Lights... What Lights??

[MightyBadger]

I was all set to get some FF50's on a set on Garauld mount's, and then someone said HID... and now a day later and after much reading I do not know which option to go for

All of my riding is through central London and the motorway so lots and lots (and lots) of cagers, in fact they are everywhere.

After being hit twice in 4 weeks :angry2: , I have decided that I need something to make me stand out more, the options I came up with were either play a catchy jingle whilst riding (but people might think I am an ice cream van) or get more/better/brighter lighting.

What are your opions/thoughts? Should I get additional lighting in the form of FF50's, or should I replace the stock Halogens for HID and their subtle colour difference?

Please help a very confused person

 

[wheatonFJR]

Well, I'm not very technically minded, but it sounds like you need the flashing red lights...or is it blue over there? All seriousness aside, being hit 2 4 times and surviving...I think you're my new hero. You must have some mighty good elbow pads. :clapping:

Now some other very smart people will chime in and tell you what you should get and why. Hope the lights work out for you...they will certainly annoy/blind whoever is in front of you.

I know BugR is a Londoner transplant who lives in Ontario now...you could PM him and get his recommendations as I think he used to be a bike messenger over there in London.

Cheers!

 

[Patriot]

https://www.hyperlites.com/hyperwhite.html

mine are the modulating kit so I can run them solid or flashing

Below is my rear with red hyperlites for brake running and amber for turn signals

the set in the middle are hyper whites not lit up

 

[Geezer]

Adding high power lights to the front will only help if you are being hit by left turners who claim they didn't see you. If that's what you are trying to solve then you would be better off with a headlight modulator, if they are legal in the UK. HIDs are typically way too bright to use when there are other vehicles in front of you or coming towards you, so the Hella FF50s or something similar would be a good bet if you can't or don't want to use a modulator.

Adding some sort of brake light flasher is great for tailgaters, again, if they are legal there. And, more lights in the back and sides are always better, so adding a hiperlight or some LEDs is better than just flashing the existing brake lights.

I did see someone with an effective and inexpensive addition to his taillights. He replaces the directional sockets with ones that accept a dual filament lamp and wired the lower powered filament so it would go on with the running lights. So he had two yellow taillights surrounding the normal red ones. It was an eye catcher when following him.

 

[bramfrank]

Adding high power lights to the front will only help if you are being hit by left turners who claim they didn't see you.

In the UK that would be 'right turners'.

Can you guys install headlight modulators? That'll make you stand out.

I would not go with HID headlights, but a set of HID driving lamps will give you three points of reference, two of them bright and white, with a yellower central beam, possibly modulated . . . . and that would stand out.

 

[wfooshee]

Depending on where they were coming from when these accidents happen, it may be that you simply need to keep a better eye out. Granted, people get in a hurry, they steal the right-of-way, they move then look, and so on. Yet you were unaware of them? Up to the last second? No idea they were coming? There was nothing you could do?

Sometimes that's the case, but I don't buy it 4 times. Sorry.

Brighter lights aren't necessarily an answer. Why would you want to put lights in peoples' faces that are so bright they have to look away?

 

[MightyBadger]

Sometimes that's the case, but I don't buy it 4 times. Sorry.

4 Times !!! I would have stopped riding if it was 4 times lol!!! Only twice and that's 2 times too many...

In London, they are currently trialing a scheme allowing bikes to use the bus lanes. Both times I have been in the bus lanes travelling parallel to the traffic, and both times, I was hit by people not indicating and suddenely pulling into the bus lane to either pull over at a shop or to jump the queue in their lane.

So both times were just bad luck, where the cagers didn't both properly looking in their mirrors before pulling out, and being snadwiched between the line of traffic and the curb, the bus lane doesn't have that much room for avoiding acition. I did my best with swerving, hooting and breaking sharply, but just not enough.

My concern is that in both of these cases, neither driver was concious that I was travelling in the bus lane (only buses and bikes allowed), and my thinking was to put more light out in front of me to be more eye catching rather than blinding.

