Night Riding

[GR81]

i avoid riding at night :P

[marty]

i ride every night, unless it's really cold. i guess it's just what you get used to.

[Lou Girardin]

Anyone know where I can get night-vision goggles?
Some new cars have a night vision head-up display now, the goggles would be great as long as you don't turn your head at 160 plus.

[The Stranger:Me]

White markers on the left hand side of the road and yellow ones on the right side of the road.

Close, but no cigar

[Squeak the Rat]

Sometimes useful if cars travelling the opposite direction illuminate the corner for you.

Night vision goggles? stuff up your depth perception, so you'd need to invest some serious practice time.....


I'm with the "ride within your headlights" group. There's enough gravel, blind corners, cowshit, cows, hedgehogs etc on the roads.......

[The Stranger:Me]

Mr Finn has the only correct answer. It is folly to rely on roadside markings or reflective gadgets, many roads do not have them .And even if they do, that amounts to aiming the bike at a distant gleam and ignoring the fact that you cannot see the road itself. What if there is something on the road between the reflecting marker and the end of the visible road ?

Ride within the range of your headlamp. It is no different whatsoever to riding by day. If you cannot see where the road goes - SLOW DOWN. Sorted.

I am not saying to rely on this to the exclusion of all else(though in 25 years it hasn't let me down). I am saying to use it as a part of your decision making process. Use it as one of your inputs, not the only one of your inputs.

If it is unavailable to you, sure you are still going to ride, but you adjust your style accordingly.

[T.W.R]

Actually living in a rural township (smudge on the map) we've got a grand total of 5 street lights, 3 giveways & 0 stop signs. All travelling at night is in the abo's butt hole blackness, and not all rural bends or intersections are marked or indicated

A few years ago a local rode a XR600 straight through a Marcrocarpa Hedge because they missed/didn't see the corner (result : 1 severly injured rider & 1 wrecked bike).

So simple rule: ride within the effective reach of the headlight beam

[WickedOne]

Accordnig to the LTSA

Night.doc

[SimJen]

Anyone know where I can get night-vision goggles?
Some new cars have a night vision head-up display now, the goggles would be great as long as you don't turn your head at 160 plus.

Night vision is all good, unless someone is coming towards you with their lights on

[SlowHand]

You talking about the road markings getting closer as the corner radius reduces or summin?

But why bother all you need is some flashing red LED lights and turbo boost

dun dududun~ duhdudu dun~ dundudududun dun~

[terbang]

The road edge markers (those plastic things with reflectors on them) are on the outside of the corner and their spacing heralds how tight the bend is.
Lou NVG technology is no good for road use as it would bloom every time you had some other light scource. The answer would lie in the Infra red area however I just cant find anywhere to mount the FLIR turret on me Busa..

[T.W.R]

Anyone know where I can get night-vision goggles?

these guys have them

www.cabelas.com

Hunting & Fishing out-fitters from the US, basically got anything & everything you can think of

[terbang]

Check out this sort of Tecnology it is IR based..EVS

[sunhuntin]

i hate riding at night in the country!
when i rode to welly one night, i nearly hit the side of every bridge there is! mainly cos thered always be a car coming the other way, blinding me, so id veer to the left [otherwise fixation would see me smushed into the front of said car]
ive got to the stage now that i ride on full and if i know theres a corner coming, plus cars i can see, i stay on full till i can read that corner and know what it is enough to go around it blind...i may as well shut my eyes for all the good it does.
the reflective markers on the side, the markers in the middle plus the paint disappear when im coming up to a car headed towards me. i lose them entirely, unless i look down at my boot to see the paint...thats not a good idea either.

[crashe]

If you can't see which way the road is going... (left of right) then you are riding too damned fast for the conditions...

So slow down.


Never rely on the markers on the side of the road, as some idiot may have taken out a few the night before in a crash.

Ride to the road conditions.