Engine noise and early starts

[conkerman]

Probably the vibes transmitted through the stand.

First thoughts are tell him to get stuffed and fit an after market can :-)

Try idling the bike when the bike is off the stand.

[Rovinghawk]

You're doing your best to be quiet, it's legal.

Carry on.

[budgie smuggler]

Without hearing it, it's hard to say if it's out of order.

Maybe you could fit one of those removable silencer jobbies when commuting for the sake of easy neighbourly relations, and remove it when you want to go out for a blast. (assuming those things still exist?)

[Captain Muppet]

bestinshow said:

Captain Muppet said:

bestinshow said:

I'm with your neighbour on this one, especially if he has kids. I think starting it and then letting it idle for a while isn't helping.

Just because you have an early start doesn't mean he has to.

So what is your reasonable suggestion for resolution? The OP gives up his job? The OP buys a 1970s milk float?

Start it then ride off, the bike sat running for a time is the problem

The OP explains how this would create more noise.

HertsBiker said:

If I don't idle it, it stalls unless revved a lot higher, so I feel a bit trapped.

[anonymous-user]

HertsBiker said:

Hi all. Question for you, a neighbour who knew I had bikes before moving in is now complain about my 6:30 to 6:45 start up.. The bike has a standard road legal exhaust, and is parked on my front garden. It is too heavy to move without the engine on as the path is sloped and awkward, am I being unreasonable starting it at this time and riding off a minute or so later? If I don't idle it, it stalls unless revved a lot higher, so I feel a bit trapped. Taking the car is a nightmare. Any suggestions please. If I'm really being out of order id like to know. Cheers all.

Yes, you are.

We have a similar, possibly worse situation with a lodger down the road. He insists on starting his POS Fiesta with a cherry bomb silencer and letting it idle at 7am every day.

There is no reason to leave something idling. Start get on it and ride off.

[swisstoni]

Maybe you should stay at home and deal drugs.

[steveo3002]

start up and drive away - thats fine

having to rev it cus it wont idle , get that fixed

[Garlick]

I've moved now, but my old garage used to face a block of flats. I had complaints that when I reversed into the garage in the (unsilenced) TVR it was too noisy for them. I used to roll out of the garage when leaving, and would turn the car off when I returned before opening the doors so I was doing all I could.

Regardless, I didn't want to be a pain so I bought some track day silencer sleeves and popped them on to reverse in. Job done, everyone was happy.

I always try to avoid dispute if I can (and the request is reasonable). Do what you can to ease the situation, I always try to imagine it from their side (again, if the request is reasonable)

[morebeanz]

A bike (actually any vehicle) idling for any period of time outside your house can be annoying, and I reckon it's that time period and not the noise that is the irritation factor.

I suspect that your neighbour would be happier with start up and a quick burst of revs as you leave rather than any number of minutes of idling. Most people will get back to sleep (if that's the issue) very quickly with a short disturbance, but a long one will properly wak them up...

[JQ]

I used to have a neighbour who'd do the same - it's the idling that's irritating. The rumble would be pretty loud in my bedroom and impossible to sleep through due to the constant drone. Fortunately it was his weekend bike, he only ever did it on a Sunday and never before 10am so didn't bother me in the slightest unless I'd had a heavy Saturday night, which would be my own fault. Plus I quite liked the sound.

Weekday mornings he used a different bike and started it and was off immediately, which wouldn't wake me up.

[itidiot]

All bikers rev the engines. They might not do it at 6.00 but no doubt they are doing it outside the house as some point during the week, that's one of the fun bits about the bikes.. the noise. I bet you do that biker thing as well... just pulling up to park it and you rev it twice for the fun... to say hi everyone I'm here! :-)

So no doubt this plus early wake up is starting to grind. Plus your neighbour wont have a clue about warming it up in the morning... he's just thinking shut up!

The solution, man up push the thing in the road and stop idling it or ignore him!

[Birdster]

Not a dig, just a suggestion to help keep the peace. Ask him if you can start the bike and hear the noise from the room in question. Make this suggestion along the lines of trying to work out is it vibration, or revs etc that is causing the problem. This helps you come across as reasonable and helps you see where the problem may be. It might well be the noise is nothing and he is being over sensitive, or has rubbish windows that rattle. It certainly can't make the situation any worse.

[so called]

morebeanz said:

A bike (actually any vehicle) idling for any period of time outside your house can be annoying, and I reckon it's that time period and not the noise that is the irritation factor.

