No Sound…

I had an Evil Kneivel twist grip on my Firestone Fireball bike when I was like five. Sounded badass.

Do you folks know how many sports exist at the top level of viewership and are almost entirely silent? Most of them.

Basketball

Football

Baseball

Tennis

Hockey

Golf

Every sport in your nearest city with millions of fans and very exciting live games/matches are completely silent.  I have only owned 2 strokes for the last 20 years, so I understand the thought process, BUT it’s not the sound that keeps us riding.  It’s riding areas and accessibility.

if you think the excitement of a sport is predicated on how loud it is, you might want to rethink why our sport is the most exciting

Bro. Comparing stock and ball sounds to the sounds of MOTORsports is hilarious. 

Can’t compare motorsports to stick and ball sports on the basis of sound. For many people, the roaring engines are absolutely an integral part of the experience 

I’m not sure why you can’t.  You can also compare it to snowboarding, BMX, and Skateboarding.  Guess how loud those are?

Again. Not one Motorsport listed there, of which they should really be called engine sports. Most motorsport fans are there not only for sights, but the sounds and the smells. The sound of chain clack and engine whiring, along with the only smell being over heating electronics just isnt enticing, atleast to me and i would say an overwhelming majority of motorsport fans. This is why every e series has nowhere near the fanbase of the actual sport its replicating.

And to the original posts question, the  absolute worst thing you could do to these things is manufacture an "engine" sound. Leave them for what they are, some people will dig it, most wont, and they will have their little niche, but never mixed in with actual bikes with an engine in professional racing. 

If the argument is that golf and baseball are quiet so it’s ok for motocross I am afraid the argument is lost. 

Starks with a fake engine noise would suck even more that they already do.

kinda simple, the efforts from Taylor Beltz and the crew at Cardo finally pay off. Ama mandates comm systems with one ama official, like Will Christian, to motivate them to finish the race sooner to end the bullshit.

But seriously, Play the Jaws theme music when someone is on your tail, regardless if you're in 1st and 2nd is on you, or you're 8th and 9th is on you. Lil Jaws music will raise your situational awareness.😁

I'd rather watch Starks with no sound than have some sort of sound system on the bike playing some sort of engine noise. That would really be stupid.

Agreed 100%

The new generation won’t know any different with eMX. They will think the old loud motors are stupid. 

I don’t think having sound on a DH MTB will make riding or watching it any better. 

It’s a shift, old will like “on the pipe” or “ farting thru a straw” and the new will like the high pitched wine, chain slap and tire sounds searching for traction. 

 

Too bad none of those are motorsports. /fail

God gave us 5 senses for a reason, not 4.

They should race them during a TOOL show

The “were a MOTORsport” crowd are funny.  If you tell a person you don’t know that you ride or race motocross, they picture a mountain bike or BMX bike or something akin.  They don’t picture nascar or a sprint car.  In a Venn diagram we have more overlap with x games type crowds than with nascar.  Stop being so black and white.  You can compare any two sports.  I’d rather be an NFL sized sport and have accessibility for top level athletes from all walks of life some day.

If our sport fails during the transition to e-bikes it’ll be because our sport is full of people so scared to try something new that they shoot themselves in the foot.  I love motocross folks for how kind they are to one another, but jesus, they can’t think outside the box.

Many of those sports mic the field/court. 

It could very will be that Motorsports as we know them  don’t adapt to silence and fade away. 

I have announced AMA Supercross, AMA Arenacross, AMA Regional's and a host of other motocross events and ABA BMX Nationals. Some of the most exciting were BMX Nationals. Just sayin'...

The new kids will prob like a silent SX so it doesn’t distract them from being distracted 😂

For someone who goes by the name “observeroffacts” you have an embarrassingly high amount of clueless, erroneous, and terrible takes 

No electric bike is ever going to sound / be as cool as a 450 holding it wide while clutching the crap out of it. Its not a sound as much as it's an emotion. 

That's exactly how I feel about engines roaring at the track it's just a feel you get and you can actually feel their emotion.... drive.... aggression ...... through the sound of the bike.

I guess they could always put a baseball card in the spokes.

Actually the pressure wave has an effect that you can feel as well as hear.

Here is my take: for amateurs, electric bikes are just another option, it also removes some barriers of entry into the sport. If you can ride a bicycle you can ride an electric bike, power is adjustable so you can start on 10 hp and increase power as you progress as a rider, you can ride day or night in your backyard. All this, along with less maintenance, makes the sport more accessible.

For pros, as a spectator sports, it's a different question and not that clear cut. Silent bikes are weird, well, different for sure. Question is not what current fans of the sport think, most people currently following the sport love it in great part due to engine noise, so they would obviously miss it, that's just logical. The question is would it appeal to a new crowd? As others have already said, new generations are learning to ride on electrics, BMX and downhill are popular sports, without deafening noise the sport could also be more broadly accepted, and bring more families to spectate and ride. Will the balance be positive or negative, no one knows. For indoors I can see how adding sound (not adding fake bike sounds, just music, announcer and stuff, as in every other "quiet" arena sports) could help the show. But making outdoors as silent as downhill would feel incredibly odd for sure.

Another net positive: hearing the riders swearing at each other in AX 🤣

The roar of engines, panic revs, and other audible sounds are 100% what make racing exciting for casual fans. Sound = power in the minds of most and causes something inside to stir when watching in person. Not saying there isnt a spot for them in the sport, but the sound is a huge part. Walk the pits of any local race and kids are making brappp sounds while riding their Stacycs or playing in dirt with toy bikes. 100% electric would be the death of this great sport. 

As a guy who has ridden since 1973 I need sound at least on the street. I have 3 v twin street bikes. A duc. A guzzi. And A 990 adventure. The sound and the vibes are 50% or more of what makes me love. them. Ive ridden a stark. It was very good. I doubt I will ever own one. I need character. Vibes.noise. But ultimately I respect and appreciate a good motorcycle.  Electric included.

Mite as well put a base ball card in the spokes. It would sound better than some corny noise like in a video game. 

Quiet bikes open up new opportunities:

Either mic the riders OR play Limp Bizkit over the sound system.

Appropriate Arenacross anthem