Opinion: Don't ride with brights on.

[Relsek]

I used to ride with just a low beam lit until I saw the video that this still was taken from. That's me on the left, next to the red Busa, mine is Black and Purple and not very noticible, especially since I'm wearing a black jacket and helmet with a smoked shield

Kev

[iwannadie]

I used to ride with just a low beam lit until I saw the video that this still was taken from. That's me on the left, next to the red Busa, mine is Black and Purple and not very noticible, especially since I'm wearing a black jacket and helmet with a smoked shield

Kev

well not to sound rude. but your on a black bike wearing all black as well and your surprised your not visible when compared to someone in bright red? some brighter leathers/helmet would go along way to improve visibility. now someone is just going to see your bright light and not know what the light is attached to. here Alot of people ride bicycles in the bike lanes in traffic and they from a distance are hard to tell apart from a motorcycle. ive mistaken a motorcycle for a bicycle because of the light before and the other way around.

[FishStix]

I'm not going to lull myself into thinking that bright colours and bright lites are going to save my butt. So no - I don't ride with my brights on. I wear mostly black gear and I ride a black bike. Haven't even had so much as a close call in over 25 years. I think it's dangerous to have people believe that if you ride with bright gear and lights or loud pipes that you are somehow less likely to be hit. Go take a look at any junk yard and see all the pretty yellow bikes piled up on top of each other. Gotta ride smart - not just bright.

[PhilD9er]

"They flash continuosly at 4-10 times per second, so it's more like a pulsating strobe effect, than a one time flash. They show up a long way off. I saw one coming on a
country road a few years ago, and wondered when it was ever going to get here."

Ok, I flash my bright 3 or 4 times in maybe a half second at intersections where someone is poised to turn left. Once again, I have seen cagers slam on the brakes. I would actually like a red or blue strobe -- not some LED crap, but a good, strong light. Of course, this probably isn't legal.

Maybe it's possible to flash the turn signals and the brights at 50 times a second at the push of a button. Hmmmmm.

[RandK]

Kathy and I have had modulators on our headlights and just put one our my new bike. Not sure why anyone would ride without them. A flashing light is much more attention getting than a solid light, which can easily blend into the background. Any device that allows us to "stand out" is worth the cost. For the recorded we have the LED brake lite also.

Easy to install, plug and play. Got ours from Kisantech.com, great service.
RandK

[BuzZz]

Just wanted to re-itterate for our Canadian members, headlight modulators, wig-wags, or whatever you want to call them are illegal up here unless displayed by an emergency vehicle. Depending on the mood of the cop who stops you, you could get a 'failure to maintian vehicle' fine(same as having a burned out bulb) up to 'impersonating an emergency vehicle' fine with much more expensive consequences.

So the only option we have is to ride with brights on all the time or the standard low-beam.

[mydlyfkryzis]

"They flash continuosly at 4-10 times per second, so it's more like a pulsating strobe effect, than a one time flash. They show up a long way off. I saw one coming on a
country road a few years ago, and wondered when it was ever going to get here."

Ok, I flash my bright 3 or 4 times in maybe a half second at intersections where someone is poised to turn left.

You have to have a pretty good switch and really fast hands to switch your headlights back and forth 4 times in half a second.
The modulator actually flashes the light from 17% to 100% brightness. The light is never off. I don't know anyone who can switch the light back and forth as fast as this. Because of the rise time (The time the filament in the bulb needs to heat up to incandescence), you can't switch from low beam to high beam as quickly as the modulator (which changes just the high beam filament at 4 times a second) as the bulb filaments never really reaches full brightness. You lose some of the effect.

Maybe it's possible to flash the turn signals and the brights at 50 times a second at the push of a button. Hmmmmm.

If you live in the US, which you do, your house lights flash at 60 times a second. In Europe, 50 time a second. Anything over about 24 times a second appears to be a solidly on light to the human eye. So a 50 times a second signal would appear solid to "normal" people and not flashing.

[sidecarguy]

i try to run woth my lights on
but they seem to lower my batt!!

could it be because of the city kinda driving
or because the sidecar takes some power away?

[Wizzard]

I don't .
Wizzard

[BuzZz]

i try to run woth my lights on
but they seem to lower my batt!!

could it be because of the city kinda driving
or because the sidecar takes some power away?

Unless you have an elecric auxilary drive on the sidecar, it sounds like you got a weak alternator. City riding can be hard on the battery if you only take very short short trips and never rev the engine very high. Otherwise, the alt. should be able to keep up with your lights and keep the battery charged as well.