Riding with and without helmet - noises

OK, so the other day I took a quick ride to the store with no helmet. Just wanted to be able to hear the bike better and see if everything sounded "normal". Well after riding so long WITH a helmet, I found that my little WR sounds like hell riding WITHOUT a helmet. Maybe it's just me. I have rode without the helmet before, but that was long ago and don't really remember the engine sounds. When I ride it now it sounds like it's going to come apart on me when I bang it up through the gears. It's running great, but it sure sounds like hell. Am I just paranoid? I know it's just a single cylinder thumper, but the engine really has a raspy noise. I am wondering if it may be time to repack the Q4? Anyone got enough time on their pipes to have to repack them? If so, did a repack quiet it down any? I don't know what else it could be. Nothing is loose or rattling. It's not that kind of noise. Just sounds rough to me.

Mine still has the stock can on it, and it's raspy Mark. You get up there in rpm's and it's like you think the damn thing's gonna detonate under your ass.

Similar sounds here in AR. With the stock pipe being so quiet I can really hear a lot of sounds coming from the cylinder area. I just think its going to take a while for me personally to get used to the sound of a 4 stroke. I fired up my YZ this weekend just for fun and just revving it up in the garage scared the hell out of me. There is just something very soothing yet evil in the sound/smell of a 2 stroke. I have another very good friend who just received the "dirtbike green light" from his wife. He was going to go with the KLX250 but after months of hearing me go on and on, I think he has decided on the R². So soon I should have access to 2 different WRR motors to compare sounds...

SheWolf wrote:

Mine still has the stock can on it, and it's raspy Mark. You get up there in rpm's and it's like you think the damn thing's gonna detonate under your ass.

That about describes it. Glad I'm not the only one who hears it. Guess it's just the sound a one lunger makes when you twist it up. I come from a marine background and was always "in tune" to the sound of a 2-stroke outboard. Once the 4-strokes hit the market, I had to "adjust" my hearing. It takes a while to get used to the sound a high reving 4-stroke makes compared to a 2-stroke. But all my experience has been with multi-cylnder 4-strokes. This is the first 4-stroke thumper I've owned. Guess I'll keep flogging it while it's still under warranty.

mine just talks away to me, all kind of grunts and coughs. sometimes it sounds like a bunch kids playing marbles. good i am glad some one else hears that hunting side. it's just talking, saying, "lets moto"

I've ridden the R² a coupla times without a helmet, around the neighbourhood, but at slow speeds, so no nasty sounds.

In my younger days, I rode my H-D XR1000 a few times without a helmet at highway speeds and was shocked at all the whirring and rattling - sounded horrid.

My $0.02, a helmet, in addition to protecting your head, also filters out the icky sounds................

Ignorance is bliss, ain't it Mine sounds like it is consuming its inards when wound out and I'm without a helmet (very rare)

Take off your skid plate and try the same test again.
I had grown used to the sound of my bike with the skid plate on it. In February I knew I wasn't going to be riding off-road at all (between the weather and my severely bent brake pedal) so I took off the skid plate while doing some maintenance and just left it off for a while for street-only rides.
Wow... the bike sounded SO much nicer. As soon as the skid plate went back on I got a lot of that nasty noise back.

I have some weather stripping set in between the frame and skid plate. That helps reduce the noise a little, but nowhere near half.

SheWolf wrote:

Mine still has the stock can on it, and it's raspy Mark. You get up there in rpm's and it's like you think the damn thing's gonna detonate under your ass.

I have noticed quite a difference in the level of engine noise when changing from my open face MX helmet to my fully enclosed street helmet, and even a difference with the face shield either up or down on the latter. Think it just shows how much sound a helmet can absorb.

I've noticed that on every bike I've ever owned. Some more than others, but one can definitely hear all the whirring and inner workings, doing there thing, much clearer with no helmet vs. with.

Rarely would I ride without a helmet and even then, just around the block type of thing. I learned my lesson there when I was going on a few-block ride on an 84 Honda Nighthawk 700. An older gal in a pickup pulled out from my left and drove across 4 lanes of traffic to make a right turn a block further up. I bounced off the side of her truck three or four times as she merged into my lane, but kept the rubber side down. Very interesting black marks that I left, though. All squiggly weavey from the repeated clashes. I couldn't believe I didn't go down. Only damage was my clutch lever, slight tweek on the bar, missing skin from left elbow from it sliding along the edge of her truck and topper. Oh, and probably a few stretched blood vessels from my heart pumping so hard. I used up enough adrenaline that I couldn't get excited about much for a week! All she kept saying over and over was "but I WATCH for motorcycles! My husband rides a Goldwing. I'm even on the way to pick him up at the Honda dealer. I just didn't see you!". So now the lid goes on every time. Even just riding around the block or down the driveway.

CopaMundial wrote:

Take off your skid plate and try the same test again.
I had grown used to the sound of my bike with the skid plate on it. In February I knew I wasn't going to be riding off-road at all (between the weather and my severely bent brake pedal) so I took off the skid plate while doing some maintenance and just left it off for a while for street-only rides.
Wow... the bike sounded SO much nicer. As soon as the skid plate went back on I got a lot of that nasty noise back.

I have some weather stripping set in between the frame and skid plate. That helps reduce the noise a little, but nowhere near half.

this makes total sense to me know. 'cause yesterday's first 'real' ride was like i had a different bike underneath me. and i was wearing a street helmet that i normally can't hear anything from and it was loud. it was also my first time to ride with the skid plate. it's so easy to take on and off....maybe i'll only put it on when i know i'll be off-road.

The helmet is kinda like bein' a few dorm rooms away from someone with a noisy stereo - you only get to hear the lower frequency noises such as the bass and drums ...........*grin*

Yet you feel all the good vibrations....