Eye on the Road :
Eye on the Road :
Aux Lighting
The final area I want to talk about is auxiliary lighting . “ You can ’ t avoid what you can ’ t see , and what can ’ t see you can ’ t avoid you ” was a quote from a long distance rider friend of mine . This is a meaningful point of view as you will find yourself having to travel in the dark – even if it is to find a safer place to wild camp . I can remember riding in Montana at dusk and I was heading for Livingstone after coming down through Lewis & Clark National Forest from the Glacier National Park on the Canadian border , well the ride was exceptional and hardly any other traffic was on the road . I was making good progress but the light was fading and I still had around 50 miles to get to my overnight stop . As the light was reducing , the light from the front of the bike was picking up a 1001 animal eyes reflection and what caused me to reduce my speed down to 10-15mph for the remainder of the ride , was that those eye reflections were only visible from short distance using the headlights beam . On my project bike I am having some projection HID lights fitted to shine a light a long way in to the distance . I want to see what I want to avoid as soon as possible . The draw on these modern HID and LED lights are quite low for the returned light emitted . On a
number of bikes I have had , the headlight beams are so bad that I would think twice ( or at least get a bit nervous ) riding them during the English night time .
Now , there are many out there that would comment in the negative about the electronic items I have mentioned in this article . Some people are very “ lo tech ” in their approach to travelling – the map is king and anything which keeps you “ on grid ” is taboo . That is a fair point , and those people are allowed their opinion , but as with all aspects of life , one person ’ s viewpoint does not map on to another person ’ s requirements . I have tried to justify why I am installing those items above and I believe it makes sense for me . Modern bikes alternators can produce sufficient power as to run all of those devices as well as keep charging the bikes battery ( don ’ t forget that important function ), but it also shows that modern motorcycle exploring isn ’ t always a minimalistic event . It may not be a case of taking the kitchen sink with you , but electronic comforts can only help make the trip more
enjoyable . MEM