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New rider here, I plan on doing my first "night ride" tonight. Other than the deer here in upstate NY, are there any other things i should be aware/leery of? any tips would be most appreciated.
first time riding at night
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thanks for the tips, Ive only been on "real" roads for a day now, so the thought of "real" roads coupled with night riding is a little daunting.
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There aren't really that many problems with night driving with the exception of critters and people with poorly aimed HID's. The worst is actually dawn or dusk, whenever the sun is almost level with the horizon and you gotta fight it. For visibility, I always wear a neon reflective vest and ride with two fingers out so I'm ready to brake at a moment's notice. For deer, I go for the Parthian shot.
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Bad advice. Always ride with dipped beam, the last thing you want to be doing is dazzling oncoming traffic, especially if you are riding down a narrow road, or turning right across it. Oncoming traffic will not see you indicating if it is dazzled by your high beam.
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+5Bad advice. Always ride with dipped beam, the last thing you want to be doing is dazzling oncoming traffic, especially if you are riding down a narrow road, or turning right across it. Oncoming traffic will not see you indicating if it is dazzled by your high beam.
low beams unless you are alone on the road at night.
High beams could dazzle an oncoming driver... and thats the last thing you'd want to run into
I used to be conciensious about not blinding drivers with high beams but I find nobody seems to care or return the favor. Most people don't even realize that when their daytime running lights are on their dash lights and rear running lights are off. The odds are 10 to 1 I'll get killed by the teenage girl texting before before my high beam blinds her. It's hard to be blinded by my headlight when your looking at your phone! I'm not saying I'm right by riding this way but I would rather take the chance.
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One of the weird conclusions that Bob Hurt made in his report was that riding with the high beams on was a recommendation and that it helped reduce the chance of an accident. Then again, the Hurt Report was published nearly 40 years ago and motorcycles these days come with higher quality lights that also run during the day. Nonetheless, motorcycles with stock headlights running their high beams doesn't bother me too much. It's the dopes with the cheap, poorly aimed, and overpowering HID kits that piss me off.
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Thanks for the tips everybody. Well, I did it! Completed my first night ride. Not only was it my first night ride, it was also my first 4 lane highway ride! Another confidence booster in the books!
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Just take it easy man. Don't push beyond comfort yet. You can test your limits after you have a lot more miles under your belt.
Our CBR is one of the few bikes I've owned that I will dim the lights for oncoming traffic at night. Many maaaaany of the others that I've rode over the years had such pizz-poor lighting, my high beam, even though higher on the horizon, wasn't any brighter than 1 of the headlights from any oncoming car.
We have 3 nice bright lights on the front of our ride, and the high beam is quite powerful for what it is AND quite high up on the horizon (as it should be). I dim it out if there's no physical divider between me and Mrs. I Gotta Text About My Latte I just Picked Up In The New Car Daddy Bought Me Cuz I Passed My License Today.
Yes, Hurt was right- people will notice you more with your high beam on at night, even in today's world. But it's less of an overall concern in the era of Halogen and HID and Projectors than it was back in the dim dismal days of plain old tungsten incandescents.
Our CBR is one of the few bikes I've owned that I will dim the lights for oncoming traffic at night. Many maaaaany of the others that I've rode over the years had such pizz-poor lighting, my high beam, even though higher on the horizon, wasn't any brighter than 1 of the headlights from any oncoming car.
We have 3 nice bright lights on the front of our ride, and the high beam is quite powerful for what it is AND quite high up on the horizon (as it should be). I dim it out if there's no physical divider between me and Mrs. I Gotta Text About My Latte I just Picked Up In The New Car Daddy Bought Me Cuz I Passed My License Today.
Yes, Hurt was right- people will notice you more with your high beam on at night, even in today's world. But it's less of an overall concern in the era of Halogen and HID and Projectors than it was back in the dim dismal days of plain old tungsten incandescents.
Why can't our bikes be like cars? Daytime running lights on cars are their high beams on running at reduced power which makes them very visible without being dazzling. Exactly what we need on motorcycles to be seen and simple for the manufacturers to do. It should be mandatory.
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*scratching head*
er, we do have daytime running lights? Or did I miss where the "headlights off" switch is on the CBR?
My point is that high beam at reduced power for daylight would make the bike more visible to oncoming traffic but not be too dazzling. Cars have this system for their daytime running lights combined with a switch to turn the lights on for night driving. Just look at the visibility of oncoming cars with daytime running lights compared to motorcycles with dip beam. I just think the car approach is a better and safer solution to being seen in daytime. It might prevent some collisions where the car driver says "I didn't see the motorcycle".
On a motorcycle, running on high beam in daytime certainly makes you visible but is illegal in most areas and is very annoying to oncoming vehicles.
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