Visability Mods

[Hmcp88]

Hi guys just wanted to share some new mods to the nc. Other than the custom services Sargent seat I have these are the first things I've done. I was looking for a good way to see and be seen but I'm not sure I like the extra lights available. The Hid kit was a Bikemaster H4 high and low 6000k which is the whitest they make. Fairly easy install there is plenty of room in the side fairings for the gobs of wiring and modules it has though the bulbs are a slight pain to get in and out with minimal hand space. The tailight is just some led knock off I found for $20 that I mounted and ran through the tail section behind the tail lamp. All I did was cut and solder in with the stock tail lamp harness. Here's some day and night pics of the lights.

 

[Daboo]

I took a slightly different approach and used reflective tape. Forgive me for the pictures being on a different bike...it'll be a few months before I make the jump to the NC700X. For all of you who can't stand scooters, don't look below.

I'm attaching three pictures. The first is taken outside in the daytime with no flash. The reflective tape is black and doesn't show up unless you catch it in the light just right. Most of what you see is just a pin-striping width.



The picture below is using the camera flash. You can see where the reflective tape is easily.



Here's what the bike looks like at night.



I went with reflective tape largely because of what I experienced over many many hours of working the flightline while in the USAF. All our maintenance stands and uniforms had reflective tape on them. If any light at all hit the reflective tape, it stood out, even if a quarter mile away and past the headlight's light pattern. I also like to keep things simple and this required no wiring.

I commute in Seattle and so often it is dark and rainy. Even if it is in the daytime, the road is gray, the sky is gray and the road spray in between makes everything gray. The reflective tape seemed a good way to add to my visibility under those conditions.

There's a lot of tupperware surface on a Burgman, but I'll bet the same idea can be applied to the NC700X.

Chris

 

[ron700]

Hi guys just wanted to share some new mods to the nc. Other than the custom services Sargent seat I have these are the first things I've done. I was looking for a good way to see and be seen but I'm not sure I like the extra lights available. The Hid kit was a Bikemaster H4 high and low 6000k which is the whitest they make. Fairly easy install there is plenty of room in the side fairings for the gobs of wiring and modules it has though the bulbs are a slight pain to get in and out with minimal hand space. The tailight is just some led knock off I found for $20 that I mounted and ran through the tail section behind the tail lamp. All I did was cut and solder in with the stock tail lamp harness. Here's some day and night pics of the lights.

Hey Hmcp88,
very nice mods. I'm very interested in the rear running/brake light mod. Do you mind sharing where you purchased the light from and how you made the tap with some pictures. My concern is making a tap back there and allowing moisture etc. into the housing. Thanks.

 

[Hmcp88]

Well I get most of my parts from tucker rocky/parts unlimited but that's because I work for Harley Davidson and we are dealers with those vendors. That "brake stopper" as its called isn't a running light, just a brake light but they do make them with running capability as well I just wanted people to see me stopping. I did drill a very small hole in a "splash guard" that is under the tail light to get the wiring behind there but it makes it look much cleaner. The plastic from the tail keeps everything protected as well. It would be just as easy to do the running light just need to splice into the running light wire in that 3 wire harness for the brake light.

 

[RustyRider]

Hi Daboo. I like your idea with the reflective tape. What brand of tape did you use and how well does it stand up to the weather?

 

[centex]

"Conspicuity" is the watchword when referring to "being seen" on a motorcycle. Click here to read a short article on the topic.

I’ve read other ‘studies’ suggesting that the inverted “V” pattern of front lights is most effective for motorcycle front-conspicuity. I’m also a huge fan of passive reflective tape. Both are visible in this pic of the front of my Concours.

The front and side amber turn signals also act as running lights (always on, blink for turn). In that pic, the aux light switch is in the “normal” position and you are looking at low beams. The rectangular aux lights are fog lights with sharp cutoff at the top of the pattern. When high-beams are toggled, all the lights that are ‘lit’ in that pic go off and all the unlit lamps come on. The lower round aux lights are long pencil beams. One advantage of this arrangement is that the dots of light appear to ‘move’ when high/low is toggled (the headlight side-to-side and the aux lights up-and-down).

I’m always alert for creeping left-turn potential in front of me. Many times as I approach an intersection with such a potential I’ll use my thumb to quickly toggle low/high 4 or 5 times and note that the potential creeping left-turner will ‘lock-up’ to an absolute complete stop. Yes, it looks like police car wig-wag lights but is perfectly legal since it is not automated and is tied to the normal high beam function switch (verified by several LEO).

