Hypothetical WOF issue - headlight aim.

[Mully]

Righto, fellow (and felless) KBers. I need your collective opinion on a situation with regard to a WOF.

Imagine, if you would, you are a Husky Gentleman (or Lady) with a sprot-touring type motorcycle say (for example), an RF900.

You are the sole rider of said motorcycle and generally ride solo.

Being the law-abiding citizen that your parent's raised you to be, you take said motorcycle for it's six-monthly WOF checks at a respected local motorcycle shop (because you don't trust car WOF stations to do a correct job on a motorcycle).

During the course of your WOF check, the esteemed tester notes that the headlight aim is "too low" (that is the description on the sheet - "too low"). On checking with the tester - he says that the low beam needs to be raised to where the high beam points (about 5-6 inches on a wall approximately 3 metres in front of the bike).

So, off you toddle. You raise the beam slightly (using a similar set-up - bike 3 metres from a wall, etc) and sit your husky arse on the bike. The low beam raises up slightly when your weight (it's all muscle, honestly) settles on the bike - raising the low beam to a suitable height.

You ride (within all laws) back to the shop and present the bike to the tester. He lines the bike up with the wall with his weight on it and proclaims it "still too low". Almost expecting this, you explain that your weight (again, muscle) means the bike sits lower on his suspension when you (i.e. the rider) are on it than when the tester is on it. This, apparently, doesn't matter.

Eventually, to get the damn WOF, you adjust the light to where the tester wants it. However, this means that you know that with you on the bike, the low beam is too high.

The law may be an ass - but it is the law. And your insurance company are sticklers for having the WOF sticker.

So two questions:
Should the tester have some descretion with regard to the aim of headlamps on a motorcycle?
Once you satisfied the tester, should you adjust the headlight aim so that it's not too high to annoy other motorists?

(as an aside, this is the third WOF that you, theoretically, have done on this bike. There has been no fettling of the light aim between any of the previous WOFs, and not a dicky-bird mentioned, including by this facility, at previous WOFs.)

[YellowDog]

The requirement is designed to be adequate (not blind others) for when the bike is being ridden on the road.

If you ride the bike and the adjustment is correct with your (perfectly reasonable for your physique) weight on it, then that is how it should be.

Otherwise, whilst you are within the law during the WOF examination, you would be outside of the law whist riding your own bike with your heavier than anticipated musclebound physique.

Before giving you a ticket, the cops are unlikely to ask you if the reason your lights blinded them is related to that lightweight WOF examiner (who really does need to join your gym) at VTNZ.

[AD345]

For such a tester there can be only 1 response:

<a href="http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c213/AD345/?action=view&current=pandaburn.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c213/AD345/pandaburn.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Motu]

the low beam needs to be raised to where the high beam points (about 5-6 inches on a wall approximately 3 metres in front of the bike).


First point - lightboards are now illegal,a beamsetter has to be used.

Second point - your suspension is set incorrectly,both front and rear should compress at the same rate for your body weight.You need more preload on the rear,or less on the front.

[Mully]

First point - lightboards are now illegal,a beamsetter has to be used.

What's a beamsetter? Is that the red do-hickey?? They had one and didn't use it at all. There was no lightboard either - he just shone the light at the wall.


Second point - your suspension is set incorrectly,both front and rear should compress at the same rate for your body weight.You need more preload on the rear,or less on the front.

Agreed. However, both Mr Frosty and Mr Harris have fiddled with my suspenders (snigger) and declared respectively that they were at the limits of the adjustment (Frosty) and that they were effectvely cheap rubbish and needed to be replaced (Shaun). However, I have no money cos I have a fiance - so any possible upgrade of suspension has to wait.

[caseye]

For such a tester there can be only 1 response:


Nice and I fully concur! Fry his arse, should know what he's doing and obviously doesn't.

[Voltaire]

Pretend you are dumb and ask the almighty tester to adjust your headllight.
I had to revin my 78 Ducati as I had been overseas and the rego lapsed....it passed.
6 months later it failed as they said the light dipped to the right...euro style.
I had to get a new lens for it.....$ 150.00
They failed it again......
I showed them them the old lens and they started going on about the reflector and the lamp....like that makes a difference.....
They ended up rotating the lens about 12 mm.

Moral of the story...
Don't take your bike to Onehunga Testing station as they are idiots.
Take it to Sylvia Park.
There is no consistancy with these places..... they would rather nit pic over a headlight lens than look at 30 year old brake hoses......20 year old tyres.....etc.....rant over.
PS I changed the tyres and hoses....the lens stays.

Hey Dangerous Bastard....you must have pearls of wisdom on this.:laugh::laugh:

[MaxB]

On my 70s Beemer at WOF time I slacken off the headlight clamping nuts just enough to change the beam level if I have to. Never had a problem.

Agreed that there is a big difference between testing stations.

[Motu]

they were effectvely cheap rubbish and needed to be replaced. However, I have no money cos I have a fiance - so any possible upgrade of suspension has to wait.

So why blame someone else when it's your own fault?

[Mully]

So why blame someone else when it's your own fault?

What's my own fault? Having rubbish suspension or having a fiance?

