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My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

gill.net.in

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Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#61

Post by bastawhiz »

HPsquared wrote: post #7
bastawhiz wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That requires you to have a bike where the current gear is recognized digitally and the bike has a standard way of getting that data to an external device (or it requires you to put a sensor on the gear lever). For that matter, it requires you to have a bike with a manual transmission. There's lots of electric bikes, bikes with fully automatic transmissions, and bikes that simply don't have the electronics (not to me…

You can infer the gear based on vehicle speed and engine speed. That's how gear indications work on most manual cars too: there's no actual sensor telling what gear is selected (other than reverse, and sometimes clutch pedal and neutral).

If you have vehicle speed and engine speed you simply don't need to know the gear to know when engine braking is happening.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#63

Post by abfan1127 »

OptionOfT wrote: post #43

> BMW’s dynamic brake light, for example, flashes during emergency braking to alert trailing drivers, greatly enhancing road safety. Mind you, that this is not enabled in all countries. In the USA the rear fog lights turn on in addition to the brake lights under heavy braking, as flashing the lights weren't allowed. They remain on until you no longer depress the brakes. Unsure if they're allowed right now, or whether…

my US mazda cx5 center brake light flashes when you press the brakes.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#64

Post by bastawhiz »

scblock wrote: post #6
bastawhiz wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That requires you to have a bike where the current gear is recognized digitally and the bike has a standard way of getting that data to an external device (or it requires you to put a sensor on the gear lever). For that matter, it requires you to have a bike with a manual transmission. There's lots of electric bikes, bikes with fully automatic transmissions, and bikes that simply don't have the electronics (not to me…

An existing brake light product, the Billy light from Clearwater, integrates with the BMW canbus to pull the bike's acceleration data and use that as a basis for what this light appears to do.

I can imagine there's enough of a market for BMW accessories that they can make it work, but if you want to address other bikes with the same device, you need a different approach.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#65

Post by nielsole »

I unsuccessfully built something like this for my bicycle a while back: https://niels-ole.com/bike/maker/2020/02/20/bicycle-light

> It turned out that when I accelerate strongly, I pull the bike back, at some point in the rotation of the pedals. This is rightfully detected as a sudden deceleration of the bicycle.

I guess on a much heavier motorcycle the deceleration of the motorcycle is actually a meaningful indicator of the combination driver+motorcycle slowing down.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#66

Post by sidewndr46 »

Reason077 wrote: post #60
sidewndr46 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in Australia where it is mandated, sure. In most of the world, no motorcycles have ABS

It is mandatory in many countries, not just Australia. Europe, Japan, Brazil, etc, all require ABS on new motorcyles.

"Europe" is not and never has been a country to my knowledge.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#67

Post by throwaway290 »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #13

The author did a great job actually building the project, doing a layout and custom design rather than just stitching together off the shelf modules. Good work. That being said, in 20 years of riding motorcycles and being an ATGATT (all the gear, all the time) kind of rider, I'm mixed on the need for this. It's something I have thought about doing with a direct hardwire to the throttle, but I can't come up with a sit…

I like a brake you can choose to tap without engaging proper brakes just to flash your lights backwards, instead of worrying about more smarts in the vehicle that can stop working or whatever.

In best cases this brake gives a bit of feedback when it engages the light but not yet engage the actual brake.

You are free to use this technique to signal "back off" whenever you're engine braking or before you brake or even when you're not even braking but don't like the tailgater

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#69

Post by criddell »

I believe these would be illegal in Ontario.

The section 62 of the Highway Traffic Act says this:

> Intermittent red light restricted

> (14) Subject to subsections (14.1), (15) and (17.1), no person shall use a lamp, other than turning signal lamps or the vehicular hazard warning signal lamps commonly known as four way flashers, that produces intermittent flashes of red light.

There is an exemption for bicycles but not motorcycles.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#70

Post by Glyptodon »

My motorcycle pet peeve is that if you ride bicycles routinely the control differences between bikes and motorcycles become potentially dangerous, especially while riding the motorcycle. I'm not sure how to align their controls more, but if your bike has a rotary handle shifter and one day on the motorcycle you "shift" with the throttle, it's not going to go well. There are a number of other possible control goofs you can do that aren't great.
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