When to use high beams?

[bigiain]

My point exactly, my safety is more important than obeying the rule. I rather be known as a jerk in your book than to be in peices after grand ma or grand pa pulled out into the intersection in front of me.

But you're so self centered that you don't realise that "the rule" is there to maximise _everybodies_ safety?

I wonder how you'd feel if a truck driver claimed he didn't see your child/wife/girlfriend run out in front of him 'cause some bike rider had his hi beans on and the glare dazzled him?

Yeah, there's a bunch of ways I can maximise _my_ safety - that doesn't mean I implement them all, because I live in a society and I make compromises - if everybody acts in ways that maximise _their_ safety at the expense of other peoples safety, we're _all_ going to be less safe.

You say:

It's better to annoy other drivers a bit rather than not being noticed by one. Not every driver is careless but it takes only one to kill me and my beloved Duc.

Do you _really_ mean that? You're prepared to annoy every single other driver/rider you share the road with for some un-quantifiable but probably small improvement to your personal safety, without any regard for anyone elses safety?

I'm not sure if it's illegal or not but I never got pulled over or had a complained by other drivers.

Consider this your first complaint. _I_ think anyone, driver or rider, who uses their hibeams at night whilst riding/driving towards me is being a self centered jerk with an over-entitled sense of their personal safety and an irresponsible lack of personal responsibility. When _I_ become Emperor of the Universe, that attitude will be sufficient grounds to revoke driving licences...

big

[Desmostro]

you should really run a relay with it. its much more powerful with it.

More powerful? How does that work? I'll have to look into that. I'm not an electrician by any means.

+1 the Termis make a big difference.

[Holden]

I feel plenty safe with the low beam. A flash at an intersection means "go ahead" (or at least someone will think so). Oncoming traffic will attempt to blind you back... incites road rage in anyone who witnesses... pedestrians will throw rocks at you...

Maybe a flash or two to check the corner ahead when it's really dark...

I don't care if the people in front of me never see me—it's dangerous to ride like you think they do. I wouldn't want to give myself another reason to think they see me.

[Spidey]

Can I ask all you "high beam during daylight" riders to do some experiments for me? While you're out riding, look for other bikes with hibeams on, and see how easily you can make a quick but accurate estimate of their speed.

It might just be my eyes and brain, but find its way harder to work out how fast a bike is approaching when there's some glare from the headlights in my eyes. It's not a problem on bright sunny days, but overcast days or at dawn/dusk it's _really_ noticeable.

I think you're right that it's harder to judge the distance of a bike with a high beam on.  OTOH, a bike with brights much easier to see than one running a single headlight with low beams.  Personally, I'd rather a cage isn't sure how far away I am or how fast I was traveling rather than fail to see me entirely.  There are risks either way.   

And as I said earlier, I've become a lot more proactive in signaling my presence to left-turners rather than relying on my headlight (hi or low) to indicate my presence. 

[He Man]

I run high beam exclusively during the day. at night time, i usually ride with my low beams since i want to be able to flash my highs at people in conjunction with my horn (if im running high beams i cnat flash them).

visibility isnt much of an issue since no one looks for a bike. you could just be some jerk of with an HID conversion in thier honda civic. so its more about attention grabbing via flashing lights and loud horns.

Desmostro, your horn is high amperage draining, the stock wiring cant supply that type of power in an instant, so it might be weak when you first lay on it, or the wiring starts to get hot if you hold onto it. If you wire the relay correctly, the horn will have its own devoted power by the battery which is able to supply the correct amperage.

This is how it wires up....the horn button activeates the relay, relay closes the circuit, power flows from the battery to the horn. the original horn's power is just a switch to turn on the relay.

Ive laid my finger on the horn for about 1:30 minutes once with no ill effect. You should also have a fuse to protect your bike in case you ever do this though. this lady decided to park and chat on a cell phone in mid day traffic in a place that specifically states NO STANDING 4:30-7PM. and ended up clogging traffic by shutting a whole lane down. Call me an asshole for sitting there next to her and laying my horn on her, but she deserved every bit of it. Just like the guys that think they can stop in no parking lane to buy a sandwhich. thats grounds for immediate kick to the door.

edit: for the record, i rode a few months after i went down on my bike and my horn wire was cut ( didnt notice) but i felt NAKED without it. No lights? no problem? no horn. holy shit, its like having your mouth taped shut in a room with a blind person trying to save you.

