Night riding
 

Just back from a trip that turned out to be a bit longer than expected. It dawned on me that I'm hardly ever out on the bike after dark and that a slightly different skill set is required. Most obvious difference was to slow down and not go too deep into the corners - verge hazard. However - anyone got any good tips for night riding?

Ed

do it lots and lots to increase your skills,

thats what i say, im a regular night rider.
good set of bulbs is a must, and be alot smoother on the controls, too much throttle will blind oncoming motorists, and if when you brake, your headlight dips down, so that corner that you are braking for, becomes invisible,

get your braking done before the corner to get your lights back on it before you start to throttle it through.

some riders crank up their front suspension at night (or so i am told) , but i dont bother, and i dont really know what im doing.

there is lots of fun to be had at night, as there are less people about to see you do naughty things, but there is also more danger, wildlife, lack of information, drunks driving ect ect.

i used to get blinded by oncoming traffic alot, but you just learn to look away from the headlights and towards where you wanna be.

Sometimes at night, if your visor is at a specific angle, you can get hit with light, and suddenly your visor turns into a perfect mirror, and you see a pair of eyeballs stareing worriedly back at you.

I used to be able to adjust my old shoei to stop this, there was a certain click where the reflection wasnt so perfect, and you could see through it to the traffic outside.

I love driving at night. Used to do it loads in Ireland... some very dark roads. I would tae it easy enough usually though. Good fun.

I slow down. Too many nocturnal hazzards about the marsh and roads where I live.

Otherwise use the oncoming traffic to feed your brain information about where the road is going. Try not to get dazzled or fixate on oncoming car lights. Be careful with that though - make sure its not traffic from around a bend that you can see. Usually its reasonably obvious, just hard to explain. :wink: :D

Good bulbs are essential.

Keep warm - just because its summer doesnt mean it isnt cold on the bike late at night if you have a fair distance to go. Carry some extra layers just in case for long journeys.

once upon a time, on the a267, i saw something sparkle in the road ahead of me,

dont know why, but i put the brakes on, as i knew something was wrong,
and just over the crest of the hill, was a deer,
didnt move, despite me being about 2 meters away blaring my horn, it just stood and stared at me.


heres something that my IAM group taught me,
when an animal runs out infront of you, often it will run out again,

why ?

because it was safe where it came from, it saw you, got out of your way and went back to where it was before it ran out infront of you,

doesnt seem to work with phesants . . . they just flap.

As annoying as the headlights from oncoming vehicles can be, at least they illuminate the curb to your left.

my fav time for a blat, i get to use the back roads from Selkent every couple of weeks and they don't have streetlighting or cats eyes, some stretches don't even have definable curbs what with the late time on a Wednesday evening only a couple of cars as well.

it really focuses you, the roads I use are 8-12 foot wide so don't have a central line either, I must admit to doing the old " to an exceptable level of danger" which at times can be almost suicidal speeds, just relying on your reaction time from the leading edge of your lights, it's a game to me, wise? perhaps not, but fun never the less.

changed my headlight bulbs about a month back and now have thoughs Bluw/white Xenon things, so the light isn't the warm orange glow type anymore, more ghostly :shock: .

I find riding on normal roads is more relaxed at night, less ambient distractions, cats eyes are a godsend and I tend to take more notice of road markings and signs.

also I love going though London in the early hours, red lights mean give way :oops: , and it's almost like a driving computer game and you've turned off thetraffic option, cool.

Cheers Mark.

Yup... They say aim in front of most smaller herdanimals, because they'll run back when they see you. Aim behind dogs, because they're inclined to run towards you. And aim for the middle of small animals :)

Sheep don't double back, they keep going, so aim for the tail. Trouble is there's usually another you haven't seen that follows like er.. sheep.

Ahh yes, night riding, I know it to well.

One of the best things I did was change the OEM bulbs for a set of Ultra bright bulbs.

Other than that, I admit to slowing down at night, make sure my visor and headlights are clean and take a bit more care on sharp bends.

I tend to get sucicidal rabbits on my ride outs, little buggers love to zig zag in front of me.

Funniest thing I remember was me riding a decent distance from at car carrier, ruddy thing just slamed on the breaks just comming off a roundabout.

Was about to hit my horn, when a chicken suddenly ran into view and ran into the bushes, I just burst into laughter, it certainly put a spin on "Why did the chicken cross the road!". :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers

Rich