Don't You Hate It When Noisy Motorbikes Go Past!

[mick1987]

Hi guys, little bit of a rant coming up!

So I'm walking my dog on the street, its the weekend and I must have counted about 20 odd motorbikes go past me. Now you could say motorbikes (the regular type) would not pose a danger to your ears, however, one of them was a super loud custom made chopper bike! The pr*ck waited until he was right near me when he opened up the taps, one of the loudest f**king noises I've ever heard! So frustrating when your dog is taking a sh*t on the grass and your ears are constantly being aggravated by f**kers on bikes. The road is like a race track. SOOO FRUSTRATING!

 

[katriina]

I know exactly that feeling.. Last when I experienced that was today! It doesn't even have to be motorbikes, just normal traffic is loud enough!! When loud motorbike drives by i always wonder how they handle that noise? They must have T too or otherwise I don't understand

 

[mick1987]

Yeah, I think the majority of bikers wear plugs while riding these days...just the poor sods on the street who's ears take a battering!

 

[Stina]

Maybe next time close you ears Thank God for fingers.

 

[Micky]

yep know how you feel.. I keep the car windows shut tight.. Since a motor bike roared past me last summer and hurt my ear .. I dive into the nearest shop when i hear Police or Ambulance coming.. Or if i cant do that i plug my ears with fingers.. Ya have to be on your guard all the time.. Micky

 

[mick1987]

I was sort of caught off guard because I had the dog lead in one hand and a bag of dog sh*t in the other. Lol. I need an extra pair of hands.

 

[II Packy II]

I fucking hate Harley's. always have. Assholes generally ride those things.

 

[II Packy II]

There is no reason for anything short of a combine harvester to be that loud

 

[mick1987]

There is no reason for anything short of a combine harvester to be that loud

I agree, I checked and the average decibel level of a Harley is 102 db on idle, 124 decibels revved! The pain threshold is 130 decibels! Surely there should be noise limit laws? Those things are a f**king menace! I pray my T stays the same (OK so far).

 

[Sean]

Hi guys, little bit of a rant coming up!

So I'm walking my dog on the street, its the weekend and I must of counted about 20 odd motorbikes go past me, now you could say motorbikes (the regular type) would not pose a danger to your ears...however....one of them was a super loud custom made chopper bike!..the pr*ck waited until he was right near me when he opened up the taps...one of the loudest f**king noises I've ever heard! So frustrating when your dog is taking a sh*t on the grass and your ears are constantly being aggravated by f**kers on bikes...the road is like a race track, SOOO FRUSTRATING!!!!.,lol.

Hey mIck: how are you? havebnt been on TT lately so i dont know how you are doing? did your T go down or its the same as few months back?

 

[mick1987]

Hi Sean, I'm good thanks for asking. I think my tinnitus is the same volume as back in October, hard to say if it's lower or I have just habituated to it over time. Because I was so stressed out, my brain was on high alert it did seem louder, compared to now, but all in all I lost the panic, fear, depression, stopped drinking, because of that I'm pretty much back the normal, even though its definitely worse than before when I had mild tinnitus, which I can't even remember how light that must of sounded lol, I have got used to it to the point where I'm doing ALOT better than a few months back.

I'm still proactive in preventing it getting worse further so I'm still nervous around moderately loud sounds, which is inconvenient because loud noise seems to be everywhere!

 

[LeQuack]

Yes I hate it a lot. Especially when a lot of the people are using custom exhausts that are 10 times louder and people actually buy them just because of that. Of course people like these usually have the luck to never get tinnitus.

 

[shan]

Not just motorbikes. The screeching of buses when they brake hurts my ears too. I wear ear plugs when I am along busy roads.

 

[Ser]

I also wear earplugs (the spongy ones). I live in Belgrade which is one very noisy city so what I do these days is I only remove my earplugs when I'm in a silent street (without traffic and lots of people) or at parks.
Also, I wonder should I keep my room windows open - to get accustomated to the noise or not - to make my ears rest as more often as possible?

 

[frohike]

Yes, Harleys sound like fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyou.
People on tables outside the bar have a difficult time talking when one of those gigantic morons pass by. I guess drawing attention is the point for them.

 

[mick1987]

The irony is before getting T, i always thought those idiots on harleys and chavs with their boom boxes and fake exhausts on their cheap tatty cars would regret their actions one day when they have hearing loss. I think I would be less resentful if I got tinnitus through abusing my ears going to concerts, blasting out car speakers,riding Harleys, instead of looking after my hearing for so long all for that to change after a freakishly long exposure to a fire alarm in a shed, but i suppose that goes for the non noise induced tinnitus cases as well, but nobody deserves tinnitus either way.

