speed/noise effect

swiftb · World Chat Champion Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Karma :

Does the noise a bike makes effect your interpretation of how fast you are going?
Example - a sports 600 can 'feel' much faster than it actually is due to it been high revving/screaming? Ive always found this with cars and bikes and wondered if most people felt the same.
Id say a sports 600 would 'feel' faster with a loud can compared to a standard can also.
I used to notice this a lot on my 600 so made a point of zoning out the noise and concentrating on the visual speed as I found the addition of the high revving loud exhaust had an effect on the senses making you feel like you were going faster than you actually were! So stopping letting the noise the bike was making having an effect on my judgement of speed helped me ride a bit quicker.
It was exaggerrated more when I moved onto the 750 as I then found I WAS actually going faster than I thought I was Laughing

(dangerous...) So again adjusments to riding.
Bit of a weird post but just curious if its the norm! Id imagine jumping from an il4 to a twin would exaggerate this also. I guess what im trying to get at is do you think the noise of the engine/exhaust - where your at in the rev range has an effect on your judgement of speed - if so how do you think you would fare on an electric bike as of the likes rutter rode at the tt - do you think the complete lack of noise would again deter your judgement of speed??

[weird mode off/]

Paulington · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Mar 2009 Karma :

Certain engine configurations sound faster to me, but I imagine that's pretty standard.

I can tell how fast I am going from the sound of the engine on the bike though which is pretty useful and yes, if I am in first gear at 10000 RPM doing 80mph it feels faster than if I was in third gear at 6000 RPM doing 80mph. Smile

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stonesie · World Chat Champion Joined: 04 Jul 2010 Karma :

When I first got the Daytona I was going below the speed limit everywhere when I was in 'bimble mode' because the SV being a V-twin had a much deeper / more relaxed sound at a given RPM compared to the IL4's scream. It took a week or 2 to adjust and now I KNOW I would hit the limiter on a twin Laughing