So how much control do you have over the way your bike sounds?  A friend of mine has an old 87 Intruder that sounds real deep, but he attributes that to an expensive exhaust that he put on it.  I'd like to have the nice high pitched sport bike sound.  How does the gs500f sound? If it doesn't by default can you make it sound like its big brothers?

It won't ever quite sound like a inline four no matter what you do.  With the individual pods and full exhaust my GS sounds more like a pissed off Ducati or high revving Harley.  The individual throttle bodies, small individual cylinder displacement, and high flow low resriction exhaust give the I4 bikes that telltale Formula One scream.  The GS will always sound like the twin that it is, but with the right exhaust it can sound really good.

Just so I have an idea for a future, what really makes a bike sound the way it does?  Do V-Twin's like the sv650 sound much diff? Why does a harley sound so much diff from an Inline 4 Sportster?  I know this isnt really about a GS bike but you guys are a good community and figured it would be trivial at most.

You gotta love the GS sewing machine sound  

A Harley is a very large bore single carb engine (well lots of them anyway) with seperate headers and tailpipes.  With them you really hear the individual cylinders.  I assume by inline sportster you mean bikes like R6, GSXR, Ninja, etc.  Compared to a V-twin, their displacement is spread over more cylinders, each lung pulls from its own throttle body, but feeds into a 4-2-1 exhaust system.  This makes their sounds blend into a wail.  

The GS blends individual carbs, fairly small cylinders, and a 2-1 exhaust.  Fuel injection makes a difference in the sound so a SV will sound way different from a Harley despite their similarities.  My TL1000's v-twin sounds unlike anything I've heard, but is closest to my friend's 999 (not surprising since they are very similiar).

What specifically are you looking to accomplish?  Maybe we can give some suggestions as to what can be done.

I'm still just lookin around at bikes, I def love the sound of gsx-r or ninja roaring down the street.  However I know that no 500cc bike is going to sound the same.  From the videos I've seen the gs500 sounds alot like the gz250 I rode during the MSF.  The ninja500 seems to sound a little more whiney (like your average crotch rocket).  Since the two bikes are pretty similar I was leaning towards the gs500f based mostly on looks (and a hard to explain bonus of buying it at a specificy suzuki dealer).  I'm not going to pick my bike solely on looks or sound, but since the two measure up pretty well on everything else I'm trying to see what I can do to each to make it sound the way I want.

Is there a way to get the gs500 to sound like a gsx-r? or similar?

Some have drilled the exhaust for a louder sound. Not sure if it is just more noise or a different pitch. If you want a deeper sound, install a full exhaust system with pod filters. If that is not deep enough put in larger pistons and cams.

I wish I had a good way to record my GS, sounds nothing like stock.

I found a link to a video of a guy driving by on a gs so I heard what it sounded like at high speed.  There was also another video of someone doing wheelies so I heard it a bit there.  It sounds similar to the bike I had at the MSF Course.  I'm not lookin to go deeper at all, just trying to get that high pitched racebike sound.

Quote from: dgyverSome have drilled the exhaust for a louder sound. Not sure if it is just more noise or a different pitch. If you want a deeper sound, install a full exhaust system with pod filters. If that is not deep enough put in larger pistons and cams.

I wish I had a good way to record my GS, sounds nothing like stock.

dont do that ....it sounds shitty and cheap and you cant undo it :x

Quote from: IcesharcI'm not lookin to go deeper at all, just trying to get that high pitched racebike sound.

Never gonna happen. If you want that sound in a beginner bike, get a bandit 400, or fzr400

mine sounds like a lawnmower on crack..  

Yea I figured it wasn't gonna happen.  Thanks anyways everyone.

harleys are essentially 1 gigantic piston 2 rods connected to 1 crankpin, i drilled my exhaust and podded it, at idle it sounde like a slightly higher pitched hd, until i went rollin',sound was loud but i wouldnt consider it bad :dunno: but it cant be undone