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Motorcyclist Visibility

Riding out here by the rally site to and from dinner I've had an unusual opportunity to see a LOT of bikes buzzing about. While I'm all-in on hi-viz as I've stated, there is simply no way to argue against that fact that LED auxiliary lighting, both up front and brake lights, makes a HUGE difference for motorcycle visibility. Back home I don't hardly ever see bikes so it was hard to draw a conclusion. I tell you what, first thing I'm doing tomorrow morning after registering and signing up for demo rides is heading right to Admore and then to Denali. My wife will not be pleased. 8-D
 
Friedle:

Doesn't New York law require a motor cycle to have the headlight on at all times? Anyway, isn't the use of the high beam a nuisance to oncoming traffic? I ride a lot in New York and wonder what is the best option.

Federal law requires full time headlight use on motorcycles built after (1978 I think). As for high beam being a nuisance my take is not in daylight except maybe in a tunnel. I ALWAYS ride with high beam during daylight hours. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 miles daytime riding out of about 950,000 total. I can recall only a couple of times an oncoming car ever flashed lights at me with my high beam.

To get a real take on this ride ahead of somebody and have them run their high beam and then their low beam. Observe his or her bike in your mirror. I bet you choose high beam.
 
Friedle:

Doesn't New York law require a motor cycle to have the headlight on at all times? Anyway, isn't the use of the high beam a nuisance to oncoming traffic? I ride a lot in New York and wonder what is the best option.

Yes, NY law does require full time headlights on a motorcycle. NY DMV recommends daytime high beam use to increase oncoming motorist awareness of YOU. It used to be if you saw an oncoming headlight it was either a locomotive or a motorcycle. Now with almost every car having daytime running lights motorcycles are getting lost in the oncoming mass of many headlights. Your high beam is unlikely to blind an oncoming motorist during the day, but just may provide an edge to distinguish you from the herd of oncoming four wheelers. In any event, can't hurt any. An added benefit is that if your low beam burns out while you are returning home and it is getting dark, now you only have your high beam to get home where you might be blinding every oncoming vehicle on your way home.

A continuing theme of all my rider classes is that riding a motorcycle on public streets is primarily a mental activity that involves some physical skills. The mental aspect is the hard part of riding. The above discussion, and understanding the implications, is but a small part of that mental strategy. Go to the circus and you can see bears and chimpanzees riding motorcycles. The physical part of riding is the easy part.

Friedle
 
Unfortunately sometimes no matter what you do, wear or turn on, there are drivers (too many) who just won't or refuse to see you.

These are the same drivers who don't see railroad crossings with trains passing by; fire trucks parked in the road at an accident (with their emergency lights flashing); Uniformed motor officer standing in plain view pointing that radar gun at them; road closed/flooded signs or that motorcyclist wearing a neon yellow riding suit & riding a bike with multiple bright lights.

The safety recommendations here are good and do help. But when possible there are times where you just need to identify that bugged eyed/texting/mouth breather/distracted driver and keep as far away from them as you can. :thumb

(Nice little rant, I rather enjoyed that) :)

Hmmmm how to respond. Yesterday I was in my car making a right turn from a stop sign. It’s near where I live and can be a tricky intersection as there are cars parked blocking an ideal view to the right. I exercised all due diligence and executed my right turn. I immediately looked in my rear view mirror and saw a MC turning onto the street I had just left. I don’t think I cut him off but I sure as hell didn’t see him when I turned! Maybe he was speeding and closed the (blind) gap THAT quickly maybe I actually didn’t see him. From my brief glimpse, he wasn’t wearing anything “conspicuous “ but my point is, I didn’t see him! Had he been asserting some unwritten right to go even FASTER and ASSUMED everyone would avoid him, he might be dead now. I’m not a mouthbreathing texting stupid driver who is unaware of or willfully ignoring motorcycles. I ride thousands of miles a year and try to drive hyper aware of motorcycles. No need for hostility, anyone can be the culprit and anyone the victim. I ride as if I’m not seen and use clothing speed brakes and light to be seen, evade, avoid. When there is a close call I make sure the driver finds out what he almost did ie I make my presence known, usually not hostily but in a way that the driver realizes I WAS THERE! As a driver I try to maximize my awareness (look twice for example, turn my head when changing lanes, etc. ) as a rider I use every tool to either be seen or get away with being invisible lol!
 
Hmmmm how to respond. Yesterday I was in my car making a right turn from a stop sign. It’s near where I live and can be a tricky intersection as there are cars parked blocking an ideal view to the right. I exercised all due diligence and executed my right turn. I immediately looked in my rear view mirror and saw a MC turning onto the street I had just left. I don’t think I cut him off but I sure as hell didn’t see him when I turned! Maybe he was speeding and closed the (blind) gap THAT quickly maybe I actually didn’t see him. From my brief glimpse, he wasn’t wearing anything “conspicuous “ but my point is, I didn’t see him! Had he been asserting some unwritten right to go even FASTER and ASSUMED everyone would avoid him, he might be dead now. I’m not a mouthbreathing texting stupid driver who is unaware of or willfully ignoring motorcycles. I ride thousands of miles a year and try to drive hyper aware of motorcycles. No need for hostility, anyone can be the culprit and anyone the victim. I ride as if I’m not seen and use clothing speed brakes and light to be seen, evade, avoid. When there is a close call I make sure the driver finds out what he almost did ie I make my presence known, usually not hostily but in a way that the driver realizes I WAS THERE! As a driver I try to maximize my awareness (look twice for example, turn my head when changing lanes, etc. ) as a rider I use every tool to either be seen or get away with being invisible lol!

