[KamiKazi]

BMWs LOL

[Please Kill Me]

Originally Posted by KamiKazi

BMWs LOL

Ah here mate, dont' get me started!!!

[Kev.OC]

Originally Posted by Cienciano

As for "learn to read traffic", and your garda safe course, you obviously never been unlucky enough to have had a car pull right out in front of you at a junction or from a parking space. The best option in that situation is to make sure you're seen so the car doesn't pull out in the first place.

I know what you're saying. Nearly crashed the car into a tractor a while back cause your man driving it pulled out onto a main road (from behind a tall hedge, at the top of a hill) without looking.

But regarding your dismissal of learning to read traffic, particularly the part in bold above, surely if he can see you, then you can see him, anticipate him pulling out and make the necessary adjustments, no?

[P.C.]

Originally Posted by Cienciano

My fog lights definitely don't dazzle
Your GS guy must have them focused differently to all the bikes I've seen

As for "learn to read traffic", and your garda safe course, you obviously never been unlucky enough to have had a car pull right out in front of you at a junction or from a parking space. The best option in that situation is to make sure you're seen so the car doesn't pull out in the first place.

Glad to know that you think your fog lights do not dazzle oncoming traffic. I know that they do.
Now turn off your fog lights when there is no fog, it is the law!

As to the rest, you are making you own case for training.
I have had plenty of cars pull out in front of me, cut me off in traffic, cross into my lane without signaling or seeing me, etc. The difference is that they have not hit me, and I have not hit them. I have anticipated a possible hazzard, and reacted accordingly.

[galwaytt]

Originally Posted by P.C.

Fog lights do not make you more visible when there is no fog.
They blind other traffic, including bikes. This makes you less visible, and puts you in greater danger of being involved in an accident.

Turn off your fog lights when there is no fog:
1.) it is safer;
2.) it is the law.


And learn to read traffic.

Originally Posted by P.C.

Glad to know that you think your fog lights do not dazzle oncoming traffic. I know that they do.
Now turn off your fog lights when there is no fog, it is the law!

The law you refer to refers to 'fog' lights as fitted to cars. To wit, there is an actual 'fog' light, switch, and even the NCT tests for an actual 'fog' light - as it is a specific technical regulation, EU-wide, and forms part of the vehicle's Type Approval/Homologation.

I think you'll find a complete absence of any such regulation, for motorbikes, so you can't be 'done' for them, one way or the other.

And, of course, they're not 'fog' lights - they're auxiliary or driving lights, so they wouldn't fall under the definition anyway.

At the same time, they shouldn't be set to blind people - they can still be on, useful...........and aimed downwards to prevent glare.

[Wossack]

Originally Posted by ninja900

Depends totally on the bike, what accessories you have on it and what your usage pattern is.

e.g. stop-start traffic, no riding outside of town for a few weeks, using heated grips, alarm fitted, dual-dip headlight modification, using spotlights when fitering, for me meant that the battery was gradually running down over time. You can be at that level and have the bike start fine every morning, but then one day you stall the bike a few minutes into your trip (no time to put much charge back) and find it won't restart. Lights coming on with the key is the worst thing you can have happen if the battery charge is marginal for starting.

If I don't get to go on any decent spins outside of town (which is usually ) I put the bike on a trickle charge every couple of weeks even though it's used every weekday. The charging system has been checked out and is normal. It's just down to the bike, the accessories and the way it's used.

tbf thats more of a compounded issue, then just lights on when starting

if the bike was stock, I would be chasing the manufacturer for this net loss of charge over a weeks normal use. The fact you have alot of additional drains on the charging system though, Im not surprised really that you need to augment with a trickle charger..

can possibly alleviate with a headlight mod such as for the triumph 675's:
http://www.triumphrat.net/daytona675...arted-mod.html
which has a notoriously small capacity battery

[BrokenArrows]

Originally Posted by galwaytt

...please tell me .........you do realise your lights don't run off the battery, right ?

But I hear ya on the other stuff.

Everything electrical on the bike runs off the battery! It just gets recharged when you're moving.

[ninja900]

Not over a week - it took a couple of months of that usage for the problem to show. It's hard to get the bike above 4000rpm in town, I'd have to ride it in first gear everywhere.
The succeeding model does have a bigger generator.
Sticking the bike on charge overnight once every few weeks as a precaution isn't any bother for me (bike has a power socket and is in a shed with power) - could be a hassle if living in an apartment or similar. Charger was €10 in Lidl when they had the bike gear in.

[mr chips]

Back to the EU then - got this in my inbox from MAG UK today. It's about EU-wide proposals ...


For more than a year, MAG has been warning that the EU wanted to replace our current MoT test with something that could be more complex, more expensive and which may further restrict the rider’s ability to modify their bike or trike. We’ve also been asking whether these ideas will make a significant difference, and whether they can be justified (‘thanks’ to everyone who supported Jon Strong‘s complaint to the European Ombudsman).

