The Arrow is too LOUD

I hate to admit this, but my new Arrow pipe is too loud for me. It is a beautiful thing and the bike runs nicely with it (aside from an infrequent pop on the down throttle). BUT, from 3,000 to 4,000 RPMS its louder than I am comfortable with. Its a cool sound but the volume is tiresome. At idle its great and over 4K its fine, riding around town is tiresome.

Does anyone know of a better DB killer for this pipe? It says in the documentation that this is the "race" version and that there is a street version available but I can't find it and Arrow never returns my emails.

I like the pipe, its just not as enjoyable to ride around town on the bike.

Don't really want to modify it.

Guess its back to the boat anchor...

Did you try an internet search for your particular muffler? Maybe you can find a slightly smaller unit to fit your pipe. Seems most of the links were folks talking about removing the baffle so maybe there will be a cheap supply so you can try a few different ones...

There's also no shortage of universal ones on eBay. Maybe one of them might work - that's what I used on my custom can before I sold it.

Will check that out. Didn't see anything directly for the Arrow though. Getting a spare DBK is a good idea. Considering welding a small plate over one of the holes in the DBK. Of course, that changes the back pressure rending the map less accurate.

I am going against the grain, as usual...

Arrow DB killer

You might try the guys at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - They are local to the ARROW custom shop that first produced the muffler for the GRiSO. At least one of the sales guys there speaks English.

You can inquire by email: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

OK, sent an email off, we will see.

My plan is to insert and smaller diameter tube in the end and cut the flow a bit.

I still plan to insert a restrictor into the DB Killer, HOWEVER, I did find that with my earplugs in the pipe sounds fine....

Egads! I never ride without earplugs.

Even in town?

Every time.

Hearing, once lost is quite difficult to recover, funny that. With earplugs the level of annoyance diminishes somewhat (depending on attenuation of the plugs) allowing you to concentrate more on the ride and the noise of other vehicles (the ones that potentially can cause you some grief) than what you are emitting. makes for a more relaxed and enjoyable ride.

Earplugs forever (except when you have an ear infection)!

You are schooling me! I always use them when i am going at speed, freeway or long trips.
Thought (a problem for me) that around town was low speed low noise riding so why bother. The short jaunt I took today was more enjoyable with the plugs in. I will use them all the time from now on.

Thanks!

Yup, all the time. Really cuts down on noise fatigue after a long day in the saddle too.

What the hell! I am going to wear them at home too! I hear too much there anyway.

Ah, that might be "selective deafness", Triman!

Tri-man (damn autocorrect spells Truman!), I have the same exhaust and also believe it's too much between 3000-4000. Not worried about my perception of the sound, it's way better than stock, but more concerned about the sleeping denizens along my commute home from work at 1:00 am. Did you make any inquiries to Arrow? If not, I might, because I'd like to tame the roar some.

Thanks - Don

Don:  Arrow seems to have forgotten that they have an email account, I have sent a few messages but gotten no replys. I did discover that this pipe IS the road model. When the DBkiller is removed its the race model, according to the documentation that came with it.
I am considering making a masking device to close off one or two of the holes in the db killer. This will cut the noise and increase [term redacted to not incur the wrath of Beetle]. I expect this will introduce other problems so I am not enthusiastic about it as a solution.
The earplugs do help though and no one has raised a fist to me as I roll by...

I suspect it's not as loud as you imagine. It can't possibly be as loud as some most Harley's. There's a knob who lives down the road from me who's HD is excruciatingly loud. When I mapped a gutted Termi (no cat, no dBk) that was stupidly loud, no torch bearing mob came to haul me away. Nor did they when I mapped that V7 with the Agostini's without dB killers. It was so loud, people would stop what they were doing to look at me as I passed. It was embarrassing.

They were just jealous, Mark.

Some helmets change what you hear (like mine) and will resonate at certain revs. Strange, I know, but it is a mostly empty container, with "some" comfort padding which may not necessarily have acoustic properties - so given the right conditions, it will react to the noise generation going on around you.

Sometimes my exhaust sounds great in my helmet, sometimes not. Only the earplug insertion can change that. I live in a valley, and usually climb out of said valley 300-400 metres to go anywhere. This affects the pressure in my ears and tends to loosen the earplugs a bit. This changes what I hear exhaust wise. Often, if I am going on a long trip, I will stop and adjust my earplugs at higher altitudes - seems to work.

Now if earplugs had the same air pressure sensor like we have in the dash, all might be golden...

Quote :

They were just jealous, Mark.

Their scowls, or looks of horror, suggest otherwise.

.

My LeMans has Lafranconi sports pipes. Not much baffle left in them. It sounds great and I just keep on riding her and will do until I can't hear myself think anymore.

So on the ride home this morning (1:00 am), I fixed the problem by using the most commonly proffered solution:

I wore ear plugs. Worked as advertised!

And Beetle, I agree with your assessment; it's likely not as offensive as I perceive. The last 2 days at work, I made several passes on the bike by an assembled crowd of workmates in the parking lot during lunch... they thought it sounded just fine. But then again, to a man they are die-hard HD straight-pipe devotees, so maybe their opinion is somewhat biased. Not to worry though, I'm now happy with the setup.

Thanks for the replies!

Regards -Don

Simple way to find out is to ask some 'Ordinary' people their opinion and do a ride by being sensible.

Generally speaking what makes most exhausts really obnoxious is the person operating the go-handle. With the dB killer in both the Mistral and Staintune on my 8V's are perfectly fine around town but that may well be because I don't sit at lights revving the s'not out of it and looking around to see who is impressed by what a tough bloke I am.

The reason i prefer a quieted pipe generally though is because I find loud pipes bloody tiring if I'm on a long trip and positively distracting if I'm trying to ride *Technically* hard. The last thing I need impinging on my concentration is some deafening bloody racket!

As I've said before I get more aural pleasure from the airbox induction honk when pressing on than the deafening blather coming out the back!

Pete

Sat in the car at he weekend (yes i know!) and a GRiSO pulled out of a side turning at the lights and burbled past at 30mph, wow i said to Mss Sidrat dont they sound lovely, then as it went past i noticed it was a standard 8V exhaust. She pointed out that mine sounded MORE lovely :-)

She's a keeper