[bigiain]

I think you're right that it's harder to judge the distance of a bike with a high beam on.  OTOH, a bike with brights much easier to see than one running a single headlight with low beams.  Personally, I'd rather a cage isn't sure how far away I am or how fast I was traveling rather than fail to see me entirely. 

Do you think the high or low beam makes a difference in visibility in the few hundred yard range?

My thinking is that I don't care if a car sees me from a mile away, at that distance they aren't a threat to me (yet). It's in the couple of hundred yard range when I'd like to give them the best chance of judging accurately "is it safe for me to turn in front of that guy", which means distance and speed estimates are important.

There are risks either way.

For sure.

big

[Spidey]

Do you think the high or low beam makes a difference in visibility in the few hundred yard range?

I think so.  Particularly on bumpy city streets.  I agree that I could give a shit about a mile away and that a coupla hundred yards is the where we need to get noticed.  It's completely anecdotal, but in that range, I notice motos with their brights and pay attention to them far more easily than those with low beams.  It's harder to judge how fast they're approaching, but its also harder for your eyes to scan over than and then forget you just saw them.  Of course, YMMV.

[He Man]

big city riding has said to me many times, Bright lights dont mean jack squat. (if your in the big city bright lights are common) Its your riding technique and horn that saves your ass.  Aka eyes peeled wide open, and looking for threats.

[MotoMoto]

Don't be a jerk, switch to low beam when you know it will annoy others.

+1 and I don't see how my safety improves when blinding the oncoming traffic and the one driving exactly in front of me!?
If those cagers get irritated and crash near me, then it's most likely me - on two wheels - paying the highest price...
flashing in critical situations - sure
hi beam on empty roads at night - fine
in the traffic - not for me, there I try to stay focused on what's going on around me, rather than playing with switches and buttons.

[Desmostro]

I'm mostly worried about 20 feet away in heavy city traffic.

Motorcycles going straight through an intersection being hit by cars turning left is, I believe, the most common moto accident there is.
In fact, it's happened to me twice. Both times lying on my back looking up at some person blubbering, "I didn't SEE you!" One even added, "You scared the hell out of me, you bounced right off my windshield!" Imagine his surprise.

If you're going 30MPH through and intersection, it leaves a cager making a left 1/2 a second max to see you or not before they punch it. (44 feet per second)
It's progressively less time the closer you are to the car in front of you. Commonly a moto's place in traffic appears to be a gap when cars drivers don't see a car roof over the other roofs there.  As soon as the car in front has passed, there is that split second you will be seen or not.

This is when I use my brights, horn, lasers, flair guns, grenade launchers... Day time rush hour. Cagers looser their friggin minds at rush hour.
All in all, you can't ever count on being seen. But it can't hurt trying IMH experience. This is also why I'm done with black helmets, and all black leathers.

[He Man]

This is when I use my brights, horn, lasers, flair guns, grenade launchers... Day time rush hour. Cagers looser their friggin minds at rush hour.
All in all, you can't ever count on being seen. But it can't hurt trying IMH experience. This is also why I'm done with black helmets, and all black leathers.

where can i get a grenade launcher? I would LOVE to have one. Got into another one of those situations today and wish i had a mini gun loaded on the front of my bike to cut them in half.

[Desmostro]

where can i get a grenade launcher? I would LOVE to have one. Got into another one of those situations today and wish i had a mini gun loaded on the front of my bike to cut them in half.

Ask Duckwrench13   

[He Man]

Pm'ed LOL!

i was riding home last night around 11pm on the highway, mothermake the beast with two backser, i coudlnt see a god damn thing in the fast lane. high beams everymake the beast with two backsing where. Defintely not cool to ride with them on at night in the big city. if theres no one around u then its cool, but when you and the 10,000 other cars around you have it on ,its a make the beast with two backsing dirtbag move.

[Holden]

You know what really gets me? All the "people" driving around with their fog lights on when it ain't the slightest bit foggy. Cause they think it looks cool, I guess?

[Raux]

You know what really gets me? All the "people" driving around with their fog lights on when it ain't the slightest bit foggy. Cause they think it looks cool, I guess?

in europe it's illegal to have more than 2 lights on unless there is fog. and if you have wipers on you have to have lights on. lots of rules over here.