I have the Sportisi VR system. As Matt stated, it's loud. And it's fricken awesome. I love it. I don't think it'll save my life, but never once did the stock exhaust turn someone's head, now I'll occasionally see people glancing my way. Cruising around the city, I almost never breach 6krpm, it's unnecessary. If I'm pulling in late at night, I keep it under 5k. It's not that hard, and I've never once woken up my roommates at 1am. And I ride up and park it right outside their window. If you're the asshole cruising down the neighborhood streets at 10k, I hope someone's out there waiting for you with a baseball bat. It's unnecessary. However, the idea of banning riding is certain places I find absolutely ridiculous. What's to stop the high school punk with his loud-ass civic from cruising through the neighborhood? I've still heard cars louder than me. And don't even get me started on harleys. I'm relatively certain the frequency of those exhausts messes with people's pacemakers. A 250 is hardly the loudest bike out there. Even 600s pale compared to many cruisers.
kkim, you hit a touchy subject.
Everyone's now arguing for what they believe is fact. I have a loud pipe because I like it, and I won't try to justify having it by claiming its a new found safety feature. The only excuse I needed to buy it was that I liked it. And I believe that most of the people here who own one have a similar reason. If you're buying a pipe because you think it's the mother of all earth-shakers and it's going to save your life, you seriously need to rearrange your priorities.
Just ride sensibly if you're in an area where you might annoy someone. Keep the revs down. (Now can someone please press the Staples easy button for me?)