Posts Tagged ‘custom dynamics’

We know that in a car or on a motorcycle we will get a tailgater, sometimes several in a single day.  It sucks, but it is going to happen.  So, what is a safe riding motorcyclist to do?

Below are 9 tips on how to deal with tailgating while on your ride. These tips may help you minimize your risk from the tailgating jerk. The #1 tip is, from my personal perspective, the most important to keep you safe.

9. Flash your taillights – A quick blip of your lights might get their attention on just how close they are to you.  Make sure this is just enough to flash your lights, do not slow down as they may not be paying attention. 

8. Draw more attention to your rear end – Consider adding a device to your motorcycle to case your taillights to flash multiple times.  I use a product from Custom Dynamics to draw attention to my rear end. I have received many comments from riders and drivers that have said hey can really see my lights. There is a video at the link that will show you how the different ways the unit flashes.

custom dynamics

7. Check to see if you are the problem – Are you moving with the surrounding traffic?  Are you at the speed limit?  If you are riding your motorcycle to slow for the traffic around you, look for a different route where you will be safe.

6. Move to be seen – We all know that drivers cannot see you even if they see you.  Move from your current wheel track to the other and then back.  Changing your lane position might get their attention and back off.

5. Increase your following distance – Give a bit greater space to the vehicle in front of you.  The idea is not to aggravate your tailgater but to give you and the tailgater more room to slow down or come to a stop.

4. Do not ride faster – Speeding up will not get the tailgater to stop.  They will just ride your tail faster.  You might get a temporary respite but if they tailgated you before they will again. Trying to appease the tailgater, like trying to appease anyone, just does not work.  Ride your ride.

3. Let them pass – If they are tailgating in order make a pass at the first opportunity, let them.  If you have been in a slow zone and now you are in faster zone, let them go by, don’t speed up!

2. Pull over – Find a safe place to move your motorcycle off the road and let them by.  Make sure to signal early your intent, use both your lights and arm signals. It will only be a few minutes before you catch up to them as they are tailgating the next guy.

1. Do NOT get ANGERY –  If you get mad you may not be paying attention to your situation. Stay cool and safe!

Have any tips of your own? Put them in the comments below!

Ride On, Ride Safe

xmas 17

Are you struggling to think of an idea for a gift for your motorcycle riding friends and family? Well here are 9 ideas for you to consider some are classics that I have recommend in the past and some are new for this year.x1

9) Got a Harley Davidson fan, try a framed set of Harley Patents. Something to spruce up the garage, apartment or basement.

8) A branded hat. Not sure what kind of motorcycle they ride? Peak in the garage and then find a hat that is the same brand.

x27) BugSlide all in one cleaner, polish and bug remover. I discovered this stuff about 2 years ago. I think it is awesome sauce between major bike baths.

6) Battery Tender – Over the long winter break batteries tend to die.  This motorcycle gift will help your motorcyclist out and make sure the bike is ready to go on the first day of riding season.  I don’t have a recommendation for a specific brand, they are almost all good.  Just get one that comes with the ends that connect to motorcycle batteries.

5) Helmet – Is your bikers helmet more then 5 years old?  If so ask some sneaky questions to find out what they like in a helmet.  Full face, modular, open face, there are so many possibilities… maybe a gift certificate for a helmet might be better.

4) New gloves. I seem to wear out riding gloves every 18 months or so. I also go through many because they are not as comfortable after a few hours as I thought. Give a new pair of gloves to your rider, I bet they will like the thought.

3) Kevlar lined pants, shirts or jackets. Can get pricy but, your motorcycle rider will love you for it.

2) Custom Dynamic Motorcycle Lights. They make super bright, eye catching lighting for WP_20150617_19_22_10_Proa lot of different types of motorcycle. I have several sets on my bike. Take a look at their ProBeam LED Motorcycle Turn Signals, I can’t recommend this product enough.

1) Membership in the AMA – That is the American Motorcycle Association not he medical association (or the version of the AMA in your area).   Membership not only gets you things like emergency towing it gets you a voice in Washington DC.  The AMA is the biggest (but not the only) motorcycle lobbyist group trying to protect your right to ride.  This is, most likely the most important motorcycle gift idea on the list!

