Stealth 4-stroke Enduro?
Discussion
I hate the sound of an unbaffled 2 stroke as much as anybody else with hearing, but the arrival of electric MX bikes in recent years has me thinking. I'm confident I could sneak about on an electric bike without adversely affecting anyone else, but could the same be possible from an ICE? Just how quiet could a 4 stroke MX/enduro bike be made to sound?
According to this map, there appears to be a lot of BOATS in the area I could make use of:
https://www.bywaymap.com/
What isn't so clear, is why there are seemingly sections of the same tracks that aren't connected to any other road or track. getting to them would mean either being parachuted in with the bike, carrying it in parts and assembling it on-site, or more realistically, travelling across an already well travelled route to them. I can't help but wonder, what the consequences are if discovered somewhere I perhaps shouldn't technically/legally be, such as common land, assuming I'm otherwise fully road legal and consciously and conscientiously not spitting in the faces of walkers and kicking their dogs as I pass. A light telling off, fine, bike seized, summons, points, ban, prison, capital punishment, or worst of all, being made to sit through an omnibus of TV soaps?
According to this map, there appears to be a lot of BOATS in the area I could make use of:
https://www.bywaymap.com/
What isn't so clear, is why there are seemingly sections of the same tracks that aren't connected to any other road or track. getting to them would mean either being parachuted in with the bike, carrying it in parts and assembling it on-site, or more realistically, travelling across an already well travelled route to them. I can't help but wonder, what the consequences are if discovered somewhere I perhaps shouldn't technically/legally be, such as common land, assuming I'm otherwise fully road legal and consciously and conscientiously not spitting in the faces of walkers and kicking their dogs as I pass. A light telling off, fine, bike seized, summons, points, ban, prison, capital punishment, or worst of all, being made to sit through an omnibus of TV soaps?
xstian said:
I may sound a bit of a kill joy here but, If you ride illegally I hope you do get caught and fined. There are so few places to ride legally and they don't need too much of an excuse to close more lanes.
Surely it would make more sense if he didn't get caught? no excuse then to close any lanes...Mercky said:
xstian said:
I may sound a bit of a kill joy here but, If you ride illegally I hope you do get caught and fined. There are so few places to ride legally and they don't need too much of an excuse to close more lanes.
Surely it would make more sense if he didn't get caught? no excuse then to close any lanes...You can make a four stroke quiet, but why?
It’ll have next to no power, you’ll still be kicked out and fined and you’ll be universally hated by the people who you sneak up on.
Get a proper bike and ride it where you should.
PS two-strokes are about the best sound in motorcycling in me opinion
It’ll have next to no power, you’ll still be kicked out and fined and you’ll be universally hated by the people who you sneak up on.
Get a proper bike and ride it where you should.
PS two-strokes are about the best sound in motorcycling in me opinion
srob said:
You can make a four stroke quiet, but why?
It’ll have next to no power, you’ll still be kicked out and fined and you’ll be universally hated by the people who you sneak up on.
Get a proper bike and ride it where you should.
PS two-strokes are about the best sound in motorcycling in me opinion
I used to have a 2 stroke Rotax kart. Great fun at a track, but that same sound from a group of local kids racing their Peds through the streets all night long still haunts me. It’ll have next to no power, you’ll still be kicked out and fined and you’ll be universally hated by the people who you sneak up on.
Get a proper bike and ride it where you should.
PS two-strokes are about the best sound in motorcycling in me opinion
I'm having a hard time believing it'll have no power, but less power seems probable. So, as a percentage, how much of a power loss are we estimating for an extremely quiet, 250-450cc?
Having lived through the Max Power era, my experience with loud exhausts was typically a slight gain in measurable performance, accompanied by a massive gain in irritation to others. If you were never afflicted with the embarrassment experienced by having an obnoxious exhaust, then good for you.