Sent you a PM, enjoy. :thumb
 
Federal law requires full time headlight use on motorcycles built after (1978 I think). As for high beam being a nuisance my take is not in daylight except maybe in a tunnel. I ALWAYS ride with high beam during daylight hours. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 miles daytime riding out of about 950,000 total. I can recall only a couple of times an oncoming car ever flashed lights at me with my high beam.

Thanks, I like that advice. Sometimes I am a bit bashful about using high beam headlight. I will go with high beam except for overcast days when low beam with my auxiliary LED's up front show up really well. There are many bikes out there where low beam is dipped too low and is barely visible at all on sunny days.
 
I run with the high beam on and two sets of auxiliary lights, one set with amber lenses. I get flashed a couple of times a year but never by the hundreds of LEOs I’ve met on the road. I’ve asked people I know if the lights are distracting or overly bright and they all say they are not. Annie runs a similar set-up and I have many miles with her in front and behind me so I know they present no real problem, but they do get your attention. Some people just disapprove even though it causes no harm. I imagine more than once a driver has commented to a passenger, “Look at that a$$h@l3.” I’m okay with that, because it means he took notice of me.
 
There are many bikes out there where low beam is dipped too low and is barely visible at all on sunny days.

Aim is everything. Low beam aim (and usually high beam with it in the same housing) is set the old fashioned way as spelled out in my /5, /6 and K75 Riders (Owners) manuals as followed.

1. Position the bike so the headlight is 17 feet from a flat wall.
2. With the rider astride the bike measure the height of the center of the headlight.
3. Place a mark on the wall 2 inches lower than the headlight measured center point.
4. Aim the headlight so the horizontal cutoff top of the center of the low beam matches the line two inches lower than the headlight center.
5. Go ride.
 
Yesterday coming back from lunch I noticed a bike in about a quarter of a mile in front of me. What got my attention was the bike changing lanes, plus I an super aware of motorcycles. The rider had a light helmet and mostly yellow and black jacket. When I went by him I noticed it was a wethead RT. The front light was very dim, He had some auxiliary lights down by the rotors which were brighter. I really didn't notice the rider behind the windshield and fairing. An LED headlight and some more lighting and he would have been a lot more conspicuous.

I ride with a buddy on a 17 RT. He usually leads and his tail light and brake light are pretty dim. I've also had him behind me and the headlight is dim as well. My wife and I have Denali D-4 aux lights in front and Clearwater Billie brake lights in back. When my wife is in back or in front of me, her bike is 10-times more visible than my buddy's RT.

I've been asking my friend to add lights to be seen, to date no luck.
 
Aim is everything. Low beam aim (and usually high beam with it in the same housing) is set the old fashioned way as spelled out in my /5, /6 and K75 Riders (Owners) manuals as followed.

1. Position the bike so the headlight is 17 feet from a flat wall.
2. With the rider astride the bike measure the height of the center of the headlight.
3. Place a mark on the wall 2 inches lower than the headlight measured center point.
4. Aim the headlight so the horizontal cutoff top of the center of the low beam matches the line two inches lower than the headlight center.
5. Go ride.

Thanks again. I've saved that in my document I keep for my bike maintenance. I did something similar for setting the auxiliary lights on my bike.
 
1978 headlight law

Federal law requires full time headlight use on motorcycles built after (1978 I think). As for high beam being a nuisance my take is not in daylight except maybe in a tunnel. I ALWAYS ride with high beam during daylight hours. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 miles daytime riding out of about 950,000 total. I can recall only a couple of times an oncoming car ever flashed lights at me with my high beam.

To get a real take on this ride ahead of somebody and have them run their high beam and then their low beam. Observe his or her bike in your mirror. I bet you choose high beam.

I believe that H-D, after a LOT of pressure from them, are exempted from the 1978 law.

Louise
 
Conspicuity, my way.

This is an interesting discussion on ways we can make ourselves seen. I have been a big believer in doing anything I can for greater conspicuity, and also realizing that despite all my efforts, something bad could still happen. But at least I tried. That's why I'm also an ATGATT guy. I'm now riding a 1992 R100GSPD. I've added Denali LED D4 driving lights, Skene Lighting Photon Blasters, and P3 tail lights. Skene also makes a little magic box that allows me to control my D4 lights with the bike's stock switch gear. The little box lets me run the D4s at 50% with low beams, then when I switch on high beams the D4s go to 100%. I don't run high beams in the day time because I think the D4s are too bright, and I also don't think I need to with all the other light I have pointing forward.
Here is a pic in my garage of the bike's lights on high beam.
 

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Skene magic box?

When you use the Skene controller with the D4 lights, does that mean they also have a conspicuity flicker?

I have Skene Photon Blasters with the white LED's on the front forks, caliper mounts. I love that flicker. I did not realize the controller can flicker other LED lights. I guess I should have read more on their web site. HA
 
When you use the Skene controller with the D4 lights, does that mean they also have a conspicuity flicker?

I have Skene Photon Blasters with the white LED's on the front forks, caliper mounts. I love that flicker. I did not realize the controller can flicker other LED lights. I guess I should have read more on their web site. HA

I used my Skene controller with a pair of aftermarket lights so I had the conspicuity flicker both front and back. I believe the controller can handle up to 5 amps? (Don't quote me on that)
 
Daytime High Beams ‼️

Hank..... daytime is when you NEED high beams on......ambient day light easily obscures moto "low" beams ‼️:thumb
 
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