i'm right confused about this. some say you need em, some don't. year of manufacture often being the depending factor. i phoned a triumph garage and they said to be safe buy some deflectors and follow the instructions in the packet. i bought some and the instructions are all for car headlights. any of you fellas that go out to europe got any experience/opinions on this? my bike is a 2009 daytona if that makes a difference. cheers
ha ha. it's a blummin weird one as i woulda thought a bikes headlights would just point straight ahead as we have more room for manoeuvre than cars. i dunno what to do! maybe i'll just take the deflector things and if i get pulled or cause a few multiple vehicle pile ups i'll put em on
Plus one on wyrm 's experience Also when i asked the same i was told not to put tape on the lights as they will melt. Dont know if the deflectors would melt the lense.
maybe they meant melt the tape?! taped plenty of headlights up for trackdays and never had a lens melt. unless it's different on the daytona...?
Did 2800 odd miles on the tiger 800xc which has both lights on and are much brighter than my old 675 with no issues what so ever, that was taking in France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia. I also agree that the other motorist's seem to respect bikes and do move out of the way a fair bit.
Never used them on any of my bikes and been going to europe at least twice a year for the past few years.
Travelling north from Calais in the small hours, as I've lent the bike into a right bend on the autoroute, I've had the odd truck driver switch on all their white lights just to try to blind me! I just ignore them and close one eye temporarily. When in europe, I do tend to ride through the night to get to where I'm going if I'm travelling alone.
French police are giving Brit drivers riders a closer look just now. Deflectors for cars were designed to cover the 7-9 o'clock part of the light as you look at the lens. They have been doing random check to see if Brits are carrying the new breathalyser kits required by French law now but may have a nose around anyway to see what else they can pick up. Ins and V50 are essential as its an on the spot if you can't produce em.
I was told, when over there a few weeks ago, that the breathalyser law is not being enforced right now. I still took a pack in my bag anyway, but as you cannot yet buy the police approved units in France, the police cannot enforce the law
there's def some conflicting info on supposedly bonafide sites on the net. oh well will take all of it just in case, not much extra weight to carry. cheers for all the input chaps
Done 3 trips in the last 3 years, about 10k miles in total. 2010, France - mate got stopped for speeding nothing else checked or mentioned, 2011, Spain, - both of us stopped twice for a routine paperwork check. No one mentioned anything about the headlights or exhaust baffles (or lack of them :mrgreen: )
