At 9/25/14 07:32 PM, Malachy wrote:
It was a relatively minor part that was sold through Yamaha - like a different size rear fork or something.
I was shocked Honda only sells parts for bikes under 4 years old, nothing for older models! Shit, the last Honda dealer I liked and went to, closed up years ago. Ran it out of an old farmhouse on a lonely road.
When I took the class years ago I was in NY and they waived the DMV road test. It was also available as a 3 day weekend class, friday to sunday. They have advanced classes if you already have your motorcycle license to learn advanced skills using your own bike instead of theirs. I might take one some day.
I'll ask about that advanced class when I'm there. I'm sure they have many selling points...
Originally the cases came with a big long extension for the brake light and its own set of turn signals off to the back and sides of the cases - it looked really ugly and the signals the kit came with were not the right voltage and the bike shop spent a lot of time trying to figure it out - either it would trip up the circuit and the signals wouldn't work or all 4 signals would go or the correct 2 would work but go in a strobe speed. In the end they suggested removing the extensions and putting the original light fixtures on the bike. I think it looks much better aesthetically the way it is, but I don't like that lights are being hidden on the sides.
Guess that's why I haven't seen too many light extensions around. It's a slight problem for bikers here, depending on which angled, colonial intersection they happen to be at.
Eventually I would like to replace my lights with LEDs and add some extra LEDs to the sides of the bike to increase visibility.
Nice low voltage stuff. Sometimes those truckers put 2 or 3 alternators on just to blind everyone :\ I wish kids would do that.. driving at night and cranking the tunes to 11 is kinda disturbing to catch sight of (very dim headlights). In the old days, I'd worry that person was running out of battery, not beats :|
It's not just the bike you need to make sure is visible, you should wear high visibility gear too - a helmet should have at least 2 square inches of reflective material on each side (I have 2 MSF reflectors free from my class on my helmet). My gloves have reflective piping and small reflectors on the fingers. My jacket has reflective piping. My boots have reflective bits to them.
My Pop used to have rolls of reflective tape, but older stuff, not too efficient. I bought some 3M tape for my mailbox, but it's shit. Trial and error.
I do ride at night. I use the motorcycle in lieu of a 2nd car at the moment though now that I've moved out of south florida I have had my eyes on a new pickup truck.
Do you have a need for hauling big, tall stuff, every so often? Van might be more useful, even for hauling your bike (plus it's lower to the ground).
