Split: Off topic about Harleys

[FJR Flyer]

For some reason the Harley guys like to burn their Daymakers on high beam with the 'fog' lights going all the time.  They can be blinding in the daytime.

 

[justacrossthehill]

For some reason the Harley guys like to burn their Daymakers on high beam with the 'fog' lights going all the time.  They can be blinding in the daytime.

When loud pipes alone, aren't enough.

 

[Pterodactyl]

I run with my high beams and amber auxiliary lights on during the day.  Unlike loud pipes, running lights for conspicuity works.  
At the inquest looking into the circumstances of my death, when the clueless dolt who turned in front of me says, “I just didn’t see him”, I want the entire room to erupt in laughter.  

 

[SkooterG]

I don't run really bright lights in the daylight anymore.  Too bright a light, even in the daytime, can mess up a person's judgement as to distance and speed.  It has happened to me.  A moto coming at me with high beams and/or bright aux lighting and I can't accureately judge distance and speed.  And I figure I am much better at it than your average brain dead cager.

In my not so humble opinion, it's not that they don't see us - it's that they don't realize how close we are because of our smaller size.  And from personal experience, too bright  of lights can interfere with that judgement also.

 

[infrared]

I don't run really bright lights in the daylight anymore.  Too bright a light, even in the daytime, can mess up a person's judgement as to distance and speed.  It has happened to me.  A moto coming at me with high beams and/or bright aux lighting and I can't accureately judge distance and speed.  And I figure I am much better at it than your average brain dead cager.

In my not so humble opinion, it's not that they don't see us - it's that they don't realize how close we are because of our smaller size.  And from personal experience, too bright  of lights can interfere with that judgement also.

Skooter,

I agree.  I have seen a wad of bright light coming my way, but even in daylight, I had no idea what it was, so the speed was difficult to determine.  If that bike had a turn signal blinking, that turn signal would have been impossible to see inside the glare.

History note: In WW2, American attack bombers used an array of landing lights to "vanish" their anti-sub patrol planes as they descended quietly when attacking surfaced German U-boats.  The U-boat crew could not dive the boat in time to avoid the aircraft's attack - the crew had little or no warning before the bombs were dropping.  These planes used rheostats (dimming controls) to set their light array output to exactly match the sky behind (above) them.  All that to say, an array of lights may do exactly the opposite of what you might expect, when the Sun is low behind you, if your light array output matches the bright sky behind you.   Look up Yehudi Lights, for more information.  The Yehudi name was borrowed; he was a stage magician in the WW2 era.

.

 

[RossKean]

As I mentioned in the thread that this split from,  you are better served by adding auxiliary lights on the forks and possibly on mirror mounts as opposed to flashing a bunch of lumens in the eyes of oncoming drivers.  The extra lights do not have to be especially bright but they are noticed and the separation helps the other guy judge your distance and speed.

Of course, there is no substitute for assuming that you are still absolutely invisible or that he is deliberately trying to kill you.

 

[Pterodactyl]

When a turn signal is activated our auxiliary lights turn off.  

 

[dcarver]

The key is illumination differential. I run ClearWater located high and low at 20% in daylight hours. When approaching bogies at intersections, left hand turn lanes, etc, flash them bad boyz to  high then back to 20% to say HEY LOOK AT ME! 
Many times. The encroaching cage has stopped in their tracks. And no, no cage has ever thought the light flash meant 'go ahead'...

 

[Bounce]

As I mentioned in the thread that this split from,  you are better served by adding auxiliary lights on the forks and possibly on mirror mounts as opposed to flashing a bunch of lumens in the eyes of oncoming drivers.  The extra lights do not have to be especially bright but they are noticed and the separation helps the other guy judge your distance and speed.

Of course, there is no substitute for assuming that you are still absolutely invisible or that he is deliberately trying to kill you.

I would vary that just a little. There are 2 needs for light; seeing and being seen. Each serves a purpose but one doesn't do the other necessarily well. Mount the lights high-and-wide for SEEING. Mount them lower to BE SEEN. Low end up with your beam buried in the pavement close to the front of the bike. Good for others looking for vehicles* but not so good for you to see something in time to react. Vice versa.

* I've read quire a few compelling arguments that address the mechanism going on inside a driver's brain. In it they discuss the busy mind and how it "chunks" complex events into single/simple groups that are then prioritized based on "highest risk" to the driver. They may look right at a motorcyclist and not "see" them because their brain is busy and doesn't see a motorcycle as a high enough risk to them to bother reporting to their conscious mind. The opposite of that would be an 18 wheeler that should raise tons of flags and get the express train to the conscious;; yet we've all heard and seen people cutting off big trucks in the face of the risk.

 

[RossKean]

I would vary that just a little. There are 2 needs for light; seeing and being seen.

Agreed.  "Seeing" is in relation to riding when it is dark.  No question that extra lumens, appropriately directed, are beneficial.  Also obvious that high beams and blazingly brilliant auxiliary lights are to be dimmed or extinguished when encountering oncoming traffic or closely following another vehicle.  

I still maintain that being seen is not principally a function of bright lighting.  Light positioning (on forks or mirrors) combined with stuff like hi-viz gear serve to catch the attention of other traffic and makes it easier for them to judge distance and speed.  Lights that dazzle or even irritate the other guy might do more harm than good.

 

[infrared]

'Way back when I first started riding, I mounted a good-sized amber marker light (appropriated from a junkyard car) on a bracket to the right and a little below the headlight.  Back then, I rode a lot of two-lane country roads.  To oncoming traffic at night, I looked like a car with the left lights fuse blown, and the approaching cagers would not crowd the centerline because they did not know where the "other side" of my vehicle was.  This trick did the job for me; normally the cagers would crowd the centerline if they knew it was a motorcycle that was oncoming.  Safety first!    :coolsmiley02:    

I remain convinced that my idea may still be a good one, but I have not used it on my recent bikes, because now I spend less time on narrow country roads.

 

[FJR Flyer]

As I mentioned in the original thread, the MSF courses recommended running the high beam in the daytime to get noticed.  I did that religiously on my FJ1200.  With my '06 FJR, I used Motolights on the forks for conspicuity.  The dual beams just seamed too bright.  Even on the FJ, with a high watt H4 bulb, I'd get drivers flashing me during the day.  On my '16, the LEDs definitely seemed like too much, so I added Denali DLR LEDs on the lower forks.  I've got them switched for hi and lo so I can run them day and night. 

I agree with the comments that a big blob of blinding light my get you noticed, but doesn't help discern what or where you are, relatively speaking.  Same goes for the knuckleheads in the trucks with the big light bars blasting all the time. 

My $0.02.