Whether travelling along Greenlanes or BOATS, it seems inevitable to me that at some point you'd find yourself inadvertently off-piste. Putting aside any assumptions about whatever you think I'm proposing to do, who's been caught where they shouldn't have been, and what was the outcome?
I'm sure most bikes with the standard exhaust are not that offensive. Its normally aftermarket exhausts which are too loud. If you want a quite bike you probably have to adapt your riding style, so you use the least amounts of rev as possible.
I leave just on the edge of a forest. There is quite a problem with people riding illegally in the woods. These people generally don't care where they ride, how fast they ride or the effect it has on other people. We all get tarred with that brush and walkers etc, ll think we a riding illegally
If you ride legally yes, at some point you will make a wrong turn, make a mistake and end up on the wrong trail. As for the consequences, it depends. The police around this way say they will crush your bike. Someone told me they give you 3 strikes? I don't know anyone who has had anymore than a telling off. To be honest the ones who are the real problem, aren't going to stop anyway.
I leave just on the edge of a forest. There is quite a problem with people riding illegally in the woods. These people generally don't care where they ride, how fast they ride or the effect it has on other people. We all get tarred with that brush and walkers etc, ll think we a riding illegally
If you ride legally yes, at some point you will make a wrong turn, make a mistake and end up on the wrong trail. As for the consequences, it depends. The police around this way say they will crush your bike. Someone told me they give you 3 strikes? I don't know anyone who has had anymore than a telling off. To be honest the ones who are the real problem, aren't going to stop anyway.
I ride a Husqvarna FE350 4T and it's road legal so has a little bark but not too loud at all, and it makes utterly mental power.
I just ride where I like. If someone asks you to leave then just go, it's road legal anyway. Being on somewhere you shouldn't is a civil matter here anyway so the cops can't really do much, and a landowner has to apply for an injunction against you to keep you off, you just wouldn't let it get that far, just go somewhere else.
There are no legal boats or any of that stuff up here anyway, just massive areas of off road owned by private land owners, so if you don't ride where you like, then you are pretty limited in using a dirt bike.
I just ride where I like. If someone asks you to leave then just go, it's road legal anyway. Being on somewhere you shouldn't is a civil matter here anyway so the cops can't really do much, and a landowner has to apply for an injunction against you to keep you off, you just wouldn't let it get that far, just go somewhere else.
There are no legal boats or any of that stuff up here anyway, just massive areas of off road owned by private land owners, so if you don't ride where you like, then you are pretty limited in using a dirt bike.
Brads67 said:
I ride a Husqvarna FE350 4T and it's road legal so has a little bark but not too loud at all, and it makes utterly mental power.
I just ride where I like. If someone asks you to leave then just go, it's road legal anyway. Being on somewhere you shouldn't is a civil matter here anyway so the cops can't really do much, and a landowner has to apply for an injunction against you to keep you off, you just wouldn't let it get that far, just go somewhere else.
There are no legal boats or any of that stuff up here anyway, just massive areas of off road owned by private land owners, so if you don't ride where you like, then you are pretty limited in using a dirt bike.
Is this a wind up?I just ride where I like. If someone asks you to leave then just go, it's road legal anyway. Being on somewhere you shouldn't is a civil matter here anyway so the cops can't really do much, and a landowner has to apply for an injunction against you to keep you off, you just wouldn't let it get that far, just go somewhere else.
There are no legal boats or any of that stuff up here anyway, just massive areas of off road owned by private land owners, so if you don't ride where you like, then you are pretty limited in using a dirt bike.
Brads67 said:
Nope, why ?
I take it you're in Scotland? We applied the same logic when I lived there. It's the way it's done pretty much. South East of England is slightly different though. No land is safe to ride in that manner. Best stick to riding proper enduro practice days and trailer the bike to Wales and Devon.CrankyCraig said:
srob said:
You can make a four stroke quiet, but why?
It’ll have next to no power, you’ll still be kicked out and fined and you’ll be universally hated by the people who you sneak up on.
