS short slashers

It's still my ole '68 Tiger through the shorty drag pipes. Been keeping the heart pumping since '72.

anytime i push the starter button on Millie and she fires up and those sceptres bark???? THATS THE BEST SOUND IN THE WORLD!!!! it means, we're goin riden

My (long time ago) neighbours Laverda rgs corsa with aftermarket exhausts (conti's ?) not even my old guzzi sounded quite that good. It was music for the soul

ArielDouglas

Welcome to the club. Where abouts in Tennessee are you.