Off duty cops nabbed speeding

fivetide

As you say, the metaphorical me as I don't ride like that. People pull in even when you are sitting back (although in wet weather, I will tend not to be in the middle of the road as that is of course a lot wetter than the bits the cars run over).

The issue with lights is more likely to be similar to the 4x4 effect. They are much higher off the ground and more likely to be in your mirror than those on a car.

I can't actually turn the lights off on the current bike.

Anyway, as you say, it's the same as agressive car drivers. Thankfully we aren't all like that no matter what Tricky says.

5t.

Lum

fivetide wrote: »

The issue with lights is more likely to be similar to the 4x4 effect. They are much higher off the ground and more likely to be in your mirror than those on a car.

It's worse than the 4x4 effect because of the flickering. Some bikes seem to have HIDs (factory, or ebay, not sure) in too, so as well as the flickering you get the red->yellow->white->blue colour flashing as the cut off point for the light passes your eyes.

It'd be nice if bikers who are just going to follow without overtaking would turn it down to sidelights once they're behind me and are aware that I have seen them. The same way as how in the fog I will turn off my fog light once I have a car sat following behind me.

It's no good to either of us if you fill my vision with coloured blobs, it means I'm less likely to see you later if you do decide to overtake.

fivetide

Again, can't be done on many bikes now. The flickering will be simply the movement of the suspension as much as a HID.

My bike has the driving lights on at all times. The only option I have is to turn on the other lamp and go for full beam.

Still cars seem to be trying to get the vengence with the fantastic array of 'day running lights' twinkling away. This also seems to have led to the resurgence of the sidelight/foglight driver thinking they are incredibly cool when in fact they are a numpty.

5t.

Lum

I guess it's all part of my more general complaint... too much lighting these days. I was ok with bikers using their sidelights during the day, now everybody does it so bikers have to use dipped beam during the day, and now car drivers are doing that too (with HIDs) so bikers have to go to full beam. No idea where it will go from here as I see far too many Vauxhall Corsas (typically driven by middle aged, people rather than teenagers) with full beams on during the day.

I'm firmly of the belief that it should be sidelights if you cannot be seen by the natural light, and headlights if you can't actually see. This includes using sidelights in areas that are well lit by streetlights. Bikers can go one level higher. Of course this would work better if the sidelights on modern cars wern't completely crap.

fivetide

Yes. Since Audi decided putting christmas lights in the cars was a good idea everyone wants a slice. Volvo did it very well for years and no one cared.

Not seen that many bikes with full beam on I have to say but some I grant you are very bright. The big BMWs for certain and my friend had an FJR with twin headlights that were always bright and was also hardwired for dipped beam. He regualrly got flashed but a flash back showed he was running the bike legally. Not much more you can do in that situation.

5t.

Lum

fivetide wrote: »

Yes. Since Audi decided putting christmas lights in the cars was a good idea everyone wants a slice. Volvo did it very well for years and no one cared.

Volvo's ones were fine, they were just barely bright enough to be seen and they covered a large area which made it easy to judge the car's speed and distance.

The modern LED ones (and indeed, modern sidelights that have no diffusers) are blinding white points. In total they probably don't put out that much more light than the Volvo ones, but by concentrating it into a single point it just makes me want to not look at it.

Not seen that many bikes with full beam on I have to say but some I grant you are very bright. The big BMWs for certain and my friend had an FJR with twin headlights that were always bright and was also hardwired for dipped beam. He regualrly got flashed but a flash back showed he was running the bike legally. Not much more you can do in that situation.

Could've bought a different bike. That one sounds like a potentially dangerous design to me.

For cars, if someone appears to be running full beams, you flash them and they flash back you just assume they're an idiot who can't even check their headlight alignment, and again you don't want to look at them so much as the light is unpleasant.

As a biker do you really want to ride a bike that encourages people to avoid looking at what you're doing?

fivetide

Lum wrote: »

As a biker do you really want to ride a bike that encourages people to avoid looking at what you're doing?

The flip side is they have at least seen you in the first place which is what you were saying earlier.

The FJR is the one a lot of the cops now use so pretty safe bike. Just decent twin lamps. Remember, at one point most bikes had a headlight that was about as effective as putting a candle behind a goldfish bowl.


5t.

zappahey

Lum wrote: »

Could've bought a different bike. That one sounds like a potentially dangerous design to me.

These days, I'm not sure you can actually buy a new bike that has a switch to turn off headlights.

Lum

zappahey wrote: »

These days, I'm not sure you can actually buy a new bike that has a switch to turn off headlights.

I was specifically referring to lights that are so bright that other drivers are being dazzled, as evidenced by the number of flashes from people believing it's on full beams.

Dazzling the oncoming car that is (currently) on the opposite side of the road does not seem like a wise idea to me.