Do you ride at night? is it safe?

[kirill_igum]

Recently I had a conversation with a rider, he told me that he prefers not to ride at night. Personally, I don't mind when it's dark: there are less cars.

if you choose 2 or 3, I'd like to see your comments on why do you think it's uncomfortable or unsafe.

EDIT: "no" means that you PLAN your ride to be done by nighttime or use a different transportation if it's dark.

[G]

every sec you are over driving you line of sight for stoping distance

[tedski]

I will ride at night to run errands and what not.  I do not ride at night while out touring for a few reasons:
- limited sight distance
- more animals, can't see them either
- I'd rather be sleeping

[Mr.Black]

Yes/Sort of.

[ABorn13]

I'll ride at night and in fact sometimes find it safer.  

**I'm more comfortable with my own skills and I won't outrun my headlight beam.  

**Alternatively as we all know, those in cages are frequently oblivious to riders, so 1) just statistically, reduced traffic = reduced likelihood of the possibility of car v. bike; and 2) the visibility of my headlight at night appears to better than just a motorcycle during daylight.

But like several responders, just watch out for the hooved rats and other animals.

Alan

[Squareman357]

I will ride at night to run errands and what not.  I do not ride at night while out touring for a few reasons:
- limited sight distance
- more animals, can't see them either
- I'd rather be sleeping

Sorta what he said.  I ride at night locally, here in the city, hanging out with friends and going from bike spot to bike spot.  But I don't like to ride at night touring for the same reasons he said.  I feel uncomfortable and find myself thinking about animals all the time.  I have ridden into the night, but usually within an hour of sundown I find myself looking for a place to rest for the night.

[Frankienuckles]

I really don't care for the diminished vision. My lights are ok ,but I still can't see as far as in the daytime. Also more bugs and critters at night. The highway isn't bad too bad at night except the highway just kinda sucking overall (boring) day or night.

[Hotbrakes]

I enjoy every second on a 2 wheeled machine, but riding at night through the countryside is nerve racking.  I don't mind the interstate at night as the fences they put up seem to do a good job getting rid of critters and there are usually other vehicles around whose headlights (and brake lights)I can use to my advantage for things like debris and other objects that may cause an unintended and costly "stop".  Plus the cooler temps at night are great for pounding down hard miles in the summer.  But then there's the drunks and other freaks who only come out at night and take to the highways.  

So no good for backroads but perfectly comfortable on interstates.

[scramblerracer123]

Night riding is an acquired taste.  The more I ride at night the less it bothers me.  I struggle with rain at night as I get the bright spots messing with my eyes but I always carry a clear shield to help with that.  

[M.Brane]

 I generally try to avoid it, but will ride in the dark. The VFR's headlight is much, much better than my previous 2 bikes, but it's still a little uncomfortable at times. Just have to slow down accordingly.

 I agree about the critter issue. Don't wanna see those reflecting eyeballs in my line.

[Zerosum]

Sure, I ride at night all the time... in the CITY.  Out in the counties, no freakin way.  Chances of a run-in with Bambi are too great.

That said, if I HAVE to ride at night, I'm very glad to have for my V-Strom's oversized headlights.  Best stock mc headlight ever, IMO.

[sammyseaman]

Riding at night is kinda nice and peaceful. Less traffic and cooler in the summer but..... Riding at night in the rain (like mentioned above) is getting more stressful in my old age. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be. Also I'm very careful riding at dusk and dawn. I keep it slow and conservative due to all the feckin' tree rats we have around here.

[adlowe]

Love it, especially in the summer. Dusk and dawn are a LOT more dangerous -- critters are more active, distances are harder to judge, cagers w/o lights on are harder to spot, etc.

Of course, it dramatically reduces the pleasure of riding scenic roads.

[sammyseaman]

I used to absolutely love dirtbiking at night. Very wierd, hypnotic and trippy. Although it was easy to get lost when it was hard to see familiar landmarks.

[Strog]

I used to absolutely love dirtbiking at night. Very wierd, hypnotic and trippy. Although it was easy to get lost when it was hard to see familiar landmarks.

I used to ride my dirtbike with my cousin in our grandparent's pasture. We'd see something that we thought was "too tough" during the day. Then we'd always end up right back there as soon as the sun set and did it in the semi-dark/dark.    I LOVED jumping in the dark on familiar jumps. Everything would just drop away and the headlight was pointing off into the dark. You'd get that moment of weightlessness then brace for the landing. Fun times  

Riding on the street in the dark just isn't the same for me.  