 

[Magpie]

I would have to sat concrete cutters are the worst things I have heard.

 

[mick1987]

DAMN IT! Looks like that bike has given me another irritating noise on top of the other stuff, up half the night with this new noise! I hope it goes away!

 

[AliHT]

Also, I wonder should I keep my room windows open - to get accustomated to the noise or not - to make my ears rest as more often as possible?

The most valuable advice I could give to any hyperacusis sufferer is to befriend the noise! Believe it or not, those who suffer from sensitivity to sound can and will get better, sometimes even recover fully. Find your limit, stay a bit below it and push the limit up!

 

[mick1987]

But I am in the middle of a cold right now so it could be that.

 

[Sean]

Hi Sean, I'm good thanks for asking. I think my tinnitus is the same volume as back in October, hard to say if it's lower or I have just habituated to it over time. Because I was so stressed out, my brain was on high alert it did seem louder, compared to now, but all in all I lost the panic, fear, depression, stopped drinking, because of that I'm pretty much back the normal, even though its definitely worse than before when I had mild tinnitus, which I can't even remember how light that must of sounded lol, I have got used to it to the point where I'm doing ALOT better than a few months back.

I'm still proactive in preventing it getting worse further so I'm still nervous around moderately loud sounds, which is inconvenient because loud noise seems to be everywhere!

Mick: I am glad you are doing better. I have little bit of spike and it just sucks!.
I also very proactive as to protect my ear. I wear ear pugs when I go to any loud places..it really sucks but we got no choice!
I am so glad your response to T has gotten so much better! You are really in pain few months back.

 

[mick1987]

Thanks Sean, I think the getting drunk every night made the situation so much worse, the negative thinking spiralled out of control, anxiety through the roof, scared out of my mind why it had changed etc. I needed to get it all out of my system. After awhile I got back to normal just like before it increased in October, I have gone from fearing tinnitus, to me just seeing my T as an irritating noise (of course i dont have severe tinnitus and understand that would be much harder to deal with) but i lost the fear, lost the suffering.

Still worry about loud noises though, need to work on that.

 

[Sean]

Hey mick - I thought you have severe Tinnitus ..isn't that so ?

 

[LeQuack]

Loud motorcycles is why I started to dislike going cycling, even though I love it. This weekend would've have been a perfect if not for loud motorbikes with custom illegal exhausts. I try to plug my ears but sometimes it's just not possible on a bike if you're going to fast. Today for example I was going down a steep hill so no chance of stopping and a loud quad came by, I only to managed to plug my left ear when he went by. Similar a couple of miles down the road a loud offroad bike that sounded like a chainsaw, and then another one not far after. It really takes the joy out my rides. And these people are just bullies with their loud bikes, and bullies need to be dealt with or else they continue being bullies. Well one can hope that they get tinnitus, that would be poetic justice.

 

[SteveSkis92]

Loud motorcycles is why I started to dislike going cycling, even though I love it. This weekend would've have been a perfect if not for loud motorbikes with custom illegal exhausts. I try to plug my ears but sometimes it's just not possible on a bike if you're going to fast. Today for example I was going down a steep hill so no chance of stopping and a loud quad came by, I only to managed to plug my left ear when he went by. Similar a couple of miles down the road a loud offroad bike that sounded like a chainsaw, and then another one not far after. It really takes the joy out my rides. And these people are just bullies with their loud bikes, and bullies need to be dealt with or else they continue being bullies. Well one can hope that they get tinnitus, that would be poetic justice.

I'm sorry to hear about your rides @LeQuack , I deal with the exact same thing when I go for my daily runs. Without my run, I'm absolutely miserable and anxious, but sometimes it's just brutal when a mototcycle drives by. It's funny that this thread got resurrected. I stumbled on it literally moments after two extremely loud bikes rode by in front of my house....

Just yesterday too while I was walking back from picking up some dinner a fire truck drove by (at regular driving speed. No lights/siren or anything) but then he decided to give a friendly "honk-honk" to all the pedestrians......If it wasn't for the fact that I respect firefighters and what they do I would've flipped him the bird. He even head earmuffs on....

 

[Alue]

Yeah, I think the majority of bikers wear plugs while riding these days...just the poor sods on the street who's ears take a battering!