Below is a pic of the rear. The center run/brake light and the red run/turn lights are Whelen brand LED lightheads sold for ambulance and firetruck applications. Not turned on in this pic, they are bright, night or day. The brake light very rapidly ‘pulses’ 3 times then goes solid each time the brakes are applied to help grab attention to the stopping vehicle. I’ve found that when waiting at a stop light (always glancing at the mirrors for approaching vehicles from the rear) if I pump my brake lever as a vehicle approaches, they tend to stop much farther back than behind my friends with OEM bike lights to the rear. Maybe it looks like a cop bike but its all perfectly DOT legal.

The reflective material visible in both pics is a combination of regular DOT red/white trailer reflective strips available at any auto parts store and red ”Reflexite” 6-inch tape from Identi-Tape on the web.

Hope this gives y’all some ideas about how to improve your ConSpicUity.

 

[MZ5]

I like retro-reflective tape, too. StreetGlo and TapeWorks both have TONS of the stuff in all kinds of colors!

 

[Daboo]

Hi Daboo. I like your idea with the reflective tape. What brand of tape did you use and how well does it stand up to the weather?

I used Streetglo for the pinstriping and bought some generic reflective tape from a vendor on eBay for the non-pinstriping areas.

The Streetglo pinstriping tape comes in different colors to either blend in with your existing paint colors, or to be a contrasting color and seem like factory pinstriping. I didn't do anything other than follow the natural lines of the bike and try to think ahead of how the light might catch it...in other words, to place it on vertical locations to be at a 90 degree angle to the lights hitting it for maximum effect. It goes on easily, even for novices.

I had the reflective tape on the first Burgman 400 for 49,000 miles in rain, cold (16F) and hot temps (110+F). It held up fine. I have it now on the second Burgman 400 for 22,000 miles in the same conditions with no problems. The nice part about it, is once you put it on, you can forget about it. You'll never get a loose connection to worry about later. But if you're concerned about being seen, this seems to help.

At this latitude, it is dark when I leave the house for my commute at 6:45 am and dark at about 4:30 pm. That seems to last about six months of the year. And in the meantime, if you're out in "daylight" here in the Pacific Northwet, it is still a low visibility situation to ride in. Yet in 70,000+ miles on both bikes in the last five years, I haven't hit my brakes hard more than about 7 times...and two of those were for a squirrel and a deer. I attribute that partly for making myself as visible as I can.

Chris

 

[Heavy]

I used the Street FX auxillary, flashing brake lights on my bike. They are good but have a tendency to crap out after a couple of years. My buddy put a Whelen LN-3 on his. It is more expensive but looks worth it. Much better built and brighter.

Here is a video comparison of the two.

MOV01678.mp4 video by jjchonga | Photobucket

 

[Rocker66]

Iwish we were allowed flashing or pulsating lights on our bikes in the Uk. The only flashing lights we are allowed are our turn signals and they are not allowed to be constant running lights although I never got done whwn I had them as running lights on my vetter equiped GL1100

 

[centex]

......turn signals .... are not allowed to be constant running lights .......

Interesting, I'd never heard about that technicality in the UK. Just as a matter of curiosity, do you know if that's the case in the EU at large?

 

[SuperMek]

Interesting, I'd never heard about that technicality in the UK. Just as a matter of curiosity, do you know if that's the case in the EU at large?

We got the same rules in Sweden and I can bet that it is the same all over the EC.

 

[duk2n]

Same rules here, i.e. turn signals are not allowed to be constant running lights

 

[centex]

Interesting.

In the US, some vehicles have front turn signals (amber color) that are on all the time the headlights are on. My US model '04 Concours came that way from the factory.

Many cars that have red rear turns are the same way (on all the itme headlights are on). Cars and bikes that have amber rear turns seem to NOT act as running lights, though I know many folks that add a running light function to amber motorcycle rear turns without any 'legal repurcussions'.

 

[Rocker66]

Are the NC headlights in the US hard wired or do you get the option of switching them off?

 

[draco_1967]

Hardwired.

 

[radiotinnitus]

Somewhere I saw somebody mounted a hi-lumens flashlight as a running light on their handlebars. I like that idea b/c it would be great for when I'm camping. Does anyone have details on who sells the mounting bracket for that?

 

[Craig92DA9]

In the US, the front turns double as running lights, but the rears do not. Question: do the European NC's have amber turn lenses or are the lenses clear with amber bulbs?

 

[Jguarfn28]

I hate the stock bicycle reflectors that come on the NC so I unscrewed all of them and put SOLAS tape from Aerostitch on the bottom fork stays and cut triangles facing sideway on the sides of the fender license plate. I think it looks better and think it shows up better that the stock crap.

 

[Dave D]

In the US, the front turns double as running lights, but the rears do not. Question: do the European NC's have amber turn lenses or are the lenses clear with amber bulbs?

In the UK the signal lenses are clear tinted with amber bulbs.

There was a thread on this forum some time ago listing the part numbers if I remember correctly.

A quick search found

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-general-discussion/1220-clear-lenses.html

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-mods/517-those-us-looking-clear-lenses.html