motorbikes-riding at night, scary?

gercoral

ok, i have a really silly question! so spologies!
just wondering, whats it like riding a motorbike at night? is it scary? coz you're so exposed?
in a car at least you can be nice and warm, listen to songs, lock the doors and feel somewhat safe, but i've always thought that motorcyclists must be a little wary driving at night?

Akrasia

gercoral wrote: »

ok, i have a really silly question! so spologies!
just wondering, whats it like riding a motorbike at night? is it scary? coz you're so exposed?
in a car at least you can be nice and warm, listen to songs, lock the doors and feel somewhat safe, but i've always thought that motorcyclists must be a little wary driving at night?

It can be scary if you're driving a small engined bike with a small battery and weak headlights, but on a decent bike with good lights and a good helmet with good visibility, it's not as scary as being trapped in a car with lots of glare and little sensory information...

gerrowadat

It is, tbh. Even on a bike with good lights, you're a road hazard away from disaster a lot of the time, I'll avoid riding at night if it's practical.

I used to ride a Deauville, the lights are notoriously ****e and you'd be crawling along because you could barely see 20 feet in front of you. Now I have much better HID lights on the beemer, with extra spots, and it's still a bit hairy (my favourite was going right over a sod of turf lying on the road in the pitch black 5 minutes from my house. In the car it might be a nasty bump, on the bike it nearly flung me off because I had no time to react).

Cienciano

On a bendy road you don't know, in heavy rain or thick fog it's not enjoyable. Anything else is fine imho

allthedoyles

I remember when I was a chap 16-18 age group used to venture out at night on a Honda 50 on the country roads of south Carlow and yep it was scary at times .

But then I upgraded to a Honda CG125 and it improved somewhat

schaffer

Actually what I find scary is not the darkness on its own, but darkness mixed with something else like heavy rain. Your visor is covered in rain drops and you can't see well and cars see you even less.
Add winds to that and it's a nightmare.

Lumen

I don't like the idea of coming off the bike on a dark motorway because I'd be hard for drivers to avoid. I suppose that's an argument for reflective clothing.

Otherwise don't see the problem. It's nice when there's less traffic.

Cycling at night is even better. Doing 50kph round a bend is interesting when the narrow beam from your permanently dipped lights is illuminating only the hedge in front. :pac:

Akrasia

Lumen wrote: »

I don't like the idea of coming off the bike on a dark motorway because I'd be hard for drivers to avoid. I suppose that's an argument for reflective clothing.

Otherwise don't see the problem. It's nice when there's less traffic.

Cycling at night is even better. Doing 50kph round a bend is interesting when the narrow beam from your permanently dipped lights is illuminating only the hedge in front. :pac:

And when your lights dim to nothing when you go up hill and the Dynamo slows down

(ah the 80s)

galwaytt

...well I do a fair bit of night riding :pac::pac: , but I digress......

....the biggest thing I fear at night now, is on single lane roads, and when you meet an oncoming vehicle.

Motorcycles now are so small in number on the road compared to the '80s say, that when they see a single headlight they assume it's a car with one headlight out -and depending on whether they think it's your nearside or offside one, adopt weird behaviour: flashing their mains, to start, slowing & stopping - and causing mayhem behind them. It never occurs to them that is actually a vehicle that only has one light.

To counter this I'm going to put marker lights on the front of mine, like US-spec bikes do, so at least there's an 'outline' that it's not a one-eyed monster they're encountering.......

The other thing bugging me too, even on motorways, is the likelihood of being driven into from behind. My wife has a BeeEmm F650GS with factory fit LED rear lights. Unless you approach the bike almost directly from behind, it's nigh-on invisible. A traditional bulb lamp has a much wider angle-of-view, so that's another thing I'm going to address as well.

I ride a Harley, and the rear light is quite low. At a distance, it's fine, but up close, in ****ty weather, at night..........it needs improving. Again, newer Harley's have two rear running lights at the back, so I think I'll look at that too.

Gavin

Lumen wrote: »

your permanently dipped lights is illuminating only the hedge in front. :pac:

That's what you get for buying fancy lights!

Blondie919

I work night shift so ride 5 nights a week. Its a 25 minute commute and I find it's grand tbh. There's less traffic at night. Heavy rain and thick fog slows me down but it's not exactly scary. There are a lot of drivers out there who could do with some learning about using their lights though! Bugs me when I overtake a car and they don't dim their lights. I used to slow down till they did so but then I found it's best just to accelerate away from them. Tiredness and weather conditions are the biggest factors but they still are in daylight hours also. When you're on the bike, day or night, concentration is key all the time.

harr

I would have to say yes it is scary...when I got my first proper job after school it was shift work 20 miles away...no money for car so next option was an old Honda 125 with a ****y battery...I did not enjoy those rides home at 2 in the morning on a bad winters night or in the lashing rain ...I lived out the country so it was foxes and the likes I was dodging most...

macplaxton

Doesn't bother me at all. Yes, it's hard work on an old 6v bike with a 1 candlepower headlight, but not scary.

Big feck-off rats on the other hand...

Cienciano

If you're in the middle of nowhere and your petrol light has been on for the last 15km and you have no gps it's scary.

macplaxton

Only 15km? Pffft I can get way more than that after the light comes on. And when that's done, there's still the remaining stuff on the other side of the tank.

The number of times I had to lean the bike right over to the tap side to get the dregs tipped over the hump (*except on an old BMW R100RS with twin taps (one either side) and forgot that both were open and both on reserve)

GPS? Eyeball Mk1 used here.

