When I was at the dealer yesterday getting some information on luggage (side bags), he was indicating to me that with some types of luggage, you have difficulty seeing the rear directional lights unless you are fairly directly behind the bike. He thought that it was about a 40 degree wide band/arc of vision.
The Givi brand had an option on part of their racking system to have some additional lights wired into the outside of their racks.
1) Do you folks find that the standard side bags made the lights not visible enough? 2) If part 1 is yes, is the Givi idea the solution, or would you recommend putting on some after-market lights mounted elsewhere?
No visible enough? Nah they are plenty visible, at they do give you a good 180 degree view of the tail light, but perhaps not the turn signal, in which case there is the front light to view in that POV. My bud Bill rides with the OEM bags and I could always see his lights.
Slammer: Thanks for the fast reply. However, in rereading my original post, I should have been more specific and focused in on just the direction signals, not the tail lights. However, you are indicating that your bud feels seen enough from behind and the side view via the frons turn signals.
I didn't get much sleep last night. My new-to-me VFR arrives this afternoon. (previous points directly related).
Bags or not the tail lights can only be seen about the same field of view as the shape of the rear taillight prohibts you from seeing the far turn signal from the side. Why would you need to from the extream side view - at which point whould an oncoming vehicle have to be more worried about a turning bike or a bike in its immediate path? Suffice it to say the tail turn signals are well within reason for viewing bags on or not, the view is about the same in my opionion, they sit back far enough to be seen from a side angled view.
The bags actually sit a bit lower than the turn signals and taper off in the back to provide a bit of clearance.
[image: user posted image] This is an extream side view which is obviously not directly behind the back of Bills VTEC with bags attached. Its about 45 degrees and you can see both signals clearly.
[image: user posted image] Here you can see how much higher the signals are from the bags
Slammer: Your photo support is worth a gazillion words to this site. They clearly demonstrate just how clear the lights & turn signals are with respect to bag positioning.
I was considering getting the Givi bags due to cost. I will scour their website and product catalog with the thought that the lights/turn signals and bag size & position are similar to Honda's. The majority of the folks on this site seem to choose the OEM bags over aftermarket bags let alone a specific brand.
To add to this, it's worth noting that the Givi Wingrack on a 1996-era VFR will effectively remove your turn signals from view. It sits high enough and far back enough that it blocks the view of your signals from beyond about 30 degrees off-axis horizontally *and* vertically.
I'm going to add a couple of stick-on flushmount signals to the rack to fix it on mine, the optional Givi lights that mount on the rack look like butt.
Thanks Snowflake. That is what I was concerned about and especially due to the fact that the Givi turn signals look like "butt". I was thinking Givi but I may reconsider.
BOBINOTTAWA, Mar 22 2005, 09:58 AMThanks Snowflake. That is what I was concerned about and especially due to the fact that the Givi turn signals look like "butt". I was thinking Givi but I may reconsider.
If you're thinking Hondaline bags (which are made by Givi), you won't have a problem. The Hondaline bags on all of the undertail-exhaust VFR's are well clear of the lights, as the photos above show. It's only the aftermarket installs that can block the signals. Just to clarify.