Loud Exhaust On Snowmobiles... Is there a place for this anymore?

[xrated]

Ok.... I see your point..... but.. I'll throw a spin on things...


Why is it ok for Harley riders to have bikes that are so darn loud they can be heard from MILES away, when 1/2 way across my town on the hwy?

Why are they allowed to be loud?

Most high performance machines are loud for a reason...... less restriction.

However, if you do some research.... vehicles with a shorter / no "muffler" exhaust off of a TURBO are actually fairly quiet, in comparison to their supercharged or N/A counterparts.

110dBa shouldn't be considered "rediculous". I know that a concert hall is a LOT louder than that. Shoot, a BAR is louder than that.

cause Harley riders are Drs and Lawyers and the people who write checks and get things done in this world.

As a guy who has sound tested dirt bikes....110 is freaking loud. hell 98 is loud. Seems MX is making pipes that are 96 and soon 92 for 450 four strokes that still put out huge power.

 

[snowrdr]

cause Harley riders are Drs and Lawyers and the people who write checks and get things done in this world.

As a guy who has sound tested dirt bikes....110 is freaking loud. hell 98 is loud. Seems MX is making pipes that are 96 and soon 92 for 450 four strokes that still put out huge power.

I will dispute the Harley riders comment and just say this the comparison of Snowmobiles and Harley is pure BS. I said it in my previous post about Land Closure versus a Fix it ticket. Lets go ahead and try and do an Apples to Apples comparison. As for the above about righting the checks, just remember there is a pretty reasonable cross over population the ride sleds and street bikes. In fact look into the history of why Polaris started the Victory line, oh and why I brought up Victory lets go ahead and call those riders out for noise from exhaust as well. Had a Victory Vegas go by me the other day with Vance and Hines Short Shots with no baffle. Made my windows shake in my car.

 

[snowmobiler]

i roll my window down every time a straight piped loud harley passes me.sweet sound.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

As much as I am all about loud toys, im 19... who doesnt like em at this age? I definately understand the need to not be obnoxious, its just feeding the fire. Whenever I pass people i try to stay low RPM making minum noise, avoid blasting the throttle near groups of people, but obviously a super loud sled is always loud.

as a lot of you know im building a custom yamadoo and i have been debating a LOT about what i want to do about the exhaust, at first i had it dumping out the bottom, then thought about a side dump, but side dump at idle right now is SO loud i have to yell to talk near it, thought about going back out the bottom but its still VERY loud, now im contemplating a tunnel dump to get the noise down even more, or go out the bottom panel and go with a cone type insert to at least help the sound levels a little bit. I want all the power i built this thing for, but it cant come at being ear bleeding loud and disturbing. We all do a lot of things becuase they sound "cool" at the time, but once we do em, we half the time dont even like em and realize they have a really negative affect.

2 kinds of loud IMO, power and noise. big power vehichles even really muffled just make a lot of noise, seems to be just how it is, and then there is the twin singered 440 on the trail, its not all that powerful and its just plain ear bleeding loud. we as sledders need to cut down on the noise factor, i try to make mine as quite as possible within reason, its still loud, but better.

 

[Comp 670]

Loud sleds do hurt the sport.If you don't think so well....

When I used to build exh systems for engine kits I allmost allways used slp mufflers.They were fairly quiet and I never found they made less hp.On some kits they actually made more hp then stinger type setups.

My current sled has stingers(the pipe kit for the engine came that way) and my first project for getting it ready for this season is to get a slp muffler installed on it.I know it wont lose any power and it will be much quieter.

 

[xrated]

Loud pipes help close riding areas.

Personally I'd sign a industry wide petition to send to all exhaust manufacturers asking them to cease production of them.

as in moto that won't happen until weekend warriors quit writing checks. But if we could work to get companies to do it that would help. I know it's far different but MX went quiet on the pro level so everything else is. Why couldn't snocross implement something like that...might work since racing is where a lot of testing is done.

 

[mountainhorse]

Coming from the Owner of Union Bay Racing Engines (well ex owner at least)....

I'd have to take your comments to heart...

Dont you ride an 1150?

Loud sleds do hurt the sport.If you don't think so well....

When I used to build exh systems for engine kits I allmost allways used slp mufflers.They were fairly quiet and I never found they made less hp.On some kits they actually made more hp then stinger type setups.

My current sled has stingers(the pipe kit for the engine came that way) and my first project for getting it ready for this season is to get a slp muffler installed on it.I know it wont lose any power and it will be much quieter.

 

[Comp 670]

I'm on a 2002 800 edge with a billet 900 kit on it.Had a few 1150 sleds too and they all had slp cans on them.The billet 900 kit came with stingers and it is just to loud.The kit was made before I was part of the deal and I never got to change it to a can setup.

I want to build a TM8 and when I do it will have a muffler on it.Straight pipe turbos are to loud.Putting a muffler on will not hurt power at all and it will sound much better. (not so loud)

 

[Scott]

Good stuff Mark.