CaptainR

Blondie919 wrote: »

I work night shift so ride 5 nights a week. Its a 25 minute commute and I find it's grand tbh. There's less traffic at night. Heavy rain and thick fog slows me down but it's not exactly scary. There are a lot of drivers out there who could do with some learning about using their lights though! Bugs me when I overtake a car and they don't dim their lights. I used to slow down till they did so but then I found it's best just to accelerate away from them. Tiredness and weather conditions are the biggest factors but they still are in daylight hours also. When you're on the bike, day or night, concentration is key all the time.

Yeah this, I work Saturdays in Dublin so leave at 6:30 and there's no cars on the road compared to any time of the day (it is Saturday though) but any one that is on the road is generally mad in that you'll be going around 70 mph and they'll pass you and disappear (BMW 520d is usually the offender)

The high beams on new cars would blind the dead. They just don't seem to think that bikes have mirrors and can be blinded by them. Although with the current behaviour of cagers with phones, high beams are the least of our worries.

Hotblack Desiato

Have owned bikes in the past with only a single tail light bulb but would be very reluctant to own one again. Not good having your safety at night so dependent on a single bulb. A single headlight isn't great either but at least you know when that fails!

Pugzilla

It's fine in well lit urban areas. I avoid the countryside at night, too hard to see road hazards until it's too late.

TeaBagMania

I don't ride at night very often but when I do I only fear the deer that jumps out in front of you at the last minute, not sure if you guys have that problem in Ireland

blade1

TeaBagMania wrote: »

I don't ride at night very often but when I do I only fear the deer that jumps out in front of you at the last minute, not sure if you guys have that problem in Ireland

I have.
Never on the bike though.
One jumped out of a ditch and over the bonnet of the car one night.
A few other close ones too over the years.

CJhaughey

Deer, Badgers both not animals you want to hit with anything let alone a bike.

Mr Sheen!

Like everything else riding in the dark is fine . . . providing you have the right equipment. I upgraded the lights on my Tiger1050 to HID's and also installed a set of spots on the crash bars. These made a massive difference.

The spot lights have a Low and Hi beam setting and wired into the original Hi beam switch on the bike.

Each spot light outputs 3500LM and its just light riding in the daylight!

gercoral

in relation to the animals on the road.. if you hit say, a fox on a motorbike, would you be thrown from the bike or would you do more damage to the fox?

sorry for the silly questions! just something that dawned on me lately. we live right on a busy national road and the speed of the bikes is insane but i've always wondered would bikers be scared or nervous in the night time

punisher5112

gercoral wrote: »

in relation to the animals on the road.. if you hit say, a fox on a motorbike, would you be thrown from the bike or would you do more damage to the fox?

sorry for the silly questions! just something that dawned on me lately. we live right on a busy national road and the speed of the bikes is insane but i've always wondered would bikers be scared or nervous in the night time

A small stone or diesel spill or a hubcap etc could all cause you to come off.

Doesn't have to be a animal to knock you off.

gercoral

punisher5112 wrote: »

A small stone or diesel spill or a hubcap etc could all cause you to come off.

Doesn't have to be a animal to knock you off.

it seems that the drivers don't care too much for themselves or other road users if thats all it'd take. as dougal says, im no good at judging crowds ted but i would guess that some bikers do at least 200kph past our house here. so fast that i genuinely cant see it moving. maybe its an adrenalin thing i dunno, but the speed is something unreal. but thats for another day!

my wondering about night time driving has been sufficiently settled with all your answers

CaptainR

Anyone else love having their high beams on at night on a national road with cats eyes?

The N2 between collon and Slane has just been resurfaced and has new cats eyes, I honestly feel like a pilot going down the runway.

Fabio

Yep, love that on the VFR and actually enjoy riding the bike at night because the VFRs headlights [mine is a 750 1997 RC36] are fantastic.

However, on my Deauville it's far less enjoyable because the headlight is so poor. It gives a very wide spread of light but very little forward distance. I'll try upgrading the bulb and maybe run it through a relay, if that's not done already, and see if that gives some improvement.

gerrowadat

Fabio wrote: »

Yep, love that on the VFR and actually enjoy riding the bike at night because the VFRs headlights [mine is a 750 1997 RC36] are fantastic.

However, on my Deauville it's far less enjoyable because the headlight is so poor. It gives a very wide spread of light but very little forward distance. I'll try upgrading the bulb and maybe run it through a relay, if that's not done already, and see if that gives some improvement.

It's supposed to be the reflector on the deauville that's **** rather than the bulb.

I have a HID kit I got but never fitted for the DV if you're around the dublin area, free to a good home.

Oodoov

I think if you arent used to it it can be scary but do it on a regular basis the mind adjusts.

The right lights make all the difference imo.

faceman

gerrowadat wrote: »

It's supposed to be the reflector on the deauville that's **** rather than the bulb.

I have a HID kit I got but never fitted for the DV if you're around the dublin area, free to a good home.

I've been looking for a HID kit for my deauville. Happy to help you unload it if you're getting rid!

Hotblack Desiato

gerrowadat wrote: »

It's supposed to be the reflector on the deauville that's **** rather than the bulb.

I have a HID kit I got but never fitted for the DV if you're around the dublin area, free to a good home.

If the reflector is the problem then HID won't help much, the light pattern will probably get worse if anything

What about auxiliary lights? some great LED lights available these days which don't draw much power.