dead deer in the road

[bwink]

Last night coming home I had to swerve for a dead deer in the middle of my lane. Because I had my brights on at the time, it really was not that big of a deal. However, it shook me up because on the rest of the way home I was nervous everytime I had to go to low beams. Are my low beams set right? The light stretches out about 25 foot in front of me. Beyond the 25 foot, you can not see a thing. It is almost total darkness. Why does the light not gradually fade. That would be much safer. Is there something I can do?

[Kat-A-Tonic]

The Katana allows you to adjust the headlight beam. There are several dials/knobs underneath the front panel (near the headlight) that allow you to change the alignment.

The following link discusses how to adjust the headlight:

http://www.katriders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12081&highlight=headlight+adjusting

[Dan Dubeau]

Just ride with your high beams on at ALL TIMES. piss on other drivers. I'd rather be able to see whats ahead of me at all times than to be courteous to other drivers. If they get pissed off at me....oh well, at least they seen me.

[katman05]

You may want to upgrade to a set of Silverstars, alot of memebers swear by them.

[RydeBye]

Yea I keep my brights on all the time. I see it as other drivers get pissed then they cant use the excuse of "o well i didnt see him." better others pissed off than you dead.

[FrankTheTank]

My high beams are always on at night unless I am on a two-way road.

[Junior]

I run highbeams 24/7... unless I am behind another rider.

[suzukisportrider2004]

I run highbeams 24/7... unless I am behind another rider.

same here

[The CyberPoet]

You may want to consider adding additional lighting to your bike, specifically, low mounted driving or pencil lights, which are designed to augment your standard lighting by providing a very flat, fairly narrowly focused beam that shoots out several hundred feet. The optimal placement is normally at the forks on the Kat because of clearance issues mounting them elsewhere.

I can get you true self-contained HIDs (ballast built into the casement) for this purpose at a reasonable cost (about $250 for the pair) as 12 degree pencil beams, with a draw of 35 watts per lamp. Or you could simply find standard motorcycle driving lights to add on for about $100 - $150.

A couple words of warning:
If you add lighting, don't let the combined draw be above about 100 watts from whatever accessories you have (including the additional lighting).
You specifically want driving or pencil beams. Fog lights and perimeter lighting will simply make the area immediately around the bike brighter, and that is not what you're looking for.
Generally stick with reliable name brands on the lighting.

You could also upgrade your existing bulbs and reaim your focus.

For more details on lighting upgrades, see my Understanding Motorcycle Lighting and Upgrades for more light on the road, at MotorcycleAnchor.com

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[md86]

Some states kinda frown on running highbeams all the time at night (I've heard of tickets for that before) . Adjust your light , and if that ain't enough , get some Silverstars . Might wanna get them anyway , as they ARE pretty nice .

[slayergsxf1]

Nothing beats high beams all the time,again better safe than dead..or worse

[BarMatt80]

yeah i wouldn't recommmend running high beams all the time. i know cops look for people that don't dim high beams at night. I guess sign of drunk driving or something. Also if you are blinding the other people they might start to cross that yellow line. and when it comes to who is going to win between a head on with a car/truck/semi and a motorcycle i'd rather run over something in the road.

[WildKat]

Ride high beams all the time during the day.. at night I run high's all the time unless there is traffic oncoming. YOu want to becareful about adjusting them because if you adjust them too high you can blind the oncoming drivers same as you would on high beams and you want to make sure they aren't pointing straight out otherwise you can see enough of the road right in front of you to be safe.