Bikes with Spotlights

[Grant650x]

I did a quick trip from Cape Town to Mosselbay / George / Oudtshoorn and back to Cape Town on the R62 on a Saturday morning couple of weeks ago to pick up and deliver borehole pumps and water filters
Got on the road early in the rain and got back in the evening

I got to see as a cage driver how the Adventure Bikers get their mobile Xmas tress on the road and made the following observations

1) the most visible bikes in low light conditions and the rain were the bikes with the orange lens covers - these things work well
2) the BMW riders seem to be the guys with the biggest budgets to turn the bikes into mobile spotlight trees and these were as visible as the average car in the rain - not as visible as a bike with a single orange light
3) when it was pretty dark and the swines approached with their multiple spots on it got my back up and then I insisted on going full brights and spots to retaliate- it is far more irritating looking at brights and spots through a visor than a windscreen
4) a lot of the GS riders seem to only have the orange lens covers on the bright lens and not the dim
6) a lot of these GS bikes have a minimum of 4 spots on in all conditions that they have on all day or night

I also have spots but never use them when vehicles are approaching - I may blast a driver with my spots when lane splitting and a cage looks as though it may change lanes

Why do adventure bikers alienate the rest of the road users like this
I have ridden bikes for a while and understand that we regard ourselves as targets for doff cagers

Possibly something for guys to look at getting if they want to be more visible would be the orange bark buster LED strips that Chris at Flying Brick sells

[Hamilton]

I've now just wasted 2 minutes of my life reading this.

[Fransw]

I've now just wasted 2 minutes of my life reading this.

Slow reader!?

[Odd Dog]

I agree but not only bikes, 4 wheeled vehicles with spots, brights and unfocused lights are just as irritating but I don't let it lose me any sleep.

[Dirkie GS]

well on the f800gs the stock lights are terrible so i ride with the spotlights on at night and in the day with brights on and it has orange lens cover for visibility.
If people still don't "see" me at night I ride with the brights on as well

About 1 in a 100 cars flash me at night... so i dont think it bothers anyone much....and this is mostly low modern cars

does that answer your question?
so i use spots mainly for me to see and for people to see me..... but up here it seems like ill need another set of spotlights the way people drive!
some cagers of certain tone...that ride bright yellow vehicles ride with their brights on when its sunny???

[chris meyer]

Better be seen than dead.

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[Draadwerk]

Better be seen than dead.

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+1

[2StrokeDan]

Your bright lights will simply make a focal point for a motorist. Remember target fixation?

Seriously though, it is VERY bad manners, or at least totally inconsiderate to ride/drive with your high beam or spot lights on, even during the day.

Seems to me that ratio-wise accidents figures has risen instead of decline anyway.

Come on BMW boys, some of your "triangle configuration" spotlight system looks like a Mod scoot. Disgusting.

[Draadwerk]

Your bright lights will simply make a focal point for a motorist. Remember target fixation?

Seriously though, it is VERY bad manners, or at least totally inconsiderate to ride/drive with your high beam or spot lights on, even during the day.

Seems to me that ratio-wise accidents figures has risen instead of decline anyway.

Come on BMW boys, some of your "triangle configuration" spotlight system looks like a Mod scoot. Disgusting.

Ag kom nou Danie. As jy die Bikes op die pad sien kan jy tog duidelik onderskei tussen sigbaarheid met en sonder spotligte? 

Deur die dag verblind dit niemand nie.

Waar kry jy die statistiek dat ongelukke toegeneem het deur die gebruik van spotligte?

Of lepel jy maar net weer?...

[Sprocketbek]

It irritates the shit out of me.

It is illegal to use brights in built up areas, don't come and cry here when you are guilty of an offence.

[Oubones]

You ride a bike, so accept the fact that you are a target!
Be carefull to aggravate the cage drivers!

[2StrokeDan]

Your bright lights will simply make a focal point for a motorist. Remember target fixation?

Seriously though, it is VERY bad manners, or at least totally inconsiderate to ride/drive with your high beam or spot lights on, even during the day.

