Riding at Night

[Jenny]

I went on my first ride after dark last night. It was a short one; I took the motorcycle to a meeting about a mile frmo my house. Here's what I learned.

1. Park near a light. I couldn’t see the bike enough to get my key in the key hole. There was a street light along the other end of the parking lot. Next time, I’ll park there!

2. Don’t park near a sprinkler system. I thought the seat was super cold (I sat down in pitch blackness). I got home to realize that the passenger seat was soaked, as was my seat where I hadn’t already wiped it dry with my jeans! This also falls under “another reason to park near a light.â€

[Jer]

I'm a noob too. Havent been above 35 mph and out in traffic yet.

The idea of riding at night scares the crap out of me. (Hey Alan, I guess I'm a pussy too! :tongue: ) Not being able to see the defects in the pavement before you are right on them seems like a big problem..... O_o

[Jenny]

I'm a noob too. Havent been above 35 mph and out in traffic yet.

The idea of riding at night scares the crap out of me. (Hey Alan, I guess I'm a pussy too! :tongue: ) Not being able to see the defects in the pavement before you are right on them seems like a big problem..... O_o

It did me, too. That's why I rode the roads that I ride regularly, and on my way there, I verified that there would be enough street lights that with my headlight I thought I would be fine. I also took note to see if there were any new potholes and made sure of manhole locations. Sure, that wouldn't cover the "new" conditions (someone has an accident and glass gets left in large quantities on the road, someone dropped something on the road, an oil spill, etc., but that's what I was using my headlights and street lights for. If I'd felt that I wouldn't be able to see enough to drive, I'd have skipped it. I'm taking my time about getting out even if I really want to go and do all these great motorcycle things.

If I had stuck to the main drag of town, the entire way would have been exceedingly well lit - so well lit that it would have been better than if I'd been riding at dusk or sunset since the sun gets wonky and makes visibility rougher then. But on the way there, I realized that I could handle those back roads (not all back roads, those roads specifically!) after dark.

[Dupo]

Hmm, i loved riding at night ever since i got my first bike. Scary first ride but after that ... i was tearing up the roads after dark. I still prefer riding at night over the day time.

[Jer]

I would think it'd be awesome.

But what about the road debris/visibility issue?

[patrick_777]

I've never had a problem with it. As long as your headlight is adjusted right and you have good visibility, you should be fine. Deer suck though.

I too, love riding at night when there's no traffic. The only thing that creeps into my mind is wondering how long I would be lying on the side of the road until someone drove by and saw me if I went down hard.

[Dupo]

The GZ has great night time visibility in my book. VERY bright light that shows a wide view of the road.

My shadow headlight ... sucks. And note the pic in my sig .. no shocks! If anyone is worried about visibility at night with pot holes its me lol. I get by just fine ... i dont speed so fast that if something comes into view i dont have time to react. I always cruise it slower at night because of that. If i ride at night like an idiot and hit a pot hole/bump etc and put my nuts in my throat ... its my own fault.

+1 for patrick's comment. I too think of that OR if someone would just run over me lying in the road not seeing me in time. ugh.

[alanmcorcoran]

...but I think riding the GZ at night is way better than riding my bicycle at night. Visibility is pretty good, it's easier to see other traffic, and there's way less of it. My non-powered two wheeler has two smaller lights that light up about ten inches of road. Even so, I've built up years of experience riding at night with it.

I also run at night, around a reservoir with no lights at all. It's easier on full or partial moon nights, but I've done it in just by the "glow" of Anaheim. Even though I wear trifocals, I can see pretty good at night once I acclimate. I occasionally think there's a mountain lion around the next bend, but the dark itself doesn't bother me.

I did all of my basic practicing at night in a local school parking lot - it was the only time there wasn't anybody parked in it.

Too bad I found out two weeks in I'm not allowed to ride at night with a permit. I moved up my MSF and test just to get back out at night. I'm sort of a night person all around and I guess the bike is no exception.

[fg1234567892000]

Riding at night for me is uncomfortable; perhaps I'm not used to it. It also doesn't help that the first time I rode my bike out at night I got nailed by a deer. It throughly wrecked my first motorcycle. Now I'm much more cautious about going out at night; I only do it in the city where I know there are street lights.

Overall, I just ground myself at night; there are too many critters running out there at night that can cause me trouble!

[Water Warrior 2]

You can increase your measure of safety by installing a SilverStar bulb in the GZ. Some bikes do tend to vibrate a SilverStar to death but the rewards are better visiblity and always having a spare just in case you need one is a very good idea. Always carry a small flashlight at night. Part of your knowledge base should be knowing how to change a bulb.

[blaine]

Riding at night for me is uncomfortable; perhaps I'm not used to it. It also doesn't help that the first time I rode my bike out at night I got nailed by a deer. It throughly wrecked my first motorcycle. Now I'm much more cautious about going out at night;



That would scare the crap out of anybody.Ride when you feel comfortable. :2tup: :rawk:

[blaine]

You can increase your measure of safety by installing a SilverStar bulb in the GZ. Some bikes do tend to vibrate a SilverStar to death but the rewards are better visiblity and always having a spare just in case you need one is a very good idea. Always carry a small flashlight at night. Part of your knowledge base should be knowing how to change a bulb.


