There is a difference between a nice soft growl such as Stainintunes and the abnoxious harley straight pipes.
No dispute on that, but due to the difficulty in expecting LEOs to enforce dB denominated prohibitions on the road, the legislative trend in reacting to pissed off citizen complaints about loud motorcyclists is to simply ban all aftermarket exhaust components. It's a LOT easier to just have the cop write a ticket for having replaced your mufflers. So . . .
That means that if you damage an OEM muffler, you gotta bend over and pay the astronomical price of replacing OEM with OEM, since a less expensive aftermarket can won't be permitted AT ALL. Similarly, you'll have to give up what you find to be the pleasant (while not excessively loud) growl that aftermarket cans provide. And you will no longer be able to take advantage of the HP boosting and weight saving benefits of a true header system that is available only in an aftermarket system. Why? Because some assholes need to make their bikes so loud that it makes most citizens wince. That's just about "lifestyle" and ego (though I've heard from some women that it can also reflect inadequately small bedroom equipment), and not about saving lives. Unfortunately, for too many citizens who complain to legislators' offices, they lump all of us who ride motorcycles into the perceived group of obnoxious and selfish offenders.
The op lives and commutes in LA so one must assume he does his share of lane splitting and such.
I believe that he said, in his crash thread, that he lives at 4,000 feet and commutes the Grapevine, so I'm guessing he lives out in the Frazier Park vicinity somewhere -- nicer and much more rural than L.A. urban living, but still has to deal with the traffic of L.A. to get to work. That would also fit with the comment he made about dirt riders trespassing.
Nothing nicer than having a nice little growl that a quick blip on the throttle helps people hear you working your way through traffic. I love the Akrapovic (with db killers) on my Katoom and after 200 miles today watching animals in pastures reacting to some noise while we were riding those twisty back roads you can't tell me sound does not travel ahead.
You do know that most of us were concerned about just what you would learn from Bust when you two rode together in September? Alas, it appears that his sheep whispering and livestock calling has rubbed off on you. Just because Bust told you that when livestock hear the rumble of your Katoom, it makes them want you doesn't make it so. You're projecting to the sheep a reaction that you want to see -- just like your sheep whisperer mentor suggested.
EDIT: **** this new software, slappy was right about the direction the software is going. It's just not worth the time investments or elaborate editing keystrokes needed to try to post or to fix what it did to what I posted when the editing function is fucked beyond all recognition and it loses what is posted. Insert a string of Warchild worthy expletives here, please!!!
