visibility at night. ur opinion | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

visibility at night. ur opinion

40 years of riding (ad counting) and sad to say for safety I avoid night riding
 
Just like those electric scooter/e-bike guys who make no noise in the summer. Oh ya, they're usually hammered too!

No noise? Wouldn't that be dangerous for the rider?
 
in all honesty, yes loud-ish pipes do save lives. im not talking screaming loud that can damage hearing 85 db can cause some damage.
personally i ride with plugs and quiet music on.

ive the years a exhaust that will make some acceptable levels of noise has gotten the attention of cars and vans fairly quickly. i always find clutch and rev faster and easier than the small horn button that sounds like a childs toy.
would i run open pipes? no, have i.... well...yes i use to own a Harley with VH Short shots.

slip on exhause ot a baffled full system. im currently running a akra but im switching to a full akra or arrow headers on the slip on...basically same end result.
 
40 years of riding (ad counting) and sad to say for safety I avoid night riding

Same here too, just not as many years riding.Wear a reflective vest if I'm out at night.
 
40 years of riding (ad counting) and sad to say for safety I avoid night riding

I don't worry about cars at night as much any more, at least not since I bounced over a porcupine that had wandered out onto the dark highway in front of me at night. Got lucky, didn't go down but did crack a lower cowl housing.

In answer to that, more lighting pointing forward and more pointing back is my first line of defence to give the bike a wider profile at night and to help see the next porcupine before it tries to stab me to death. Reflective strips would be nice, but not a lot of hard surface on back to mount them on so hi-vis is what's left.
 
when night riding, do you think hi vis gear or reflective panels is more beneficial at night. I'm not talking about gear that has both hi vis yellow and reflective panels but just seperately the two And which you think is more effective during night time.


take a look, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-r2cgmIsrU what do you think? works great, so high viz vest or gear with reflective beading works great.
 
I have a reflective vest somewhere. Will put some auxiliary lighting on the front, but make sure I point it down enough that I don't blind oncoming traffic. Also, I Ride within my sight line at night; there are plenty of deer here. Not so many raccoons, the bears eat them ;)

Try moving in the lane at night a little more, if you have room. People catch motion first.

take a look, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-r2cgmIsrU what do you think? works great, so high viz vest or gear with reflective beading works great.

Bad commercial overall. Clowns are taking up a whole lane of the road. Not sending a good message to joggers. At 250 feet you can see those wearing white. Imagine if they went with black or grey instead?
No white at night, is not a good jingle.
 
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Bad commercial overall. Clowns are taking up a whole lane of the road. Not sending a good message to joggers. At 250 feet you can see those wearing white. Imagine if they went with black or grey instead?
No white at night, is not a good jingle.

I think the point of the commercial was to show show the effectiveness of the hi-viz bands not how to run.. :rolleyes:
 
40 years of riding (ad counting) and sad to say for safety I avoid night riding

Anyone can cut their chance of getting killed in half by keeping off roads Friday and Saturday nights.

Reflective gear is a panacea, a drunk or texting or drunk/texting driver will not see you, or if they do see you, they have a better target to fixate on.
 
in all honesty, yes loud-ish pipes do save lives.

No, they don't. This has been disproven over and over.

And listening to music is not a good idea, you basically are removing one of your senses, if you need to do that, plug your nose.
 
No, they don't. This has been disproven over and over.

And listening to music is not a good idea, you basically are removing one of your senses, if you need to do that, plug your nose.

My nose has warned me, on more than one occasion, of spilled diesel on a ramp ;)
 
My nose has warned me, on more than one occasion, of spilled diesel on a ramp ;)

Or a retread about to blow.

if you smell burning rubber get out of there.
 
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I think the point of the commercial was to show show the effectiveness of the hi-viz bands not how to run.. :rolleyes:
The problem is that you see the whole commercial, not just the bands.
 
I have actually been thinking about night visibility a bunch. I was looking around the other day and came across Volvo Life Paint. I thought it was an April fools joke but it seems totally real. I am hoping they release this in Canada/USA so that we can start using it as well, apparently its only in Europe right now. They spray it on bags and bike frames, I was thinking about spraying it on my jacket, helmet (maybe), and maybe some areas on my bike. Stuff looks pretty awesome, I already use a High Viz helmet, but this should help a lot when its released here (if it ever is). http://www.volvolifepaint.com/
 
Oxford makes a reasonably inexpensive high vis vest with integrated LED lights. I have a couple of normal high vis vests that I use for longer trips in case of a weather change, haze, stupid drivers etc. I find that they don't add too much warmth in the summer as they let air flow quite well and I'd rather be seen than try to win fashion awards. Also anecdotal perhaps, but I've never attracted any attention from the fuzz while riding with sensible bike clothing on.
 
I have actually been thinking about night visibility a bunch. I was looking around the other day and came across Volvo Life Paint. I thought it was an April fools joke but it seems totally real. I am hoping they release this in Canada/USA so that we can start using it as well, apparently its only in Europe right now. They spray it on bags and bike frames, I was thinking about spraying it on my jacket, helmet (maybe), and maybe some areas on my bike. Stuff looks pretty awesome, I already use a High Viz helmet, but this should help a lot when its released here (if it ever is). http://www.volvolifepaint.com/

Make sense with bicycles, but how many riders have been overdriven and hit from the rear at speed?

At left turns, if they don't see you with a headlight directed right at their eyes, they won't see you with a Christmas tree as pillion.
 
Make sense with bicycles, but how many riders have been overdriven and hit from the rear at speed?

At left turns, if they don't see you with a headlight directed right at their eyes, they won't see you with a Christmas tree as pillion.

I have been hit from the rear at speed, not sure extra visibility would have helped.
 

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