headlight modulator guys

[Poweranger]

I soooo want to add modulators to my bike. Same time I shrink back because I don't want to add extra notice as I approach or split by police cagers. Hmmm, it's a hard decision, go traditionally invisible/stealth to avoid police attention...or announce your presence to everyone in your path extra-ways? I still choose to go full invisible, but I don't get why fellow bikers are harshing on the more to be seen scene?

I have the same feeling when out riding. I FEEL like the modulator is adding extra notice for the police. So I always have to remind myself that the only times the police have ever stopped me is when I was doing something wrong. Which was speeding every time. It didn't matter if the modulator was on or not......Their radar was correct. But you could turn it off when splitting if that is your only fear.

[Sport-Touring]

[Windblown]

+1 Very well said GTS-rider.

I guess Windblown won't mind if I take my F-250 diesel pickup out on the road and not give him any special notice when he is on two wheels. Why should I? His two wheeler is nothing special. Probably won't even put much of a dent in the truck if I would happen to run in to him while I was not paying any "special" attention.

I tried the glow-in-the-dark dildo glued on helmet trick too and it would not work. Only caused a bunch of hot gawking sluts to become distracted while driving causing even more accidents.  

Well of course I won't mind if you pay me no special attention.  If on the otherhand you are inattentive in your driving and that causes an accident you'll have answer for it like like any of us would. See? Nothing special.

Look, I understand there are drivers out there doing anything and everything besides DRIVING while behind the wheel. I also understand that in most areas headlight modulators are legal. That does not change the fact that I think it's pretentious to feel like it's ok to demand special notice by using a modulator regardless of whether it annoys, distracts, and confuses others on the road.  There are a number of ways to increase your visibility without flashing lights: aux lights, bright clothing, reflective tape, or just drive your F250.

In the end I reckon those that think it's ok will use them, those that think it's not will not. I will continue to assume I am invisible to everyone on the road and react accordingly.

As with most internet debates each side will walk away smug in the knowledge that they are right and the other guy is wrong.  :bigot:

[ianbh]

In the end I reckon those that think it's ok will use them, those that think it's not will not. I will continue to assume I am invisible to everyone on the road and react accordingly.

As with most internet debates each side will walk away smug in the knowledge that they are right and the other guy is wrong.  :bigot:

Ya Think?  Ian, Iowa

[DJStevieB]

... I also understand that in most areas headlight modulators are legal.

Ummmm.... ALL areas both US and Canada.

[Poweranger]

Well of course I won't mind if you pay me no special attention.  If on the otherhand you are inattentive in your driving and that causes an accident you'll have answer for it like like any of us would. See? Nothing special.

Most, but not all, of the drivers that have pulled out in front of me were not distracted or inattentive. They were not on their cell, ect. ect. but were looking down the road right at me. They just didn't see me. This is where the modulator helps. I do not see how that is being special?

 There are a number of ways to increase your visibility without flashing lights: aux lights, bright clothing, reflective tape, or just drive your F250.

 

People do pay a little more attention when the F250 is coming down the road.  

 In the end I reckon those that think it's ok will use them, those that think it's not will not. I will continue to assume I am invisible to everyone on the road and react accordingly.

 

 


I will continue to ride the same way. The modulator does not replace that.

As with most internet debates each side will walk away smug in the knowledge that they are right and the other guy is wrong.  :bigot:

And yes I am right and YOU are WRONG.  

[TuffguyF4i]

Well of course I won't mind if you pay me no special attention.  If on the otherhand you are inattentive in your driving and that causes an accident you'll have answer for it like like any of us would. See? Nothing special.

Look, I understand there are drivers out there doing anything and everything besides DRIVING while behind the wheel. I also understand that in most areas headlight modulators are legal. That does not change the fact that I think it's pretentious to feel like it's ok to demand special notice by using a modulator regardless of whether it annoys, distracts, and confuses others on the road.  There are a number of ways to increase your visibility without flashing lights: aux lights, bright clothing, reflective tape, or just drive your F250.