I'm not blaming anyone for either of those things. I acknowledge that the suspension has shortcomings when I'm riding and my point was that we could have had the headlight set to a point where it isn't a danger to other traffic when the bike is loaded with it's normal load. However, Slappy at the bike shop demanded that the light beam be "measured" with him on it.

Surely that's entirely subjective (what if he was significantly larger than I? Would my headlight have been too high in that case?) and on that basis the argument could be made that the measurement should equally be made with the bike entirely unloaded and simply being held upright for all the good that would do to the direction of the light beam?

So what precisely am I blaming on anyone?

[Gremlin]

The VTNZ at Botany Hub has some good guys.

They make me sit on the bike while they check the light, ergo, we know its at the right level for me. However, what if you chuck piles of luggage on the bike etc, it will mess it up anyway...

[thepom]

two weeks ago went to have the wof done in chch at the same place as the last two wof,s.....guy says my dipped beam points too high and asks if I have changed the lamps,I say no and its been wof,d here last two times......goes to ask his boss and comes back and tells me he,ll let it go but if I get a problem not to come back!!!!!:2guns:

[MikeL]

Don't take your bike to Onehunga Testing station as they are idiots.


On the last two occasions I tried to get a WOF there I was told that they couldn't do it, as they didn't have anyone qualified to do WOFs on bikes over 250cc. WTF???

Went to the AA place in Mt Roskill (Carr Rd??). No problem.

[Swoop]

However, what if you chuck piles of luggage on the bike etc, it will mess it up anyway...
Or if you let someone else ride the bike...:shutup:

[Katman]

First point - lightboards are now illegal,a beamsetter has to be used.



They're still allowed for motorcycle WOFs.

[jono035]

First thing to do when you fail a WOF on anything questionable is check with somewhere else. My accord was fine for 4-5 warrants and then the guy failed it because of spacers on the front wheels. Replaced the mags, got failed again, took the car to the garage next door where they took the wheels off and got the WOF guy to come over so they could point out that the 'spacers' were actually part of the wheel hub.

Never got so much as an apology for the massive hassle.

[Conquiztador]

And the "Hypothetical WOF issue - headlight aim" is hypothetical why?

[Mully]

And the "Hypothetical WOF issue - headlight aim" is hypothetical why?

Mainly because I don't want to "name and shame" or throw stones at the workshop concerned. I wanted to get people's (hypothetical) opinion without having a "I went there, they were shit", "I went there, they were great" debate.

[vifferman]

While I think the tester is being a dick, remember that many of them are failed mechanics, have an axe to grind, love being bureaucratic bumholes, etc., etc. You need to be pragmatic: do whatever it takes to get the WOF (soften front suspension settings, or set the light however it satisfies the tester), get the WOF, then reset the bike to how it was.

Many of us do that already, by either going somewhere that we know is not too picky about non-safety items, or temporarily modifying the bike (like me using the quieter of two 'spuds' in my Satantune just for the WOF).

Whatever we think is reasonable is irrelevant to getting your WOF. Push a bureaucrat who's convinced he's right, and he'll throw even more grief your way. You need to humour them.

[CookMySock]

Hey Dangerous Bastard....you must have pearls of wisdom on this.:laugh::laugh:Yeah mate. Put your bike on their 2009 model $35,000 test machine and set your headlights up how they tell you to. There is no better authority on headlamp setup than that.


Steve

[vifferman]

Hey Dangerous Bastard....you must have pearls of wisdom on this.


Yeah mate.

:done:

Thank goodness for that!

For a while I was worried that KiwiBiker was broken. :confused:

[Ixion]

, you take said motorcycle for it's six-monthly WOF checks at a respected local motorcycle shop (because you don't trust car WOF stations to do a correct job on a motorcycle).



There's your first mistake right there. Unless you're one of their money machines, taking a bike to a bike shop for a WoF invariably produces shit loads of pedantic or incorrect failures.

Mainly because the mechanics in bike shops (or the ones who do WoFs anyway) are young squids who have no concept of any motorcycle that is not a flat out 20000 rpm race machine. And no concept of any technology earlier than 2005.

Go to a carefully selected VTNZ. Cavendish Drive in Wiri is good . Old guy, still rides seriously. VTNZ Papakura , ditto. The testing station in Henderson appears good (sensible, anyrate)

[Swoop]

The testing station in Henderson appears good (sensible, anyrate)
Yes, they are OK. Only two guys that can "do" bikes though.
They also use a beam tester for the bikes...

[Coldrider]

I get my wofs from the local VTNZ station. They set up my headlight beam there & then with me on the bike, aimed at the light sensor, I am happy with that till I ride with my pack on somewhwere late home from a rally or whatever, when cars start getting annoyed with the beam up in the sky I stop & wind the beam down, that's where it stays till next wof time, the cycle repeats.

[jono035]

Go to a carefully selected VTNZ. Cavendish Drive in Wiri is good . Old guy, still rides seriously. VTNZ Papakura , ditto. The testing station in Henderson appears good (sensible, anyrate)

Carefully selected being the operative word there...

I usually use the VTNZ in Parnell but I've had a string of issues with them, the most major being the one I listed earlier that resulted in the replacement of my rims for no reason.

