Misjudged approaching motorcycle due to headlight spacing

[Hugh Jarse]

Just a warning, there is a motorbike around that has two widely spaced small diameter headlamps that in the murk looks like car headlamps 700m away, but is actually a motorcycle 200m away, very confusing and dangerous IMO. Couldnt tell you which brand or model Im afraid.

[Jazoli]

Thanks for that

[Bikesalot]

I'll go first and guess a GS

[CoolHands]

you pulled out on him didn't you. At 20m not 200

[NITO]

R1M was my first thought.

Good of you to post that anyway,

[Pope]

[Hugh Jarse]

@all, you are entitled to take the michael, but when you see this thing for yourself on a flat straight Fenland road etc.
If I was buying (or designing) a motorbike this looks very dodgy. Avoid!

[dibblecorse]

Hugh Jarse said:

@all, you are entitled to take the michael, but when you see this thing for yourself on a flat straight Fenland road etc.
If I was buying (or designing) a motorbike this looks very dodgy. Avoid!

What does it matter as long as you avoid hitting it ??

[Hugh Jarse]

NITO said:

R1M

Correct. I was gonna post it was dark vibrant blue but then i thought you'd laugh because naming the colour would not help.

[Pica-Pica]

I have seen those as well, they are confusing. I am unsure of the legality.

[roboxm3]

Pica-Pica said:

I have seen those as well, they are confusing. I am unsure of the legality.

Best tell Yamaha, quite an omission on their part...

[black-k1]

I understand what has been said and agree that there is the potential for those who don’t look properly to misunderstand what vehicle is approaching, however,

Pulling out on someone at 200yds thinking they’re 700yds away is not going to be an issue for anyone. As 70mph is just over 100ft/sec then it’ll be 6 seconds before the bike gets to the junction even if they don’t attempt to slow down and so likely well over 7 seconds before they catch the vehicle that pulled out.

At the sort of distances that would make a “pull out” a bit of an issue then the it will be a lot easier to see that it’s a closer vehicle with two closely spaced (compared to a car) small lights, if you look as you are supposed to.

[Pica-Pica]

roboxm3 said:

Pica-Pica said:

I have seen those as well, they are confusing. I am unsure of the legality.

Best tell Yamaha, quite an omission on their part...

Legality, and best functionality are not always the same. When Scandinavian countries introduced Daytime Running Lamps (DRL), they had tail lamps included; however, the current legislation does not include tail lamps as obligatory with DRLs, despite IMO being highly desirable and best functionality.

[Hugh Jarse]

black-k1 said:

I understand what has been said and agree that there is the potential for those who don’t look properly to misunderstand what vehicle is approaching, however,

Pulling out on someone at 200yds thinking they’re 700yds away is not going to be an issue for anyone. As 70mph is just over 100ft/sec then it’ll be 6 seconds before the bike gets to the junction even if they don’t attempt to slow down and so likely well over 7 seconds before they catch the vehicle that pulled out.

At the sort of distances that would make a “pull out” a bit of an issue then the it will be a lot easier to see that it’s a closer vehicle with two closely spaced (compared to a car) small lights, if you look as you are supposed to.

I was overtaking a tractor so recalculate with a 120mph speed

[black-k1]

Hugh Jarse said:

black-k1 said:

I understand what has been said and agree that there is the potential for those who don’t look properly to misunderstand what vehicle is approaching, however,

Pulling out on someone at 200yds thinking they’re 700yds away is not going to be an issue for anyone. As 70mph is just over 100ft/sec then it’ll be 6 seconds before the bike gets to the junction even if they don’t attempt to slow down and so likely well over 7 seconds before they catch the vehicle that pulled out.

At the sort of distances that would make a “pull out” a bit of an issue then the it will be a lot easier to see that it’s a closer vehicle with two closely spaced (compared to a car) small lights, if you look as you are supposed to.

I was overtaking a tractor so recalculate with a 120mph speed

That gives almost 3.5 seconds at 200yds, but my question would be, should you be starting an overtake maneuver when something is coming the other way and you're not 100% of what, where, how fast etc.?

[roboxm3]

Pica-Pica said:

roboxm3 said:

Pica-Pica said:

I have seen those as well, they are confusing. I am unsure of the legality.

Best tell Yamaha, quite an omission on their part...

Legality, and best functionality are not always the same. When Scandinavian countries introduced Daytime Running Lamps (DRL), they had tail lamps included; however, the current legislation does not include tail lamps as obligatory with DRLs, despite IMO being highly desirable and best functionality.

Don't worry, I'm only messing but they're a standard feature on a bike sold in relatively large numbers all over the world...ideal they may not be but they're obviously most certainly legal...

[NITO]

I know what OP means, I wasn't taking the Mick, I found them quite odd to decipher when I first saw one approaching and an R1M isn't usually being ridden too sedately. If you ride one, it's something to be aware of which is the intention of the well meaned post.

I used a grey Lotus Elise for a week once, even driven with the lights on, the amount of times I was pulled out on with that car shows that people just didn't see it, it was low, colour blended with the road and small in size. Of course they should look properly bla bla bla, but it's not always the case in the real world and then accidents happen.

[FazerBoy]

Yes, twin headlights on a bike can be mistaken for a car a lot further away.

Many years ago (in the nineties) I put one of those twin headlight ‘endurance’ mini-fairings on a naked bike (I don’t think we called them naked bikes back then) and found that cars were pulling out in front of me at night rather too often for my liking, and more frequently than before I had fitting the fairing.

I realised what is was after a while and removed it.

Don’t forget also that the average car driver is far less switched on to looking out for bikes than we who frequent biker banter would be...

[moanthebairns]

I thought these only ran one on at night, the other is full beam?

[DanGPR]

moanthebairns said:

I thought these only ran one on at night, the other is full beam?

Pretty sure that's the case on my MT10 with the same lights, unless you hold the 'pass/flash' button, which I believe gets both on.