Now that the proposed EU Regulation on ‘Road Worthiness Testing’ (RWT) has been published, we can start to see what we are really faced with and big changes are on the way:

· noise levels tested with a meter (done by ear in the bike MoT)
· pollution tested with a gas analyser or data from On-Board Diagnostic devices (not in the bike MoT)
· compliance with EU Type-Approval to be checked, ie; ‘Illegal power-train modification’, (the MoT looks at UK construction and use regulations)
· brake fluid water content / boiling point analysed (not in the bike MoT)
· anti-theft devices tested (not in the bike MoT)
· re-test when the registered keeper changes, or after modification to safety / environmental systems and components, or after serious damage (these will be decisions for the UK authorities)
· dangerous faults will result in the vehicle’s registration being revoked until it passes the test (currently, such vehicles just can’t be driven on the road)
· information about each vehicle to be gathered by EU linking the databases held by national governments and manufacturers (depending on the results of a feasibility study)

· expect the new test around 2016 (we’ll keep you posted)

RWT certificates would contain new information, such as;

· boil temperature / water-content of the brake fluid
· brake forces and efficiency for each wheel
· exhaust emissions

Countries with more stringent road worthiness requirements than the Commission proposes, may keep them. For example, it seems likely that the UK would keep to annual testing (which is more frequent than the EU proposes).

The Regulation says "The goal of road worthiness testing is to check the functionality of safety components, the environmental performance and the compliance of a vehicle with its approval" - which ties-in neatly to anti-tampering/modification, which is the other Regulation (COM(2010)542) we are working on at the moment.

In essence, the RWT covers the similar items to our MoT: Identification of the vehicle; Braking equipment; Steering; Visibility; Lighting, horn, etc.; Axles, wheels, tyres, suspension; Chassis and attachments; Nuisance (noise and pollution)

However, RWT will treat pass/fail differently;

If 'Minor' deficiencies (ie; no significant effect on the safety of the vehicle, etc.) are all that’s found, the registered keeper of the vehicle will have to rectify the problem(s) 'without delay', but the vehicle may not need a re-test (this would be a decision for the UK authorities).
'Major' deficiencies (ie; may prejudice the safety of the vehicle or put other road users at risk, etc.) could still see vehicles continue to be used for up to 6 weeks before undergoing another test.
'Dangerous' deficiencies (ie; posing direct and immediate risk to road safety such that the vehicle may not be used on the road under any circumstances), would mean the vehicle registration is withdrawn until a road worthiness certificate is issued.

Some EU countries have never tested bike road worthiness; conversely the German ‘TuV’ test is linked to the vehicle’s registration papers, listing any modifications and after-market components on the vehicle, type-approved of course, to be checked at the test.
The Commission estimates that RWT in all member states will reduce casualties by 8%, but this figure seems very high compared to findings from various EU countries.

FEMA and many of its member organisations question whether RWT will make much difference to safety and a day of action is being planned for September.

Our National Committee is giving careful consideration to MAG’s policy on RWT, which will form the basis for our campaigning with riders, media, politicians and officials.
MAG predicted that, although the Commission might concentrate on making sure all EU member states have at least a basic road worthiness test, they like to aim high and we might get something more like the German TuV test, rather than the UK’s MoT. We also predicted it would be linked to the new EU Type-Approval Regulation to control any changes to the power-train, etc.

Some scoffed, accusing MAG of deliberately scaremongering – judge for yourself, the official documents can be found on the EU website:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_s...release_en.htm

[KamiKazi]

If that sh1t comes in I'm hanging up my (road) leathers.

[ninja900]

^ That's what they WANT you to do.

[mr chips]

DON'T GIVE UP!!! Really. The thing to do is get active and invest just a small bit of our own time into standing up for ourselves. This, right now, is the period during which we as ordinary riders have a chance to influence the legislators. Write to your local MEP. Write to them again. Keep an eye out for the dates of the protest rides and turn up to them, or if there isn't one organised near enough to you then get involved in organising one. Write again. Do another protest ride. Get organised, join MAG or start a local group.

Or we could just sit back and accept everything they want to dump on us ...

[davoxx]

Originally Posted by Cienciano

As for "learn to read traffic", and your garda safe course, you obviously never been unlucky enough to have had a car pull right out in front of you at a junction or from a parking space. The best option in that situation is to make sure you're seen so the car doesn't pull out in the first place.

have the lights stopped this happening?

in my experience i could be a bikini model nude on the bike, and they'd still pull out ...

fog lights for fog, indicators for indicating, brake lights for braking. and sure, i could wire up a switch to my brake light and flick it on to stop tailgaters, but that would be illegal and the wrong way to deal with that problem.

[mr chips]

Originally Posted by davoxx

have the lights stopped this happening?

in my experience i could be a bikini model nude on the bike, and they'd still pull out ...

fog lights for fog, indicators for indicating, brake lights for braking. and sure, i could wire up a switch to my brake light and flick it on to stop tailgaters, but that would be illegal and the wrong way to deal with that problem.

No, you definitely shouldn't do that. It would be wrong.

[dr.fuzzenstein]

Originally Posted by davoxx

have the lights stopped this happening?

in my experience i could be a bikini model nude on the bike, and they'd still pull out ...

fog lights for fog, indicators for indicating, brake lights for braking. and sure, i could wire up a switch to my brake light and flick it on to stop tailgaters, but that would be illegal and the wrong way to deal with that problem.

There was a thread along those lines just the other day. It ended well.