Night Riding?

[ßaller]

I have ridden in the dark a few times, waking up early to go to work for holiday floaters. I am definitely on the lookout for drunks, but how do some of you that do like to enjoy a night ride take to it?

I use my high beam on the highway and stay close to 60-65mph.

I find cruising at night in the city with the lights kinda relaxing without all that traffic.

[Wanderer]

Never been that comfortable riding at night, outside of major cities with good lighting. I've got pretty crap night vision, so its main beam + aux spots all the time for me, and avoid it where I can.

[schleppy]

I love night riding, especially in the city. There is a certain calm surrounding everything you don't seem to find during the day.

With that being said, you need to be on high alert everywhere you go. Drunks are everywhere, and deer too if you're out in the rural areas. With limited vision, lighting, etc you have to really have your senses running at 100%.

[richw]

Can't go fast so why bother

well

except for street drag racing at midnight but I don't think
that's what your talking about

[stoinkythepig]

I find cruising at night in the city with the lights kinda relaxing without all that traffic.

I got lost in a bad part (are there any good parts?) of Newark, NJ on my bike one night, earlier this year. I did not find it at all relaxing, not one bit...

I don't care much for riding at night. Everything I enjoy about being on a bike is compromised at night. I used to like it when I was in my 20s though.

[DucDave]

You mean like this???

[Kenn157]

My eyesight has been compromised for about 5 years now. This past May I had eye surgery for detached retina. I don't like night riding but sometimes like on MCN in Lowell I have to ride at night. Point A to Point B is what I do. It's hard enough to see a bike during the day, at night forget it.

[ZoomSplat]

I love night riding, especially in the city. There is a certain calm surrounding everything you don't seem to find during the day.

With that being said, you need to be on high alert everywhere you go. Drunks are everywhere, and deer too if you're out in the rural areas. With limited vision, lighting, etc you have to really have your senses running at 100%.

^^What he said.

I love cruizing my favorite roads at night, it's just totally different than during the day. But at the same time, you can't see as far through the corner because there's no ambient light to tell you what's there.

I was on my way home one night a few months ago and was behind some little economy box that I was getting sick of following. I was just about to blow past them when all of a sudden I see a deer up ahead, illuminated by their headlights. It was a few seconds before their brake lights came on, which tells me that I was looking further down the road than they were, and they were in front! That car definitely saved my life that night, and I take it pretty easy after dark since that.

[OreoGaborio]

Nothin wrong w/ an easy night cruise. I don't wick it up on the street as much as I used to anyway.

Well... I probably ride about the same pace, but my margin of safety has grown over the years.

[beet]

Cruising is ok @ night, sport sucks IMO

[Chippertheripper]

Zipping around on the twisties feels totally different. I always feel like I'm going faster, in actuality, it's the opposite. Fun though.

[RandyO]

A lot of my LD riding is at night, I actually prefer highway riding at night, less traffic, no hot sun beating down, temps are cooler

the V-strom has excellent stock lighting it lights up the shoulders & medians well enuf, I'd like auxillary lighting, but its not on the top of my priority list yet

night time is when I ride on roads that I generally don't ride during the day

[ZX11D]

At 55 yrs my night vision just sucks. Two lane roads are scary. I`m better on a multi lane highway but cages become the problem then. A little off topic but how about this problem.Anyone require reading glasses? That really sucks. What do you say when the popo asks if you know how fast you were going and you can`t say for sure because you really can`t read the numbers on the speedo or tach?

[BigShel]

WTF, Plain and simple night riding sucks unless you are a posser whore..

[Sheppo]

I love riding at night.. It's not wicked up, more relaxing, like stated before watch for deer and drunks, some of my best rides have been midnight to sun up

[DailyCommuter]

WTF, Plain and simple night riding sucks unless you are a posser whore..

So be it then... I'd wager you a five guys burger that I've done more night riding than you've ridden in total.... And I've done far more daytime riding than night riding.

You don't always have to ride like a squid you know. I work nights so most all my return trips are well after midnight. Got the whole road to myself (and the drunks, deer, and cops oh my).

When you get a minute in between hangovers and running late for work, and dodging your girlfriends telephone calls,..... Explain to me how riding at night makes me a posser whore.... You did mean P-o-s-e-r though right? I mean what's a posser anyway? Will I run into one one the road at night? Did you have a bad experience with a posser once? I can't wait for the reply. (meanwhile I'm off to google "posser whore").