In the end I reckon those that think it's ok will use them, those that think it's not will not. I will continue to assume I am invisible to everyone on the road and react accordingly.

As with most internet debates each side will walk away smug in the knowledge that they are right and the other guy is wrong.  :bigot:

All of the products you endorse have exactly the same effect as the modulators.  You don't think aux lights blind and distract and annoy people in cars?  

For me, i don't care.  I love my plug and play HID low beam simply because the glare off the thing is rediculous.  You can see me coming miles away.  I also have rediculously bright LED running lights/turn signals, and I custom made 6 x 1watt LED visiblity lights complete with optics.  I'm like a flying saucer.  LOL







I'm making a second compact set for my GSXR, with more simple optics and smaller LED's.

[rockscaler]

I like the modulators but using them on single lane roads with no intersections is completely stupid, down at Deals Gap only an idiot would think they help, if people don't see you there it because its a blind corner and not do to inattention or your vehicle blending into the scenery like it might in commercial areas

[highside]

I felt kinda bad about them until it started to seem like every single person who has installed high end aftermarket lights on their ricers or trucks have them pointing STRAIGHT OUT into the person in front of them. I longer give a shit about that basic level of courtesy as it seems to have been forgotten by most.

[deaconblues]

I have to chime in with the headlight modulator crowd.  I found that when I installed one on my ride, my daily commutes became a LOT easier, because lane splitting went from "I'm not sure I have room to fit between those cars" to Parting of the Red Sea.  No one yelled, no one bitched, they just moved aside.  Cops didn't say anything about it, other riders didn't say anything about it (well to be fair my weekend riding buddies told me to "drop the lights" but the same was said for people running high beam or aux lights in a group.  Wilford Brimley: "It's the right thing to do.")

Loud pipes/engine in higher gear? Only heard by people behind me - folks in front never had a clue until I was on top of them.

Headlamp on High Beam? no change. People still blanked out on the presence of a motorcycle.

Bright/retroreflective clothing? Effective at night, but, modulators don't work at night anyway.  During the day, hardly any change in driver behavior.

SO... even tho I cannot lane split in Texas, my Trumpet is getting one fitted, to the high beam only.  At the same time... I am mounting a Steibel Nautilus horn.   I miss the loud assertive horn on my K75, and every other bike I've had were equipped with horns that were little more than a polite cough.  I want something that has cagers diving for the curb when I hit the button!!!

And yes, there is an appropriate time to use any of this stuff.  I get that.  

[Windblown]

A similar mentality is the root of this statement as well: Loud pipes save lives!

Same crowd, just different bikes.

 

[Pat S.]

Ok, so I'm riding this bike around that I've been working on and it's got a headlight modulator.

How the hell do you guys put up with everyone giving you dirty looks, the finger, pulling over thinking you're a cop, flashing their lights at you, the questions at stop lights and the general ire I seem to be garnering on this thing. I'm putting tape over the sensors.

Ya'll are some crazy people.

   Most of the time I wave at them. The Hurt study done in the 1970s, still I believe relevant today, and the most in-depth study on the causes of motorcycle accidents found conspicuity ( seeing and being seen) as the most important element to staying out of accidents. A modulator is a great tool in that respect.

[RBEmerson]

Hurt is out of date. The initial report was released in 1981. David L. Hough, in Proficient Motorcycling, makes heavy use of the Hurt Report, which, as of the 2000 edition, was twenty years old. IIRC, even Hough acknowledged that the report was, to paraphrase, showing its age. Simple arithmetic: the report is now 35 years old. Changes in riding demographics, changes, good and bad, in laws pertaining to motorcycles, changes in motorcycles themselves, all combine to remove much of the validity of the quantitative conclusions.

If I had my way, modulators would be federally banned. They're misleading, they violate the code sections dealing lights that falsely make a vehicle appear to be an emergency or law enforcement vehicle, the list goes on far too long. Misleading... more than once I've thought a modulated light was a "I'll wait until [you cross my path]\" and almost found out the hard way it wasn't.