Seems to me that ratio-wise accidents figures has risen instead of decline anyway.

Come on BMW boys, some of your "triangle configuration" spotlight system looks like a Mod scoot. Disgusting.

Ag kom nou Danie. As jy die Bikes op die pad sien kan jy tog duidelik onderskei tussen sigbaarheid met en sonder spotligte? 

Deur die dag verblind dit niemand nie.

Waar kry jy die statistiek dat ongelukke toegeneem het deur die gebruik van spotligte?

Of lepel jy maar net weer?...

Nie werklik statistiek nie, net my persepsie dat daar meer motorfiets ongeluuke deesdae op ons paaie is, en as jy in ag neem dat baie ouens nou ry met spots, dan help dit duidelik nie?

[Fransw]

Ja, die bright ligte verblind mens in die dag!. Paar dae terug amper n BMW 1200 head on met my kar getref a.g.v daarvan..

Die oranje ligte is doeltreffend.

[ExploreSA]

BMW bikes do not have spots but fogs. Being the reason they don't dim.
Set them lower to be efficient and they will not irritate oncoming traffic.
Remember it is illegal to use white and amber simultaneously. But do just what you please.

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[Sylvester]

Better be seen than dead.

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-1

Spotlights are OK if applied correctly.  I can handle spotlights on a bike - up to a point; then bigger does not translate to better anymore.  Getting totally blinded from the front or in the rear view mirror makes it impossible to judge distance, speed or lane.  Very dangerous if you ask me.

[2wdrift]

Your bright lights will simply make a focal point for a motorist. Remember target fixation?

Seriously though, it is VERY bad manners, or at least totally inconsiderate to ride/drive with your high beam or spot lights on, even during the day.

Seems to me that ratio-wise accidents figures has risen instead of decline anyway.

Come on BMW boys, some of your "triangle configuration" spotlight system looks like a Mod scoot. Disgusting.

Ag kom nou Danie. As jy die Bikes op die pad sien kan jy tog duidelik onderskei tussen sigbaarheid met en sonder spotligte? 

Deur die dag verblind dit niemand nie.

Waar kry jy die statistiek dat ongelukke toegeneem het deur die gebruik van spotligte?

Of lepel jy maar net weer?...

Nie werklik statistiek nie, net my persepsie dat daar meer motorfiets ongeluuke deesdae op ons paaie is, en as jy in ag neem dat baie ouens nou ry met spots, dan help dit duidelik nie?

Kan dit wees omdat daar heelwat meer bikes op die paaie is deesdae?

Of net heelwat meer verkeer op die paaie is...

[jaybiker]

As far as I'm concerned owners can deck their bikes out with whatever farkles they like, and I'm rarely ever upset by how much light a vehicle is showing.

What does bother me though, as has happened too often in the past, is that some bloody interfering do gooder decides that it's a  good idea to legislate and make it compulsory for everyone.

[Buddy]

Lots of spots = small penis syndrome 

[ClimbingTurtle]

BMW bikes do not have spots but fogs. Being the reason they don't dim.
Set them lower to be efficient and they will not irritate oncoming traffic.
Remember it is illegal to use white and amber simultaneously. But do just what you please.

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Correct - although this is rarely enforced, and I have never been stopped, I have a amber cover on my dims & brights, but not the fogs.. It is however, more visible for the car-drivers around I believe. At night I remove the cover as it absorbs more light, so throws less.

[teebag]

The low beam of my 800GSA was so piss poor the factory LED fog lights were never off - never had one oncoming vehicle flash, so assume they didn't cause any annoyance.

The orange lens makes the light slightly dimmer, so for the daytime it is fine, but at night it made the 800 low beam even worse, so riding at night was rather scary when you have to dip your main beam and suddenly you have the light of about 12 orange birthday cake candles shining 2m in-front of you to light your way - especially on roads and highways without streetlights.

I think it comes down to correct adjustment and awareness but most importantly giving a shit if you are blinding other road users  - most road users don't give a phuck just look at how many change lanes without indicating, use their phones while driving, jump robots