I have had a SilverStar bulb in for over a year,no problems yet. :plus1:

[diffluere]

I used to be really paranoid about riding at night but now it's cool. I was riding with two friends to Cedar Key and we all hit at least one (already dead) animal going near 60mph and I didn't fall off or wreck or anything. They were all small, the one I hit was just meat and stuff so I couldn't tell what it was. Henry hit an armadillo on his Harley that we think was still alive. Luckily it was squishy side up when he hit it.

I need to get a better bulb. Henry has a super bright headlight plus two little lights and he lights up the whole road, so I just ride behind him and steal his light. Other Henry had a Ninja and his light wasn't too bad either.


The worst part is when it rains at night. That's a little stressful.

[alantf]

I have had a SilverStar bulb in for over a year,no problems yet.

What's a silverstar bulb? Not being an American, I've never heard of it. Can you explain what it is, then I might be able to find one under another name, here. Anything that gives better visibility has got to be a good thing. :2tup:

[blaine]

A SilverStar bulb is just a hi-performance head light bulb.Because they are brighter & whiter They tend to have a shorter life span.
http://www.postimage.org/templates/images/smiley/celebrate/6.gif (http://www.postimage.org/)

[ncff07]

Even tho this is an old thread Ive noticed a couple things, the seat being wet could be from dew after dark Ive already ran into that. And as far as parking under a street light I WONT do that again. Close yes maybe but not under it I spent 10 minutes picking and flipping bugs off my bike before I went home!

EDIT: And the first time I had it out after dark I was suprised at how bright the GZ headlight is even on the low beam. I liked it, lighted up my side of the road completly.

[Water Warrior 2]

I have had a SilverStar bulb in for over a year,no problems yet.

What's a silverstar bulb? Not being an American, I've never heard of it. Can you explain what it is, then I might be able to find one under another name, here. Anything that gives better visibility has got to be a good thing. :2tup:
Alantf, the SilverStar is made by Sylvania. The SS bulbs available in Europe are actually a bit better than the ones we get here. They do not draw anymore wattage but they make better use of it.
I put them in my last 3 cages and the Vstrom has been equiped since 2006 with nary a problem. Lynda's GZ did kill one with vibration I would guess but it was an improvement over OEM. Her M-50 had a SS installed a month after she got it. I think they are well worth the price.
PIAA makes a vibration proof bulb that is very bright but the price is a heart stopper.

[Viirin]

I prefer riding at night on clear roads - runs home from work at 2am on empty, dry roads are just the best - riding at night in the rain just sucks though - with rain on your visor and people behind and in front with high beams on for no reason what so ever visibility goes to zero - every drop on the visor lights up and makes it impossible to see! It can be hard enough keeping your bike on the right side of the road let alone looking out for potholes and manholes.

[Easy Rider]

You can increase your measure of safety by installing a SilverStar bulb in the GZ.

Most reports I have seen favor the PIAA bulbs over SilverStar.
Similar performance but much longer life.
A little more $$$ too, I think.

[edit] I see you covered that already.

[dhgeyer]

I don't ride at night if I can possibly avoid it. Last Summer my daughter hit a deer a couple of miles from home. Came out of nowhere - she never saw it. It hit the right front corner of her car. In 2004 I had one jump in front of me, and it was a close call. If I'd been going a bit faster I'd have hit it. It jumped from behind some trees and landed in the road in front of me. There was nothing I could do - it happened so fast. I was lucky. The last Iron Butt Rally had one fatality - a deer strike. Larry Grodski, one of the most esteemed motorcycle safety experts and trainers in the USA was killed by a deer strike. He didn't like to ride at night either, but was forced to because he lost his motel room and had to move on to the next town. Got him killed. What impresses me about all these incidents is that, no matter how well trained and skillful you are, it doesn't matter. They come out of nowhere so fast there's nothing you can do. Riding at night is a lottery, pure and simple. I don't want to play.

I used to love riding at night, though. It's almost mystical - city lights or country roads. I miss it, but I won't do it willingly.

[alanmcorcoran]

Are deer more likely to be out at night? I've only encountered them once - on PCH near Monterey in the late afternoon. Never seen a deer alive or dead on any road night or day here in Southern California. Most of my night riding is on the freeway or other regularly travelled streets and not only are there no deer, if there were, it's more likely someone else (in the other lanes) would hit them first.

Good information to know (I guess) if I ever get my schedule together for a road trip to Chicago.

[Water Warrior 2]

[quote="Water Warrior":3o8n4q0r]You can increase your measure of safety by installing a SilverStar bulb in the GZ.

Most reports I have seen favor the PIAA bulbs over SilverStar.
Similar performance but much longer life.
A little more $$$ too, I think.

[edit] I see you covered that already.[/quote:3o8n4q0r]


Great minds think alike. :biggrin:

[dhgeyer]

Former deer hunter here. Deer are, by nature, nocturnal. They feed at night, bed down during the day, and move between food and bedding areas (called deer yards) around dawn and dusk. This is also when they tend to move to water.