American Motorcycle Association

Motorcycle, motorcycling, Harley, Harley Davidson, café racer, café motorcycle, motorcycle safety, motorcycle advocacy, congress, Motorcycle Ride, motorcycle riding, hog, hd, custom motorcycle, harley owners group

Not sure how this happened…. But when I was preparing my posts on our trip to Custom Dynamics (Part 1 and Part 2) I noticed that I had never posted my review and installation video of their RINGZ front turn signals. Sooo better late than never I guess.

**** From June 2015****
I have been noticing that a few other bikes turn signals are a lot brighter as runningijustwant2ride lights and turn signals, so I started investigating. Turns out those bright lights are the Custom Dynamics RINGZ turn signal inserts.

The RINGZ are super bright LED inserts which replace the standard bulbs in the turn signals. After checking them out I bought a set for my front signals, with a Harley Davidson Ultra there are no “normal” rear signals for the RINGS to replace.

Easy to follow instructions. Below is a video of how I replaced them on my bike.

WP_20150617_19_22_10_ProAs far as the product review goes….WOW!!! I was a big dummy and forgot to take a before photo but these things are bright. In their white running light mode, they are as bright, it seems, as my passing lamps which are LED as well. I also must point out that riding at night I seem to get a bit greater lighting left and right, not much but some. In turn signal or emergency flasher mode the Custom Dynamic RINGZ are far and away superior to the standard bulbs.

I am going to give the Custom Dynamics RINGZ LED Turn Signals a 5-star review. Super bright and ease of installation make these a must have if your bike supports them.

5 star

******************

As noted above in the Part 1 post I now have their new ProBeam turn signals and those suckers are even brighter then the RINGZ!

 

ijustwant2ride

Photos do not do the Pro Beam Light Pipes justice.

 

Took me longer then I had planned to post part 2 of our motorcycle trip to Custom Dynamics.  Life, work and poor video editing skills are to blame!

One of the most illuminating parts of the trip was a conversation with Dave Pribula the owner of Custom Dynamics. Dave walked us from starting his business, literally, in his garage to moving out of the garage then out growing their first location, moving to a second and having to expand on that location.

We talked about the new “Pro Beam Light Pipe” technology.  I got to see a light pipe tail light on a Harley Davidson Softail and WOW!  The light pipes work as running lights and when you hit the brakes BAM!  If the driver behind you can’t see these lights they need to be tested for blindness! (yes a lot of !’s in this paragraph but I can’t express enough how much of an impact these new lights made on me).

{BTW – They make lights for more then just Harley}

At the end of the video you should listen to what Dave has to say about his approach to customer service!  If other companies would adopt this model things in general would be a lot better.

After the interview it was time to head back home to northern Virginia.  We were dreading this ride as it involved I95.  Turns out this trip had the least amount of traffic I have ever experienced on I95.  We made it home in about six hours, with stops!

Interview with Custom Dynamics CEO Dave Pribula.

 

 

 

ijustwant2ride.com

The DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio…The #1 Motorcycle Show in the US

Motocross from High Point! 250’s -Big P Aaron Plessinger takes full advantage of Osborne’s absence. Alex Martin has issues that cost him points. 450’s – Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin really go at it, the first time Tomac looked normal this year.

Flat track from OKC – .02 separates 1st to 3rd in the singles! No changes in the 450s (Twins LOL).

MotoGP was in Catalunya – Moto 2 was a crazy race. Quartararo? Oliveria starts in 17th? Crazy day in Moto2!   In MOTOGP who would have thunk JLo? Or Rabat flaming out?
Summit Point Raceway in the local news…just might impact local motorcycle racers and track days.

Warren takes a road trip to Custom Dynamics to check out their HQ.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW!

 

 

custom dynamics

Recently Debbie and I took a 570+ mile round trip to visit the headquarters of motorcycle aftermarket lighting manufacture Custom Dynamics.  If you are a regular to this blog you know that, after buying and installing several of their products, I am a fan of what they produce.

