Over
the Fall and Winter of 2000-2001, many RT riders were touched
by the loss of several of their own in Car Vs. Motorcyle
collisions. In many cases, the accidents were caused by
the driver turning left in front of the motorcyclist.
The
answer for many has been to improve conspicuity by installing
headlight modulators on their bikes. Many report very positive
results from the devices. Headlight modulators cause the
headlight to flash at a rapid frequency and create a sense
of motion that attracts the human eye. Bottom line, a modulator
will get you noticed.
You
may or may not want the sort of attention that a modulator
can provide you, but if you want to be conspicuous, this
is a must have item.
There
are a couple of companies that make headlight modulators
for the RT:
The
Kisan seems to be the easiest to install and the most popular
with RT Riders. Its a plug and play operation to install
the modulator unit. Both types have a light sensor that
must be attached to the bike in a place where it can see
the light of day and will not be affected by light from
the instrument panel or headlight. The purpose of the sensor
is to disable the modulator from use at nighttime.
Some
popular mounting options for the sensor include:
"A
very easy spot that works well, and is out of the was are
the screws just ahead of, and on either side of the front
of the fuel tank that are used to attach the BMW tank bag"
"I
mounted the sensor bracket to the screw just to the left
of the right speaker. Seems to work great. Others have suggested
one of the screws where the BMW tank bag hooks are. But
since I have a BMW tank bag, I wasn't able to use those."
"I
had installed my Kissan modulator 1 1/2 inches down from
the lower edge of the front tupperware (the painted plastic
nose not the black dash) and dead centered in the black
dash before I discovered and mounted the shelf. I chose
this eye position because I felt it looked like it was OEM.
The modulator works the same as without the shelf as there
is enough gap at the front edge of the shelf to provide
light to the eye."
"I
just zip tied mine to one of the cables going down by the
ignition key. most people would never notice it."
"I
put the photosensor in its little bracket on one of the
screws on the front of the fuel tank (below the painted
faring, just behind the handlebars). It works fine there."
For
more ideas, search the BBS
and archives.
