Headlights flashing???

[MangoMike]

Stopped at a light behind a car (at night) and the driver jumped out and yelled at me to quit flashing my headlights at him. I told him I hadn't flashed my headlights and it must have been the bike bouncing. He didn't buy it. I forgot about the incident, until awhile later when I was riding with some friends. One of them got on the CB and asked me if I'd put a head light modulator on my Spyder, I told him no, and asked why. He said my lights kept switching from high to low beam.
My front shocks are set at their hardest setting. Would setting this in the middle help with this problem? Has anyone else experienced this?

Mike

[johnnyg]

Make sure your shock is maxed out that can make you bounce also increase the air in your front tires [no more then 30psi], try to have some one in frount of you to check the changes as you do them, if they still see it flaching take to your dealer have them find out way it's doing it. jc good luck:2thumbs:

[dave01]

Mike, there was a spyder at Westcoast a few months ago and the owner thought he had the same problem. He has an air-ride system on his and the rear being so stiff made the front bounce. Another had a bad rear shock, which made the lights seem to flash. I would try adjusting the front and then the rear to see if it helps. How stiff are you running the rear?

[MangoMike]

Thanks guys, I was running the rear pretty stiff and lowered that a bit. I'll check it tomorrow since I'm riding to lunch with a friend. If it's still doing it I'll take it in (it needs the 9K service anyway) and have them check it. Appreciate the help, as always.

Mike

[johnnyg]

Mike I run 28 in the front and 27 in the rear my shock is maxed out the shocks are at the max,Ido it this way all the time even without the trailer. my tires are doing fine on tred.

[pierrelogic]

It's the front end bouncing.

The fact you'e dialed up the stiffness means nothing more can be done. The lights are very strong especially when you're directly in the path of them regardless if they are hi or low beams. Since anything that helps being seen in at night it's not a problem it's a feature. :D

Other will get over it. If they doubt you, flip 'em the hi beams to prove it.

[spyryder]

You can simply just re-aim your headlights a bit lower.:dontknow:

[StriperKing]

I dont know if this is what you have but mine did the same thing when I first got it. First thing is we do not have a true bright and dim light. We have one bulb that does not change. When you apply the dims, a shield moves in to place to block the light for oncoming traffic. You will be able to see the line it makes and just how high it is. If that line is just at rear view mirror hight every little bump will make it look like you are flashing your brights. I bought my RT Spyder 2 1/2 hrs from home and drove it home at night on the interstate. Mine did this and I also thought some guy was going to woop my arss. I did not realize it was doing that to him but he was kind enough to let me know.:yikes: That was the first thing I did to my bike was to lower the high beam. Everybody is happy now. There are posts on here to tell you how to do this if you do not know how. Your story is so close to mine I would think you may have the same problem. I went out on a back road at night and pulled behind a parked car at following distance and adjusted my light line at the center of their bumper. Worked perfect.

[NancysToy]

Probably a combination of the bouncing vehicle (for whatever reason) and a need for headlight adjustment. The Spyder headlights are the projection lens type, with a narrowly focused beam. They are not real visible in daylight except nearly straight on. If they are aimed too high, every bounce makes the bright spot go in and out of the mirrors of the vehicle ahead. My first suggestion is to consider running them on low beam in daytime traffic. The shutter will keep the bright spot out of the mirrors of the hguy ahead (unless he is driving a Lamborghini). They should still be visible enough for safety. Second, adjust them downward a bit. There is a procedure and measurements in your manual, but I use a method much like Stripperking's. Finally, bounce the rear of your Spyder and check that the rebound isn't excessive (with noise) and it doesn't continue to bounce. There have been some bad shocks and leaking air systems that caused some RTs to bounce a lot. If it bounces to the top stop with a bang, continues to bounce, or shows little resistance, see your dealer.

[MouthPiece]

Amazing!!! Simply amazing!!! Mike, when we (some of the Flarda gang) rode over to Brooksville the other day, Mudpuppy2 (Wayne & June) mentioned to me that my lights were flashing. I was at the rear of the pack and they were just ahead of me. I knew I hadn't been flashing my high and low beams so I didn't think much of this until now.