[Stiggy]

I like night riding a lot. An extra level of awareness is needed. Working 2nd shift has my evening commute at 11pm-12am. I can take the 45 mile ride on the highway, or take really nice bacckroads for 1/2 trip then the highway. I usually take the backroads, which has me on some uber dark unlighted roads in the woods of bolton, harvard and littelton. I enjoy it.

[RandyO]

At 55 yrs my night vision just sucks. Two lane roads are scary. I`m better on a multi lane highway but cages become the problem then. A little off topic but how about this problem.Anyone require reading glasses? That really sucks. What do you say when the popo asks if you know how fast you were going and you can`t say for sure because you really can`t read the numbers on the speedo or tach?

how can you read the speedo in the day? your a meance to the road, surrender your license today

I've been wearin gradient bifocals for 15 years, I get my lenses ground specificly for riding, for my eyesight, by raising the transition segment 2mm above normal

I still don't like oncoming traffic on a rainey nite

[ZX11D]

how can you read the speedo in the day? your a meance to the road, surrender your license today

I've been wearin gradient bifocals for 15 years, I get my lenses ground specificly for riding, for my eyesight, by raising the transition segment 2mm above normal

I still don't like oncoming traffic on a rainey nite

LOL I`m keeping it Randy. Happens just had eye exam done.I have healthy eyes 20/15 in the left eye and 20/20 in the right. I don`t wear glasses bifocal or otherwise but my night vision really does suck . The eye doc told me leaving a small light on while driving like a map light would help in my truck/car and it does help.He was of no help with the problem while on a bike so like I said I avoid the bike riding at night if I can.

[600rr0504]

A couple year ago I would go riding with a few of my buddies and it would be some spirited night riding. We never had any problems, but now that I live in NH I would be alot more hesitant because of all the animals and deer. I've also slown down a bit not just at night but during the day too because I don't want to deal with my insurance going up and above all the bitching I would get from my wife.

[Danz19899]

i love night riding. less fricken cages to deal with plus you can see there headlights coming through the corner. I'm new and stupid so i do a lot of spirited 116 runs in the dark. its a whole new thrill.

[whynot]

Could be that there's less risk overall at night, what with fewer vehicles on the road -- thinking of the daytime traffic that includes the "contractors" with their poorly secured ladders atop their vans, some landscapers with loose loads in their dumps, and hyper-caffeinated commuters, to name a few. Also, the senior set comes out in the day, not that they are any more of a hazard, but they tend to drive at or below the speed limit, which might make the nutcase drivers nuttier.

Then about the DUIs, it's not like they come out only at like, like vampires, Buffy , and it's not just alcohol, think of the legal "meds" that are widely in use, Lorazapam, Celexa, Prozac, and so on and so forth -- did they forget to take thier meds? are the meds wearing off?

Just some guesses ...

Kurt

[DocCola]

I ride at night just as much as I do during the day. I have a love/hate relationship with it though. See, my cage (Evo IX MR) has AMAZING real xenon lighting. I love taking the car out at night & hitting twisties because I can see forever with those lights. The bike, however, not so much. My next motorcycle will have at minimum a projector headlight that can be properly turned into a true xenon headlight. I will probably put extra lighting on it as well. I am of the belief that if you want to go "fast" at night, you can never have to much lighting.

[WordTooYoMamma]

Wirelessly posted (Tilt: HTC-8900/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.06.3.1.20.0)

I have ridden in the dark a few times, waking up early to go to work for holiday floaters. I am definitely on the lookout for drunks, but how do some of you that do like to enjoy a night ride take to it?

I use my high beam on the highway and stay close to 60-65mph.

I find cruising at night in the city with the lights kinda relaxing without all that traffic.

I love night riding aswell. I pray to god your headlights suck. Because if I were driving down the road with my highs constantly on I would be blinding people. (Tuesday night chinese members can attest to cages in front of me grabbing their rearview and pullining it down).

[Golgo13]

Living in the city, I find night rides in the summer time particularly enjoyable. Riding 20 minutes out of town gets you into some peace and quite with a nice cool temperature drop.

As far as deer and other significant critters go: The only time I have had a deer hop out in front of me on the road has actually been during the day time. Day or night it is going to be a surprise when it happens. Are you really that much more likely to see them at night?