You do make a good point. I may have to reconsider Visibility technique.
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Blinded by the lights
- Thread starter Chadlebowski
- Start date
I wear bright clothes, I like bright colored motorcycles, I do my best to be visible.
I ride like no one can see me.
I was taught a long time ago to ride with my high beam on, possibly in my MSF course. But I quickly found that as motorcycle headlights got better and brighter I was starting to piss people off, so I stopped. I do like being seen, but i really don't want to piss off people in cages when I am so vulnerable. Being in the right doesn't help when you are also in the ditch.
I ride like no one can see me.
I was taught a long time ago to ride with my high beam on, possibly in my MSF course. But I quickly found that as motorcycle headlights got better and brighter I was starting to piss people off, so I stopped. I do like being seen, but i really don't want to piss off people in cages when I am so vulnerable. Being in the right doesn't help when you are also in the ditch.
I hear ya. I started riding in the late 70's and after a near death experience with a car turning left in front of me middle of the day because he didn't see I started the high beam thing.
Still don't want to aggravate our 4 wheeled friends.... Or 2 wheeled.
Still don't want to aggravate our 4 wheeled friends.... Or 2 wheeled.
The bike is only 10days old. They seem find with me on it , but with a passenger even the low beams get unwanted attention. I haven't adjusted them yet but will likley in the near future.
OK, yes, the stock suspension is woefully under sprung. What is your and you passengers approx weight in street clothing? Having properly set/correct suspension settings/springs will help, or see if they can adjust it with both of you on the bike.
Yes. She is a bit soft, I'm 200lb ready to ride. Passenger was 150lb. Luggage mounted but empty. My other son rode I front of me briefly and then fell in behind. When we got home he said the lights where unbearable. ( low beam with aux lights.)
Haven't messed with any adjustments yet. The bike goes in for its 1500km first service next week. When it comes back( and I've recovered from the $600 service bill) I plan on adjusting the suspension then the lights if they need it.
So ~350 lbs is way out of the ~155-170 stock ready to ride set/spec from the factory. Max the preload both front and rear, and measure your unladen, static and ladened sag and post again. I suspect you'll find it to be massively out of needed range.
Will do.
Ok I have to admit I'm a bit unschooled in the Unladen, Static and Laden Sag. So GT-Rx ... HELP. I did look up the settings in the service manual and set them to the medium loaded setting. How ever I'm a bit confused by the Fork Compression and Rebound settings. The manual says 1 turn out from tightened.... for all preload settings?
Brian UK
GT Reference
Any very short wheelbase vehicle will suffer from light alignment with even a small change of load. May be nothing to do with suspension settings.
All my 4 wheel vehicles have remote control for headlight vertical alignment, about time bikes had the same. It would have been easy to do on models like the Norge where the individual reflectors are moved by screws.
It is impossible to alter the lighting for when loading changes currently, half the front end has to be dismantled to get at the adjusters, certainly nothing could be done at the roadside.
All my 4 wheel vehicles have remote control for headlight vertical alignment, about time bikes had the same. It would have been easy to do on models like the Norge where the individual reflectors are moved by screws.
It is impossible to alter the lighting for when loading changes currently, half the front end has to be dismantled to get at the adjusters, certainly nothing could be done at the roadside.
You are correct. My 09 Concours 1400 had a adjustment knob for each headlight. They were to the right and left of the dash pod. Very easy to get to and adjust.
I played with the compression and rebound and it helps...a little. I set my rebound to what the book says and my compression 2 extra turns. For my front preload do what the manual says plus 2 extra turns in. This dramatically reduces the front end dive on mine. Once adjusted, I rarely will adjust the front end even when riding two up.
For the rear, for single riding I run it to where you can just see the top of the "S" triangle exposed (don't recall how many clicks but believe it was something like the medium setting plus 6 clicks). When I ride two up I move it 8 clicks up from that point. I run 230lb with gear and have never had a problem with bottoming out, performance, wallowing or blinding someone with lights. The quick check I do for the rear suspension is I know I touch the ground with the balls of my feet. If I put another person on the bike I just increase it to get it back to the same stance.
Ideally you will want to set the sag to the proper distances for front and rear, but that is a different conversation. The above settings will get you in the ball park to start. If you want to know how to do it and more information on suspension setup, RaceTech is a great resources. There are also many other good resources on the net including videos.
http://racetech.com/articles/SuspensionAndSprings.htm