Yep, I just saw one at the gas station last week. I could tell he had custom exhaust to make his bike louder. When he took off his helmet he had ear plugs in. What an idiot.

I hate ambulance and fire trucks too. I drive around with ear muffs in my passenger seat just in case I hear one coming from the distance.

 

[LeQuack]

I wonder if I should be worried about this exposure or if it may have caused some damage? I seem to have a spike today so not feeling that great.

On one hand the motorbikes were really loud, according to the internet some very loud exhausts can be 120 dB or even above. And they sure felt loud. But on the other hand it was only a couple of seconds exposure when they went past. So should I worry about possible damage?

 

[Bobby B]

I always loved loud bikes, loud cars too. I entirely removed the muffler from one of my 8 cylinder car and it sounds great.

I put a supertrapp exhaust on my big 1400cc Honda too - that was loud!

I don't blame the riders - our T wasn't caused by loud traffic..

Now of course I need to be super careful and I wear ear protection outside because you cannot control other peoples noises.

You cannot control how bright the sun will be so wear sunglasses..

Just wear ear muffs or plugs and that's it - emergency vehicles sirens are even worse

 

[linearb]

Loud motorcycles is why I started to dislike going cycling, even though I love it. This weekend would've have been a perfect if not for loud motorbikes with custom illegal exhausts. I try to plug my ears but sometimes it's just not possible on a bike if you're going to fast. Today for example I was going down a steep hill so no chance of stopping and a loud quad came by, I only to managed to plug my left ear when he went by. Similar a couple of miles down the road a loud offroad bike that sounded like a chainsaw, and then another one not far after. It really takes the joy out my rides. And these people are just bullies with their loud bikes, and bullies need to be dealt with or else they continue being bullies. Well one can hope that they get tinnitus, that would be poetic justice.

Hi LeQuack,

from clocking my own motorcycle and my neighbor's considerably louder one with a decent meter, I know that bikes idle around 75-84 db, and tend to be not much more than 120db at the redline, measured at the exhaust port -- and more like 110 db when you're a couple feet away. My bike is pretty run of the mill, but my neighbor's is what you'd have to describe as "obnoxiously loud", if ever a motorcycle was obnoxiously loud. You're also not going to hear those absolute red-line maximums, it's bad for the engine. From clocking during rides, average sustained volume is usually within about 7 db of 100, on one side or the other.

Anyway, my point is that these volumes are not any louder than road work, garbage collection, and any number of other routine urban sounds. If people modify their exhaust to the point that it's in violation of applicable noise statutes, that's a dick move, but applies to a pretty small minority of bike users. (You cannot have work like that done in a shop).

Finally, even an illegal exhaust, is not going to subject you to truly damaging decibel levels just by riding by you once.

 

[LeQuack]

Hi LeQuack,

from clocking my own motorcycle and my neighbor's considerably louder one with a decent meter, I know that bikes idle around 75-84 db, and tend to be not much more than 120db at the redline, measured at the exhaust port -- and more like 110 db when you're a couple feet away. My bike is pretty run of the mill, but my neighbor's is what you'd have to describe as "obnoxiously loud", if ever a motorcycle was obnoxiously loud. You're also not going to hear those absolute red-line maximums, it's bad for the engine. From clocking during rides, average sustained volume is usually within about 7 db of 100, on one side or the other.

Anyway, my point is that these volumes are not any louder than road work, garbage collection, and any number of other routine urban sounds. If people modify their exhaust to the point that it's in violation of applicable noise statutes, that's a dick move, but applies to a pretty small minority of bike users. (You cannot have work like that done in a shop).

Finally, even an illegal exhaust, is not going to subject you to truly damaging decibel levels just by riding by you once. I sit right on top of a single-cylinder thumper several hours a week, and my tinnitus and hearing thresholds are unchanged after a number of years. (Yes, I wear earplugs, but that's because it's constant exposure over time).

Thanks for the insight. Yes I'm aware that illegal exhausts are the minority, I get passed by many motorbikes and most of them are normal and not loud, even the bigger ones wit ha stock exhaust sound pretty safe. But those ones that do have it modified are really so obnoxiously loud that I can hear them coming from kilometers away down the valley. But they still manage to surprise me just because of the sheer speed and because of all the corners.

For example here are some examples of motorbikes riding through the local hill where there are a ton of cyclists. They regularly reach over 200+ kmh (130+ mph) and are having races on public roads, speed limit is 90 kmh (55 mph). This goes on all through the spring and summer, every day.