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When I tell people I do most of my riding at night, on back country and and mountain roads, I get some strange looks, and comments such as "that sounds dangerous", "why would you choose to ride in the dark", "isn't it too cold".
I enjoy discussing motorcycle riding at night and encourage other riders to consider the advantages and disadvantages of doing so, even if you only ride during the daytime now. Eventually, you will lose track of time and get caught up after dark, take that multi-day trip, or challenge yourself with a SaddlesSore 1000 Sport. Riding at night presents a different set of challenges to the sport rider, but has huge benefits for developing overall riding skills and awareness.
Back in 2000, right after I had purchased my Yamaha R1, I joined a group of riders who were mostly working professionals, who had various weekend obligations that made riding on a weekend or weekday pretty challenging to arrange. After some consideration, it seemed Friday night was about the only convenient time available to everyone. Several of the riders in the group were well versed at night riding and its been a regular event ever since. Even if you don't intend to ride every Friday night, there are still many times you will be riding at night, and its best to prepare yourself fully, and improve your skills at the same time.
Riding at Night is not the same thing as riding in the dark
One of the things I always notice first about a motorcycle is the lighting setup. Headlights primarily, but tail lights and turn signals as well. I've never seen a bike come off the dealer floor with properly adjusted headlights. In addition, we all know how sport riders like to chop off fenders, put in blue or purple halogen headlights, switch out to trick looking LED brake lights and low profile turn signals. This usually means that minimally functioning lighting is turned into completely unusable lighting. The single most important aspect of riding at night is visibility, and the most critical factor for visibility is your head light(s). Nobody, except Yoda, can ride at night if they can't clearly see ahead a certain distance. Riding at-speed means having ample lighting, projected both down the road and to the sides (while looking through turns) in order to anticipate in advance any possible road conditions and obstacles. Using the force is not an option. There's also the safety aspect, you want other people to see you, so tail lights, brake lights, running lights, reflectors take on much more significance at night.
Advantages
All clear. First, you will have the roads all to yourself. No other cars (or at least very very few), and no other motorcyclists. My group has been riding Palomar Mountain for the last 5 years, on Friday nights, and have encountered less than a dozen other motorcycles in 6 years. Clear roads are safer roads.
Law enforcement is a non issue. Let's face it, even those of us who are staunch supporters of law enforcement have had our share of attention while riding our sport bikes. When riding at night, you almost never see a highway patrol officer or back country sheriff, thus no fun tax. In fact, I think the opposite happens. We've become acquainted with at least one of the sheriff deputies on duty at night n the North County of San Diego, and come to find he rides a VFR800 himself!
Impact on family. I have a family, and taking a large part of the weekend to go riding directly impacts them. Riding at night leaves my weekends wide open for family time and other activities. The group I ride with also has higher participation than if we tried to ride on the weekends.
Disadvantages (and what do to about them)
Visibility. Absolutely the most critical factor. Your motorcycle headlight(s) have to be setup properly, and potentially improved upon. Take a look at the writeup on lighting [link TBD]. Carrying a clear shield if you run with a tinted shield in the day is a must. Or, some riders like going with amber or "high definition" shields that are equally effective at night or in the day.
Cold. Even in Southern California, we can get down to the 30's F at night, which is cold enough to be completely unpleasant, and potentially dangerous. Fingers start to get numb. Shields start to fog over further compromising visibility, you start to shake and lose focus on what your doing. Gear can go a long way to combating cold. I strongly prefer multiple layers and cordura nylon riding pants and jacket over leathers while riding at night. Electric vests and external heating systems can do the rest. I have a widder electric vest on my R1, using a BMW accessory socket plug under the seat to connect with, that I will use with the temps drop below 45F, this keeps my core body temp up, preventing shakes. I also have found numerous ways to help prevent shield fogging. I've found only one thing that is 100% effective at eliminating shield fogging - it's the "Foggy" breath guard. Anti-fog coatings (Rain-X, etc.) help but will not prevent fogging 100%.
Wildlife. The critters come out at night. While this makes for interesting sightings of nocturnal animals, it also presents serious hazards. Visibility plays a role in looking out for animals that are in the road or soon to cross. Your peripheral lighting and vision need to spot tell tale signs, such as tall brush along the roadway, the glowing eyes of a black cow or deer down the road. Pay attention to road signs indicating deer or elk in the area. Smaller animals such as mice and rabbits can be struck without any serious upset to the machine. Raccoons and larger are a serious hazard. Many animals will spin 180 degrees and high-tail it back from where they came as you approach, so you need to anticipate this possibility, when trying to go around them. Bottom line: if you are in their habitat, you just have to slow down and give yourself some margin.
Skill Development - how night riding at speed greatly improves your motorcycling skills
Reflectors and Botts Dots. When riding at night, you no longer use painted lines in the roadway and distance visibility as your cornering cues. You have to start relying on reflectors and botts dots in the roadway. Most roads have well designed reflector systems that when illuminated give you the same information on turn direction (right/left) and radius as does sun light in the roadway. You have to train yourself to read the reflectors. You begin your lean based on reflector information, and guage the radius based on the spacing and curvature indicated by the reflectors. Painted lines don't help because you can't see far enough ahead and at angles to your motorcycle's current direction in order to anticipate fully. If you find yourself looking at the lines in the roadway you are no longer looking far enough ahead to ride safely.
Riding Smooth. I contend that riding at night requires you as a rider to become more "smooth". By that I mean small mistakes are exaggerated at night, you can't "get away" with as much. Riding smoothly, rolling on and off the throttle, consistent cornering and brake control start to mimic what takes place on a race track. You have to be more focused and this pushes you as a rider to constantly improve. You are forced into riding just as well, with less information, which enhances those key skills that matter most.
Miscellaneous. Assuming a full face helment (who would ride without one?), you have a choice of many shields. The most obvious choices for night riding are clear and hi-definition (blue blocker) shields. I've used both, as have most of my riding partners and there are mixed preferences. If I could only carry one shield with me, I would opt for hi definition. They work equally well at day and night. Since I carry an extra shield with me on all rides, I prefer to have a tinted and clear shield. At night, I like the combination of a clear shield and HID lighting at around 4200 - 5000K. properly adjusted of course ;-) Adjusting your headlights is essential to get the most out of them. A write-up on the proper way to adjust headlights is coming soon. For HID lights, forget the blue and purple HID light colors - they are all show and no go. You want a natural light, 4200k to 5000k is ideal and provides the most visible/usable light. As you go higher and higher in Kelvin you will diminish the amount of usable light and lose clarity. For stock halogens, the PIAA Super whites and PIAA extreme whites are both quite good. They are durable even in a sport bike environment, and are more light efficient at the same current draw than standard halogens - plus they come with a 1 year warranty last I checked and with a receipt dealers will replace no questions asked.
This material is copyright Sport Bike Adventures LLC, 2006.
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