Bikesafer.com adds flash video conspicuity demo

As promised, we have a new feature in bikesafer.com, you can get there by clicking the link in the yellow box from bikesafer.com. Last Sunday, Special ED and I took our bikes, a Harley Davidson Road King and a Honda ST1300 out with a cheapie Aiptek hd camcorder. It was a bright summer day in Bartlett, Tennessee so viewing conditions were optimal. The effect would probably be much more noticeable if we shot in poorer visibility. The videos were edited to remove excess footage where nothing was happening, the frame size was reducedto fit PC screens and we added captions, but otherwise we did not alter the images. All video was shot inside twenty minutes on the same settings,with a slight camera move at one point.

Special ED and I did four passes each. Special ED ran first on low beams, then on high beams with modulator, then on low beams with running lights and finally with high beams, modulator and running lights. I ran with low beams, high beams, then with high beams and running lights and finally with high beams, modulator and running lights. The passes are captioned so you can keep track of what's going on. Special ED's basic lights are enhanced with direct relay power to the headlight, and has PIAA bulbs, and my ST also has these mods plus an upgrade from 45 watts to 65 watts on both headlight bulbs.

You can judge for yourself, but look particularly at the longer shots of Special ED's Harley clip, where his bike imho jumps out of the background much sooner with the added lighting in later passes.

Check out our conspicuity pages for details on light enhancements for conspicuity, and check out our other upcoming site improvements in a few days.