Kawasaki Concours Forum
Mish mash => Open Forum => Topic started by: Tree on June 15, 2017, 07:56:34 AM
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I am considering a strobe light front and rear to increase my visibility. Does anyone out there have something like that or a better alternative?
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:) Maybe some blue and red flashing lights.
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I don't want to go over-board. I just might break out in handcuffs.
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But don't do it like these guys if you do...
http://youtu.be/PkPU8mCfpIg (http://youtu.be/PkPU8mCfpIg)
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I don't know about the front but for the rear I really liked my Hyperlites 3 way. LED, MUCH brighter tail light, 5 sec flashing brake light and turn indicators all in one.
http://www.hyperlites.com/3way.html (http://www.hyperlites.com/3way.html)
http://youtu.be/o7rTN7L7ZdQ (http://youtu.be/o7rTN7L7ZdQ)
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I am considering a strobe light front and rear to increase my visibility. Does anyone out there have something like that or a better alternative?
I tinkered with that idea several years ago when I first got the Concours. I placed tiny white strobe tubes in the city lights with the city lights replaced to be yellow , set for one flash every 1.5 seconds or so.... the idea being to be better seen. It is the same concept as what buses here have on them, but not as annoying. The occasional twinkle actually wasn't a bad idea and I think it helped some. I had a switch on the dash to disable it. The controller died years ago and I didn't bother to replace it.
The legality of any strobe is questionable, especially depending on the color, frequency, and direction; also all depending on the type of vehicle. It will certainly gain the negative attention of law enforcement if done incorrectly or annoyingly.
As I know it- the only legal colors facing front are white and yellow; sides are yellow (sometimes red for large vehicles). The only legal color facing back would be red (yellow can be used only for turn signals and only blinking or on when turning). Having any strobe facing back would be a no-no because it could be mistaken as braking and likely to get you in trouble. It would also be very distracting.
Having a momentary flash added to an additional brake light is a good thing, and I won't ride a bike without that. (My Admore will flash three times rapidly on braking and then go solid. It will not flash again until the brakes are released for at least 30 seconds... which prevents annoyance in stop-and-go traffic).
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I don't know about the front but for the rear I really liked my Hyperlites 3 way. LED, MUCH brighter tail light, 5 sec flashing brake light and turn indicators all in one.
Personally, I think 5 seconds is way, way, way overkill and reaches beyond safety and into annoying. And the danger there is the possible dulling of subsequent reaction time by those behind you who might start to tune it out as over-reaction. I certainly hope that it at least has a time-delay before reactivating!