Your article was well written and well balanced. Unfortunately the issues seems to be that the right volume is too individual. i kind of like knowing, with my eyes closed whether i am next to a '71 cuda or a 08 prius.

Before I got the bike I am riding now, I would probably have put it in the "too loud" category. But now...? I am not sure. It does get attention and on more than one occasion, I am sure that a rev has alerted a dozing cager to my presence on the crazy portland freeways.

I think that what it really comes down to is respect for your fellow citizens. I cringe to think about the day when I will be starting out a nice long trip and want to leave at 5am, or the look on a motel clerks face when I pull in at 10pm after a really long day. I am actually going to talk to the shop this week about toning things down just a bit but till then, I will get my own little personal joy from driving next "Buffy" talking on her cute little pink cell phone and getting that scowl.

Ruff, to me, your pipes are at what I would call the upper limit. Eric, yours are right in the middle to upper range. Both of you seem to be able to run into a parking lot or maybe in and out of the neighborhood without too much noise. But climbing a hill, then you get loud.

I love the sound and think it is great. I just don't know where that happy medium would be. Tammy's pipes are a fantasticly quiet sound to me and I wouldn't mind making them louder for her once the bike is out of warantee. For now it is factory all the way on that bike.

My next bike... Well I am ripped right down the center. I like the rumble but not the volume so I will probably go with the quieter end of things. It also has to do with my hearing. I have a strange hearing condition that I can hear most of the time just fine but in a croud with lots of voices or ongoing noise like the pipes for a couple hours... Well I go somewhat deff and it takes a while for me to recover. So I have that added layer when choosing my pipes that most people don't have to deal with.

I wish there was a way to run quiet and flip a switch to get the noise then flip it back for quiet. Now that would be the best of both worlds! Cruise in and out of the neighborgood in stelth mode then crank it up out away from town or at a cycle show.

They, don't I have that on the goldwing? He he he...

I believe they already have that. I am doing a search and found apatent

Wow JC Whitney even has 'em

Here is a write up on a set on a VTX1300C

Go here Scroll down the page and there is a video on how they work. I little further down the page is a sound bite of a VTX 1300

Yeah Collin I think I'll stick with my $350 Cobra slip-ons. I won't be contributing to their million dollars. But it is a cool idea.