Riding with full beam on all the time.
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Riding with full beam on all the time.
I know it's wrong, and probably illegal. But having got sick of cagers trying to kill me I thought I would experiment and try riding with my headlight on full beam all the time. The result is a dramatic improvement
This is riding during daylight hours so nobody is going to get dazzled, at worst mildly irritated. I've ridden past police cars and nothing happened.
Has anybody else done this? I'm expecting quite a bit of criticism for this but it really is working! Since I started doing this only one car has pulled out on me, and one motorcycle. Before I would expect at least one incidence per ride, now it's about one in ten rides.
This is riding during daylight hours so nobody is going to get dazzled, at worst mildly irritated. I've ridden past police cars and nothing happened.
Has anybody else done this? I'm expecting quite a bit of criticism for this but it really is working! Since I started doing this only one car has pulled out on me, and one motorcycle. Before I would expect at least one incidence per ride, now it's about one in ten rides.
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
cant agree with this one.......check your height adjusment and if needed bring it up some,the lights on these things are ace.......but full beam too much lighty no likey !!
each too their own
each too their own
Scoots so far- Peugeot jetforce 125,honda Dylan 125,yamaha x max 125,honda pcx 125,honda nss300 forza ;-) and bikes were kh250, zxr750L1,zx9B1,zx9c1,wr426,xjr1300sp,09-z1000
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
Makes lil difference if black or not as the lights are very bright if adjusted rightWoolley wrote:is your pcx black?
- maddiedog
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
I've never touched my light switch -- I ride on high all the time, day or night. It increases visibility, it's worth pissing everyone else off.
Never gotten in trouble for it thus far (5200 miles).
Never gotten in trouble for it thus far (5200 miles).
Currently ride: 2011 Honda PCX 125 - Upgraded windshield and seat, keeping this one mostly stock
Previously rides: 2005 V-Strom DL650, 1974 Vespa Ciao, 2011 Honda PCX 170 (tons of mods - takegawa 170cc big bore kit, gears, etc), 1996 Honda Nighthawk 250, 1987 Honda Spree, 2000 KTM 125SX, 2003 Honda Silverwing, 2007 Genuine Buddy 125, 1998 Honda PC800, 2008 Buddy 125 (white), 2008 Buddy 125 (red), 2001 Honda Reflex, 1987 Honda Elite, 1988 Honda Spree, 2007 Yamaha Vino, 2007 Honda Metro, 2x 125cc pure-chinesium dirt bikes
Previously rides: 2005 V-Strom DL650, 1974 Vespa Ciao, 2011 Honda PCX 170 (tons of mods - takegawa 170cc big bore kit, gears, etc), 1996 Honda Nighthawk 250, 1987 Honda Spree, 2000 KTM 125SX, 2003 Honda Silverwing, 2007 Genuine Buddy 125, 1998 Honda PC800, 2008 Buddy 125 (white), 2008 Buddy 125 (red), 2001 Honda Reflex, 1987 Honda Elite, 1988 Honda Spree, 2007 Yamaha Vino, 2007 Honda Metro, 2x 125cc pure-chinesium dirt bikes
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
I've never done that. Knowing insurance in this country if i did that and a car went into me head on it would be my fault for blinding him. And then the insurance would be void cus the bike has a sticker on it. Undeclared mod. And id have to pay out for the other drivers whiplash and constant pain. And id have to pay for his 7 months of using a hire car cus his car would be written off from the surface scratch on the plastic bumper.
Sound mad? Not according to co-op car insurance.
But anyway yeah i wouldnt do that anyway. Get enough dazzle from boy racers using 10000k HID's in their corsas round here with about as much beam pattern as an ignited fart, without people using full beam aswell.
Sound mad? Not according to co-op car insurance.
But anyway yeah i wouldnt do that anyway. Get enough dazzle from boy racers using 10000k HID's in their corsas round here with about as much beam pattern as an ignited fart, without people using full beam aswell.
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
Wouldn't dream of doing it and would happily kick anyone who did it in the balls with my steel toe-capped size 10s
Four decades on two wheels has taught me nothing, all advice given is guaranteed to be wrong
- EddieC
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
I ride with my high (or full?) beam on at all times while riding in the daylight. It is proven that it increases a bikers visibility (to other cars) by a vast amount. In fact, both the Arizona and California motorcycling handbook recommend that you ride with the high beam on during the day. At night, it's usually always on the regular low beam unless I have no oncoming traffic. The streets here are lit very well so I usually don't feel the need to use he high beam at night. Sometimes I flash the highbeam if I feel that a car doesn't see me but that's about it.
I can spot a motorcyclist from blocks away if the rider is using his or her high beams during the day. When they don't, they just blend in with other cars. As a cage driver I appreciate it when motorcyclists make themselves more visible during the day by utilizing their high beam, so I will ALWAYS use mine during the day.
I can spot a motorcyclist from blocks away if the rider is using his or her high beams during the day. When they don't, they just blend in with other cars. As a cage driver I appreciate it when motorcyclists make themselves more visible during the day by utilizing their high beam, so I will ALWAYS use mine during the day.
