To the guy running in stealth mode at dusk...

[Spartan925]

...probably not a great idea. You were headed south down North Main in Walnut Creek, stopped at the Treat/Geary intersection. Silver sport bike, silver/white helmet with I think either a camera or a comm system on it. I almost didn't even see you in the sea of headlights, but once I did I tried to give you a "flashing" signal with my left hand. It was about 7pm, very much dusk and almost dark. Never saw if you got the message, but I hope you did. If you didn't, I hope you didn't have much further to ride. Stay safe, brother. They already can't see you.

 

[korwl]

M4M? :teeth

 

[Spartan925]

Nah, I'm married.

 

[korwl]

Getting hitched doesn't seem to necessarily rule out a guy developing a wide stance

 

[Karbon]

OP are you ascribing intent on the part of the other rider? "Stealth mode"?

in all fairness, the low beam was probably out.

Not sure if it's the reflection of the the other car's lights, but his running lights looks like they're working.

 

[gt3x24x7]

low beam was probably out.

Not sure if it's the reflection of the the other car's lights, but his running lights looks like they're working.

Nope, in both pictures his low beams are shut off for whatever reason we do not know.

I wanted to go riding all weekend but we have a typhoon and rain storm coming in... I don't want to be back in my cage. :thumbdown

 

[Karbon]

Nope, in both pictures his low beams are shut off for whatever reason we do not know.

I wanted to go riding all weekend but we have a typhoon and rain storm coming in... I don't want to be back in my cage. :thumbdown

Were you there and riding with OP?
His indicators/running lights/turn signals were shut off? doesn't look like it to me.

maybe he blew a fuse. :dunno

 

[Lolocastsb]

 

[Whammy]

Maybe

He had to poop real bad.:rofl

Can't believe nobody said that yet.:teeth

 

[gt3x24x7]

Were you there and riding with OP?
His indicators/running lights/turn signals were shut off? doesn't look like it to me.

maybe he blew a fuse. :dunno

No, I was not with the OP. Just a gut feeling. I don't think that the rider would purposely disable their own indicators and lighting... :wow

I could be wrong, though.

 

[Spartan925]

OP are you ascribing intent on the part of the other rider? "Stealth mode"?

in all fairness, the low beam was probably out.

Not sure if it's the reflection of the the other car's lights, but his running lights looks like they're working.

If his low beam was out I'd say that's a legit reason to use the high beam. Something is better than nothing until you get the low beam replaced.

And that is the reflection of the cars' lights on his fairing. No indicators or running lights were lit. The bike was completely dark. I glanced behind to see if he got my signal but never saw if he had rear lights.

And no I wasn't meaning to say he was riding without lights on purpose. At least I hope it was ignorance to the fact his light was out and that he didn't ride knowing full well he had nothing.

I mostly just hope he got where he was going safely, either way. I'm not trying to give him shit since he could have honestly not known, thus the post. Who knows, maybe he posts here and was wondering why that guy on the "Harley" made a flashy-flashy signal at him?

Edit: a couple more screen grabs, you can see the light on the second pic is just the headlights from the car behind him. I also checked my rear cam and he did at least have taillights, so he had that going for him.

 

[David919]

I remember when I went to a cycle gear event one evening, I always check my lights as part of ride precheck, some where my headlight quit and I wouldn't have noticed except I went down a road alone with no street lights and was suddenly blind in the darkness. I hadn't noticed with all the city street lights and headlights. Waited for a car to come by and carefully followed until back under street lights. Initially a little startling but not overly difficult to get through. Was more annoying, people flashing me or yelling to me that my headlight was out.

 

[DucatiHoney]

My lowbeam went out one night and I didn't realize it until I got into a neighborhood with no street lights later on. I was pulled over trying to figure out if it was just a loose or blown fuse. A mailman drove up and totally bitched me out about being some no-good motorcyclist not obeying the laws. :rolleyes It didn't occur to me until I had been on the freeway a while to try the high beams since I never run them.

I see a lot of sketchy stuff out there (license plates, turn signals, etc) being screwed with, but I think that few folks would intentionally mess with their headlight unless they had a deathwish. The initial tone of your post sounded a little preachy, but I get that you were just trying to give him an honest-to-god heads-up. :thumbup

 

[Spartan925]

I definitely didn't mean to sound preachy and was genuinely concerned for the guy. For all I know, he was well aware of it, it had just gone out and he was in his way home or to somewhere to fix whatever the problem was. I would think if he knew, he'd switch to high beam at least temporarily but who knows. The main point of the post was at the off chance that he's a BARFer and would see it.

 

[jumph4x]

Nah, I'm married.

Like that means anything this day and age in the Bay Area

 

[El Feo]

Was more annoying, people flashing me or yelling to me that my headlight was out.

I can't count the times I've run w/o a headlight. And, this is definitely the worst part.

I just tell people it's a gang initiation thing.