LED headlight conversion

motoddrob said:
I prefer to ride stealth, no daytime riding lights.
I see those adventure riders riding the south coast roads all ablazed with lights all over the front end. Funny thing is they're all on the main roads when there are hundreds of kms of forestry tracks through some of the most amazing bush that'll take you where you want to go.
My GS BM sees more dirt than bitumen.
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Daytime head lights are mandatory on bikes here. Most cars are lit up like christmas trees now, so riding with no lights is akin to suicide.
Even if you're all lit up, the car driver will be saying "I didn't see him and he was riding too fast".
Put all the chances on your side.
Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
Daytime head lights are mandatory on bikes here. Most cars are lit up like christmas trees now, so riding with no lights is akin to suicide.
Even if you're all lit up, the car driver will be saying "I didn't see him and he was riding too fast".
Put all the chances on your side.
Paul
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Daytime running lights are better than none, but amongst heavy traffic (there's a lot generally on the roads in many areas of the UK) headlights get more 'lost in the noise' of the rest of the traffic, but we have to do as much as we can to be seen.
 
motoddrob said:
In Oz daytime lights aren't mandatory. I have never used daytime lights in over the 50 years of riding. Neither do my 2 riding mates that I ride mostly with. For each there own
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Yep, me either.
Unfortunately I think there are a lot of drivers out there with less than great eyesight and lights can be part of the problem anyway.
In built up areas lights will of little use if they can't see a certain mass nearby, best to lookout for them.........
 
Me, too!
The risk with daytime headlights is that the rider may presume that the car driver will have seen the headlight. Statistics, gained from States, when they began to implement mandatory daylight headlights: The average, over a couple of years, showed no reduction in casualties.
I don’t use mine, except in the dark. I always assume that the car driver hasn’t seen me and, so far, that’s kept me alive and accident free.
 
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I don't either unless it's dark as hell and raining. In bright daylight, it's hard to estimate distances to an approaching headlight. Ambulances and Firetrucks under lights and sirens get run into. BTW I was parked in a busy street a couple of weeks back and an elderly woman had a fall. The Ambulance stopped right where I was parked and its siren was painfully loud, seems there have been ungraded to a much higher volume. The Ambos must wear earplugs, it must be hearing damaging.
 
They might not see me but I see them. Obviously If the conditions are shit I'll switch them on but for normal daytime riding I'd rather not use them.
My argument is that my riding habits have kept me alive for over 50 years so no point changing them.
 
Similar to my take on horns - the postie bike horn on the SFQ got me through rego - have never used it as yet. Twin Fiamms were really an extension of my angry voice, expressing rage and disgust rather than preventing a potential accident. A polite toot-toot can get a car to move a tad to give space to squeeze through sometimes.
 
motoddrob said:
They might not see me but I see them. Obviously If the conditions are shit I'll switch them on but for normal daytime riding I'd rather not use them.
My argument is that my riding habits have kept me alive for over 50 years so no point changing them.
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That's what all old smokers say.
The younger ones are dead.
Paul
 
Shajota said:
Pretty sure that's the sort of argument a mum would use about riding motorcycles in general Paul! ;)
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That's what my parents said. I got my first motorised two wheeler at the ripe old age of 20.
Otherwise, insurers and health services for countries that have them also have a say.
It's a knife edge recurrent discussion.
Should we insure motorcycles?
Should we build roads without rules? Should the seat belt and the crash helmet be mandatory?
Should our health services pay for smokers and drinkers?
Believe me, it's an ongoing and recurrent discussion, so far, sanity and individual freedom prevail.

In my younger days, even after it was mandatory to ride with dipped beam in daytime, I wouldn't arguing that idiot car drivers should be looking. I know value my physical integrity too much at the price of my mental one and believe that an end should be put to the car as individual transport. One of the many signs of humanity's lack of intelligence.

Paul
 
motoddrob said:
They might not see me but I see them. Obviously If the conditions are shit I'll switch them on but for normal daytime riding I'd rather not use them.
My argument is that my riding habits have kept me alive for over 50 years so no point changing them.
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or you just were lucky for a loooong time...

Friend of mine rode bikes since almost 40 years without a single drop of the bike when finally in itally when he was riding uphil, a bicyclist coming downhill did not get the corner tight enough and was riding on his side of the road. He had the choice to crash frontally into him or "open up" the stearing and crash into a wall. He decided for the wall. The bicyclist did not even stop to help. 6 month in hospital, several surgeries and recoveries later, he still can't move his right arm in certain positions which makes him unable to ride bikes anymore. Still, he was lucky, could have turned out way, way worse...

I am not saying a better light would have helped in this particular case, I am just saying that 50 years of being alive on a motorbike is not an achievement, it's mostly pure luck and luck is a bitch: it goes away when you need it most... You can controle just one side, you can NEVER controle the others in traffic. If you think you can compensate their faults, you get caught one day.

My experience: If you think you have everything under control, live proofs you wrong, sooner or later.
 
Exactly my point. You can have the best riding habits ever, you will never have everything under controle. But - and I am with you on that - with the wrong riding habits, you are more prone to accidents than with better ones. No guarantee though nothing will ever happen.
 
Lothar, I agree with you that luck plays an enormous part, it's something Captains are discouraged from saying to aeroplane passengers.
I'm reminded of an occasion when the late Jerry Barber, chipped one out of the bunker into the hole, in '61
A person watching Jerry told him: “Gee, you sure are a lucky trap shot player.”
“Yes, I know,” Jerry replied. “And the harder I practice, the luckier I get.”
 
Nice story, though there is a major difference to what I mean: practicing can improve your skills, but not your luck. It actually might replace luck at some point in time. However, that is only true for things YOU do. You are not influencing or even controlling the idiots around you by practicing; you might though get a better feeling for how stupid they are... ;)
 
Laverdalothar said:
or you just were lucky for a loooong time...

Friend of mine rode bikes since almost 40 years without a single drop of the bike when finally in itally when he was riding uphil, a bicyclist coming downhill did not get the corner tight enough and was riding on his side of the road. He had the choice to crash frontally into him or "open up" the stearing and crash into a wall. He decided for the wall. The bicyclist did not even stop to help. 6 month in hospital, several surgeries and recoveries later, he still can't move his right arm in certain positions which makes him unable to ride bikes anymore. Still, he was lucky, could have turned out way, way worse...

I am not saying a better light would have helped in this particular case, I am just saying that 50 years of being alive on a motorbike is not an achievement, it's mostly pure luck and luck is a bitch: it goes away when you need it most... You can controle just one side, you can NEVER controle the others in traffic. If you think you can compensate their faults, you get caught one day.

My experience: If you think you have everything under control, live proofs you wrong, sooner or later.
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Your friend wasnt unlucky- just driving in Italy! Worst driving I have ever seen, not just poor driving but deliberately bad driving .I was at the head of traffic at red light, they overtook me- and I have had someone reverse around a roundabout after missing an exit truly unbelievable.
I ride at drum brake speeds now…
 
The Sock said:
Lothar, I agree with you that luck plays an enormous part, it's something Captains are discouraged from saying to aeroplane passengers.
I'm reminded of an occasion when the late Jerry Barber, chipped one out of the bunker into the hole, in '61
A person watching Jerry told him: “Gee, you sure are a lucky trap shot player.”
“Yes, I know,” Jerry replied. “And the harder I practice, the luckier I get.”
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I thought Gary Player said that first?😉
 
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