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Back up beepers, and lane sharing.

CDONA

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Location
Based in Spearfish SD. rolled over there >
Moto(s)
Triumph scrambler, TW200, Monkey
Name
# 44659
Since I'm again living in a construction zone, with all the noise, I have one coming.
My TW will get one, since sirens seem to be limited to first responder applications, dirt construction should be ok ??
I do know that some street vehicles do run them. How handy would a beeper be alongside trucks??
 
I can't imagine that a sound almost universally recognized as a reversing vehicle, will cause people to look for a motorcycle. Get a louder horn and use it when needed.
 
People don't see/hear a police car with a $3000 LED lightbar, wig wag headlights and a $1000 siren going full blast. They magically going to hear a $50 beeper? GLWT.
 
NorCalBusa said:
People don't see/hear a police car with a $3000 LED lightbar, wig wag headlights and a $1000 siren going full blast. They magically going to hear a $50 beeper? GLWT.
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Exactly. Similarly I never understood why some rider use their emergency flashers. If cars don't see your headlight, they aren't going to see the flashers.
 
Enchanter said:
If cars don't see your headlight, they aren't going to see the flashers.
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If you're lane splitting, notably, say, in early morning when a lot of cars nowadays naturally have their lights on, your single light can be lost in the sea of other lights. The flashers help it stand out, much like yellow DRLs do. Someone glancing in the their rearview mirror may catch the flash of the blinkers enough to get a bit more of their focus necessary to acknowledge your existence.
 
As a car commuter, and someone that actively looks for motorcyclists, I disagree.
 
I can hear Surj screaming about this in my head.
He made a good point about people splitting with their hazards on. It just screams "this is dangerous and I probably shouldn't be doing this" which doesn't help our message at all.
I could actually make the argument for the distraction you cause to keep yourself safe could be the very thing that does you in. This applies equally to the OP.
Increase your mental bandwidth, keep your head on a swivel and leave the annoying gizmos at home.
You'll be just fine and your fellow motorists won't hate you (as much).
 
If you want to be seen while lane splitting, install a headlight modulator on your bike. There’s nothing better.
 
I will admit I have noticed flashers... do I approve? No, but I have seen them and I suppose that it the intent.

It is usually followed by the thought. Rookie.
 
budman said:
I will admit I have noticed flashers... do I approve? No, but I have seen them and I suppose that it the intent.

It is usually followed by the thought. Rookie.
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So much this.
And fuck headlight modulators. They're annoying as hell and give the driving public just one more reason to hate us.
I'll quote Surj here: "If you're afraid of lane sharing or feel it's so dangerous that you need to draw all kinds of attention to yourself to be safe, then you're not ready as a rider to engage in this activity."
I'm also talking to you, rev bombing Harley lane splitters. If you feel you need to use your throttle as a horn, you've got some work to do as a rider. Period.
 
I'm surprised at the hate modulators get here on BARF. Not only are they legal to use in all 50 states, studies have shown them to be very effective at getting one noticed. And, as a side benefit, I've found that when lane splitting in traffic, often people will move to the side a bit to give you more room.

I never, ever, depended on a modulator to keep me safe. For me it was just another tool in my tool box. Like wearing a helmet and full gear. Like having a brakelight modulator, like developing one's skills. Etc.

If I was still riding, my bike would have a modulator on it.

And they aren't any more distracting than emergency lights on a cop car. Actually, less so.
 
I’m with ST Guy, headlight modulators are like parting the sea (lane splitting). I've never experienced a negative reaction from a car driver.

The headlight isn't being turned on then off, nor is it switching between high and low beam. It's more like a pulsing. Federal law dictates that the power is varied from a high of 50-70% to a low of 17%.

For those of you that dislike them, are you sure that you are seeing a modulated headlight, or is it a bouncing headlight caused by the front suspension? I'm actively looking for other motorcycles with them and very, very rarely see one. Like one every 30-60 days.
 
I agree completely. It’s extremely rare to see another bike running a modulator. What most people think is a modulator is actual a headlight on steady high beam and it’s bouncing up and down. And a modulated light never runs at full bright, nor does it ever shut completely off. And as a side benefit, your bulbs will last a lot longer.

And thumbs up re the way it parts the sea.

Well worth the money.
 
I used to commute daily in the Silicon Valley and I might see one once a year. They are extremely rare. And they work really well.
 
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It seems that headlight modulators are a waning fad. They were becoming pretty popular about a decade ago, mostly in the Beemer crowd but I rarely see them now.
As a rider, I take extra care when commuting in my truck and the rubes with their hazards on look stoopid. The headlight washes out the hazards, it happens so fast anyway as they flash past you and I only notice that the hazards are on when they are past me.
As to people still running into fire trucks, that's a false positive. How many people don't run into fire trucks because they see the lights and hear the sirens?

Every tool in your toolbox will contribute to getting the job done.
 
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ST Guy said:
They are extremely rare. And they work really well.
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If they truly are "the shit"...then the manufactures would provide that feature from the factory....at least as an option.
Or the NTSB would require them....
Or more riders would be using them.....
I put them in the same category as the dorky hi-viz vests. Sure, they may have some small visibility benefits, but I'm convinced they merely provide a false sense of security in the rider's head that isn't there in any practical way.
 
We've heard this before when discussing anything new. Seatbelts, ABS, disc brakes, traction control, etc. Relying on any of these things to keep us safe, is just plain stupid. Adding a tool to the toolbox is a good thing.

Since 1986 I've had at least one bike in the garage with a headlight modulator. It really is like parting the sea when I ride that bike. When splitting, I'm given more space, more quickly, and farther ahead. When riding on surface streets cars don't pull out in front of me as often, or as close as when I'm riding a non-modulated motorcycle. A nice side benefit is that cars move out of the fast lane and at a much greater distance ahead of me.

To reiterate, headlight modulators aren't bright flashes of light. They aren't like first responder wig-wag headlights. They aren't swapping from hi to low to high. They are more like a pulsing christmas light. The human brain senses that as motion. Motion is easier for humans to detect.
 
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