[SLK50]

 Riding at night didn't bother me until a miscalculation found me on Skyline Drive after sunset.
Slaloming through the deer herds was rather unerving.

[nater]

Oh deer.

[sammyseaman]

Oh, I forgot to add that getting caught in the mountains at night on a 1050 Sprint ST sucks big time. Me and the wife (ex) got caught in the dark coming back from the Cherohala Skyway one night while on a trip down there. You wanna talk about slow going. Living in michigan I forget how bad the headlights are on this thing and how I have to get some aux lights.

[DNA]

I ride int he dark a lot - occasionally through the night.

Night + rain is extremly exhaustin, and I woudl prefer not to do it if i could.  Night or rain = fine.  Night + rain = not fine.

I have had some really close calls with deer at night - the risk is real.

[RRdvark]

I love riding at night in the city, in the country, or on the interstates.  Yes, the animal risk is higher and yes, the sight distance is shorter, but if I was worried about that kind of stuff I'd probably drive a car all the time anyway, right?

[Wanderer]

I love riding at night.  I certainly ride with another 1/10th safety margin over daytime but the thrill of chasing your headlight down the road is awesome for me.  Also, I swear the air is smoother.  I'm not sure if it's an actual atmospheric pressure drop or simply less car/truck turbulance, but it's  

[county]

Some riders cut way back on the night riding because night vision is sometimes a problem with age.

[jfusaro]

I only ride at night if I over stayed somewhere and need to get home or get caught out on a long day and come home late.  I hit a deer some time ago and have never forgot it.  Things happen quickly at night.  The deer leaped out of the woods right into the side of my headlight/handlebars never saw it coming.  I was going about 65 mph. Wiped out pretty bad.

[jstark47]

Some riders cut way back on the night riding because night vision is sometimes a problem with age.

Yup.  Night riding on a route I know, no problem.  Night riding on strange roads - no way, not anymore.  Older eyes can't sort out all the visual inputs fast enough.  

[rabbott5]

I won't say that night riding freaks me out.  There is just more to see and do in the day time.  On those rare occasions I'm out after dark, I am in no hurry and I don't have to be anywhere at any certain time, I find it relaxing.  I slow down, the air is cooler and clean and oh so quiet.  Just have to watch out for the timber rats.

[garry]

I avoid riding at night for a lot of reasons, mostly due to my almost 50 year old eyes wanting/needing a TON of light to see well:

- the lights on my bike suck. Beyond suck actually. Almost worthless.
- you can't see gravel, etc on the road surface
- you can't see very far ahead with low beams (high beams on my Wee Strom were pretty good)
- oncoming traffic messes with my vision / visor
- deer are more active at night
- the only reason I'm out at night is to have beers with friends and I don't drink and ride

Pretty much, I ride to have fun in the twisties. You can't do that at night. Well, I can't. So I don't ride once the sun goes down. Interstates and major highways aren't a big deal, but those suck all the time and are avoided like the plague.

[propeller]

Riding a known country road alone at night on the high beam can be quite a joy as long as there is a buffer zone between the road and the forest to spot deers. The fresh air, the humming engine and stars filled sky can be a real pleasure. Sometime, in the middle of nowhere, I'll stop, shutdown everything, take of the helmet and just listen to silence while watching the stars on the horizon drawing the landscape...

That remind me of a night last August during the Perseids where alone on a deserted road as I get ready to cross a bridge, my beam reflection on a sign warn me that it is a single lane bridge. Having seen no other source of light for miles, I start laughing in my helmet at that sign thinking there is no way I'll need to share with another vehicle...until my beam light on a skunk ahead of me on that bridge! I quickly stopped to give her priority.  

[243Win]

Just have to slow down.

Hard to look through the turn with the headlight pointing off at a tangent.

[jay547]

I love riding at night.  I certainly ride with another 1/10th safety margin over daytime but the thrill of chasing your headlight down the road is awesome for me.  Also, I swear the air is smoother.  I'm not sure if it's an actual atmospheric pressure drop or simply less car/truck turbulance, but it's  

same here.

[sammyseaman]

12.6% don't ride at night? What a buncha pansy-asses  

[schmii]

Ride at night.  Main beam gives a few seconds ahead, high beam gives safe vision.  Might add some accessory lights though I don't get flashed from oncoming with the high beams on at night it seems.  Feel really unsafe using main beam at night.

[hovmaven]

I don' t mind it, but I'm a big fan of visibility, and the 'stich fits that bill well.  I also have solas tape on the helmet and mudguard, and when attached, the panniers.    

Reflectivity rules.  

