I put the -8 decibel tip on mine, still a little loud but I dont mind. Doesn't bother me enough to change the system.

 

Hey now...don't be Bashin on the Harley guys pipes...I love my loud Harley..and yes Drivers know I'm coming thank you..but I'm not a A$$ and rev my bike all over the place..My KLX can get loud with my Q4 FMF...but whatever your ridin gotta have a pipe...

 

@azdeuce: Not meaning to bash the Harley guys at all . Just saying that as a baseline for comparison’s sake, it’s very interesting to me that under similar circumstances, a 250 single can test significantly louder than a V-twin with almost 5x the displcacment!

Having said that though, as a Buell owner, I definitely take issue with how the HD corporation (mis)managed their business relationship with Erik. I also kind of resent having to wait for parts at the HD parts counter behind some guy who can’t decide if he wants the rear view mirrors with the skulls or the flames…that’s time I’d rather be riding!

Also, I may have loud pipes on all my bikes, but I am under no illusion that my life is being saved by them. Where my personal safety on the road is concerned, I rely on many things before my exhaust.

 

Well, the sound meter experiment was a bust! Tried it on the KLX in the garage and it was reading 96 dB at idle. Revving it to 4000 RPM yielded a 110dB reading. I tested it on the push mower at a very low idle today... 98dB! Really???? You can talk without raising your voice standing right next to the mower. The F16s coming off the base were reading 98dB as they flew over... and they're LOUD! So, in the end; I'm not trusting the cheapo meter I bought for any real measurement data. The readings I have gotten are WAY too flaky.

 

@rgoers: I am no audio or acoustical engineer, but I wonder if reverberation from inside the garage gave you a false reading? How far from the exhaust outlet were you with the meter?

The distance between the bike and the dB meter at the bylaw test that I participated in would have been ~8'...

 

The 96db level is taken at 20" and 45 degrees from the end of the exhaust. My guess is that the sound level meter he is using is not or cannot be setup for the correct input filtering. The correct setup is "average" reading, not peak. And on "A" weighting scale. That means that the meter is filtered to approximate the human hearing response.

Ride on
Brewster

 

I made my own tip to reduce noise. Although I don't get the full benefit of the slip-on exhaust, at least it's quieter & doesn't melt my indicator light.

I'm looking at making another one that has a slightly larger inner tube ID + longer outer tube to keep soot off the indicator lens.

The P1X tip was that loud, I couldn't hear the engine.

 

I did it at 20", but I did NOT do it at 45 degrees. The meter is A weighted, for "environmental noise". I did have it set to average. I will test it again AWAY from the garage and houses...

 

@klx4me: interesting, does it work well? what holds the pipe in place?

 

Regarding the relatively louder volume of the TBR pipe on a KLX250s(f) as compared to a big V-twin, another anecdotal observation comes from grazing livestock. Cattle will run, literally scared ****less, from my KLX when I ride down the back roads. Same roads WOT on my Buell? The cattle couldn't care less!