Get a proper bike and ride it where you should.
PS two-strokes are about the best sound in motorcycling in me opinion
I used to have a 2 stroke Rotax kart. Great fun at a track, but that same sound from a group of local kids racing their Peds through the streets all night long still haunts me. It’ll have next to no power, you’ll still be kicked out and fined and you’ll be universally hated by the people who you sneak up on.
Get a proper bike and ride it where you should.
PS two-strokes are about the best sound in motorcycling in me opinion
I'm having a hard time believing it'll have no power, but less power seems probable. So, as a percentage, how much of a power loss are we estimating for an extremely quiet, 250-450cc?
Having lived through the Max Power era, my experience with loud exhausts was typically a slight gain in measurable performance, accompanied by a massive gain in irritation to others. If you were never afflicted with the embarrassment experienced by having an obnoxious exhaust, then good for you.
Whether travelling along Greenlanes or BOATS, it seems inevitable to me that at some point you'd find yourself inadvertently off-piste. Putting aside any assumptions about whatever you think I'm proposing to do, who's been caught where they shouldn't have been, and what was the outcome?
Noisy car exhausts added to Max Power-esque cars aren't done for increased performance they're done for effect. Very often they'll be detrimental to the power unless they're set up properly and adjusted for them. Even then it's rev's that equal proper performance gains, just look at how high a proper racing car engine revs compared to a road car.
As for whether you get caught or not, that's a different matter. I live on the edge of a popular forest which forbids motorcycle use and when you see the damage done by illegally used motorcycles you can see why people get pissed off. Caught or not, you're still damaging areas other people want to enjoy. I've done lots of off road riding as a youth and there's places you can do it legally, so just go and do that?
My hope was that if I could get a fast, powerful bike (thinking 450+), and sacrifice some of the power for noise reduction (making it the equivalent of say, a 250), it would be still be quick enough for me, quiet, and I'd be able to travel further than I could p1ss, without running out of fuel. Concensus seems to be though, it's just one mans dream of a utopia.
The consequences I'd unearthed for being out of bounds, published by the authorities, seem to suggest that, with a fully road legal bike, I wouldn't be their target demographic. A 2 strike system, with the bike being seized on strike 2. £150 to get it back. I wonder if there's also the potential for a summons for any damage to land, though given how difficult it would be to prove probably not, since others have clearly travelled these places thousands of times before me.
I'd love to get involved with some good'ol fashioned Greenlaning if A, there were any near to me and B, I could still live with causing that much irritation and misery to others. Being such a lovely c un t is such a burden sometimes.
The consequences I'd unearthed for being out of bounds, published by the authorities, seem to suggest that, with a fully road legal bike, I wouldn't be their target demographic. A 2 strike system, with the bike being seized on strike 2. £150 to get it back. I wonder if there's also the potential for a summons for any damage to land, though given how difficult it would be to prove probably not, since others have clearly travelled these places thousands of times before me.
I'd love to get involved with some good'ol fashioned Greenlaning if A, there were any near to me and B, I could still live with causing that much irritation and misery to others. Being such a lovely c un t is such a burden sometimes.
Edited by CrankyCraig on Wednesday 24th April 22:30
South East has loads of places to ride.
If you stick to the legal lanes you'll have a boring time and may aswel just ride a road bike down them as they are all so tame.
The adventure bike/TRF lot will have you believe you should just ride the graded gravel lanes or else they will close them blah blah.
Common sense applied as already mentioned.
With regards to quiet 4strokes. An xr400 with a stock exhaust is very quiet, the sound certainly won't travel far.
If you stick to the legal lanes you'll have a boring time and may aswel just ride a road bike down them as they are all so tame.
The adventure bike/TRF lot will have you believe you should just ride the graded gravel lanes or else they will close them blah blah.
Common sense applied as already mentioned.
With regards to quiet 4strokes. An xr400 with a stock exhaust is very quiet, the sound certainly won't travel far.
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