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night riders?

If you add extra lighting just make sure your charging system can keep up with it. It does help alot at night.
 
sanjuro said:
FYI, I look much cooler at night

800_IMG_0588.jpg
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siiiiiick dude. where did you get those?
 
Oakland right? I enjoy riding the Oakland hills, East bay hills, and the twisties near Martinez at night. I'll send you a PM about towing you around. Personally, a really small group is key in this situation. Everyone else provided solid advice in regards to night riding. I think there is a lot of value to riding twisty stuff at night. Obviously the speeds will be slower, but it teaches confidence in the bike and forces you to look ahead. The headlights will illuminate the bot dots on the center line and you use that to plot and predict lines. If you lean the bike over a lot you lose a lot of vision. So leaning your body off more helps keep the bike upright along with helping you see through the corner. It's kinda cool cruising around at night since there really isn't any traffic or people around.
 
I'm another night worker that commutes on a bike. I ride every night between 2 and 4am rain or shine. Others have already said most of what you need to know.
Don't out drive your lights. Slow down or get better lights.
Reflectors on you and your bike are good, staying far away from cars and trucks is better.
Lots of drunks on the road after midnight.
Cops run radar and laser at night.
800 miles is not serious mileage. :ride
 
Hahaha, FYI, I got a ticket for having those valve stem lights on my truck years ago. They do look cool though when your cruisin'
 
I just started working night shift.. unfortunately it's 12am-8/10am Thursdays-Saturday. I'm really concerned about the drunk drivers aspect.. and my current bike has horrible lighting. I've done plenty of night riding on freeways and such though..
 
Lots of good advice here.

When riding at night it's VERY easy to find yourself focused on the area of the road surface most lit up by your headlight. We naturally want to look where it's brightest. Unfortunately, that's far too close. The game is trying to peer into the darkness past your headlight.
You'll also find that as the turns come, it pretty much seems like your headlight goes and lights up the OTHER way. (that's just a result of the lean angles)

So for daylight practice, I'd recommend making sure you are looking through the turns. That's just a nice way of saying don't look down-ish, at where you think your tires are aiming. Make sure you're travelling in a nice smooth arc, while keeping you eyes up towards the end of your turn. As this becomes more natural during the day, it helps you resist the urge to look down to the brightest headlight lit area at night.
 
Also watch this night riding training video about rider safety and etiquette filmed in Oakland:

[youtube]S2tKc8_7jB4[/youtube]
 
sanjuro said:
Also watch this night riding training video about rider safety and etiquette filmed in Oakland:

[youtube]S2tKc8_7jB4[/youtube]
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I fucking love that movie. Hell of a trip.
 
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pt65 said:
And, seriously, avoid AT ALL COSTS riding at twilight / dusk. It is the darkest time of day. Shadows are blackest, lights blaze brightest, and critters stir the most.
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+1 This can't be stressed enough.
 
its the same as daytime, except motorcycle headlights suck

some turn the opposite direction you are turning (like my drz)
some stay pointing straight with the bike (like my vfr)
some are fancy and actually point where you want to go (bmw or something)

harder to see road surface
more sleepy/drunk people

but in the summer time its soooooooooo nice!
 
Black R6? I saw you at the gas station this past Saturday by High Street. You had your head buried in your phone texting madly. :laughing
 
alright, so what i've gotten from all this is all the daytime rules apply + increase distance and wear flamboyant reflective stuff? i'm gonna try it out tonight. Cam inboxed me for a tow so i'm gonna try to get that ball rolling as well :) thanks a ton guys!
 
Well, besides being able to see, which this thread addressed...

Being seen is also a big problem.

A single headlight does not allows cagers to judge your oncoming speed
and distance well, slow down or risk getting cut off.

In city traffic, the single headlight can be mistaken for one of the headlights
of the car behind you, making you completely invisible at times.

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.
 
jimichanga said:
yeah it seems great! and i put these cute pink tire lights on that are only getting time to shine when i'm in tunnels :( this goddamn Kavinsky song makes me wanna get out at night and just cruise haha
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:rofl I don't know what it is about Nightcall that makes it the perfect tune for night driving but it just is.

Check out Green Leaves by The Glass for another awesome nightstalker song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMAidyNM_HM
 
Consider HID lights. These can dramatically increase your visibility and how easily you are seen. Also you can play a little with the colour of the light which some folks thinks looks cool (provided you don't go overboard).

Also wrt colour of clothing, I have found that HiViz matters during the day, but not at all at night. All you can see at night is the reflective stuff. Make sure your clothes have reflective strips but don't worry about the colour of the fabric.
 
RRrider said:
Consider HID lights. These can dramatically increase your visibility and how easily you are seen. Also you can play a little with the colour of the light which some folks thinks looks cool (provided you don't go overboard).
Click to expand...

If you choose this route, please don't go down to the local Cycle Gear and pick up one of those cheap "Speed Metal" HID kits, go home, install it in your stock reflector headlight housing and proceed to blind oncoming traffic. No amount of re-aligning your headlight will reduce this; HID's are really designed for use with projector lens assemblies, and fortunately the OP's R6 does indeed come with projectors stock.

DSCI0819.jpg
 
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