The bike I had before my FJR was a Honda VTX1800. I put Vance&Hines Big Shot pipes on it for two reasons. I liked the sound, and the power increase was immense. I could make that bike scream if I wanted to, but that wasn't the point.
I rode to a friend's house one day to meet her and some other riders. When I rolled up, in her gated community, there was a bunch of Harleys in the driveway. When I went inside, the conversation led to what I rode. When I said it was a Honda, one of them remarked, "Oh, that's why we didn't hear you pull up." I responded with, "No...The bike can make plenty of noise, but I prefer not to be an ******* in people's neighborhoods at 8 in the morning." For some reason, that guy and I never really bonded. Dip ****.
About a year after that, I was riding with another friend of mine who rides a Harley but is an experienced rider with great skill and Reinhart exhaust that we installed in my garage. Like me, he enjoys the rumble of his own bike, but is never obnoxious. I again ended up being the only Honda out of a group of Harley tools who thought their entire 68 horses meant something.
We went to dinner and ended up in front of the door of the restaurant as we were leaving. One of the straight pipe guys was in front of me and while I was putting on my helmet, he revved the engine so hard, it made my ears ring. Since I was only two steps away, and right in the blast, I kicked his bike over with him on it. He got up mad, but lost the nerve when he realized I was pissed and totally prepared to kick his poser ***. He picked up his bruised ego and rode away talking big ****, but in the numerous times I've ridden with Nate, I've never seen that ******* again.
I don't mind bikes with pipes. What I mind are the ******** that assume all of us are going to be impressed with how much useless noise they can make. That goes for Crotch Rockets, Harleys and Pocket Racer cars with those piece of **** huge cans sticking out the back and bass making my house windows shake. I think the smaller the *****, the bigger the need to show off and make people look.