Total Motorcycle Community Forums

When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

Grey Thumper wrote:When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

uhh mine dont. maybe you need to get them properly adjusted???

ofblong wrote:

Grey Thumper wrote:When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

uhh mine dont. maybe you need to get them properly adjusted???

Not a bad suggestion, I'll doublecheck. Although the problem seems inherent to bike design. Correct me if I'm getting this wrong (or if it doesn't happen to all bikes; I'm pretty new at this) . . .

Going straight ahead, your lights point in the same direction as the bike and slightly downward, just like a car. However, when a car turns a corner, its lights still point in the same direction as the car, and possibly even slightly in the direction of the curve (if the car rolls outward).

On a bike, the opposite happens. On a right curve for instance, you countersteer left to lean right, into the curve. This makes the headlight point slightly left, and the downward direction of the beam, combined with the bikes rightward lean, makes the beam point even more leftward, exactly where you don't want it to go.

The problem isn't as bad when my lights are on high beam (since the beam points less downward than on low beam), but it's still there, frustratingly.

ofblong wrote:

Grey Thumper wrote:When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

uhh mine dont. maybe you need to get them properly adjusted???

Take a 90 degree corner at 25 MPH. Your headlight's focal point is always lagging behind the important piece of tarmac you are heading to.

Skier wrote:

ofblong wrote:

Grey Thumper wrote:When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

uhh mine dont. maybe you need to get them properly adjusted???

Take a 90 degree corner at 25 MPH. Your headlight's focal point is always lagging behind the important piece of tarmac you are heading to.

he said a curve not a corner. Big difference. even my mini van has that problem on a 90 degree corner.

ofblong wrote:

Skier wrote:

ofblong wrote:

Grey Thumper wrote:When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

uhh mine dont. maybe you need to get them properly adjusted???

Take a 90 degree corner at 25 MPH. Your headlight's focal point is always lagging behind the important piece of tarmac you are heading to.

he said a curve not a corner. Big difference. even my mini van has that problem on a 90 degree corner.

Actually there is no difference between a curve and a corner.

Skier wrote:

ofblong wrote:

Skier wrote:

ofblong wrote:

Grey Thumper wrote:When leaning into a curve, the beam of your headlight points away from the curve, which can be pretty freaky if the road is poorly lit.

uhh mine dont. maybe you need to get them properly adjusted???

Take a 90 degree corner at 25 MPH. Your headlight's focal point is always lagging behind the important piece of tarmac you are heading to.

he said a curve not a corner. Big difference. even my mini van has that problem on a 90 degree corner.

Actually there is no difference between a curve and a corner.

dunno what world you live in but a 35 degree curve is nothing like a right/left hand turn onto another road by use of a 90 degree turn.

A curve and a corner define the same thing: part of the path that is not straight.

A 35 degree twist is a corner and a curve.
A 90 degree twist is a corner and a curve.

Pretty simple.

Geometry jokes...your killing me.

I agree with the folks who are concerned about the deer. They're bad here at night and we watch out for them no mater what we're driving. Heck .. .the dumb arses actually WAIT for you to get closer before they jump out in front of you.