Headlight modulator

[DiggerJim]

I've never seen a LEO wearing HI-Viz anything do people actually mistake you for a cop because of your hi-viz?

I commute to work on the RT wearing a Hi-Viz Stitch and notice people give me lots more space than when I'm wearing my gray mesh jacket and at least once a week someone pulls to the right to let me by as I come up behind them.

 

Of course it could be that they're laughing so hard at a banana riding a bike that they can't help but slow down or pull over.

[Ken H.]

Do you suppose that would be different if every motorcycle sold automatically had a modulator installed and running?

 

i.e. If the magnitude of the annoyance was increased so that every bike you come across has an obnoxious flashing headlight, do you think enough people would be annoyed to do something about it?

Well possibly, but there's still a major difference. Every bike on the road with a modulator could possibly annoy a lot of other drivers on the road. But loud pipes annoy people everywhere. Sitting in their living room watching a movie, sipping java outdoors at Starbucks, working in their yard, etc. The intrusion into their total lives is a lot more with loud pipes than it ever will be with modulators.

[ghaverkamp]

In the car, I can see the left and center mirrors in my peripheral vision. So...even if I'm not actively looking in the mirrors there's still this obnoxious flashing thing in the corner of my eye.

 

More often than not, it's probably the Sun.

[russell_bynum]

Well possibly, but there's still a major difference. Every bike on the road with a modulator could possibly annoy a lot of other drivers on the road. But loud pipes annoy people everywhere. Sitting in their living room watching a movie, sipping java outdoors at Starbucks, working in their yard, etc. The intrusion into their total lives is a lot more with loud pipes than it ever will be with modulators.

 

Yeah yeah...agreed. I wasn't trying to make the point that loud pipes are the same as modulators. Just that the basic thought process of the users of both is the same: "This annoys you, and I'm OK with that."

[russell_bynum]

In the car, I can see the left and center mirrors in my peripheral vision. So...even if I'm not actively looking in the mirrors there's still this obnoxious flashing thing in the corner of my eye.

 

More often than not, it's probably the Sun.

 

I dunno what kinda crazy tofu fumes y'all have in the air up there in SanFran, but down here in SoCal, the sun shines, but it doesn't generally flash.

[ghaverkamp]

I dunno what kinda crazy tofu fumes y'all have in the air up there in SanFran, but down here in SoCal, the sun shines, but it doesn't generally flash.

 

While I'll assume there are no reflections of sunlight on your vehicles, given the low reflectivity of dirt, between mirrors, reflectors, and cars that have for some reason been washed, I find that there are often light flashes, all sourced from the Sun.

 

The fog makes this less of an issue in San Francisco. I do go into Berkeley everyday, though. That's likely where I encounter my tofu fumes.

[WURTY]

Loved the Kisan modulator I had on my RT.

When I save up 180 more bucks I am going to put one on my Vstrom because they work.

Screw everyone that I offend, at least they see me before they turn left in front of me.

[NoHeat]

June issue of Motorcycle Consumer News has an article on headlight modulators.

 

It's written by our own Moshe Levy. And it's a good thing that he wrote it, and not just because it's well written and nicely illustrated, but also because the June issue would otherwise be just a grim collection of articles about getting sick, getting hyperthermia, getting injured, getting medical evacuation -- all that, and fatality statistics, too.

[russell_bynum]

While I'll assume there are no reflections of sunlight on your vehicles, given the low reflectivity of dirt, between mirrors, reflectors, and cars that have for some reason been washed, I find that there are often light flashes, all sourced from the Sun.

 

Ah cool...there's another good reason for me to not wash my truck.

 

[Steve_Witmer]

But loud pipes annoy people everywhere. Sitting in their living room watching a movie, sipping java outdoors at Starbucks, working in their yard, etc. The intrusion into their total lives is a lot more with loud pipes than it ever will be with modulators.

 

You're not kidding. There's a guy four houses down whose pipes AT IDLE are as loud in my front yard as my lawnmower, and he lets the thing sit and idle all the *&^$%@ time! When he does leave his house he guns the motor and you can hear the thing a half-mile away.