I suspect that your neighbour would be happier with start up and a quick burst of revs as you leave rather than any number of minutes of idling. Most people will get back to sleep (if that's the issue) very quickly with a short disturbance, but a long one will properly wak them up...

I think this is the point worth discussing with your neighbour.
I used to let my decatted Tuscan idle for a short while (as per Speed6 engine warming up procedure) at my lodgings in a German village.
I never got complaints other than "why you not work yesterday"? "Your car starting is my cue to go to Baker every morning, I late yesterday"!

[ezi]

My car won't start properly if it's seriously cold due to it's lumpy cams and will sometimes cut out if I don't give it some throttle. What I do is just start it straight away then hold the throttle slightly for few seconds (literally just feathering it so as to keep from cutting out) to get it ticking over then FO as fast as possible so as not to annoy the neighbours. Not had any complaints a year later and I think it's a reasonable approach.

[MarshalRay]

I was in a similar situation a few years back, a car with marginally legal exhaust and 5:30am starts.

What I did was make a small restrictor / silencer. Basically a small tube filled with foam/sponge with a much smaller outlet than my exhaust. I would put it in my tailpipe (a snug fit) each morning, start the car, drive it out the garage, lockup then drive round the corner, where I would take restrictor out and then drive to work.

Something similar may help you. It doesnt have to be pretty, just some sort of insert you can quickly put in the tailpipe and remove once you have the bike a bit further away from your neighbour's house.

Somebody else might have a better idea, but this was something that worked for me.

[RE92]

Put yourself in the position of the neighbour being woken up every morning by a noise bike.

Would you be annoyed if at 05.00 every morning somebody started a similar bike outside your home?

[otolith]

If a person wishes not to be aware of the normal activities of daily life going on around, he should go and live somewhere remote. At an old house, I had a neighbour who moaned constantly about noise. She told me that she had moved twice before to get away from noise - perhaps she should have considered who the problem belonged to and whether a modern terraced house with paper thin walls was the right place for her.

[oldaudi]

My neighbour does this. But he puts in his garage so the whole thing echoes more and sounds worse. But not at 06:30.

I don’t see this as a problem. The neighbour has raised it as a concern so just be grown up about it and talk to him about it. Ask him what his solution would be, turn it around so he’s the one now with a problem to solve. 06:30 is not that early and the road outside my house starts getting busy with people leaving their homes much before then, bikes and cars.

But on the other foot, if someone else did this at 05:30 before you needed to get up, would it annoy you? It would me.


We have a milk van come round at about 02:30. Old diesel transit van that sits outside my window running for 15 minutes whilst he does his rounds, that’s annoying.

Edited by oldaudi on Tuesday 8th April 11:19

[R8Steve]

otolith said:

If a person wishes not to be aware of the normal activities of daily life going on around, he should go and live somewhere remote. At an old house, I had a neighbour who moaned constantly about noise. She told me that she had moved twice before to get away from noise - perhaps she should have considered who the problem belonged to and whether a modern terraced house with paper thin walls was the right place for her.

Exactly this, where do you draw the line. We live in a world where this kind of thing is just a fact of life.

The milk man/bin man/person that washes the bin/fish van/someone next door doing diy/hoovering/etc all make noise at various different times. It's unavoidable and something you just need to deal with. If you can't, move to somewhere secluded where none of that happens.

[anonymous-user]

R8Steve said:

otolith said:

If a person wishes not to be aware of the normal activities of daily life going on around, he should go and live somewhere remote. At an old house, I had a neighbour who moaned constantly about noise. She told me that she had moved twice before to get away from noise - perhaps she should have considered who the problem belonged to and whether a modern terraced house with paper thin walls was the right place for her.

Exactly this, where do you draw the line. We live in a world where this kind of thing is just a fact of life.

The milk man/bin man/person that washes the bin/fish van/someone next door doing diy/hoovering/etc all make noise at various different times. It's unavoidable and something you just need to deal with. If you can't, move to somewhere secluded where none of that happens.

Or, fix the motorbike so it works as it should (i.e. no need to leave it to idle) and everyone's happy. Or park the bike on the road so it doesn't need to be manoeuvred all round the garden before leaving? Or any number of things for a more peaceful life for all rather than "fk you neighbour, my bike, my rules". Because what's stopping the neighbour from, for example, mowing his lawn on that side of the house at 3AM on a wednesday morning? Tit for tat never wins.