Have been browsing several bike forums, and this seems to be a highly debated topic. Some people do all the time, some people do during the day only, and some treat it like a car’s highbeam.
What do you guys do?
When I had my street fightered ZX-6 I rode with the high beam on all the time because I couldn’t see anything with one light on.
My CBR and R6 I used it when necessary.
I did until I installed my HIDs, I fear the HID highbeam will blind anyone unlucky enough to be coming at me. I upgraded from standard projectors to HIDs.
When ever I take a bike out the high beam is always on
the low beam on the WR does basically nothing, and the high beam isnt much different. so its alwyas on high beam lol
When i was on the gsxr it was always on. Your a bike you want to be seen people can deal with it for all of 3 sec fuck them
My thoughts exactly. Unless you have HID’s on your bike, high beam on always. :nod
My thoughts are more so the ppl that I’m riding behind following, that HID highbeam is BRIGHT.
high beam is always on…if it pisses people off good, at least you know they can see you
aways have mine on… planning on doing HID’s on the TLR this winter…
Highbeam used to be always one, but then again I used to ride around with the High Beam in the Crx as well :lol (The hood cutoff half of the highbeam, making it a secondary lowbeam).
The SV has a dual low beam headlight, with single dual bulb working as low/high beam, so I didn’t feel guilty.
Keep in mind however, most modern sport bikes are designed to run with just one headlight as low beam for a reason of safety.
Running with the highbeam on, will throw people off because they will not be sure of the exact direction of the bike when one headlight is brighter then the other.
People are a creature of habits, which is why spring time is one of the most dangerous seasons when people in NE, haven’t seen any bikes the whole winter and they literally don’t register your presence in the spring even after they look at you.
People are used to seeing both headlights putting out the same output when the vehicle is aligned straight, and different brightness when the vehicle is either turning of going in other direction. The difference in the light out put on your bike when you run with high beam will force people to make false conclusion about your direction, as an add-on to already throwing them off to the perceived distance to you. (The reason when you only have one running light on the bike, is because both lights next to each other when on at night, make you look like a car that’s really far away, when in reality you’re a bike that’s really close).
All of that applies to night riding however, in the day time you are fair game.
Cliffs: If your low beam isn’t putting out enough light to make night riding safe, ride with high beam, otherwise stick with the low beam and get a low beam HID output.