- haildamage
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
i think it is a non-issue for daylight riding and not a bad idea at all. you could also put a blue LED light strip on the front if you really wanna be more visible if that isnt illegal in the UK?
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
Blue lights on private vehicles are completely illegal in the UK.
As is driving with full beam during daylight hours.
As is driving with full beam during daylight hours.
Four decades on two wheels has taught me nothing, all advice given is guaranteed to be wrong
- haildamage
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
thanks for pointing out the legal issues. what i meant is that there is no issue with safety or blinding drivers with the high beam in normal daylight conditions. however, i know the UK has a reputation for often being dark and rainy...gn2 wrote:Blue lights on private vehicles are completely illegal in the UK.
As is driving with full beam during daylight hours.
i doubt the police are gonna notice you are running high beams in the daytime. if you did have an accident you could always claim that you werent and it must have somehow gotten switched to high beam in the crash.
so maybe get a white LED strip or whatever color you can get away with in the UK.
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
I disagree, in my opinion it presents a risk of dazzling other road users.haildamage wrote:what i meant is that there is no issue with safety or blinding drivers with the high beam in normal daylight conditions
Together with the new style of high intensity lamps it's a pet hate of mine and anyone who does it is on a par with a sheep shagger or kiddy fiddler.
Four decades on two wheels has taught me nothing, all advice given is guaranteed to be wrong
- haildamage
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
but does the PCX have such high intensity lamps? its a good headlight but its not that bright that anybody is even going to notice that its on high beam in the daytime!gn2 wrote:I disagree, in my opinion it presents a risk of dazzling other road users.haildamage wrote:what i meant is that there is no issue with safety or blinding drivers with the high beam in normal daylight conditions
Together with the new style of high intensity lamps it's a pet hate of mine and anyone who does it is on a par with a sheep shagger or kiddy fiddler.
- EddieC
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
This is completely legal for daytime use in CA.
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
Yeah but everyone would think your flashing them to let them pull out and just pull out in front of you anyway...EddieC wrote:This is completely legal for daytime use in CA.
- EddieC
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
I'm no fan...
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
It's just plain wrong.haildamage wrote:but does the PCX have such high intensity lamps? its a good headlight but its not that bright that anybody is even going to notice that its on high beam in the daytime!
End of.
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Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
I've been looking around the web and the opinions are fairly evenly divided, with maybe a small majority not in favour of this (but not by much). It's so close in fact that I'm going to do a more detailed test. I'll do 200 mls with full beam and count the number of smidsys etc. and then 200 without full beam, and see what the results are.
As for the legality, I'm not really that sure. It might be reasonable to say that it's illegal to have your lights on full beam all the time in daylight - certainly the God awful HID things certainly shouldn't be, - But as a rider you have a duty to yourself and other road users to be visible. On page 107 of the Police rider's handbook to better motorcycling, when discussing the purpose of signals it has the sentence 'Only give a signal when another road user may benefit from it' highlighted. This is open to interpretation, I want other road users and pedestrians to see me. They are therefore, potentially, benefiting from my use of the signal: full beam.
Anybody who wonders about it may like to try it for themselves and see if they notice any difference - with the caveat that this may be viewed dimly by the police in your part of the World, (if you get busted by the police, it's on your head, not mine ). One things for sure, if you do try it, the World won't grind to a halt, you won't leave a trail of destruction in your wake, cagers won't be blinded, etc. etc.
A common sense approach to it's (high beam) use in traffic such as switching it off when it's obvious that it may cause a problem to someone else, is all that should really be needed.
It's interesting that riding your motorcycle with your headlights on full is positively encouraged in some places and not in others. Like filtering/lane splitting in different areas I guess.
As for the legality, I'm not really that sure. It might be reasonable to say that it's illegal to have your lights on full beam all the time in daylight - certainly the God awful HID things certainly shouldn't be, - But as a rider you have a duty to yourself and other road users to be visible. On page 107 of the Police rider's handbook to better motorcycling, when discussing the purpose of signals it has the sentence 'Only give a signal when another road user may benefit from it' highlighted. This is open to interpretation, I want other road users and pedestrians to see me. They are therefore, potentially, benefiting from my use of the signal: full beam.
Anybody who wonders about it may like to try it for themselves and see if they notice any difference - with the caveat that this may be viewed dimly by the police in your part of the World, (if you get busted by the police, it's on your head, not mine ). One things for sure, if you do try it, the World won't grind to a halt, you won't leave a trail of destruction in your wake, cagers won't be blinded, etc. etc.
A common sense approach to it's (high beam) use in traffic such as switching it off when it's obvious that it may cause a problem to someone else, is all that should really be needed.
It's interesting that riding your motorcycle with your headlights on full is positively encouraged in some places and not in others. Like filtering/lane splitting in different areas I guess.
Re: Riding with full beam on all the time.
Full beam always on is inconsiderate.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/40/section/2
Because it causes discomfort to other road users.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989 ... on/27/made
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/40/section/2
Because it causes discomfort to other road users.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989 ... on/27/made
Four decades on two wheels has taught me nothing, all advice given is guaranteed to be wrong