Good debate guys

I would agree that loud pipes do get you noticed in certain circumstances. A good horn is also a valuable asset on a bike.

I'm currently riding 140 miles a day to work each and most of it is through stationery or slow moving traffic on the infamous M25 in London.

I use standard pipes on my bike but leave at 6.00am and get home at about 7.30pm. It would not be long before my neibours would be screaming out the window if I had a set of very loud pipes waking them up each day.

Only yesterday I followed 2 heavily modified sports bike through the traffic. They may have had all the mod cons you can add to a bike, exhausts that were so loud it was ridiculous. You could not fail to hear them but they riding positioning could only be described as pathetic, slamming on the brakes all the time and taking unnecessary risks and nearly nearly getting knocked off several times. These days most car drivers have stereos on in their cars which will drown most of the sounds from the exhausts anyway or are on the phone.

If you look at the stats as Grant said, most accidents are due to car drivers pulling out of junctions on changing lanes without looking. You would be better off making yourself more visible in these situations I think and riding more defensively. I personally would never really on the hope that someone has heard me rather than seen me. I always wear a highly visible belt and have experimented by using and not using it. I must say that it makes a bike difference for getting noticed.

The trail rider fellowship in the UK are fighting tooth and nail to keep green laning open to motorcyclists. One of the biggest complaints is about the noise of motorcyclists bikes disturbing the quiet of the countryside. If riders persist on being intolerant of other people it will only be a matter of time before bikes are banned from these lanes.

I think that the way you ride your bike will help you more than any aftermarket accessory. Remember some of these drivers fails to see lorries in their mirrors so what chance do you have on your bike.

Cheers

Julio