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Pipes?

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7.3K views 62 replies 20 participants last post by  Furball Zen  
#1 ·
Hello everyone. I ride a 2008 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 and I love it but it's not very loud at all. I'd really like to put on some louder pipes for safety but I have no idea what I should purchase. I don't mind buying used either. I'd really like black pipes and SHORT. I love the short shot pipes.
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
It sounds like you've already made your mind up. I wouldn't do the hole saw modification to your factory pipes. Keep them intact. Whenever you sell your bike the new owner might want to go back factory. The reason I say that is because you'd probably end up taking them off and changing to an aftermarket system anyway.
If you do change to a free flow system you may get some unwanted popping. This happens because Honda injects fresh air back into the exhaust flow to allow for more complete exhaust gas burning.
You might want to block off the fresh air and eliminate the popping. It's simple and costs less than five bucks in hardware store parts to do.
 
#3 ·
Not to be jerky, but why does everyone jump to "when you sell it" lol.

OP, you want V&H pipes for a Phantom sounds like.
 
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#30 ·
Furball Zen said:
Not to be jerky, but why does everyone jump to "when you sell it" lol.
Click to expand...
Because a lot of people are looking to the future when they are going to sell their bikes for whatever reason and stock bikes IMHO sell quicker and for more money than ones that are customized to someone else's liking. My 750 Spirit had Cobra drag pipes when I bought it. They were too loud for my liking. I priced a complete new OEM exhaust system from the dealer. $2,600. I found someone who wanted to trade so we both came away happy.
 
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#5 ·
Personally, I went with the Cobra drags on my '03 Spirit 750, and I think they sound like a 1200 Sportster with Screamin' Eagles; deep, and throaty, but not TOO loud, to where you'll be annoying your neighbors, unless you really get on it hard, yet enough to make you noticed by other drivers around you. I've heard some of the other brands, too, and most of them seem to have a 'softer' sound, less HD-like. I've been asked MANY times what kind of HD I'm riding, partly because of the sound of my pipes. Got mine off eBay, too, brand new, so saved a ton on them.
 
5
#8 ·
i concur with helmets and skills.
loud pipes blast backwards. think back to being passed by loud motorcycles. they arent that loud until they pass you.
so people behind you will hear you, but people infront, or off to the sides wont.
as a safety measure its not very good.

im all for loud pipes, but its ok to admit its for fashion, not safety.

just saying.

also, when you look at pipes do the research, you may need to rejet your carbs when changing them.
 
#9 ·
5l1mm said:
i concur with helmets and skills.
loud pipes blast backwards. think back to being passed by loud motorcycles. they arent that loud until they pass you.
so people behind you will hear you, but people infront, or off to the sides wont...
Click to expand...
Often thought about that.. It's probably illegal to vent pipes facing forward - or have a slip on that acts like a muzzle brake, have some sound from my pipes vented on a 45 forward and to the side..

If we didn't get thrown in the clink, we'd probably get shot at on a regular basis by those we share the road with though ;)
 
#27 ·
Noise vibrations at sea level travels at about 760 miles per hour. The sound you hear is the vibration of the gas molecules in our atmosphere reaching you ear drum. It is then the brain that interprets those vibrations as a noise we can recognize. There for pipes make no noise at all.
 
#29 ·
#31 ·
Glad you brought those up, my son has those on his 02 ACE and he can be 100 ft in front or in back of me and we both nail it I hear his over mine and the sound is much better. They are not obnoxious loud, just at the edge of what I would accept. Big difference from both stock sets of pipes on 750's.
 
#35 ·
M: Ah, Is this the right room for an argument?
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A: Did.
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A: I did not.
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etc.... :D
 
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#43 ·
^^^ ...I'm going to have to go with JPR' on this one.. As what he says is one of the main reasons you don't install stereo speakers backwards ;)
 
#47 · (Edited)
If you ever followed a straight piped HD with fishtails you will never forget where he is at. Very directional until the sound bounced off my Valk even 1/2 mile away. Finally pulled over 5 mins. to be free of the annoyance.
 
#53 ·
We are talking strictly how it travels through air, im not wrong on my statement.

For the sake of argument, if i agreed that sound travels in a straight line and your pipes point backwards, then you would never be able to hear your own bike. I cannot agree with this. Science is not something you can argue with me on, ask my grades.
 
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J
#56 ·
Really. Talk about yourself much. I got good grades too. Does that mean I'm also right? Sound bounces off any object. That is why you can hear them. Not because it travels in all directions. Once again, Doppler effect explains it.
 
#55 ·
In science? Maxed out nearly the whole time i was in school. Math was a close second :)

Ive also competed in car audio competitions with fair success, built a working wind tunnel in 6th grade and a working telegraph machine in 3rd grade.

The last competition i was in i hot rodded a Radio Shack 170 watt amp so it could run 2ohm mono and with 2 10" Kicker Comp speakers hit 139.3db in my Talon. Of course, that was back in 1999, but i took 3rd by -1.9db. the guy who won used a Precision Power amp and two 12" Kicker XPL's in a Civic hatch.
 
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#57 ·
No, i never said my education made you somehow stupid, this just happens to be a subject (science) im very well versed in.

Sound waves and the Doppler effect are two different subjects. Sound waves travel in all directions from the source. The Doppler effect only describes why its harder to hear the sound in front of the source if its moving.

Also, the Doppler effect has nothing to do with echoes.

Personally, more than once i have witnessed with my Spirit doing an abrupt decel to 'light the pipes off' as it were, made someone who i thought would pull out in front of me, jerk their head in my direction and stop. So theres that result that contradicts your statement, whether right or wrong.
 
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#58 ·
I won't add my credentials here, too many to list, haha!
Anyway just wanted to add some fuel to the fire, if sound only goes in the direction out the pipes unless it bounces off of something you would not hear a jet fly over! About the only time I can think of that you wouldn't hear the sound first is if traveling faster than the speed of sound, then you hear it after the object, a jet or rocket, passes by. That will never happen with a street bike. Maybe the sound of a jet bounces off the atmosphere and that's why you here it. Don't think so.
So, you want louder pipes, get them, I still think a loud horn is the peaceful way to go!
 
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