Night Riding
 

I'm riding my bike to my girlfriends tonight; my first time in the night time riding. I'm a little nervous, since there's less visual information.

Anyone got any tips?

Matt

Give yourself plenty of time, and take it easy. Try not to look at the lights!

Yep, make sure your headlights and visor are clean.

Try not to look directly at the cars coming in the other way.

If you feel like your going to fast, you probably are. Slow down a little. Being 5 minutes late is preferable to not arriving at all.

What sort of bike is it ? My Curvey SV headlights are rubbish. Often at night I've found a car with good headlights and then sat behind it at a reasonable distance and followed it and used the car lights plus my own to light up the road.

Its a novelty for me to ride when its light :(

If you're going through country lanes, beware of wildlife- far more common at night than in the day.

Take it easy, bear in mind you won't see stuff in the road till it's a lot closer than normal.

If oncoming cars' headlights are dazzling you, try looking at the left hand kerb (next to the oncoming car- not next to you :)). You'll still see the road, but will be less dazzled.

If riding unfamiliar roads, really take it easy. An unexpected sharp bend is even more unnerving at night as you may not see it till later than you would in the day (and don't rely on the chevrons- not all tight bends have them).

Fortunately, you should be able to see oncoming cars before they get round the bend and also traffic will be lighter than in the day, so in some respects it's easier.

Same; curvy sv. In the short trip i once did from my nans to my house (30secs up the road) with my dad behind on his gixer, i might aswell turned off my lights since his lights illuminated the road for all of us.

Which poses another question: what can I do to upgrade my lights? obviously more powerful bulbs, but will the circuit take it? (my scooter never could take a more powerful bulb than its pathetic one)

Although this upgrade will wait for another time...

Matt

i found out last night so are mine :oops:

Halfwits do some 30% brighter ones. Cheap and legal. Certainly works well on the pointies anyway.

i was searching last night

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.ph...ight=headlight

osram silverstars seem to be a good choice

Just take it easy. Clean the lights and visor before you head home as well, they will be dirtied a tad from all the salt thats gone down.

Oh and wrap up warm but make sure that you can still move.