Cagers

[Cloggy]

Yesterday I rode back from work, it was a bit later than usual (about 18:30) the weather was a bit cr@ppy, changing between sleet and rain. Anyway about 15 minutes after setting off, on an unlit road, a cager decided to tailgate me for a while, after this dropped back for a while and then tailgated me again :banghead: I'm thinking to myself what an idiot, I tried giving him a chance to overtake but he didn't take it, I tried speeding up but he kept pace. Meanwhile I'm starting to fume in my helmet (luckily I have pinlock, otherwise it would have steamed up ). I was relieved when we finally got to a traffic light, more so that there were a couple of other cars waiting for the light to change, so I filtered to the front of the queue, pleased to have rid of that jerk in the car.

Anyway this car decides to pull into the lane for turning right which was empty, he even pulled a little over the white stop line which put him next to me, he wound down his window. At this stage I'm thinking I'm going to give this idiot a piece of my mind. Anyway I saw a young mans (seemed like a teenagers) face peer sheepishly from behind his window and he said "excuse me sir your rear light is not working, I could only really see you when you braked"

Damn I felt so small, at this point all of this pent up frustration simply turned to embarresment and I realised how dangerous I had been, especially in the bad weather. Oh thank you I said as I rode onto the cycle path to check my rear light, and the guy was correct my rear light was out but my brake light worked fine :spank:.

Well I waved at the guy in acknowledgement, but I waited until he had driven on before I continued my journey. Luckily from this point onwards there were street lights and the traffic was slow moving, so I just took it easy for the last 10 minutes of the journey.
Of course I bought a new bulb (from a garage) when I got home, and it works again now.

Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to this guy for making me aware of it, there are definately good cagers out there :thumbup:

I normally do check my lights before riding, and they had definately been working in the morning, but from now on I'll definately check them before setting off.

 

[lytehouse]

:cheer: It's nice to hear a good cager story for a change!
I have been known to hang out the window more than a few times to let someone know they needed air in their tires....I'd want someone to tell me. :thumbup:

And to be honest....I'll look at the tires before a ride, but never think to do a light check.

 

[alanrim]

Always disliked that about the FZ, my old Honda CX500 had twin tail light bulbs why not a modern bike.

In fact it ought to be a requirement that manufacturers fit either dual bulbs or dual circuit LED

 

[Erci]

Wow.. I was fully expecting a typical "cager cut me off / turned in front of me" post. Very nice!

 

[MHS]

I was expecting a bad cager story too. Glad to hear something different for a change.

Because of my typical start bike, wait for warmup, put on gear, etc. pre-ride routine I usually see all of my running lights before I get on the bike. I rarely check my turn signals though.

 

[Motogiro]

Cloggy,

The tail light on the FZ6 is not a standard 1157 type automotive lamp. The 1157 will work but probably fail prematurely. Get the OEM replacement because the filament has a physical bridge to provide better mechanical stability with regard to vibration on our bikes.

 

[Yamma~Tiger]

What a nice person.Just goes to show. Sometimes we need hold back and not be so quick to make judgement. And yeah, It's nice to hear a story involving a car in a bike, in which there is a happy ending. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Cloggy]

Cloggy,

The tail light on the FZ6 is not a standard 1157 type automotive lamp. The 1157 will work but probably fail prematurely. Get the OEM replacement because the filament has a physical bridge to provide better mechanical stability with regard to vibration on our bikes.

Thanks for this info Cliff, now you mention it I remember inspecting the bad bulb and it had a support in the middle, the standard car one (which I bought) is "single span". I'll get down the bike shop at the weekend :thumbup:

 

[Kazza]

Nice story Martin. Not what I expected when I read the thread title

 

[novaks47]

Haha, like others, I thought this was going to be a rant thread. Nice surprise! :thumbup:

I've got to remeber where I got it, but I have an LED replacement in mine. It's just a tiny bit dimmer than stock(hard to notice), but it makes up for it with it being more directional. As in it blasts directly at anyone behind you, so there's no missing it. Plus it should last a bit longer. When I remember, I'll post what type it is.

EDIT : It's the Eagle Eye 5(in Red), from autolumination.com.

 

[alanrim]

Haha, like others, I thought this was going to be a rant thread. Nice surprise! :thumbup:

I've got to remeber where I got it, but I have an LED replacement in mine. It's just a tiny bit dimmer than stock(hard to notice), but it makes up for it with it being more directional. As in it blasts directly at anyone behind you, so there's no missing it. Plus it should last a bit longer. When I remember, I'll post what type it is.

EDIT : It's the Eagle Eye 5(in Red), from autolumination.com.

I tried various LED bulbs and had very disappointing results, so bad that I found the normal bulb more reliable for this application.

 

[Def]

Always disliked that about the FZ, my old Honda CX500 had twin tail light bulbs why not a modern bike.

In fact it ought to be a requirement that manufacturers fit either dual bulbs or dual circuit LED

With only one light shining at the backend of our FZ6's, its tempting to setup daytime running lights on the back signals...not sure if its legal, but can't see why not.
It's a bit freaky coming home in the dark only to realize your taillight is burned out. Its happened to me twice and I check my lights before EVERY ride.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[alanrim]

I made some LED marker lights that went bright when brake applied which made me happier knowing if the bulb did fail I still had something back there.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkGS2Iff4g0"]YouTube - Additional LED running/brake lights[/ame]

 

[Senior]

I too was pleasantly surprised at the good cager story . . . . :thumbup: but it does highlight a vunerability of the rear lighting on put FZ6.

I tried an LED "rear and stop lamp" and really didn't like it. The beam pattern was too narrow and was not as bright as the conventional lamp. As much as I want to get the current draw down (I've got BD43 dual headlight) I'm gonna live with it, for now.

I've also been think for a while about having some extra rear lighting and found these LED Bullets on Ebay and was thinking that would do to cut up and wire in to the rear . . .

 

[Wolfman]

It's great when something like that happens....

:thumbup:

 

[alanrim]

I've also been think for a while about having some extra rear lighting and found these LED Bullets on Ebay and was thinking that would do to cut up and wire in to the rear . . .

What you can do with a couple of diodes and a suitable size resistor is make them work dim until the brake is on then give full brightness.

One thing to be careful of with the FZ, mine even though a few months old didn't like LEDs unless they had back emf protection. Any LEDs fitted without protection blew within three months.

 

[Haelous]

Wow.. I was fully expecting a typical "cager cut me off / turned in front of me" post. Very nice!

Same.

Thanks, nice story!

 

[novaks47]

I tried various LED bulbs and had very disappointing results, so bad that I found the normal bulb more reliable for this application.

This one is actually decent. It was in my TW200 for about 4 months and held up fine. And that's with off-roading and city riding in all temperatures. Plus the TW vibrates much more than an FZ6 does. If a bulb(any kind) can survive my "TW test", then it's more than good enough for a street bike. lol Heck, I gave up on the HID I had on the TW, because the anti-glare shield kept rattling off inside the housing! Even when I torqued the screws down super tight, and used loctite, they still managed to back themselves out. Plus, the HID capsule looked like it was going to break from all the punishment. The little plastic base even started to crack. So back to the stock halogen bulb for me!

Anyways, there is tons of junk LED's out there. Usually, you get what you pay for here. The little cheapies are usually really dim, and can't withstand any surges or vibrations. I'll only cheap out on LED's when it comes to interior lighting on cars, but that's it.

Sorry about the thread-jacking. :hijack:

 

[ELIZABETH]

Nice story, and nice of the young man to pull up at the light to tell you. :thumbup:

 

[LERecords]

good to hear everything worked out for the best..