Question about front conspicuity light placement

[Allen Rowand]

Oh great and wizened riders of the board,

I'd like to mount a set of front lights, but don't have much room on the forks or the bulbous fender of my RTP. The fender always seems to be dirty anyway, meaning I'd have to wash the bike just to keep the lights clean

 

Would they be effective mounted on my front crashbars, or even under the oil cooler?

 

Thanks,

Allen

[Woodie]

Crashbars. Makes a very nice triangle (for being seen).

 

Make sure they're small enough to be mounted within the crashbar exterior dimensions. DAMHIK.

 

[Allen Rowand]

Sounds like a plan- I can mount them under the PIAAs.

 

I just put a pair of Skene P3s on the back. I already installed a SignalMinder, so now when I hit the brakes it's like the mothership from Close Encounters back there with the P3s and turn signals flashing at different rates!

[Trinity]

I liked the lower, brake caliper mounted position of my previous set of Moto Lights. (The "big triangle.") That said, I got a lot MORE positive comments regarding the visibility of the amber bulbs I was running in 'em...really seemed to be "seen."

[philbytx]

I used the Martin Fabrication mounts (Front fender bolts).

 

Give a nice triangle plus you can "sweep" the road with them !

 

 

[flat_twin]

I used the Martin Fabrication mounts (Front fender bolts).

 

Give a nice triangle plus you can "sweep" the road with them !

 

 

like this...

[russell_bynum]

If you mount them under the oil cooler, the lights will just blend together with the headlight into one big blob of light.

 

The "big triangle" effect is the best I've seen as far as conspicuity goes. For a normal RT, I'd suggest motolights (Personally I like the fork mount over the caliper mount so you don't have to mess with the lights every time you remove the wheel or do the brakes, but that wouldn't be a huge deal, so it's really just your personal preference)

 

I like motolights over PIAA's or similar because they use standard MR-16 bulbs that you can get at every store that sells lightbulbs...every hardware store, Walmart, even our local grocery store has MR-16 bulbs. Motolights are a very well-made product and the company stands behind them with a great warranty.

 

The most conspicuous setup I've seen is motolights with amber bulbs. Personally, I don't care for that look, but it definitely stands out more than "just another white light".

 

In your case...the RTP crash bars give you some additional options that would give you an even bigger triangle of light. I can't really offer any specific suggestions there, but it seems like that might be worth looking into. Keep in mind light placement for the best light pattern vs. light placement to protect the lights in a tipover. It would suck to drop the bike in your driveway and destroy your expensive lights.

[jskene]

You definitely want to get as much separation between your conspicuity lights and the headlight. This presents a larger subtended angle to oncoming drivers (the angle they see between the headlight and the conspicuity lights). The larger this angle is, the easier it is for them to judge your distance and approach speed, and the less likely it is that they will cut you off by making a left turn in front of you. This is the single most common cause of motorcycle accidents.

 

Also, studies have shown that amber lights provide more conspicuity than white ones. That is one reason why our Photon Blaster conspicuity lights come only in amber

 

The other reason to consider amber is that you are prohibited from illuminating more than 4 white, forward facing lights on your vehicle at one time. If you want to leave these lights on, you will not be able to legally run fog or driving lights as well.