Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[RJW]

Jerry,

Riding with others or solo I often flash my lights, to make sure I’m seen. Having the spots lights, shutoff and turn on when flashing my high beam does help get their attention. Losing that ability is a negative. I always ride like I’m invisible. There are times when you have to try, and make yourself as visible as possible.

[spada84]

Ain't it the truth.  But I am more concerned about seeing and being seen so I'll take my chances and plead ignorant.

In Virginia, "fog lamps, auxiliary lamps" should only light with the low beams, driving lights with only the high beams.  I have had vehicles with both, and they had to operate that way to pass inspection.  My dealer mentioned to me that they were looking into whether on not that this would pass a VA inspection.  My answer was I don't care.  My dealer gives me free inspections, and they will pass it.

[grc]

Jerry,

Riding with others or solo I often flash my lights, to make sure I’m seen. Having the spots lights, shutoff and turn on when flashing my high beam does help get their attention. Losing that ability is a negative. I always ride like I’m invisible. There are times when you have to try, and make yourself as visible as possible.

    Gotcha.  Especially in daylight I think your observation is right on the money, there is more of a visual difference when actually cycling the two spots off and back on than what you get just with the high beam versus low beam flash.


Jerry

[ultrafxr]

In Virginia, "fog lamps, auxiliary lamps" should only light with the low beams, driving lights with only the high beams.  I have had vehicles with both, and they had to operate that way to pass inspection.  My dealer mentioned to me that they were looking into whether on not that this would pass a VA inspection.  My answer was I don't care.  My dealer gives me free inspections, and they will pass it.

Spots are not required.  So if I had an inspection problem they would conventiently be totally inoperative. 

[grc]

Spots are not required.  So if I had an inspection problem they would conventiently be totally inoperative. 

That might work for you in Tennessee, but when I lived in Virginia if the vehicle was equipped with any sort of light the light had to work when the vehicle was inspected.  So some driving lights you had wired in illegally for instance couldn't be easily forgiven by just pulling the fuse or pulling a wire.  You had to completely remove the lights to pass a properly performed inspection.

Anyhow, I'm going to assume if Harley has made this available with no restrictions such as "only legal in certain states" or "off road use only", there must not be any serious issues still out there.  And if one podunk locality does have a problem with it, it's real easy to put it back to stock.  Not something I'd lose sleep over, in other words.


Jerry

[Eagle Eye]

Nice modification...going to place my order today.  Thanks!  I do not want to cut factory wiring, so it's worth 30 bucks to me. 

BTW:  My 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee had 'fog/driving' lights that stayed on even with high beams.  All our other vehicles turn out the driving lights on high beam. 

I'm not an attorney, but this is the logic as explained by a self proclaimed expert (auto dealer):
The states consider the axillary driving lights to be fog lights.  It is not advised to drive with the high beams in the fog, so they require the "fog" lights go out upon activation of high beams.  On our bikes, these are not fog lights, unless you install yellow lenses.  So it is not illegal to bypass the wiring with the clear lenses.

 

[ultrafxr]

I think it all depends on the LEO that sees/stops you and the mood he/she is in.  I had a 1990 Acura Legend that came with factory installed driving lights.  Coming home from work late one night on a dark two-lane county road I had them on (headlights were on low beam) when I met a Sheriff's deputy patrol car coming toward me.  He immediately did a 180 and pulled me over.  Got a ticket for 'dazzling lights' whatever the hell that is.  Went to court and the judge dismissed the ticket saying my penalty was having to come down there.  What a bunch of crap that was.  

Jerry (grc) I was joshing about disabling the lights for inspection.  Luckily I don't have to put up with that.  No state inspection here but folks who live within the Memphis city limit do.  And there are some real azzholes at the inspection stations (city run, can't go to an indy).  One guy had a burr up his azz a few years ago about the Panacea type taillights that flash.  Said folks might confuse that with a fire truck!  Never ceases to amaze me how some 'public servants' can get so badge heavy.

[T-Hawk]

Did I miss something?

I thought that the harness allowed you full control on whether the Passing/Driving/Fog lights were on or off... using the harness simply allows you to turn them on in conjunction with the highbeam for the additional lighting they provide.

Is what I've read recently saying that they will be on regardless?

If you have 'control', then I would simply turn them off for the inspections and when asked to demonstrate that they operate, simply turn them on for the inspector... Unless there is a specific Law/Regulation preventing you from operating the lights while the highbeam is on... what would it matter?

And if there is such a Law/Regulation for your State, I don't know that I would make the install.

But, here's another something to think about... my 2011.5 Ultra's lowbeam stays lit when I switch to the highbeam, so isn't that pretty much the same thing?  And, this was a Factory Installed feature.

Anyway, I just typed way too much for a simple question... as I often find myself doing toward the end o the day.   

[TinSpinner]

The harness does give you the choice of whether the auxiliary lamps are on or off regardless of the headlamp setting. With this in mind I can't see how it could be failed by any inspection. If they were on constantly it could possibly be an issue in some locales. I've been wondering about moto-lights and how they would be considered in some of the places where people are concerned with this harness. It really seems like much ado about nothing to me; the extra light are a safety function. If we stay safe, and alive, we get to pay more taxes to keep those pinheads working. Funny how they don't think the same way I do...

[porthole]

New jersey eliminated motorcycle inspections.
Solved that issue. Although even when we did have inspections, my lights were still on all the time unless I turned them off.

[grc]

The harness does give you the choice of whether the auxiliary lamps are on or off regardless of the headlamp setting. With this in mind I can't see how it could be failed by any inspection. If they were on constantly it could possibly be an issue in some locales. I've been wondering about moto-lights and how they would be considered in some of the places where people are concerned with this harness. It really seems like much ado about nothing to me; the extra light are a safety function. If we stay safe, and alive, we get to pay more taxes to keep those pinheads working. Funny how they don't think the same way I do...

There used to be regulations on the books that limited the number of lights you could have illuminated on the front of a vehicle at the same time.  For instance, those of us with a few more wrinkles than others remember when auto headlights were separate high beams and low beams, for a total of four individual lights.  Some regs existed that limited you to four lights at one time, so if you installed extra driving lights or fog lights you had to have them wired so they went off if you turned on the high beams.  As far as I know, and I'm by no means up to date on all such regulations these days, I think most such regs have been eliminated.  I know I can't find one in Federal safety standard 108 which pertains to lighting.

As for the Moto Lights or similar products, you can still be ticketed in many/most jurisdictions if your lights are improperly aimed or cause excessive glare to oncoming drivers.  IMHO, they are one of the most irritating inventions anyone has come up with to hang on the front of a Harley.  Poorly aimed lights that bounce around with every tiny ripple in the road do very little to help the vision of the rider of the bike so equipped, but they do irritate the hell out of folks coming at them.  I personally lump them in with straight pipes as products with high irritation factors we could easily do without.


JMHO - Jerry