Daytime Headlights

Riding to work this morning I realised that every time I go out on the bike
these days I flick the headlight on before I move off. I do this
automatically without thinking, like putting on a seatbelt getting into a
car. Thing is though, I do one because it's compulsory and the other
because I obviously feel it might help me be seen to a blind fuckwit.

I just find it strange as I can remember when I started riding, almost
twenty years ago, the "debate" going on in bike mags about compulsory
daytime headlights for bikes. I used to think, why the hell should I burn
out my bulbs just because arsehole car drivers can't be bothered looking
properly. The strange logic of someone in their teens.

So how many here bung the lights on wherever they go? I find nearly all
bikes I pass these days have them on. It seems odd that it is quite
universal but there is no compulsion. (That I know of)

 

Never turn them off to be honest

--
Steve Parry
K100RS SE & F650
and a 520i SE Touring for comfort

(not forgetting the SK90PY)

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

 

Virtually every new bike sold since 2004(?) has them hard wired on.

When I had the choice, I used to ride with it on most of the time, with a
few exceptions - mainly when I didn't want to be visible

From my experience i the cage/on the bike it _is_ easier to spot a bike
against a dark background when the headlight is on - personally I think the
argument of "you should have been looking" is only valid in so much as if
you are actually visible - certain times of the day, certain road
conditions - you aren't.

 

dwb wrote

Have they, are you sure about this?

I'll agree with that.

 

When I did my lessons and test a good ten years ago, my instructor said that
the under certain conditions having your light on could create a blindspot
from a cages perspective. Something about the sun being behind you or maybe
not?

So, there's no truth in this?

 

Yes. Not every make or model, but virtually every one from the big Jap
factories.

 

I have to say I agree with dwb on this one. It is much easier to pick out a
bike with their headlight on in the car. It's also easier to pick them out
on the bike so you can give them a wave.

With the usual type of sky of a mid grey colour the sun is not usually a
factor. Even when it's sunny like now it is at least high in the sky. It
can play a factor at dawn/dusk and it winter when it barely bothers climbing
above the horizon. In this instance I would say it's preferable to be
riding into the sun as far as you being seen by traffic coming the other way
is concerned which is when your headlight is obviously most effective!

Riding with the sun at your back can be hazardous with your headlight on or
not. That's why fighter pilots use it at their back to blind the enemy to
their approach.

 

gazzafield <_I.ko> spewed forth the
following...

I do, just as a matter of routine starting the bike up. Choke on, starter
button, headlamp on and off I go.

Anything which gives other road users an extra chance to see me as I burble
past has got to be a good thing.

 

I usually use them on the MV, but not the Tiger, unless it's a group
ride & I'm not at the front. The soft suspension seems to make people
think you're flashing them. At least that's my theory as I definitely
get pulled out on more on the Tiger with the lights on.

 

Yellow bib and belt?

 

When I had my lessons in 1999 the instructor made a point of always making
us turn our lights on. I think most recently taught people are told to leave
them on all the time.

FWIW, I do leave them on most of the time.

 

gazzafield <_I.ko> spewed forth the
following...

Nope, just a pink tutu and ostrich feathers glued to the top of my lid.

 

Doesnotcompute wrote

and according to what I read on the Interweb, you can see stuff moving
from side to side much better than if it is gaining or retreating so
weaving whilst making progress must be A Good Thing.

I wonder if it works for up down movement in the same way? "It wasn't
strictly wheelieing M'lud, I was doing it to improve my chances of
being seen."

 

Ah.. memories.

"Well they can see me"

"Yes, but they can't see anything else!"

 

What it does make harder is spotting indicators on a bike that's coming
towards you , especially if the lights are on high beam.
--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk www.ebayfaq.co.uk

 

OK, let's start from an assumption that you're a raving idiot...

Speaking as a muppet-in-a-car, I find it really fucking irritating
when some twat on a two-wheeled ivory tower dazzles me with his main
beam.

The only issue with compulsory dipped headlights is when riding with
the sun behind you - putting the headlight on reduces the sillhouette
effect and potentially makes you _less_ visible. The real risk comes
from compulsory daytime lights on cars, reducing the distinction
between cars and bikes. Maybe *then* you'd have some justification
for running main beam in traffic, but I'd still suggest not.

 

Mine doesn't. Although I do leave it on all the time when riding anyway.
The only time I switch it off is when starting it if it's been standing
for a few days and I'm concerned about the battery - this has never been
a problem, but the mechanic who set the bike up when I bought it said
the charging system on them is a bit pants. I think he might be wrong,
but I'm not willing to find out the hard way.

Oddly enough, I often don't bother with a seat belt in the car if just
going up the road to the shops despite having been fined for this about
10 years ago. Probably a mixture of laziness and the fact I feel much
safer in a car with no seat belt than I do on a bike with headlight on.

I agree 100%.

 

Says the bloke who rides around with main beam on all the time, despite
requests to the contrary ;-)

BTW - my 2005 Strom has both lights on all the time .

But you are annoying to other road users - even bikers - as you know.

And by annoying I mean you prevent other road users from seeing behind you
and potentially dazzle them, affecting forward vision - that to me is
dangerous.
We've done this all before so I shall leave it at that.

You get used to it - and on my bike at least, it turns them off when you're
starting up.

What 'worse problem' do linked brakes cause for say, you as a rider? For me,
for the 500 miles I rode a linked brake bike, they did absolutely nothing
negative other than a slight tendancy to stand the bike up, but that was
offset by a superb retardation of the bike.

Maybe their research proves something different to the rhetoric of UKRM?

 

Bigger indicators, the way forward.

Or maybe hand signals.

 

You live in a hose? Do you get evicted every time someone switches on the
tap?