night riders?

[RRrider]

^^^excellent point. With a projector, it works great though...just a lot more visibility.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Auxiliary LED headlamps are great

Visibility vests

Halo band for helmet

 

[Variable]

NOTE: Car drivers don't really "see" you during the day. At night, it's even worse. Suggest to try to be even more visible to cars at night by using the all the above ^^^ suggestions.

Ride safe and have fun!

 

[Chris]

As far as reflective stuff goes - I'm generally not a fan, but there are some pretty sedate options available out there, especially if your bike already has graphics on it.
You might get some ideas here http://www.tapeworks.com

 

[CycleCam303]

Well little 250 that could is back in the stable. OP is still alive. Like what was shown above, the R6 has some solid lighting with the high beam on. Lol better than what I got at least.

OP went on her first twisty ride today, err yesterday. Left from pleasant hill down Alhambra valley road to bear creek, wildcat, to skyline, and down pinehurst then we cut it short by bailing out in moraga instead of hitting redwood road. Aside from being friggin dark out there; couple dirty areas mid corner, water mid corner on that left handed sweeper near the bottom of the long hill on bear creek road, wildcat and on started getting really foggy along with the contraction going on which makes picking lines umm interesting and we saw a few deer waiting to jump in front of us along the way.

We took our time and it was a nice clear night without the moon. I imagine most people with literally a month of moto experience would be pretty uncomfortable with the whole situation but Jimi did a good job and no one got hurt. Success

 

[jimichanga]

^ Cam, i can't thank you enough! you were a FANTASTIC guide last night! i'll be sure to wash your sweater before i return it so you don't smell like Bieber perfume! lol

 

[Variable]

Well little 250 that could is back in the stable. OP is still alive. Like what was shown above, the R6 has some solid lighting with the high beam on. Lol better than what I got at least.

OP went on her first twisty ride today, err yesterday. Left from pleasant hill down Alhambra valley road to bear creek, wildcat, to skyline, and down pinehurst then we cut it short by bailing out in moraga instead of hitting redwood road. Aside from being friggin dark out there; couple dirty areas mid corner, water mid corner on that left handed sweeper near the bottom of the long hill on bear creek road, wildcat and on started getting really foggy along with the contraction going on which makes picking lines umm interesting and we saw a few deer waiting to jump in front of us along the way.

We took our time and it was a nice clear night without the moon. I imagine most people with literally a month of moto experience would be pretty uncomfortable with the whole situation but Jimi did a good job and no one got hurt. Success

 

[littlebeast]

embarrassing story - but i vividly remember my first experience riding at night. i was on the freeway, cruising along at a nice clip, no big deal. until a bike darted past me on the outside. really fast. my first thought was fucker, where the fuck did you come from? swerved to avoid hitting it. about that time i realized it was my own shadow.

 

[justanotherg20]

The single tail light on most bikes has the same problem, getting rear-ended
at night is a big risk for bikes. Only the big tourers with the lights
mounted on hard luggage overcome this well.

So, watch your six.

Or you can go crazy like I did and install lots of extra lights,
I have to commute after dark, so I lit up my bike just like a car.

Daytime running lights on front (ye old light triangle),
and additional running/brake lights on the back, as big and bright as I could mount.

Doesn't help with deer, but does wonders with cagers.

I strap a blinky bicycle light to my backpack. Figure it helps having a light closer to car/SUV eye level and it might attract their attention for a split-second, which is all you can hope for to help make your presence known.

Not sure if it actually helps or it's just a placebo but it works for me.

 

[bluremi]

Be extra careful on Friday and Saturday nights: that's when the number of drunk drivers skyrockets. If I'm forced to go ride during/after the "bar hours" I'll be extremely careful and pay extra attention to what's going on behind me--chances of getting rear-ended or side-swiped go through the roof.

Thursday and Sunday night are less dangerous, but just be aware. If someone's enough of an asshole to drive drunk, they're enough of an asshole to RUN after a collision.

 

[danate]

Gotta be ready for anything riding at night. The other night the car in front of me just drove into the center wall with me coming up behind them in the fast lane. Funny enough, they somehow managed to keep driving and made it over to the slow lane. I had left enough of a buffer to not really be in harm's way, but as I was slowing down I was keeping my eye on the mirror to make sure nobody came up from behind and smashed me.

I commute home 4 nights a week leaving at 3am from Burlingame going to San Jose. I've seen quite a few other "night riders" out there and usually exchange a friendly turn signal blink. I'm always curious if it's other barfers out there when I see one.