LED Light Legal or Illegal?

[Hughes8524]

I just bought a 04 Katana 600 and the person i bought the bike from had green LED lights installed under the fairings and under the tail... I wanted to know if in the state of Texas if it is legal to ride with these lights turned on.. I dont see it being a problem as long as they are not blue or red but I want to be sure... Any help is appreciated.

[MEngineer]

This probably has some useful information for you.

http://www.de-luxcycle.com/laws_on_lighting.htm

[steves]

Should be okay, the laws vary by state.

This probably has some useful information for you.

http://www.de-luxcycle.com/laws_on_lighting.htm

That is one of the most horrible websites I've looked at in recent memory

[MEngineer]

Should be okay, the laws vary by state.


That is one of the most horrible websites I've looked at in recent memory

It's bad, but has some info. It's the result of a 3 second Google search.

[GSXFJim]

That is one of the most horrible websites I've looked at in recent memory

I can beat that one steve...

http://www.yellowjersey.org/

[Hughes8524]

Thanks guys... I need to change my settings so I know when I have replies though. hah

[Circuitmage]

I'm in Texas too, and have not heard of anyone getting citations for that. However I would suggest no direct or flashing colors. Indirect lighting seems to be the key. And the more subtle the better, IMHO.

I've seen undercarriage lighting on cars and bikes, thought about doing it myself but figure it's kind of a waste of money...for me.

[Circuitmage]

OK, I've changed my mind....getting some led lighting soon.

[BDSCRPN]

Having lived in Texas I can tell you they are illegal if.... Any of the lights show directly or are red/blue/amber in color and flash. You can however use any color you wish providing the lights cannot be seen directly. They must be hidden from view completely. Flashing lights of any color other than the afore mentioned are alright as well. This is due to emergency and construction/maintenance vehicles using those three colors. If the reflect or glow off the surface of something it's perfectly fine.

I got pulled over many times on bikes cars any anything that moved with underglow/body lights. So I learned first hand from the authority on the ie pd state troopers and sheriffs. If they are red blue or amber and flash while moving you're in trouble. The informations is readily available on the Texas dot site. You may want to ask a your local law enforcement to be sure as it is really left up to their own discretion if they want to site you for it. Not sure where you're located in Texas but I will tell you that several towns along i35 and i37 they will harass you but not site. So if nothing else make sure you have an easily accessible kill switch. Austin in town is bad pfleugerville, whatever that little town south of Waco is, San Antonio downtown, port arransas, and a couple others will bug you but if a cop starts following just turn them off and they usually just leave you alone or will provide a notice.

Non the less txdot site is an excellent stop for verifying what is or isn't legal for Texas.

[Bkohs]

I personally think a little extra lighting on a bike it a good thing. It makes you a lot more visible a night, but the filp side of that is it usually distracts a lot of drivers cause for some reason most people on the road are like bugs that are atracted to bug lamps. when it comes to any aftermarket lighting, my suggestion is to do things that are not completely obvious, but more noticable than nothing like red leds under the tail of the bike (police cant really say anything about it as long as it looks like it's a tail light) a red flashing led strip that lights up with the brake light (again, it's perfectly legal if it looks like its a tail light). Some white leds that illuminate the air vents in the fairings and maybe lighting up the street below you as well (I only say white because it's less distracting, but still noticable). And as was said before, make sure you have a switch that kills all of it if you ever need to shut it all off quickly. The way I had mine set up was 1 switch for the white, 1 for the red and then a master switch to cut power to both. Generally I just used the master switch because there wasn't ever a reason to just shut one set off, but I figured if a cop pulled me for the white lights I could shut those off and keep the red on.