Favoring modulators uses the same specious reasoning that says "run with your high beams on during the day". Some lights won't matter (poorly aimed low) and some will be a distinct nuisance, if not hazard, on any but the sunniest of days.  

[mugwump58]

 

[Walker]

Hurt is out of date. The initial report was released in 1981. David L. Hough, in Proficient Motorcycling, makes heavy use of the Hurt Report, which, as of the 2000 edition, was twenty years old. IIRC, even Hough acknowledged that the report was, to paraphrase, showing its age. Simple arithmetic: the report is now 35 years old. Changes in riding demographics, changes, good and bad, in laws pertaining to motorcycles, changes in motorcycles themselves, all combine to remove much of the validity of the quantitative conclusions.

If I had my way, modulators would be federally banned. They're misleading, they violate the code sections dealing lights that falsely make a vehicle appear to be an emergency or law enforcement vehicle, the list goes on far too long. Misleading... more than once I've thought a modulated light was a "I'll wait until [you cross my path]\" and almost found out the hard way it wasn't.

Favoring modulators uses the same specious reasoning that says "run with your high beams on during the day". Some lights won't matter (poorly aimed low) and some will be a distinct nuisance, if not hazard, on any but the sunniest of days.  

Wow. Hate to say it, but you are dead wrong. I'veread through thisthread with some amusement regarding the misconceptions here. I've been using a modulator daily for the last 13 years.

In fact, they specifically comply with Federal regulations. They have very specific standards they must comply with including the frequency and intensity they must modulate at. It isn't on off on modulation, it's a sinusoidal wave. Here is a link that quotes the standards: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technical-articles/Modulator-regs.htm

Self Entitlement? Try self-preservation! I have seen my modulator work time and time again, too many times to recount here. Just last week I had a truck turn left in front of me, and after a panic stop I realized I forgot to turn my modulator on. I only use mine when going through towns where there are cross streets. Never on the freeway, and never when stuck in traffic or stopped at signal lights. (Moderation for my modulation ha!) I'll never not have one for as long as I keep riding.

[RBEmerson]

I stand by every word of my post.

I did not say they are federally banned. I said they should be banned. NTL, that event is highly unlikely.

[MidLifeMike]

Just a techie curiousity thing - how would a sine wave meet those conditions?

(b) The headlamp shall be operated at maximum power for 50 to 70 percent of each cycle.

(c) The lowest intensity at any test point shall be not less than 17 percent of the maximum intensity measured at the same point.

Someone more on the ball today explain it (shift work messes me up) or maybe they are not using a sinusoidal signal after all. Smiley

FWIW, I've only seen that "throbbing" modulation once on a motorcycle and that was last week. It sure looked like something a cop bike on parade duty should have but if a group ride approached me, I'd go loonie.

Up to now I thought when I saw an approaching motorcycle with lights twinkling like there was a loose connection or bumpy road, that was modulation. And actually that kind of light interference I do and would be able to detect quickly and I wouldn't find it objectionable.

[cyclopathic]

Ok, so I'm riding this bike around that I've been working on and it's got a headlight modulator.

How the hell do you guys put up with everyone giving you dirty looks, the finger, pulling over thinking you're a cop, flashing their lights at you, the questions at stop lights and the general ire I seem to be garnering on this thing. I'm putting tape over the sensors.

Ya'll are some crazy people.

I am riding on new bike without one to work and I see a big difference: people looking through you, pulling out of parking lots, changing lanes, etc. It's been a week but I had more close calls than normally do in couple months.

The trick is to have modulator on low beam, just enough to be noticed but without great annoyance to others.

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

[RBEmerson]

Dude, short of zapping people with a green laser, it's still gonna happen. Hell, a bright yellow helmet, a hurt my eyes yellow jacket, and a "no more Mr. Niceguy" HID doesn't keep the idiots under control. A modulator is wishful thinking.

[shil]

Dude, it helps you get noticed. What's wrong with that?
Who ever said it'll keep the idiots under control?

[RBEmerson]

  If that's what you want to think...