A couple of caveats here, though.

1. This is a tendency, not an absolute. We do occasionally see deer feeding in our yard in the daytime. Also, we were the first car to come upon the scene of a deer strike that happened during the day. I tracked the deer (a yearling) by its blood to where it lay about 50 feet off the road, and watched it die. It had run straight out of the brush into the right front fender of the lady's car. She never saw it, before or after impact, but she knew what had happened. That was exactly what happened to my daughter last year right here in the village of Merrimack, but in her case it was at night.

2. During hunting season, which is also rutting season, all bets are off. The bucks are chasing the does, and the hunters are moving all the deer around. Their routine is totally disrupted, and they can be seen at any time pretty much any place.

The overwhelming majority of deer strikes happen at night, dusk, or dawn. It used to be almost exclusively a rural concern. No longer. Deer have adapted to suburban life. They eat people's gardens, shrubs, small trees, and have become a huge nuisance in towns and even cities. I was quite amazed when I rode through one of the Mid Western cities in 2004 on my way back from New Orleans. I can't remember which city. I was on a beltway superslab, still in the city, in an industrial area, and saw about half a dozen dead deer from strikes the night before.

In California you have a different species of deer than the whitetails we have in the North East. Yours are much smaller. At Point Lobos they are so tame you can almost pet them. They're only about the size of a large dog.

The big problem with deer is that their nervous systems were not designed to avoid traffic. If you (are lucky enough to) see one standing by the road at night, you would naturally assume that it would jump back or stay still. Their brains don't work that way. They're just as likely to jump right in front of you as do anything else.

Deer aren't the only problem. You can hit quite a variety of fauna at night. In the case of some of the other animals it's not so much that they're nocturnal as that you can't see back from the road as well at night, so you don't see them coming. Around here there are a lot of foxes and coyotes, as well as skunks, woodchucks and beavers hit by vehicles. Down South I saw a lot of armadillos dead in the road. As a general rule of thumb, you don't want to hit anything with a motorcycle that you couldn't eat in one sitting.

[alanmcorcoran]

I dare say I've got a new signature!

[dhgeyer]

I'm flattergasted. Yes, I just made that word up. Alan, I can't honestly claim credit for your new sig line. I didn't make that up. It's old MC conventional wisdom.

[JWR]

The last Iron Butt Rally had one fatality - a deer strike. Larry Grodski, one of the most esteemed motorcycle safety experts and trainers in the USA was killed by a deer strike. He didn't like to ride at night either, but was forced to because he lost his motel room and had to move on to the next town. Got him killed.

The Iron Butte rider decided to not wear a helmet the last 50 or so miles to the final check-in.
Not the same story or rider.

Lawrence Grodsky, a nationally known motorcycle safety expert and author who taught thousands of riders to handle themselves on the roads, died Saturday on his bike in Fort Stockton, Texas, after being hit by a deer.



He was 55, and had been on his way from a safety conference in California to Pittsburgh for his mother's 85th birthday, said his sister, Marcia Grodsky.

[dhgeyer]

The last Iron Butt Rally had one fatality - a deer strike. Larry Grodski, one of the most esteemed motorcycle safety experts and trainers in the USA was killed by a deer strike. He didn't like to ride at night either, but was forced to because he lost his motel room and had to move on to the next town. Got him killed.

Do you know what gear was he wearing???

I apologize. That paragraph was confusing. These were two separate incidents. Larry Grodski was killed a few years ago, and the Iron Butt fatality was last year.

While I do not know, I assume that Larry Grodski was an ATGATT type, as he was heavily into the training and safety community. There was quite some conversation, on the other hand, about the Iron Butt Rally death last year, as the fellow wasn't wearing his helmet riding at night. It was, according to what I read, quite out of character.

[Easy Rider]

Are deer more likely to be out at night?

YES.

[JWR]

Sorry I was doing an edit while you posted.

[dhgeyer]

Sorry I was doing an edit while you posted.

And some good and useful research I see. When did Grodski die? I've forgotten.

[JWR]

4-8-2006

I knew about the Iron Butt rider, as I have been following this for over 10 years.

[bonehead]

IH-10 in Tx is very bad for deer. I remember one trip back to San Antonio from Lubbock. We got on I-10 around Junction, Tx and counted 187 deer by the time we hit the NW side of San antonio. That would average out to around 2 deer/mile.

[Scheezo]

It always makes me sad when I see a biker die because they weren't wearing a helmet. I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything less than a full face helmet. Its part of the uniform. Plus it, to me, adds to the experience. People get to see me on a black bike dressed in black with my face hidden. Like some kind of outlaw haha

[fg1234567892000]

It always makes me sad when I see a biker die because they weren't wearing a helmet. I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything less than a full face helmet. Its part of the uniform. Plus it, to me, adds to the experience. People get to see me on a black bike dressed in black with my face hidden. Like some kind of outlaw haha

I could not agree more with you there. I have ridden my bike a few times without the helmet and I enjoy the feel of the wind a little more on my head, but I will always opt for the helmet when riding.