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A downright amazingly stupid LED headlight, I'm impressed.
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A friend and fellow idiot sent me this link ? https://www.tesladownunder.com/WorldsBrightestBike.htm#BikeLights ? I am impressed and bow down to this guy. [and I'm glad I live nowhere close to him.] ? I gave up bicycles when I turned 16 for motorcycles with the logic "Now I can outrun cars...." ? They still don't see you, even at night with your headlight on drivers will cut you off with frightening regularity. I gave up on motorcycles after seeing two young riders get splatted by a 'queen mary' [any large car] while driving down the road. The bikers were in their lane driving sanely, the cars just ran them down. ? Anyway, the light from a Honda CA-77, CB-350, CB-360 wasn't anything to write home about and it was easy to outdrive your headlight, outdrive refers to driving faster than you can see ahead. [perhaps one shouldn't drive 80MPH on narrow back roads.....] ? Now this headlight would let you see far enough ahead to be useful....but blind the poor sod coming at you so he'd probably splat you. ? While I've kept my motorcycle endorsement, that's more because I'm stubborn then practical. There is no way I'd ride a motorcycle unless my life depended on it. I suspect my artificial knees would be most displeased. ? Consider the project as proof humans can do amazingly stupid things....I'm proud to be a member of such an inventive species. Worry about our long term survival chances, but what the heck, we can have fun in the mean time. ? |
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I rode/drove/almost-died-more-than-once on motorcycles for awhile when I was much
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younger and a bit more stupid than I am now. I have an over-worked guardian angel. Harley-Davidson. Almost big enough to damage a car if it hits one. Their wheels are big enough to act as gyroscopes, making it difficult to turn or lean at high-speeds. Ask me how I know this. Did you ever drive one by simply lightly pushing on the ends of the handlebars with your index fingertips? Ever hear of precession? In Italy, motorcycles are called "The Doctors' Friend".with good reason. Ken W7EKB On 28 Feb 2025 at 8:35, wn4isx via groups.io wrote:
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BTW, your URL is missing a DOT after www.
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Here is the "corrected" URL. Ken W7EKB On 28 Feb 2025 at 8:35, wn4isx via groups.io wrote:
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On Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 11:55 AM, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
KenA friend's daughter is a trauma physician and calls motorcycles donorcycles. ?
I had too many close calls to count, only one was my fault and that one proved God does look out for fools and children.
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About a year ago I was in a car parts place to pick up some stuff, stepped out and saw a young man get nailed by a car. He was in a marked crosswalk (yea that makes life so much safer for pedestrians). He was OK, busted up and a cop insisted on calling for the EMTs. The guy didn't want to leave his Russian clone of a BMW motorcycle in the parking lot so I volunteered to drive it to his home. He lived 6 or 7 blocks away, called his wife to lead me there and bring me back.
The bike was smooth, handled well but reminded me "Fool you are 72, you have no business doing this!"
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Crosswalks are booby traps. I had a car slide through a crosswalk at a red light, barely missing my wife and I, then the fool slammed it in reverse and laid rubber backing up. The cop next to him was seriously unamused. The fool argued with the cop and was arrested. So unsad.?
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On Friday 28 February 2025 11:35:52 am wn4isx via groups.io wrote:
A friend and fellow idiot sent me this linkInsanity! I am impressed and bow down to this guy. [and I'm glad I live nowhere close to him.]Ditto. When I became more aware of some of the higher-powered LEDs out there I ordered some. I got 10 10W units, the kind with 3 rows of 3, and so far I've built 3 lamps using these, one of which is over my desk. I've not been overall very impressed with the failure rates of the higher powered ones. I'm running these at 3 watts or so, so I guess they'll last a pretty long time. I gave up bicycles when I turned 16 for motorcycles with the logic "Now I can outrun cars...."Heh, They still don't see you, even at night with your headlight on drivers will cut you off with frightening regularity. I gave up on motorcycles after seeing two young riders get splatted by a 'queen mary' [any large car] while driving down the road. The bikers were in their lane driving sanely, the cars just ran them down.A guy who used to work for me back when I had my shop came in late one day. When I asked him why, he told me about some lady in a caddy that tried to make hamburger out of him. I started that battery store gig in January, and the guy who trained me had to ride his bike for a bit. He had a truck, but for some reason the brakes kept on locking up on him. Turned out the culprit was an apparently symmetrical hose that contained a proportioning valve, he'd put it in backwards. He used to hell me about some close calls as well. My brother has a couple of what he refers to as "scooters" (smallish bikes) and when he rode was constantly bitching about what people in cars were doing... I used to ride a 10-speed, but gave it up for that same reason. Anyway, the light from a Honda CA-77, CB-350, CB-360 wasn't anything to write home about and it was easy to outdrive your headlight, outdrive refers to driving faster than you can see ahead. [perhaps one shouldn't drive 80MPH on narrow back roads.....]I am hardly driving at night at all these days, that being a part of the reason. Now this headlight would let you see far enough ahead to be useful....but blind the poor sod coming at you so he'd probably splat you.Yup! -- Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" - Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin |
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On Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 11:35 AM, wn4isx wrote this about motorcycles:
I have a theory about that.? Drivers instinctively use the space between oncoming headlights to gauge how far away it is.? Motorcycle headlights lack that clue.? So the auto driver thinks it is very far away and there is plenty of space to turn. ?
Headlamp brightness probably would not help.? It still looks far away.
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In daylight, I suspect many auto drivers (instinctively?) think motorcycles can't be as fast as or faster than their auto, so certainly there must be plenty of time.? ?Even if the motorcycle gets cut off, they are small and can stop fast - right?? The driver might not THINK this, but it is what their brains are telling them.
I think auto drivers do not purposely try to get in the way of motorcycles.? We all know they are death traps, a surely unsafe way to go down the highway, so why would anyone want to make it even less safe for them? ?
I lost a cousin just a few years ago, riding his motorcycle home from work.? The intersection where it happened has claimed the lives of several unfortunate souls, yet the city stupidly does nothing to improve it - even when senseless accidents like that happen again and again.? They probably say it is too expensive to mark it better.? Shows you how little they value a person's life.
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Andy
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