Remember the old video game Road Rash? It used sounds from motorcycles in the 80's.(GSXR1000, VFR750 and a 2 stroke Yamaha I think) I was riding with a friend on his late 80s vfr750 and had to pull over to stop laughing. It took me 10 miles to figure out why I wanted to go up to him on the bike and try to knock him over.
Opus wrote: Remember the old video game Road Rash? It used sounds from motorcycles in the 80's.(GSXR1000, VFR750 and a 2 stroke Yamaha I think) I was riding with a friend on his late 80s vfr750 and had to pull over to stop laughing. It took me 10 miles to figure out why I wanted to go up to him on the bike and try to knock him over.
Whoa! Serious?! I played the he|| out of that game. The sounds were pretty realistic.
Years ago Bike magazine sold a mag with a freebie cd in it. On the cd were sounds of various bikes at idle and going by at speed. I still have the mp3's somewhere...
My favorites are the Duc and the Norton twin.
Just about any sport v-twin under acceleration will do. Also love the WR450X off road.
Xceler8x wrote:Opus wrote: Remember the old video game Road Rash? It used sounds from motorcycles in the 80's.(GSXR1000, VFR750 and a 2 stroke Yamaha I think) I was riding with a friend on his late 80s vfr750 and had to pull over to stop laughing. It took me 10 miles to figure out why I wanted to go up to him on the bike and try to knock him over.Whoa! Serious?! I played the he|| out of that game. The sounds were pretty realistic. Years ago Bike magazine sold a mag with a freebie cd in it. On the cd were sounds of various bikes at idle and going by at speed. I still have the mp3's somewhere...
If you can, listen to a vfr 750 and then play the game. You can hear it because it is such a distinct sound.
RG500 Gamma. Twin crank square four two stroke. Sounds like four dryers full of gravel, all of them out of balance when it's off the pipe. Then it comes on the pipe and the planets align, and the thing screams forward. Very impressive sounding bike.
I'd like to own a honda vfr just for the sound some day. That noise really does it for me. The six cylinder CBX video was awesome too.
But I'd take a well tuned 2-stroke any day to feed my need for different. 
Yamaha RD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muRDKH-5xh4&feature=related
alex wrote: RG500 Gamma. Twin crank square four two stroke. Sounds like four dryers full of gravel, all of them out of balance when it's off the pipe. Then it comes on the pipe and the planets align, and the thing screams forward. Very impressive sounding bike.
The earlier British version was the Ariel Square Four.
I always wondered how well the two rear cylinders cooled.
Except the Ariel is a four stroke...a friend of mine has one, and it has a surprisingly uninteresting exhaust note. I mean, it sounds good, but it doesn't sound as exotic as you would think it would - it just sounds like a four cylinder engine.
I've never seen one in person, I just thought it was a pretty cool engineering excercise: a square 4 cylinder.
The Brit motrcycles were way ahead of their time in a lot of ways. For instance, Jeff Smith's factory BSA motocrosser had a titanuim frame.... 
...in 1966.
It wasn't without its problems, though.
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/290/1686/Motorcycle-Article/Memorable-Motorcyles-BSA-Titanium.aspx
She who is the pinnacle of perfection has a Tuono Factory R. Her second. The best sounding bike of all time is a KZ1000R Kawasaki through a Bassani and 37 Keihin CRs. But I get that privilege. (I'm a bike SNOB)
^ Even the 2003-2006 Kawasaki Z1000s sound pretty good with an aftermarket system--they spit, burble, and lope a surprising amount as opposed to most newer/refined inline fours.
Personally, I like the sound of the really ancient bikes, like 100-year old singles. You can hear the "chuff-chuff" of the piston, the clack of the valves, the creak of the springs and the whine of gears. It really connects you to the machinery.
Had a CBX back in the day. Gawd I loved the sound of that thing. Never should have let it go.
4g63t wrote: She who is the pinnacle of perfection has a Tuono Factory R. Her second. The best sounding bike of all time is a KZ1000R Kawasaki through a Bassani and 37 Keihin CRs. But I get that privilege. (I'm a bike SNOB)
Ding ding ding. That's why I'm punching out my KZ to 1000 instead of immediately jumping to a ZX10
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