I have the Elka shocks, and they are set at I believe 9". I think I recall someone saying that the Elka's raised the front end approximately an inch or somewhere close to that. I don't know if that has any bearing on this issue. I have my tire pressure set at 20 lbs. The rear shock, original, is/was set at normal.

I guess I'll have to take it in to my dealership to have them take a look. I don't know that they would be able to simulate this without taking it out and riding it with someone. No one but Wayne has mentioned this to me.

Chris PE# 0004

[boborgera]

I had the same thing going on with my lights' [GS] I just lowered the lights a little. There's an adjustment screw under each light.
The lights put out a flat beam if there a little too high they'll look like there flashing.

[fispyder]

I have the same thing happen to me riding behind other bikes, they stopped ask what I needed. I just though it was road bounce. but reasding this thread I will be adjusting my lights. Thanks guys :ohyea:

[1551retired]

Mike I run 28 in the front and 27 in the rear my shock is maxed out the shocks are at the max,Ido it this way all the time even without the trailer. my tires are doing fine on tred.

28 in the front? Sounds like way to much considering manual calls for 13 to 17. I'm running 17 in front and 28 in rear with good tread ware.

[canam9]

It's the front end bouncing.

The fact you'e dialed up the stiffness means nothing more can be done. The lights are very strong especially when you're directly in the path of them regardless if they are hi or low beams. Since anything that helps being seen in at night it's not a problem it's a feature. :D

Other will get over it. If they doubt you, flip 'em the hi beams to prove it.
:agree: I get this all the time, Its just the way the machine rides.:ani29:

[canam9]

Amazing!!! Simply amazing!!! Mike, when we (some of the Flarda gang) rode over to Brooksville the other day, Mudpuppy2 (Wayne & June) mentioned to me that my lights were flashing. I was at the rear of the pack and they were just ahead of me. I knew I hadn't been flashing my high and low beams so I didn't think much of this until now.

I have the Elka shocks, and they are set at I believe 9". I think I recall someone saying that the Elka's raised the front end approximately an inch or somewhere close to that. I don't know if that has any bearing on this issue. I have my tire pressure set at 20 lbs. The rear shock, original, is/was set at normal.

I guess I'll have to take it in to my dealership to have them take a look. I don't know that they would be able to simulate this without taking it out and riding it with someone. No one but Wayne has mentioned this to me.

Chris PE# 0004
When I put the Elka's it raised the front by 1.5 inch."Elka's at 8.5 inch" I had to reaim the headlights as it was making cage driver crazy.:roflblack::ani29:

[SC92]

All of you that have been told that your lights appear to flash, should check your rear shocker rebound damping.

I have had 6 replacement shocks since November 2010, and every time that the shock damping failed the lights would appear to flash because the rear of the bike was bouncing on the spring and airbag, without damping.

I have now fitted a works performance shock and I have no more 'flashing'.

By the way, the works performance shock changed the bike into a superb ride, far better than I thought possible. Like riding a different machine.

So I would recommend standing beside your bike, place one foot on the passenger running board, hold the passenger hand grip, and bounce the bike as hard as you can. If the bike bounces like a pogo stick and/or returns to the top with a clunking sound you should look at having the rear shock replaced.

The standard shock (which retails here for $150 = cheap rubbish), has always been replaced by my dealer under warranty, but "if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got".

I have had 6 shocks in 12,000 miles which at retail = $900 worth of shocks replaced by BRP before I gave up and bought the Works Performance unit. Now I am happy with the bike but still think that BRP has let us all down by fitting inferior shocks on these machines.
I hope the 2011 has a revised unit for the rear.

Regards Bob

[johnnyg]

28 in the front? Sounds like way to much considering manual calls for 13 to 17. I'm running 17 in front and 28 in rear with good tread ware. 1551retired; I appreciate you talking about the 28 psi in the front. My dealer mentioned it to me, too. I told them that the tire max is 30 psi. Everytime I took it in they were putting it back to 17. I told them that I run 28 in mine because it handles better, they said If thats what I want its not going to hurt it. I have about 13k miles on them and they were surprised on how well they looked. JC