why no Fog Lights

[The Red Devil]

was riding to London this morning at 4.30am... yes it was cold!!!...and as the fog got thicker and thicker and all i could see of the other traffic was their fog lights... i wondered ............why do bikes have no fog lights?....:eyepopping:...

[rac3r]

I suppose the only place you could mount them low enough is on the forks or something which would look a bit crap :chuckle:

[ricky]

was riding to London this morning at 4.30am... yes it was cold!!!...and as the fog got thicker and thicker and all i could see of the other traffic was their fog lights... i wondered ............why do bikes have no fog lights?....:eyepopping:...

Sure what kind of idiot would ride a bike in the fog...........:scratch:........:on: oh sorry mate!!!! ;):D:yoparty:

Ive always thought the same...and why dont MOST models not have 4 way flashers in case of a break down or accident???:scratch:

[Saint aka ML]

Count yourself lucky I started overtaking to be surprised by a black smartCAR with no lights. Almost **** myself and best he was angry at me :confused:

[utopia]

Back in the 70s a bunch of us were on our way to silverstone one foggy morning.
I made the mistake of committing to a slightly dodgy overtake on a juggernaut. I was being tail-end charlie and I didn't wan't to get left behind the rest of the group.
It was one of those roads that are wide enough to leave plenty of space to overtake down the middle between the two lanes of traffic.
I knew it was wrong as soon as I did it, and I'll never forget the shock as a mk10 jaguar flashed past, missing me by inches, as I was alongside the lorry.
That was one lesson firmly learnt. Since then I've always followed the maxim that its never the wrong decision to delay an overtake if there's any doubt at all.

[The Red Devil]

thinking about one of those LED red cycle lights velcro-ed to my helmet....then they would see me .... from behind at least!!! :scratch:

[Nickj]

why do bikes have no fog lights?....:eyepopping:...

Because of the confusion that we would cause having two lights vertically aligned ... to all of the cars out there we'd look just like half the cars you see with broken lights.
Poor lambs would know what was happening or going on around them.. that assumes that any of them actually do to start with.

[the_adam]

I suppose the only place you could mount them low enough is on the forks or something which would look a bit crap :chuckle:

Can't see the problem with having them mounted higher up, aren't they often put on the roof of 4x4s/HGV cabs? Or am I just thinking of something completely different? :scratch: Something with a narrow enough beam aimed the right way should be fine. I'd say it's probably not done because of the extra expense and number of people that only have their bikes for sunny days

On a (vaguely) similar topic, how legal are brake light flashers? Seen a couple of bikes with them, I tend to do it with my foot if I'm stuck at the back of a queue in bad weather but it's a bit annoying :)

[JMo]

Ive always thought the same...and why dont MOST models not have 4 way flashers in case of a break down or accident???:scratch:

You mean hazzard lights?

New bikes have, from around 2008 I think (my 2008 Tenere has them)...

To be honest though, a bike is usually small and easy enough to move off the road and therefore not be a hazard in the same way?



Jx

[JMo]

Can't see the problem with having them mounted higher up, aren't they often put on the roof of 4x4s/HGV cabs? Or am I just thinking of something completely different?

Fog lamps have to be mounted low to have any effect (basically to shine under the fog) - you're thinking of driving or 'spot' lights that are roof mounted to give a longer range high beam - no good in fog as the fog just reflects the light back and blinds you!

The GS crowd mount fog and driving (spot) lamps typically on either side of the headlight/forks... and I'd say a fog beam is of limited use even that high, and certainly as high as you'd want to go...

I think Red Devil was probably referring to rear fog lights anyway? I guess it could work, but really who needs any more crap on their bike, and lets face it, it's just another thing for people to forget to switch off... like in cars...

Jx