What's your fav bike engine sound?

[anonymous-user]

I'm one of those saddos who, if I see somebody at a petrol station on a good bike, I'll always lurk for a bit, just to hear the bike being started ...

If in my car, and I see some bikes in the rear view mirror, as I keep left to allow them to overtake, I always lower the window just to hear them. Sadly, a lot of new sportsbikes sound pretty feeble these days.

It'd difficult to get the sound of a bike on video. They're usually recorded on phones and we're generally listening on a phone or laptop. That means that, both at recording and at playback, lots of bass is lost. That said, if you have decent headphones, these are 3 of my favs:

The RC166: https://youtu.be/o57JwibqCb8?t=126

The Norvin: https://youtu.be/jVeLhO9Kerk

Ducati: https://youtu.be/sp9xPyI8mCY

What're yours?

[anonymous-user]

I've now to do a helluva a lot of googling this evening to listen to all of these ... my wife thinks I'm deranged: "So, you're just listening to engine noises?!" ...

[anonymous-user]

Pothole said:

tommy1973s said:

...as I keep left to allow them to overtake...

There's really no need. We can judge gaps and have the acceleration to do what we like without you pulling over into the roadside crap and showering us with it. No, I'm not ungrateful, it's just not something you need to bother with.

I'm neither pulling over nor slowing down, and certainly not going off clean tarmac; just subtly altering road position out of courtesy - and because, tbh, I perhaps want to encourage a joyful overtake even when the rider initially may not have been all that bothered about getting past : ) Having owned several mid-sized bikes in the past, I'm aware of the acceleration potential. Any 500 will see off most standard cars in a straight line.

I do however think road positioning can indicate a lot. On motorways for instance, whether on a bike or in a car, when in the fast lane, you can always tell the muppet car driver that's likely to do a lurch out in front of you without checking their blind spot; their road positioning, even in their own lane, often reveals ther intentions, long before the front wheels turn right.

Similarly, on a road with lots of minor roads to the right, you sometimes see a biker (who could of course evaporate you for acceleration at any point) weighing you up and wondering is this eejit going to pull out in front of me? So just the subtlest indication, very slightly repositioning the car a little bit to the left and a little bit further away from the middle white line, without slowing down or pulling in, lets the biker know he's been seen. Of course it's not needed; it's just a small courtesy like holding the door open for someone. And perhaps a small way of signalling solidarity and that not all car drivers are s. I'm primarily a car driver, but have owned several bikes in the past and tbh just like anything with an engine.