Every now and again I check the Custom Dynamics website to see what new products they are offering.  This time I discovered they have new light for the Harley Davidson Rushmore motorcycles, one that fits into the fairing air vent.  The LED Light Kit for HD Bat Wing Fairing is both a bright running light and turn indicator.

ijustwant2ride

Debbie talking with Karen

I was just getting to the point of hitting enter on the order button when the “light bulb” (bad pun #1) came on over my head.  I was hoping that I could get a couple blog posts while shining a light (pun #2) on Custom Dynamics.

I contacted Custom Dynamics via their twitter account (Erin) and asked if I could ride down to check out the facility, products and talk to them about the companies’ history and where they are going. After a bit of back and forth we received an invitation to visit.

Arriving at a non-descript building with no signage we were not sure we were in the ijustwant2rideright place at first.  We meet with our point of contact, Karen, who had us ride into warehouse so the technicians could start the work.

While they were working I had an enlightening (pun #3) conversation with both Karen and the techs.  Turns out they have expanded the warehouse, doubling its size, and were now filling the new space. I am not surprised, like I said earlier they make a good product.

Ijustwant2rideTalking with the techs I asked how many installs they do at the different rallies and events that they attend.  This year they have estimate that they have installed over 3000 items and the season is not over yet.

While they were installing the new vent lights they decided to toss in new turn signal lights.  Now I was very pleased with the “Ringz” light I installed a few years ago, but WOW the new “ProBeam” turn signal insert lights seem to be a magnitude brighter. It was at that point Dave, the owner of Custom Dynamics, stopped in.

Talking with Dave I got the impression that he would be a guy I would like to hang out with or have as a neighbor.  We had a good conversation and a good interview about where the company came from, and where it is going…. But you will have to check in for part 2 for the rest of the story.

Click to enlarge but even with that you cannot understand how bright they are!!

Check my post on the Custom Dynamics Tour Pack Flasher kit!

 

custom dynamics logo

Well, I don’t normally do this but, I like their products so much I thought I would pass this along.  Custom Dynamics has a new and much easier to use website.  Something that was long overdue.

If you are not familiar with Custom Dynamics they create lighting replacement and accessories for nearly all cruisers.  I have purchased two of their products so far and I am very happy with both.  I first purchased their LED Turn Signal Inserts (5 Stars from me) and then their Magic Strobe Brake Light Flasher (5 Stars from me) for the tour pak.  I wrote a blog review of the flasher not sure way I did not do one for the turn signals.  You can read my post on the flasher here 

The new Custom Dynamics site is a vast improvement over their old site. Now you can more easily search for products by brand.  I particularly liked their “new products” section and because of that I am now interested in their vent lighting.  SIGH… will this bike ever be finished?!?!

“Baby got back” and I cannot lie that it fits the Ultra Limited and I want to try to get drivers to see my motorcycle’s rear end. OK.. that is Ultra Bad.

In the age of distracted driving I want folks to have a better chance at seeing me when I am stopped, breaking, or slowing.  So I looked around for a device that would cause my rear lights to flash when the breaks are applied.  There are more than a few of these devices for nearly any motorcycle on the market but I went with the Custom Dynamics Magic Brake Light Flasher.WP_20160417_11_44_23_Rich

I will admit that my section of the Custom Dynamic product was influenced by my earlier purchase of their  LED Turn Signals .  That product was easy to install and has worked well.

The installation of the break light flasher was easier than I expected.  Once the seat was off and you can see the Tour Pak wiring it was almost a no brainer.  Once the device was installed we had to choose the flash pattern.  It comes with 10 patterns of varying complexity.  The video shows you all the patterns, and while it might be less than evident on the video the lights are quite bright. We went with the “Blaster X Consistent” pattern.

When I showed our upgrade to my daughter, as she pulled into the driveway, she stated “that’s distracting”.  I took that as a job well done!

Now it is hard to review whether or not this is a good safety product, if I never get rear ended did the flasher help or did I just get lucky.  But I can review it on ease of installation and my subjective thoughts.  This product does what it says it is going to do, it was easy to install, and I think it is going to help draw attention (thank you daughter).  Based on that I am giving the Custom Dynamics HD LED Tour Pak GEN2 Magic Brake Light Flasher for Harley Davidson Motorcycles 5 out of 5 stars.

5 star