Safety Updates

[emacrn]

Hello. As usual, my first updates are safety related.
Ihave a 2010 rt, paddle shifter, audio & convience.
I want to gat a louder horn & light improvements. I want to add more brake/running lights & front running lights. The front lights don't have to be halogen & or fog lights . I have looked around to see these available at different prices. Anybody have experience with these & feel they can comfortably reccomend a particular brand? Thanks, ed mcmillan

[Bob Denman]

Hi Ed!
I just got some LED bulbs for the fender tips from Custom Dynamics, but you can get them from Black Widow, ESI, Kewlmetal, and a bunch of others as well. I think that they're actually sold under the "Street Magic" brand.
...But Custom Dynamics shipped them out to me quickly with no muss, no fuss! I'd definitely buy from them again!
The fun is in the shopping! (Until you get caught!)

[clueless]

how much brighter is the LED bulbs? are they the 4 LEDs? did you go with amber or white?

also is there room for a larger LED bulb like the 6 LED bulb size?

thinking of some from this website = 194 168 W5W 2825 Map Led Parking Signal Marker Bulbs

[Bob Denman]

I bought the white ones... I'm not positive, but I think that there may have been 6 of them... They do make a HUGE difference in the light coming off the fendertips.

[zeebill]

You know what folks something to consider before adding a million extra lights in the name of "Safety and Being Seen" is the fact that adding lights makes the brake lights less visble and apparent to people following you. I became aware of this on the ride down the Dragon during the SITS rally. We picked up a real slowpoke on the ride down, I mean a real creeper who was holding a group of maybe 15 trikes back to the speed of 15 MPH or less and refused to pull over and let people through. I became painfully aware of the trikes in front of me rear lights and the ones most lit up had very well disguised brake lights because of all the other ones hanging off the trike in various places. Being seen and having people know you are slowing down can be hard to figure out for following people and before you hang a million lights off the trike because they are cool and you like them you dang well better consider whether they are compromising the visibilty and brightness of your all important brake lights! I mean I liked some of the light shows the trikes at SITS put on but they sure as hell served little or no purpose other than to feed the ego of the rider and may indeed have confused other motorists around them on the road. So consider this before hanging all these lights off the trike and finding yourself hanging off a truck or car bumber because they had no idea you were changing lanes or stopping and failed to see you signal. Bill

[TicketBait]

I was not there on that ride with you so I can't comment on those Spyders lighting if they
put lights on that were confusing.

On my bike from the rear you will see the stock brake lighting and when foot brake is depressed
they become very bright in concert with the third brake light also bright red .I have the red mud
flaps always on bright so that I am not rear ended or misjudged for my width from behind.





For the front I have day runners in solid bright white on all the time. All the new Audi's and
Porsches have gone to this and it is very effective in being seen. You may say ego, but I say
that if we were both running down the road side by side my bike with the day runners would be
easily more visible to opposing traffic and even those looking in their rear view mirror. So before
you go painting a big brush on this not being a safety issue and we have an ego problem, I have
to disagree with you.



to the original poster:

I have looked around to see these available at different prices. Anybody have experience with these & feel they can comfortably recommend a particular brand? Thanks, ed mcmillan

I got my products from both Custom Dynamics and some from ESI

Custom Dynamics gives a 5% discount always on your next purchase, and i can tell you first
hand that they stood behind their product when some of the lights on the 3rd brake light failed.

[emacrn]

Zeebil; I'm not sure why you seem to assume my reasons for additional lights are ego driven. I clearly stated I was concerned with safety issues. That being said, I think there could be some significant importance to your observations re the loss of notice of brake light intensity when they are surrounded by extra lights. Before I spend money on new lights I want to make sure they help, not hinder. In previous bikes I added only a " Wig-Wag" flashing brake light & a headlight flashing unit that operated only in the day-time. No fellow riders ever reported a decrease in observed braking intention . I know that research on motorcycle use is old or scant. If you know of any that reports on lighting issues will you pass it along? thanks, ed mcmillan

[InspectorGadget]

Originally Posted by emacrn

Hello. As usual, my first updates are safety related.
Ihave a 2010 rt, paddle shifter, audio & convience.
I want to gat a louder horn & light improvements. I want to add more brake/running lights & front running lights. The front lights don't have to be halogen & or fog lights . I have looked around to see these available at different prices. Anybody have experience with these & feel they can comfortably reccomend a particular brand? Thanks, ed mcmillan

Ed,
I installed HID headlights and fog lights for better visability at night and to be seen better by the cagers. I also installed LED fender lights at the cost of $4.00 ea. I have installed LED side marker lights and additional brake lights for under $40.00. I have installed a Seibel Nautilus air horn and it is loud. If you go to my site you can see all of my mods.
Can-Am Spyder RT Accessories
If you go to the thread below you can read about installing the HIDs
HID Lighting - can-am Spyder Forums - SpyderTalk.com
Good luck with your quest and if you have any questions just PM me.
C-YA RL

[Bob Denman]

Hi Zeebill, Brakelights are a separate issue from what is done to make the front of the bike more visible. There's no doubt that you can "lose" the brakelights in a sea of red lighting if you're not careful out back. I plan on adding only a trunk-mounted brakelight and some mudflap lights to the rear, but the front of the bike is always open to more illumination...

[zeebill]

Ticket Bait I rode down the Dragon behind a fellow who had the extra trunk mounted brake light only and it was easy to see and worked just great. I plan to add that to the trike this winter myself by the way. The lights on the mud flaps of the front fenders may give a following vehicle an idea how wide you are but they do take away from the awareness of a following viehicle of the brake and signal lights. Also I would think depending on how they are wired in they tend to stress the charging system or in some way take away brightness of the brake lights. I saw this often at night or in limited light situations down at the SITS Rally.

I have no problems with lights if the effect is toward safety but when they confuse following vehicles or are there just to please the vanity of the rider and may in fact achieve the above I feel they are dangerous and not needed. You had to be at the SITS Rally to see the lights on some of the trikes to realize this may be cool but it borders on ridiculous and has the side effect of being dangerous and confusing other vehicle drivers around you. I saw one night in Gatlinsburg where the driver of an SUV was watching the trike's light show so intently he went through the red traffic light. I know this was not intended by the trike driver but we at least must be aware of what these light shows can cause while they serve no purpose toward safety.

We all do things that are cool and float our boats and make no sense to others and these light shows rank among them in my book. Bill