 

[xrated]

I have to ask where is the loud sound of our sled the biggest weapon against us? i have been involved in this greenie thing a bunch of years and have never and i mean never been to a meeting where they were claiming loud sled were hurting any thing. Are you talking yellow stone? or where? in the east? mid west? Animals are the biggest weapon against us that i have seen and that is mostly a farse. if you really beleive that quite sleds are going to keep our areas open, i think you are mistaken. mind you i'm not saying it's ok but i do not see that as the reason sledding is getting shut down.

good points hardass, again with a bike example. Sound is a huge strike against open riding areas for bikes. Sure they use erosion, animals, rare plants etc....but it is far easier to get people to agree with you when they are presented with the noise. Something you can hear and not have to go out and investigate. Easier to get Joe Blow to be against sleds if it's sound vs making him hike 10 miles to see no erosion or animal issues.

 

[Anti-Hero]

My XP does not have a stock exhaust. Tossed that away when I bought it

some one sent my stock exhaust to the sierra club via train!

 

[polaris dude]

As much as i enjoy a good braaaap, it really irritates me to be able to hear a loud as hell BRAAAAAAP when we are stopped off the trail from a sled going about 20mph...i mean if your running hard and high rpms its ok that its loud, but if its loud all the time that is just annoying. And has anyone else noticed its normally ski-doos

 

[jakey-boy]

I'm not a particular fan of a loud sled however I wouldn't spend my time trying to please the greenies either because if you haven't noticed yet they will always find something to B*tch about. Even if our sleds were completely silent, didn't smoke, and never went over trees they would complain about something else. My point is its fine to call each other out and try to get people to participate in saving our sport but it also gets to the point where your just starting unnecessary conflict amongst ourselves. Not even necessarily talking about this thread but just my 2 cents...

 

[Loudisfast]

Does my name give it away?

 

[Anti-Hero]

Loud exaust makes my mangina hurt!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ld5LDjigsI

 

[XFIRE800]

Loud sleds do hurt the sport.If you don't think so well....

When I used to build exh systems for engine kits I allmost allways used slp mufflers.They were fairly quiet and I never found they made less hp.On some kits they actually made more hp then stinger type setups.

My current sled has stingers(the pipe kit for the engine came that way) and my first project for getting it ready for this season is to get a slp muffler installed on it.I know it wont lose any power and it will be much quieter.

I agree with the SLP being fairly quiet. I had a Super Q can on before my slp and when i got on it, it was pretty loud and annoying to the people i was riding with. My slp exhaust is pretty close to stock decibels with a better tone, to me all thats important is the tone of my exhaust not the screaming loudness that just annoys the chit out of most people.

 

[somefear]

I agree with the SLP being fairly quiet. I had a Super Q can on before my slp and when i got on it, it was pretty loud and annoying to the people i was riding with. My slp exhaust is pretty close to stock decibels with a better tone, to me all thats important is the tone of my exhaust not the screaming loudness that just annoys the chit out of most people.

Well, this post and a few others have pretty well given me all the info I need on putting aftermarket exhaust on my M8...want to lose the suitcase but don't want the obnoxious sound. SLP it is!!

 

[jim]

If the sleds are quieter, closure groups have less ammo to use against sleds and access.

Your point is well taken and it has been made in the past...but the problem is that they will flat out make chit up. They don't need proof, they just need the rhetoric and $$$$. How many times do their claims actually have merit? I agree that it is something that will give them an excuse to have some ammo against us...problem is, they will simply make up another excuse/issue if we were riding electric snowmobiles that put out nothing louder than a squirrel's fart. The heart of it is that we are at a massive disadvantage...when you have money, and they do, you have a voice. Our best voice is to fight every land closure and some of us do. I wish we could sit down with them, find our what they want, and solve it. But it's like trying to have a rational argument with an irrational person...it won't happen. They are dead-set on the elimination of our sport and our existence in the hills. We are being whiplashed at the tail-end, playing defense, into conforming to their wishes...and they constantly change them as we conform. It may not be the rosiest message; but what's the next issue we'll chase that will never keep them happy? All we can do is fight each land closure one by one, letter by letter.

 

[brahm]

one of the main complaints The Sherwins Working Group is trying to use to shut down the sherwins (an area available to us now) in my town is do to supposed noise poulltion. I personally don't have an aftermarket exhaust, I've thought about going SLP down the road but, I've always been a sleeper "car" sorta of guy so I personally dig vehicles are fast and silent just as much as a set of dumps after the headers. Personally I'd rather see DB limits on the table the area closures. Very few people I know or ride with have after market exhausts and only 1 of them is beyond obnoxious..but with that said, when I can't find my buddies I shut off my sled and listen..the guy with the loudest exhaust gets found first..which can be a plus on a storm day. I'm definitely on this fence with this issue, half the reason I like to sled out in the BC is to get the **** out of town and get into the BC I don't want to hear some crazy loud APEX when I'm out there any more then I want to hear a fart can on a honda driving past my house while bumping some ****ty 14 subwoofer, but a well tuned motor with a healthy exhaust system isn't a bad thing in my books...

...but I've lost my point..The way I see it, who knows what we are going to have thrown in our faces next as a reason to give us the boot, maybe it's better to let the fight be about something we can change (our exhaust) then it to be about something we can't (us being in the BC all together...)

 

[sledcaddie]

noise levels

Well, with all these responses, it's obvious that when it comes to exhaust, one man's whiskey is another man's poison. "I don't think that's loud." "What? That is WAY too loud." All subjective opinions. Are there any hard numbers out there as far as decibels? For instance, what is the decibel level of a stock 700 or 800 at 6000rpms at a set distance? What is the decibel level of SLP? etc, etc. Numbers don't lie. Just curious if that info is out there.