[Ixion]

Maybe it would be worth setting up a sticky of sane, or insane, testing stations?

Not looking for dodgy ones, just sensible, understand bikes (including old ones); versus idiots, only tester either rides a scooter , hasn't ridden a bike in 40 years, or is an 18 year old who believes that motorcycles begin and end with the ZXR250.

[Marmoot]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=143041&stc=1&d=1253496918

hmmm......

[Voltaire]

Yeah mate. Put your bike on their 2009 model $35,000 test machine and set your headlights up how they tell you to. There is no better authority on headlamp setup than that.


Steve



DB Earlier wrote this on a HID light thread.............advocated swapping lights to get a WOF...:confused:



You don't even HAVE to have a fullbeam light. The lowbeam must be WOFable. Thats it.

The bottom line is, if it gets a WOF and it looks kosher, then nothing else matters. Mr Fuzz is not going to go out of his way to track you down and process you coz you have a fonky headlamp.

My lowbeam is factory standard, my highbeam is modified HID. No one cares except me - it looks awesome and NO ONE pulls out in front me coz it is scary bright.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I would like to suggest that if you want to do the mod, then you don't want to know either. Just do it and have fun.

If it won't get a WOF, then put an incandescent bulb back in to get the WOF and then swap the HID back.

I see you are near to me. Shoot over and look at our mods if you like.

Steve
__________________
"I am a licenced motorcycle instructor, I agree with dangerousbastard, no point in repeating what he said."
A bird in the hand is worth more than a hand in the bush!

[my_r32]

On the last two occasions I tried to get a WOF there I was told that they couldn't do it, as they didn't have anyone qualified to do WOFs on bikes over 250cc. WTF???

Went to the AA place in Mt Roskill (Carr Rd??). No problem.
Reason why they couldn't WOF a bike over 250cc is because even though you may be a qualified mechanic or tester, for motorbikes, you can only test on bikes for which the license you hold. So since the learner and restricted licenses are restricted to 250cc bikes, then thats all they can legally do WOF's for. They need their full license to be able to WOF all bikes :)

[Voltaire]

Reason why they couldn't WOF a bike over 250cc is because even though you may be a qualified mechanic or tester, for motorbikes, you can only test on bikes for which the license you hold. So since the learner and restricted licenses are restricted to 250cc bikes, then thats all they can legally do WOF's for. They need their full license to be able to WOF all bikes :)

This may be true, but the point was that everytime I go to that particular testing station the guy who can is not there.
Has happened more than once....but never again as I go elsewhere.

[westie]

Had a similar situation to the thread starter.
Wof guy aimed my headlight too low but passed th wof. I then went riding at night and almost crashed cos it aimed straight at the ground.
I now always adjust the head light to what I want after each wof

[brendonjw]

The VTNZ at Botany Hub has some good guys.

They make me sit on the bike while they check the light, ergo, we know its at the right level for me. However, what if you chuck piles of luggage on the bike etc, it will mess it up anyway...

They told me my light was too high (they tested it with no one on the bike and it on the side stand) they then tried to adjust it but couldn't work out how and still passed me

[Motu]

If it won't get a WOF, then put an incandescent bulb back in to get the WOF and then swap the HID back.


So your bike now has an illegal WoF - if there is an issue over this,then NZTA go back to the issuing authority and the AVI that issued the WoF (ME!!!),possibly they will have their authority revoked,and the inspector may lose his job.

Remember this is MY job we are talking about here - thank you very much for putting my,or any other AVI's job in jepody.

Who does your WoF's? Does he know you do this? Does he care about his job? Do you care about his job? What do you do for a living? Do you want to be responsible for someone elses tampering?

[MacD]

Go to a carefully selected VTNZ. Cavendish Drive in Wiri is good . Old guy, still rides seriously. VTNZ Papakura , ditto. The testing station in Henderson appears good (sensible, anyrate)

VTNZ Kingsland is good too. Both m/c testers are current riders.

[munterk6]

So your bike now has an illegal WoF - if there is an issue over this,then NZTA go back to the issuing authority and the AVI that issued the WoF (ME!!!),possibly they will have their authority revoked,and the inspector may lose his job.

Remember this is MY job we are talking about here - thank you very much for putting my,or any other AVI's job in jepody.

Who does your WoF's? Does he know you do this? Does he care about his job? Do you care about his job? What do you do for a living? Do you want to be responsible for someone elses tampering?

What? :no: FFS, the inspector merely denies everything,:shifty: and ALWAYS remember the Golden Rule:sunny:.....

:sunny:The WoF is only as good as the day it was tested on.:innocent:

Everyone knows people fuck round with their bikes AFTER the WoF is issued, so how can the inspector be held accountable??? :innocent::innocent:
Unless the rust in the steering head was never seen, and the rider was killed etc...you know, stuff that is obviously a fault at the time of testing.
And when was the last time you ever heard of a WoF guy losing his job?
I have heard of garages having their authority revoked ( in the days of the little Nazi called Carl Rabbidge) but never an inspector. I'm in the trade mate, I DO know how all this shit works :done: