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BigTobyD
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Joined: 05 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: 08:03 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Lights and lighting Reply with quote

Hiya all, it's getting darker earlier and my Thursday evening rides are now ending with a very slow ride through very dark woods.....so it's time to beef up my lighting! Thinking of upgrading the light on the 300Exc and KDX220R to HID Xenon lights - has anyone done this? Anyone know if it would do any good? And if it is possible on those bikes? Also thinking that a helmet mounted light would be a good idea too, get some depth perception and be able to see where the bars aren't pointing. Anyone got any experience of these?

Ideally I want enough light to be able to run at full speed in full darkness.....

Cheers all
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garyd
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PostPosted: 08:20 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

not poss
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 08:37 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Then as close to that as I can get would be good Laughing
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herulach
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PostPosted: 20:15 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

What do you have on there at the moment?

When I'm mountainbiking I have a pair of nightlightning quadblasts:
https://www.nightlightning.co.nz/adventure_lighting_products.htm

One on the bars and one on the lid. I'm reasonably comfortable doing 20+ downhill through woods.

It's eminently possible to get enough light, but it depends how much money you have to throw at it!
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woll
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PostPosted: 20:59 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

this any good to you https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=440932
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Tonka
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PostPosted: 21:09 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

These are the ones a couple of guys I ride with have on their off-road bikes. They have one of each type and they are very impressive Shocked

As an added bonus the guys at Adventure Spec are top blokes to deal with too and can be highly recommended! Thumbs Up
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silky666
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PostPosted: 21:10 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

garyd wrote:
not poss

Everything is possible young man.

Ignore the 'ney sayers' Toby.
This image is of a mountain bike helmet light .. putting out approx 1800 lumens I think ... and costing £300 ish:

https://reviews.mtbr.com/files/2008/01/trail-tech-mr16.jpg

You can get a 9000 lumens light Smile
And that will turn night into day ... but it will cost a pretty penny.

I am sure Sven has some expensive, but very good, setup ?
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ben_wheely
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PostPosted: 22:29 - 28 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://trailtech.net/motorcycle_lights.html

'The Trail Tech 8" race light mounts easily to off-road motorcycles. For high-speed racing where you can't afford to out-run your light.'

Sounds exactly what you want. They got other types too.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 04:50 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are riding Green-Lanes.... err..... SLOW DOWN!

Sorted!

'as slow as possible, as fast as necessery, tread lightly'

I was driving a lane in wales few weeks back (Landies); tail end of day, and as I came round a dog-leg was presented with a wall of rock; LOOKED a brilliant lane to do, but..... discression is the better part of valour and all that, I chickened out; reasoning being, that I was knackered, and tackling something THAT challenging at the end of the day, when fatigue levels were at thier lowest, I was just ASKING for trouble. Backed out went round the other end; trail buddy decided to give it a go; managed to mangle a wing as a result, and STILL had to back up.

Over MANY MANY years, I have learned that often solving a 'problem' makes more.

And adding capability to over-come a problem, like tuning an engine, modding suspension, or adding accessories or aids, while getting over the immediete obsticle, just gets you further into trouble, finding BIGGER obstices to challenge you.

In your case, yeah, adding light so you can carry on into twy-light full bore MAY seem like a good way to go, but having GOT that added light, you'll use it, and go further into the dark, and faster, and be even more tired when you do......

Its dark, its the end of the day, take the natural hint, back off, go home safe......

JUST an 'alternative' perspective, casting a differnt light on 'the problem'.
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silky666
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PostPosted: 08:18 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teflon-Mike wrote:

I was driving a lane in wales few weeks back (Landies); tail end of day, and as I came round a dog-leg was presented with a wall of rock; LOOKED a brilliant lane to do, but..... discression is the better part of valour and all that, I chickened out; reasoning being, that I was knackered, and tackling something THAT challenging at the end of the day, when fatigue levels were at thier lowest, I was just ASKING for trouble.

What Shocked fatigue ? knackered ? challenging ?
I have come across many of you 'one life live it' stickered 4x4 chaps on the lanes.

You are driving a 4x4 at 4mph, what is tiring about that ?

As for a 'challenge ?' (repeat above statement) ... you are driving a 4x4 at 4mph, whats challenging about that ?

And chickened out ? (this is like groundhog day) ... you are driving a 4x4 at 4mph, whats to be scared of ?
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 13:50 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Afraid that logic doesn't work for me......don't push yourself and you won't get better. Riding in the dark will be a great laugh, less 4x4s clogging up the lanes at 4mph too Laughing
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 15:29 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="silky666"]
Teflon-Mike wrote:
What Shocked fatigue ? knackered ? challenging ?
I have come across many of you 'one life live it' stickered 4x4 chaps on the lanes.

You are driving a 4x4 at 4mph, what is tiring about that ?

As for a 'challenge ?' (repeat above statement) ... you are driving a 4x4 at 4mph, whats challenging about that ?

And chickened out ? (this is like groundhog day) ... you are driving a 4x4 at 4mph, whats to be scared of ?


DONT start me off on the 'One Life HAD TO GET THE STICKER' bludy debate! Most of the dorks that have them have no idea what it means anyway!

As for the 4mph jibe..... well, I got a Landy becouse I needed something a tad more useful than my old fiesta for getting my trials bike to and from events..... NEVER thought to drive the thing for 'fun' until after I got it, and actually had a go at Green-Laning in it.....

Had to give up comp-Trials due to dissability, so been using the Rangie to get my mud-fixes! Though hoping taht fixing up the DT will get me back in the saddle on mud, and a 'gentle ride in the country' (which is what green-laning SHOULD be about) shouldn't be QUITE as demanding of physical capabilities I dont have any more, than ful on comp-trials!

Anyway, Rangie LOOKS absolutely bog-standard, bar the removed front spoiler. I dont subscribe to the "a 4x4 is Born" idea of what an 'off-roader' HAS to look like, and pretty much know I dont need most of the kit they often get, like big lift kits, roof lamps, mega-mud tyres, and a fucking great winch on thr front to pull myself further into trouble when i fuck up..... and I CERTAINLY dont need a cheap sticker mantra stuck on the damn thing to remind me how I should aproach life, or to tell other 4x4 drivers I've been to a show too!

Actually dont even attach the bridle to the 'disguised' recovery points when I head out on the trails, a) becouse I dont go looking to get stuck, and b) becouse I dont want to look like I have dressed for trouble and am out looking for it! Idea is to look unobtrusive, and maybe be able to just play dumb and pretend the sat-nav sent me the wrong way if I meet any militant bobble-hatters or anything!

Thirty years of mudding, and comp-trials I have sort of got a BIT of a feel for driving for traction, so I'm NOT all that tyre or technology dependent, and usually get the Rangie through without much difficulty, just by knowing how to drive the damn thing, and to me THAT is the challenge, and it Is challenging, NOT seeing how 'extreme' I can go.

BigTobyD wrote:
Afraid that logic doesn't work for me......don't push yourself and you won't get better. Riding in the dark will be a great laugh, less 4x4s clogging up the lanes at 4mph too Laughing


Which is where I think we may be at opposite poles in our out-looks my freind.

Yup, you dont develop and expand your skill, experience and ability by not testing the limits.

BUT, theres a time and a place for testing the envelope, and I'm AFRAID I do NOt believe that the public highway is the place to be testing the limits.

Whether on a hi-po sports-bike on tarmac or on a dirt-bike (or 4x4) on unrurfaces RoW, They are public roads, NOT a race or test-track.

IF you want to develop your abilities and push the envelope then the place to do that is ON a private test track or competition course. END OF.

Plenty of organised comp-trials enduro's or practice tracks in operation the length and breadth of the country, IF going hard and fast is what gives you your kicks, THAT is the place to do it.

And sorry, but pushing the limits, on your own on the public road, is like masterbating in a public place! Anti-social, self gratification. Nothing more. And it does NOT teach you much if anything.

In competition, you HAVE to test the limits, but its a controlled enviroment, where YOU and people areound you are 'protected' as best they can be, if you fuck up.

AND there are references to actually MEASURE whether you have actually improved or not.

Whats the metric on riding a green lane flat out? How do you KNOW if you have done better or not? How auxillerated you were at the end of it? The grin on your face?

Enter a trial or an enduro, and you can rate how well you have done, and how much better you have got since last time, by how far up the results table you are........

And, on the idea of adding lamps to your helmet so you can 'push the envelope', well, you are defeating your own argument, if you are trying to suggest that you need the lamps to push your limits.

NO, if you need 'more' of a commodity in the bike's capability, you have reached the limit of the bikes capability. Adding technology to expand the bikes capability so you can go harder and faster is NOT improving YOUR skill or ability...... just the bikes......

Knowing the capability of your machine, and riding to exploit its strengths and overcome its short-comings is the mark of a skilled rider, and a skilled rider will get the best out of ANYTHING they ride.

Resorting to mods and accessories as soon as you find a limitation, is simply becoming technology dependent, and expecting the machine to give you what you want or expect WITHOUT you having to aquire the skill you suggest YOU want.......

I doubt that we'll agree on any of this, but hey-ho.....

Meanwhile, just remember that there is enough antagonism over the use of motorised vehicles on unsurfaced rights of way as it is, and enough people with plaid thermos-flasks and woolie hats that want to see them closed to vehicles of all sorts, and we do NOT need to draw extra attension to ourselves tearing about lit up like a christmas tree, making lots of noise and tearing around at high-speed to give the EVEN MORE fucking amunition when TRO or change of status applications are made.....

TREAD LIGHTLY is the motto, and for GOOD reason!
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 16:21 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

There's a lot of small minded miserable buggers out there on the lanes, I always slow right down for walkers, cyclists, stop for horses.....all horse riders to date have thanked me, most cyclists exchange a friendly hello and a reasonable number of walkers are friendly. Those who get out of my way get a friendly thank you too. Never go too fast into blind corners but do like to rag it, wheelie and jump wherever safe and possible.

Those who shout abuse and give me bad looks occasionally get a bit muddy as I accelerate away......but then they think I'm an antisocial prick anyway, would be a shame to disappoint them!

As for putting lights on the bike so I can see the lanes in the dark....what could possibly be wrong with that? If that is using technology to get faster then surely so is using an engine?

Seems there are two camps to this greenlaning lark, those who skulk around desperately trying not to offend those small minded pricks and those who will use the lanes for enjoyment, will have a laugh doing so and will tell the antis to get fucked. My experience is that the softly softly tread gently brigade are getting as small minded as the pricks they are deperately scared of upsetting.
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silky666
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PostPosted: 16:39 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

BigTobyD wrote:
what the big freak said .

I Wub TobyD

The less I ride ... the more militant I get.
When I was riding twice a week, that last thing I wanted to do was risk upsetting anyone.
Now I ride so rarely, that I am really up for some fundementalist action ... bro.

(all a bit selfish I know)
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Gaffa tape is like "the force" - it has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 20:31 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

BigTobyD wrote:
There's a lot of small minded miserable buggers out there on the lanes


toby, I am far from small minded, but 'miserable old bugger' I'll grudgingly admit!

But I am FAR from an apeasementist, BELIEVE ME! I Just remember Roosavelt's advice, Tread-Lightly, but carry a BIG stick! (& I have a BIT of a beef with the representative bodies that they SAY tread lightly, but WHERE is the big stick?!)

I DONT actually support 'the code' as a cast in stone set of laws; end of the day, the LAWS are that the trails are public roads, and where code says 'small groups' LAW says ten. Where code says less than 20mph, LAW says its an unclassified road, limit is 60! BUT, theres a lot of good reason behind the code and it IS worth paying heed to, and abiding by the spirit if not the letter, and recognising the simple common sense it contains.

And yeah, theres a time & a place for a little enthusiasm, BUT OP's suggestion was his entire reason for being on the trails was SIMPLY to push the envelope, which, frankly ISN'T in the spirit of the code, or in the best interest of the persuit in general.

Idea he was there to test his limits, was, as said simply kidding himself.

Trails ent the place to do that and there's no yard-stick to measure yourself by anyway. As was the notion that fitting extra lights to his bike so HE could be a better rider. No, he's simply got better lights! Suggesting that its no different to using an engine to go faster than you could walk, is missing the point.

Point was, testing man and machine to the limits is an excersise best done in competition where not only can you find the limits in reasonable safety, but also measure them.

Dont have much problem with modding vehicles to work better, but point was to recognise that extending the vehicles capability so it can go further or faster or do more doesn't make the rider or driver any better, JUST the vehicle!

A good rider or driver will get the best from his vehicle, a bad one wont, whatever the vehcles ACTUAL capability, whether standard or modified.

And FOR ME, THAT is the challenge; getting the BEST out of my vehicle, which is why I campagned the same bike, pretty much as I bought it for quarter of a century in comp-trials. Kept all else constant, and I knew when I cleared a section I dabbed on last month, it meant I'd cracked that bit of technique, and got better.

As far as the bike or the Landy is concerned, whats the objective? To get into as extreme or unaccessible location as possible? Well, yeah, going faster by having an engine, or getting further by having a winch.... where do you take it? Apply enough technology almost anything is possible, and IF its just a case of going as fast as you can or getting into as unaccessible location as you can, then whats the point of trying to use a motorbike or 4x4 at all? Could get to your unaccessible location a darn site faster by helicopter..... sod the winch or the lamps or the reciprocating engine, lets use gas turbines and air-screws! All it takes is enough money! But where would be the challenge doing it the easy way?

It is MERELY a view-point. Common ground is unsurfaced public rights of way, and the personal 'challenge' of navigating them with a motor-vehicle, and the 'skill' required to achieve it..... But Added driving lamps, or winches AREN'T skill, are they?
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 21:09 - 29 Aug 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ideally I want enough light to be able to run at full speed in full darkness.....

......I assume that was what gave you everything you needed to make all your assumptions? You don't even know what full speed is to me - I think you'd find the reality much less exciting than the assumption. All I'm after is lights to enable me to carry on enjoying the lanes into the dark evenings without hitting stuff I couldn't see. I had a mate crash like a sack of spuds last Thursday because of a patch of mud he couldn't see.

I'm not talking MX on the lanes, just going at the speed I enjoy into the evenings.
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 20:01 - 01 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just ordered a single light for my lid and the triple for the bars as can be seen on this site:

https://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/index.php

Bought them from the US though and saved over £100 once I added spare batteries etc

Anyone want the details just let me know, I'll try to remember to post a review once I get to use them.....
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silky666
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PostPosted: 20:23 - 01 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

BigTobyD wrote:

Be interested to know how it performs.
Take a video too please.
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 20:33 - 01 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bit tricky that......no camera Very Happy

You'll have to come out in the woods with me......in the dark......I'll wear pink trousers and a fake blonde ponytail if it helps..... Laughing
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herulach
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PostPosted: 21:35 - 01 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pleas do yourself a favour and check out the thread on candlepowerforums about that light. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232163

Its a good light (I have one for the mrs' MTB). If you can figure out how mount them both to your helmet, the beam pattern doesn't really suit bar mounting. Also be aware that mounting lights on your lids makes somethings harder to see, It's difficult to judge drop offs in particular as you can't see any shadows.

If you're handy with a soldering Iron things really aren't hard to make, have a click round on cpf. The easiest way to do it is with some 1" U channel ally, any driver you fancy and some square optics. you can have it all from cutter.com.au, and 1500 lumens (about as much as your 2 magic shine ones combined) should set you back c.£100 + a battery, which can be bodged from most things (powertools & camcorders are prime sources & available cheaply on ebay)
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roryntp
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PostPosted: 18:11 - 14 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

this is what a load of guys that run in the Novemberkasan (an enduro that runs until around 3 or 4am) in Sweden use -
https://www.rallyonline.eu

maybe try getting in touch with some of the 24h Dusk 'til Dawn competitiors?

someone on the CRM forum made some from household bits and bobs that looked like this -
https://s358.photobucket.com/albums/oo29/K8URF/?action=view¤t=S2400102.jpg
the whole thread is here if you find it any help -
https://www.crm250.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4495&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=diy+lights

hope any of these help.
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BigTobyD
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PostPosted: 18:57 - 14 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers for that Very Happy

Have already ordered my lights though, just waiting for delivery now.....
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