Riding in Town question

[mattwells]

Well, I am out and about riding now, but am having one big problem. Stoplights. The sensor pads around here don't seem to pick up my bikes weight. I often have to wait for 5 minutes at the light out of my subdivision for some car to come up behind me and change the light (either that or run it, which I won't do). It is frustrating. Anyone else have this problem, and do those sensors have a "sweet spot" that I can roll over to get the light changed?

Thanks,
Matt

[Wizzard]

Presuming that you are referring to left turn lights that happens around here often as well . The trick for me is to plan my routes where the majority of my turns will be right hand ones . Which is legal here altho I do not know if it is there where you live .
It is far better for me to go even a half mile out of my way if it is more convenient as well as safer .
Kind regards, Wizzard

[dr_bar]

Well, unless you have a different system than we do, it's not activated by weight, but by the
metal of your bike or car. What happens is that they install an induction loop into the
pavement. When a car drives over an induction loop, it disturbs the loop's electromagnetic
field. This changes the total inductance of the loop circuit, and triggers the switch to change
the light. With all the plastic on todays bikes, it is sometimes hard to cause the trigger
to work. If you can see the lines in the road where the coil is laid, try to drive right up the
wires path as opposed to splitting the difference between two lines of wire. Let me know
if this works in your area...

[9000white]

i'm with wizzard.i turn right then make a u turn to go the way i wanted to.
or if it is daylight and i dont see a cop i run it.
there are a bunch of products listed for motorcycles that are supposed to trigger the light but i have never heard of one that actually works.

[iwannadie]

bounce up and down on the bike, helps get the metal closer to the wire. or if you have a center stand push it down just to get more metal near the ground or even your side stand can help.

ive been seeing alot of things on ebay that supposed to trigger lights. they are small domino sized things that dont need power. i have no idea if they work im tempted to try because my bike doesnt trigger any road sensor. my apartments have a gate that will not see my bike at all. im stuck waiting for a car when i want to just leave home.

[Posthumane]

I have the same problem with my 79 Suzuki, which is odd considering the bike is all metal. But I guess most of the weight (eng + tranny) is non-ferrous so that would make a difference. I'll try the centrestand trick sometime, but I doubt that would make enought of a difference. Maybe I should just bolt a steel plate to the underside of the bike.

[rubthebuddha]

I have a lot of problems with this. If there's a lot of traffic, I'll wait. If not, I'll blow through it when the coast is clear.

[Spiff]

In Minnesota, where I live, there's a new law that lets bikers who don't trigger a light to go through an intersection provided they've waited a "reasonable" time and there's no traffic.

It's a new law, and a lot of people don't understand it yet ... including some cops.

[Aggroton]

thats great...where is the ama...we need this in pa...

[flynrider]

I run across a lot of intersections where my bike won't trigger the light. About a dozen years ago, a friend showed me a trick that has worked every time. As you approach, look for the lines on the road where the induction loop wire is buried (usually a rectangular pattern). Roll your bike to a stop so that it's right next to one of the buried lines. Put bike in neutral, drop the kickstand and set it right on top of the line. That should trigger the light (assuming you don't have a plastic kickstand ).