I assume that no matter which route I go down (FF50 / HID) as long as they are correctly aligned and positioned, then why should they be blinding?

Unfortunately, I do not think that the headlight modulators are legal in the UK.

 

[DELETE-PLEASE]

Over here in the US, if you REALLY want to catch a driver's eye that's in front of you, you just have to paint your bike white and black, wear a white 3/4 helmet with a boom mic on it, and have a headlight modulator. Illegal? No. Does it work, oh yeah.

Alexi

 

[bang-n-gearz]

Wow! hope you have better luck.

I have a Gen 1 05-model and went with the FF50 and Gerauld brackets. I also installed a Datel meter to watch my volts as you know the Gen 1 stador is not all that strong...

Lights are great to me especially for $80.00 shipped.

Buck

Dls.TX

 

[dsmack]

MightyBadger ~

I don't have a definitive answer for you concerning the lights, but as a cop here in the US, I have to say that you are being set up for continued problems with your general motoring public.

The new scheme allowing m/c riders to share the bus lane is akin to being chum, thrown in shark-infested waters!

Don't fall for the trap!

The average motorist isn't used to looking for motorcycles in the bus lane. Hence, a quick glance to see if a BUS is there, then a quick juke into that lane is their norm... until you are there, riding along minding your own business. Ooops, "I didn't see him". Not much consolation to you at that point.

No amount of additional lighting is going to solve that fundamental problem! Given enough time and an intense campaign of public service spots on the telly and radio might eventually re-educate the average driver, but you couldn't PAY me to be in that bus lane for the forseeable future.

Just sayin'!

Don

 

[wfooshee]

Sometimes that's the case, but I don't buy it 4 times. Sorry.

4 Times !!! I would have stopped riding if it was 4 times lol!!! Only twice and that's 2 times too many...

In London, they are currently trialing a scheme allowing bikes to use the bus lanes. Both times I have been in the bus lanes travelling parallel to the traffic, and both times, I was hit by people not indicating and suddenely pulling into the bus lane to either pull over at a shop or to jump the queue in their lane.

So both times were just bad luck, where the cagers didn't both properly looking in their mirrors before pulling out, and being snadwiched between the line of traffic and the curb, the bus lane doesn't have that much room for avoiding acition. I did my best with swerving, hooting and breaking sharply, but just not enough.

My concern is that in both of these cases, neither driver was concious that I was travelling in the bus lane (only buses and bikes allowed), and my thinking was to put more light out in front of me to be more eye catching rather than blinding.

I assume that no matter which route I go down (FF50 / HID) as long as they are correctly aligned and positioned, then why should they be blinding?

Unfortunately, I do not think that the headlight modulators are legal in the UK.

Reading comprehension fail. Sorry. In my defense, I'd slept 4 hours before a 16-hour drive, then slept 5 hours and spent all day working remotely instead of being on vacation. But more lights probably wouldn't help, still. These are the kind of people that move, then look.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

OP -- Look to your gear as well. Bicyclists wear armbands with small lights -- perhaps you could as well. Also, I'd buy a helmet halo, white helmet (new Zealand showed it as most visible color to motorists), and consider Hi-viz gear. A hi-viz safety vest would be high on my list as a cheap and fairly effective stop-gap measure until you figure things out. Marker (LED) lights on the bike would be good. Some of the above may help at dusk, in the dark or in poor light situations (I hear you chaps get some fog, for example). You could get really creative and run some rope lights around the front of the bike -- that would grab my attention

Finally, I don't think I would ride in the bus lane. Losing a leg or worse to get home a few minutes earlier doesn't seem like a good choice to me.

Best of luck.

 

[Art FJR]

You should wear gear that makes you look like a bus! Definately.

The cheapest add would be a hi vis vest over your gear, and if you don't get run over again in a few weeks you should be good to go. If they continue to run you over in the bus lane, I would give up the bus lane.

Art