[LadyNinja]

I like riding at night as long as I have enough gear on to keep warm. The summer nights are awesome. Less traffic and its a more peacefull quiet ride. In the city its not much of a problem, have seen some deer by our house but it doesnt bother me. Most of the time they just mozzy accross or stand and stare at me. Just have to slow down and stay alert. The neat sounds of bugs and critters are nice to hear along the lake too. I ride when ever I can.

[Hotbrakes]

I don' t mind it, but I'm a big fan of visibility, and the 'stich fits that bill well.  I also have solas tape on the helmet and mudguard, and when attached, the panniers.    

Reflectivity rules.  

Nightrider...

[2wTraveler]

If I have to take the interstate and make time...I actually prefer to travel at night.

[reppans]

I've hit six deer... Three on a motorcycle.  


Peter Egan said it beautifully here:

http://archive.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=26&article_id=1867&page_number=1

....... We have a real deer problem. Some nights when I drive home from the city, the last 10 miles of country road to our house looks just like Kruger Game Park, with whitetail deer rather than Thompson's gazelles and wildebeest randomly crossing the road. I drive no faster than about 40 mph on these roads now, scanning the outer reaches of my headlight beams for incoming missiles. Almost no trip from town is deer-free.

It wasn't always this way.

When I was in high school during the mid-1960s, we hardly ever saw deer on the road at night, even though I lived in hilly and densely wooded farm country in central Wisconsin.

Nighttime, in fact, was when I drove fastest — and I drove too fast most of the time. There was less traffic at night on those small back roads, more warning of oncoming cars from headlights over the hill, and my teenage night vision was laser-sharp with the headlights on bright. It felt like the safest time to drive. It never occurred to me I might hit a deer. You saw one every so often, but sightings were rare and almost exotic, like spotting a great horned owl, or Bigfoot.

But now they're everywhere.....

[Orson]

almost all my miles are touring miles, so what is the point of touring if you can't see the scenery?  

I think a lotta people get caught up in travel schedules that dictate that they should be in Point B by the end of the day.

This leads to "Gotta be there-itis" rather than relaxing and enjoying the ride  

[hazra]

Hmmm... I chose yes, it doesn't bother me - but I'll qualify that with "but it's less safe".  Motorcycles have a greater tendency to outrun their headlights at night, and the Pennsylvania Wood Rat is more likely to jump in front of you at night.  The first you can counter somewhat by going slower, but the second you really can't do much about.

[Grizz]

  I like night riding. Most of my long trips begin at night. As 2wTraveler said, less traffic and when the sun comes up you are somewhere new. Sky Line Drive and the BRP are a blast at night, critters galor.

[sammyseaman]

  Sky Line Drive and the BRP are a blast at night, critters galor.

Not on a 1050 Sprint  
I'm suprised there's 4 people who voted they will not ride at night. What the hell do they do if they're out on a ride and it gets dark? Get a hotel room? Have a friend pick them up?  

[Grizz]

  I don't know about a sprint but I know I had a lot of fun on a 1200S Bandit and a Futura, maybe you should go Italian.

[sleazy rider]

HID headlights and PIAA 510s baby.   Light up my life!

[bomber]

I love night riding -- I scale back the speed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is age related . . . . .

But, I REALLY like riding at night . . . having the road to yourself under the Milky Way is one of the joys of motorcycling.

[thecap]

No mater how well you may plan Mr. Murphy has a way of messing things up so that sooner or later your riding at night.  So best to to be prepared.  As of me I've never had concerns, in town I feel people see you better at night and out of town you can always slow down to where you feel comfy.  

[greywolf]

My night vision isn't that great so I prefer not to ride at night, I will in a pinch.

[Uwe]

It depends.

When touring, generally not.     As someone else stated, there's little point in touring if you don't get to see the scenery.     I'll make exceptions in certain cases where there's little to see, where the roads make collisions with critters unlikely, and where night-time temperatures are more comfortable.

Back in my commuting days many years ago, I had little choice for about half of each year, since it was dark by quitting time.   Critters were pretty much a non-factor on that route.   I also find that cars seem to do fewer stupid things in front of motorcycles at night than during the day.  

-Uwe-

[DL98VFR]

Love to ride at night, have since I started to ride... the quiet, the (relative) lack of cages, the sky above, the peace and as someone else said the opportunity to stop, turn off the bike and listen to and enjoy the silence and the stars.  Also, the interstate is well-lit and actually less repulsive at night if you have to go that route    And what is safe?  If I wanted safe I'd be home anyway