Turning off Headlight

[Dave Price]

I've just discovered the thread which describes how to turn the headlight off. As I'm not a big fan of riding with my headlight on (during daylight), it was quite a revelation. However, is there a sequence to turn it on again whilst riding, without performing the obvious and turning the ignition off?

 

[Yellow Peril]

Why would you want to turn it off? Does it cost that much to have it on? too many idiot car drivers quote "did not see you mate" .

 

[ed4554]

Could someone please explain how the headlight is turned off again? I have put in a search without success.
Thanks.

Ride Safe All

Ed

ps The reason I need to know is that you are required to turn your lights off when using the Channel Tunnel. Cheers!

 

[Dave Price]

Why would you want to turn it off? Does it cost that much to have it on? too many idiot car drivers quote "did not see you mate" .

'Did not see you mate' Is just a stock answer for getting it wrong. I've heard it a million times with all the other cliche's.
A headlight actually takes away another road users perception of your speed. The worse case scenario is a R1 travelling at 70 mph, which another motorist interprets to be a Honda C90 travelling at 30 mph.
Travel in the correct position at an appropriate speed and you will always be seen and able to take the appropriate action.
Sorry to sound like an old git

 

[Dave Price]

Why would you want to turn it off? Does it cost that much to have it on? too many idiot car drivers quote "did not see you mate" .

Turn on ignition
Hold indicator cancel switch for at 5+ secs
Hold right indicator switch for 5+ secs
Start engine
Just leaves pilot/rear light on.
Will reset after turning off ignition again.

 

[ed4554]

Thanks Dave. Will give it a go.

Ride Safe All
Ed

 

[Emoto]

Why would you want to turn it off? Does it cost that much to have it on? too many idiot car drivers quote "did not see you mate" .

Well, let's say you're on a woods trail or offroad somewhere. What's the point of having it on?

 

[Fanum]

A headlight actually takes away another road users perception of your speed.

Sometimes true, yep......

And if you go over a bump whilst heading towards a motorist waiting to turn across you, it could be misinterpreted as a 'come on' flash resulting in a 't bone' accident.

On balance though, (and backed up by Swedish accident research, admittedly involving cars) I'd say these events are more than offset by the majority of other road users whodo see you earlier...but then, as this means nothing happens, it's not registered as a succesful event for the guy riding with the light on.

I also have a strong feeling that rightly or wrongly, if you ended up in court trying to claim from someone for injuries (or your family for a more serious claim), your case would not be taken as seriously if they discovered that you had deliberatly disabled a feature that the manufacturers, and percieved wisdom, says is a 'safety feature'.

Just a thought

 

[Dave Price]

Sometimes true, yep......
I also have a strong feeling that rightly or wrongly, if you ended up in court trying to claim from someone for injuries (or your family for a more serious claim), your case would not be taken as seriously if they discovered that you had deliberatly disabled a feature that the manufacturers, and percieved wisdom, says is a 'safety feature'.

Just a thought

Fanum,
Yes, a valid point, which will increasingly become more relevant, as the option to turn lights off becomes negated by the manafacturers.
However, nice of BMW to give us a system that doesn't turn the headlight on before the engine fires up, and is able to be disabled anyway, if you feel the need.
BTW, I do feel that running with a pilot light on can be beneficial. It's just 55 watts and definitely the bike riders that have never ridden in the dark, and don't realise their lights are poorly adjusted that I don't agree with.
Are the manafacturers taking away the option to turn headlights off as a safety feature, or is it to standardise their products and therefore reduce cost?

 

[Pukmeister]

Under EU rules, all new motorcycles sold have to have the headlight dipped beam on when the engine is running. I am surprised that BMW even give you the option to switch it off, though it defalts to 'always on' with each use of the ignition key.

 

[Quentin]

Hi

Turning off headlight is very useful on track days. Hot lenses crack when taped up.

Quentin

 

[Marty Hill]

I turn mine off when doing service on the bike in my garage.

Cheers,

 

[BBB61]

Under EU rules, all new motorcycles sold have to have the headlight dipped beam on when the engine is running. I am surprised that BMW even give you the option to switch it off, though it defalts to 'always on' with each use of the ignition key.

The decision to hardwire headlights was nothing to do with the EU whatsoever! It was a decision taken by the manufacturers to harmonize production in order to save on their production costs.

Bob

 

[HMR]

On balance though, (and backed up by Swedish accident research, admittedly involving cars) I'd say these events are more than offset by the majority of other road users whodo see you earlier...but then, as this means nothing happens, it's not registered as a succesful event for the guy riding with the light on.

I have heard that the story begun with the Geryhound buses in US during the 1950's or so.

Someone decided that they should have the lights on always. A sales promotion thing. After a couple of years they noticed that meeting accidents where down with 50% !

 

[jeff garnett]

I have heard that the story begun with the Geryhound buses in US during the 1950's or so.

Someone decided that they should have the lights on always. A sales promotion thing. After a couple of years they noticed that meeting accidents where down with 50% !

If you don’t see a bus its time to give up

jeff

 

[Brian ROSEN]

Headlight on or off

As all are probably aware, headlights switched on are compulsory on all bikes in France. There is no doubt that they do serve a very useful purpose apart from the possible safety angle. When a queue of cars see in their mirrors your headlight threading through, the lanes part like magic to allow you to pass. Earlier this year there was a recommendation that ALL vehicles should drive with headlights on and this produced enormous protests from motorcyclists who claimed that they would no longer be noticed ! In fact at first about half the cars on the road DID use their headlights in daylight - then somebody 'calculated' how much extra fuel / extra pollution all these millions of lights would require and now, except in rain or poor visiibilty you rarely see a car with headlights during the day.(even the Volvos only have sidelights on) Yes, believe it or not, here the motorists ARE kind to us 'motards.' Best wishes, Brian in France with his wired up 1200GS

 

[Tricky]

Headlights

I had an accident 3 years ago (on a VFR) car pulling out of a junction and turning across my path.
The police report noted that my headlight was off and my solicitor (at the time) warned me that it might be a mitigating factor for the car driver if it went to court.
Luckily their insurance company admitted liability before it went that far...............

 

[Joe]

'Did not see you mate' Is just a stock answer for getting it wrong. I've heard it a million times with all the other cliche's.
A headlight actually takes away another road users perception of your speed. The worse case scenario is a R1 travelling at 70 mph, which another motorist interprets to be a Honda C90 travelling at 30 mph.
Travel in the correct position at an appropriate speed and you will always be seen and able to take the appropriate action.
Sorry to sound like an old git

So what if the Honda C90 as nitro injection fitted, Mmm