late night riding

[whitelocust02]

Well, just got back from a little 2 hour ride over to US-179. Always an enjoyable ride for me. However, this was the first time I'd ever done that route at 10:30 at night Got home from work late and seen the bike just sitting there giving me that sad headlight look that she gives me when she wants to go out. It's the "hey I'm clean, lets go get grasshopper juice on me!" look. Well, showered and headed out. Had a blast No pics... figured it'd be sorta dificult being dark out and all. Next time

[motowriter]

Originally Posted by whitelocust02

Well, just got back from a little 2 hour ride over to US-179. Always an enjoyable ride for me. However, this was the first time I'd ever done that route at 10:30 at night Got home from work late and seen the bike just sitting there giving me that sad headlight look that she gives me when she wants to go out. It's the "hey I'm clean, lets go get grasshopper juice on me!" look. Well, showered and headed out. Had a blast No pics... figured it'd be sorta dificult being dark out and all. Next time

K, you're excused from the lack of pix... this time.

Is this a road you're familiar with? Night riding kinda freaks me out, especially on narrow twisties. Heck, even on wider roads the oncoming headlights are hell to deal with.

Good to hear it was a good ride... an apporpriate time, I have to guess, considering your location.

[G8ESCAP]

The desert is a great place for night rides. I used to love riding Catalina Highway out of Tucson and up the mountain in the dark. Great views of the town below. Really nice to catch a sunrise from there at Windy Point.

[cenlow]

George and I ride at night all throughout the year. We have installed extra lighting to both of our bikes. Mine has two extra on all the time and when I turn on my brights another two come on so I really light up the road at night. The two that are on all the time are so if someone looks down the road and sees one headlight they are not going to mistake me for a one eyed car far down the road but will recognize it as a motorcycle or something closer. With the two that turn on with my high beam I get a good view of the road and especially in the turns. We slow down at night because you can't look as far ahead to see potholes or things in the road or animal waiting to jump into the road. If I am riding alone I will find a car to follow and keep a good distance behind it so I can use its headlights to view the road further in the distance. I like riding at night alone it is an awesome time to reflect on the day and the views are so different. When on a road with a lot of opposite traffic and the lights are bright I lift my shield on my helmet and that stops a lot of the glare problem. Chris enjoy your ride day or night but when you live in an area where the temps are high during the day then night riding is most enjoyable.

[G8ESCAP]

Say Carol,
What lights did you install? I've been searching for some decent lights for night riding on my Gixxer, but all the nice ones seem to $$$. Anyone have a suggestion for some affordable lights that also look decent?

[Mr. G]

I've had good luck with the PIAA 1100X series on a few bikes. Not the cheapest but they are very compact and put out a lot of light. They tuck nicely under the front cowl of my K12LT. Street price under $200 (plus any bike specific brackets).

Just curious, why "Stranded" in Simi. Lots of great riding and recreating close by. Big city activities close in the other direction.

Gregg

[G8ESCAP]

Originally Posted by Mr. G

I've had good luck with the PIAA 1100X series on a few bikes. Not the cheapest but they are very compact and put out a lot of light. They tuck nicely under the front cowl of my K12LT. Street price under $200 (plus any bike specific brackets).

Just curious, why "Stranded" in Simi. Lots of great riding and recreating close by. Big city activities close in the other direction.

Gregg

Thanks Gregg, I'll take a look at those. I have minimal space and mounting locations on my little bike. Normally I have Napolean bar end mirrors (cage hit it and broke them) on my bike. When I get a new pair my stock mirror locations will be available for a pair of lights. At least that's what I'm considering. I can re work my factory mirror stalks into a mount. This way they are within reach for adjusting while riding, between long straights or cornering.

Well, I moved to the LA area for 1 year, in 1975! 30 years in the LA area. Great riding around here, but plans are to move to the Sacramento area as soon as possible. Those Sac riders have the best roads! Also my Ex has my 9 year old in Loma Rica, making it difficult. Long story.

[cenlow]

Dale,

I instant messaged George and asked him your question as he is the one who handles the bike repairs and installs:

gcsitts: Your lights: You have a pair of Piaa's that you use to supplement your high beam. They are mounted right under your main light. You have a set of MotoLights mounted low on your forks that stay on all the time, high and low beam. They help low beam but are intended to give a triangular light pattern to oncoming drivers, identifying you as a motorcycle.

I've also learned that there is no reason to buy expensive lights when you can get inexpensive ones at auto supply stores. They all use the same bulbs one of two types. They come in two types, fog and driving. Fog lights disperse the beam wider and are good for low beam. Driving lights have a longer, narrower beam for high beam.

Replacement bulbs? We have been using regular 12 v low voltage 50 watt bulbs we buy at Lowe's

Hope that answers your questions.

[DaleC]

I do quite a bit of late night riding, but it's usually because I've had too much fun and gone too far from home on the way out so I'm returning home again in the dark. I usually don't mind those kinds of rides since I have excellent lighting on my bike plus I'm comfortable with all the needed gear if it gets very cold, but there is one big downside to night riding that can be a bummer. I love to take photos and a major part of the enjoyment of riding for me is the visual, taking in the usually fabulous scenery that surrounds those great roads.

Last fall in the early afternoon I took off towards Tioga Pass / Hwy 120 as I've done many times, but I had the urge to go see the Mammoth area and then ride further south on Hwy 395. Eventually I reached a point of where I had to either turn around and double back or keep on going south and catch a road that would allow me to come back to the Bay area. Hwy 178 (Isabella Walker Pass Road) that runs up to Lake Isabella and then down to Bakersfield is a road that certainly deserves to be ridden in daylight if you appreciate beautiful scenery. For obvious reasons these photos of those incredible Joshua trees just never did them the proper justice they deserved. It seemed like there were thousands of them and I was begging for there to be more light to really see how beautiful it really was in that area. Of course, I couldn't even begin to think about what those twisty areas on Hwy 178 really looked like, but I sure would have liked to shoot some photos. Although it was about midnight I could see the outline of the lights around the lake, but further west I could only listen to the sounds of the Kern River, it was pitch black so I missed seeing that entirely.... maybe this weekend I'll get luckier.

DaleC

[Law Dawg (ret)]

Originally Posted by DaleC

Although it was about midnight I could see the outline of the lights around the lake, but further west I could only listen to the sounds of the Kern River, it was pitch black so I missed seeing that entirely.... maybe this weekend I'll get luckier.

Ok Dale, you are going to be in my back yard and no notice? Let's see now...you got your Kern County pass? No?

Care to have a tag along Saturday? 178 and 155 are old stomping grounds. Maybe a stop at the Kernville Airport...wonderful food!