Trying to tip the odds in my favor by adding a BRIGHTer brakelight. In the past I've had those add-on LEDs like Hyper-lites (they work, but seemed kind of small) or built up my own using dual mode LEDs mounted on a license plate frame.

Skeene Design P-3s would be nice, but kinda spendy although the BMW guys don't seem to mind so much.

This time I was cruising around another forum where they've been talking about the usual Whelen LED units but they're kind of bulky since they're designed for ambulances and LEO cars.

Someone mentioned the SLULTRA from Nova Electronics LED unit that is thinner so I found one on eBay with reasonable shipping (the online store they mentioned costed too much to ship to Hawaii).

I think you can find this for about $45-50 each.



They include the black plastic mounting bezel along with screws and what's neat is that the flasher unit is built into the LED unit itself, plus its all sealed up so it should be fine on the bike. I ended up setting it up so it doesn't flash and acts like a bright brakelight figuring the LEOs wouldn't bee too happy since this is a flashing strobe-like LED. It has about 8 modes and I was hoping it would have one that would flash then go steady but no such luck. You need a separate brake light flasher like the ones from Signal Dynamics to piggy pack to get that function.

You touch the blue wire to the red positive power feed and it steps through all the different flashing modes. Then you either secured the blue wire to the black ground wire, or leave it secured unconnected.



Mocked it up using an old dealer plate and eventually got a plain black plastic one from eBay:



Testing with the rear running light only:



Brakes applied, both brake lights on! And yes, if you are OCD you will notice the license plate isn't centered which didn't occur to me until I was finished and then had to go back and center it all up.



Of course I ran into the usual "gotchas" that never appear when you're mocking things up. Had to lower that safety check sticker plate because the LED unit blocked too much of the sticker.

To run the wires up into the tail light housing to tap into the power there is a gap at the bottom of the gasket that goes between the housing and the fender so I routed the wires up through that. Excess wire gets tucked into the license plate mount.

Just need to tap into the positive power lead (green-yellow), run the black ground wire into one of the fender mounting holes tucking it under the rubber grommet. Blue wire that controls the flashing mode gets coiled up and tucked behind the plastic license plate frame where it is easily reached so you can connect it to a power lead to change the flashing mode.

Aloha,
Huladog

http://www.motorcycle.com/safety/no-surp...ident.html

'Motorcycle safety instructor, researcher and advocate Duncan MacKillop was the first presenter at the International Rider Training Symposium. MacKillop, Alf Gasparro, and Kevin Williams are the founders of No Surprise: No Accident – an initiative proposing that motorcycle crashes are largely a product of prediction failures.'

I can definitely agree with some of the points they make, especially re predicting scenarios in traffic. I know of a couple people who had accidents with cars, or near misses, that they probably should have seen coming.

Finally able to ride yesterday evening with a break from the relentless rain and snapped this picture...

While I had the wheel off I added the PR3..
Feel like Alice in Farkleland !!

I know that these bikes had a somewhat polarizing effect with most riders of the time, but I was a fan, and was fascinated with the technology and the styling.
I bought a new '81 in '82 (or was it an '82 in '83?), and loved it. For the time period, I felt it looked like a cross between a fighter jet, and a Star Wars X-wing. The digital dash was also incredibly futuristic, and way before its time. It was amazingly comfortable, and placed you in what I'd call a "sport-touring" position on the bike. The fairing was greatly effective, and I never felt like I was fighting the wind, even at triple digit speeds.
But the biggest draw was that turbo. When it kicked in - at around 5 grand, if I remember correctly - the acceleration was explosive, and felt far stronger than Yamaha's claimed 90hp. Only my modded FZ1 threatened to tear the grips away from my hands the way the Turbo did, and even with way more power, it didn't come on nearly as violently as with the Turbo.
It was extremely docile at lower speeds, and off the turbo - more like the mere 650 it was, hampered by all the additional plumbing and bodywork. But the power was tractable and smooth, and it felt far lighter than the 560 or so lbs. I think it weighed, even if it was a little top-heavy. A buddy of mine bought one of the first Ninjas in 1984 (900cc), and the two bikes were perfectly matched in speed and acceleration, right up to its 125-ish mph top speed. We proved it time and again, every weekend down Santiago Canyon, or Ortega Highway, or even the occasional freeway blast (all in Orange County, southern CA). His two friends with Kawasaki GPZ 550s that used to tag along on most rides never stood a chance.
I know the Kawi 750 turbo was a faster/quicker, more hardcore bike, but it couldn't match the Yammer for comfort and usability, at least for my interests.
Just loved that bike. Still miss it. Still looking for that A-1 quality example to cross my path that will find a home in my garage...and I hope that just maybe there might be others here who liked 'em as well?

Here's a couple of old shots of mine, illegally parked on the walkway through Central Park in Huntington Beach early on a Sunday morning:
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/YamahaTurboCentralPark_zpsyvix1pen.jpg.html]

And on a trip to see a Navy buddy of mine up at Moffett Field (near Mountain View, CA):
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/YamahaTurbo_zpszhhh9zui.jpg.html]

Never really thought about this until I started looking at all of your photos, but perhaps it's been discussed before

In the UK we ride/drive on the left. I've always assumed that is why motorbikes have their prop stands on the left. When you drop the stand, that's the side you get off the bike, and then back on again. So here in good old blighty it's the side away from the traffic if you're mounting or dismounting at the side of the road - thus not getting off into the path of any passing traffic. The same goes for the use of a centre stand, all from the left.

So for you guys riding on the right, do you walk out into the road or jump on the bike from the 'high' side to avoid the hazards of passing traffic ?

Just a pointless idle thought

Nothing special, just love the quality of my new $50 camera one you get the mounting stable. I still need a little bit more shiming to get rid of the vibration between the camera and waterproof housing.

https://youtu.be/Mmh31Q87mHw

Lorenzo tops Free Practice 2. Rossi 6th, Marquez 9th.

Vinales 2nd, and LCR Honda and Pramac Ducati beat their factory counterparts.

Yamaha said engine failures were due to spec ECU not preventing over revs when rear leaves ground - should be fixed for Spain.

Edit: Deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Moto2 rider Luis Salom who passed away after an fall in FP2.

https://youtu.be/CV9aX8zJrGQ

Although it never made it to the US, we've seen the W800 in Australia and it's a lovely bike. Looks like it's reached the end of the road. Sad. http://blog.motorcycle.com/2016/06/01/ma...l-edition/