Holy cow, glad I checked the bike

XealotX · April 15, 2009, 07:12:34 PM

Went for a twenty mile ride this evening. Put it away about two hours ago like normal. Glad I checked the garage before going to bed because the brake light was on. I've locked the handle bars a dozen times before today but never noticed the parking light option

. Just wondering, what would be a good reason to use this feature (other than for running down the battery overnight

)?

Maybe I should invest in a owners manual...

fred · April 15, 2009, 07:23:27 PM

I don't know why that feature is there... It seems like a bad idea to me, but someone must have thought it could be put to use at some point.... Perhaps it was added to help sell more batteries to people who don't realize it is on... My bike doesn't have a steering stop and the steering lock doesn't work, which means I never have to worry about the parking light problem... My bike also doesn't have a parking light anyways because the headlight is not stock.

sledge · April 15, 2009, 07:27:41 PM

In the UK and probably several other European markets its a legal requirement on certain classes of road to park in the direction of traffic flow and display a white front light and a red rear light at night-time.......looks like you get the facility to do this on your versions but dont need to actually do it.

XealotX · April 15, 2009, 07:28:47 PM

Quote from: fred on April 15, 2009, 07:23:27 PM
I don't know why that feature is there... My bike also doesn't have a parking light anyways because the headlight is not stock.

Only the tail light was on. Should the headlight be on as well? If the headlight was on I (probably) would have noticed it sooner. Should note that the headlight works when the bike is running.

fred · April 15, 2009, 07:29:58 PM

Quote from: sledge on April 15, 2009, 07:27:41 PM
In the UK and probably several other European markets its a legal requirement on certain classes of road to park in the direction of traffic flow and display a white front light and a red rear light at night-time.......looks like you get the facility to do this on your versions but dont need to actually do it.

Really? That seems like an odd requirement. Are they afraid other motorists will run into parked cars otherwise? How do you deal with parking a motorcycle on those roads? It seems like a couple of hours parked like that would be all you needed to kill a GS battery. Also, if your battery dies do you get a parking ticket? That sounds like the perfect start to a really bad day...

fred · April 15, 2009, 07:31:18 PM

Quote from: XealotX on April 15, 2009, 07:28:47 PM
Quote from: fred on April 15, 2009, 07:23:27 PM
I don't know why that feature is there... My bike also doesn't have a parking light anyways because the headlight is not stock.

Only the tail light was on. Should the headlight be on as well? If the headlight was on I (probably) would have noticed it sooner.

I believe there is a secondary bulb in the headlight bucket that takes care of parking light functionality and doesn't do anything else. Chances are yours is missing or burnt out, but who cares, that just means you have longer to discover that you've left the parking light on...

XealotX · April 15, 2009, 07:41:18 PM

Quote from: fred on April 15, 2009, 07:31:18 PM
---Chances are yours is missing or burnt out, but who cares, that just means you have longer to discover that you've left the parking light on...

Yeah, but that means something might be broken. Been trying to make sure EVERYTHING works...I can feel my OCD kicking in just thinking about it...

fred · April 15, 2009, 07:48:24 PM

Quote from: XealotX on April 15, 2009, 07:41:18 PM
Quote from: fred on April 15, 2009, 07:31:18 PM
---Chances are yours is missing or burnt out, but who cares, that just means you have longer to discover that you've left the parking light on...

Yeah, but that means something might be broken. Been trying to make sure EVERYTHING works...I can feel my OCD kicking in just thinking about it...

Ha! My normal mode of operation is "how long can I ride before I have to fix this." I don't do anything unsafe, but I have been known to leave an oil leak or two unfixed for a couple of weeks while topping the bike off and waiting for my schedule to work out...

XealotX · April 15, 2009, 07:58:55 PM

Once the "newness" wears off I'll calm down. Probably not until next winter though...

Can certainly understand schedule conflicts. I didn't actually ride the bike until two weeks after buying it due to work. Fortunately the seller was kind enough to deliver it to my house.

jdw03n · April 16, 2009, 04:38:49 AM

Its technically a parking light. Kind of like the back-up lights on a car

tripleb · April 16, 2009, 06:13:41 AM

I don't think the E models have the front parking light, it's just the Fs.

bill14224 · April 16, 2009, 06:48:31 AM

Yeah, luckily I don't have that problem. I have to wiggle the key quite a bit to get it into the park position.

grayghost · April 16, 2009, 08:42:53 AM

first weekend i had my 97 i locked the forks, turned off the garage light, went inside and came back out the next morning to a dead battery-
it's REAL easy to snick past the "fork lock" only position to the "park"- i pay close attention to it now.

Pigeonroost · April 16, 2009, 10:56:21 AM

Well; that explains how I killed my battery last summer. I didna know the POS "parking light" option existed. I could not figure out what happened.

prs

5thAve · April 16, 2009, 11:01:02 AM

Quote from: tripleb on April 16, 2009, 06:13:41 AM
I don't think the E models have the front parking light, it's just the Fs.

Correct -- we don't have the bulb. BUT the wiring harness has the connector an' everything. It makes a great extra live lead to use in a future wiring project. I've used mine to power a set of LOUD dual horns and also some handlebar warmers scavenged off a SkiDoo.

Adam0431 · April 16, 2009, 01:49:24 PM

so today I commuted to work for the first time on my GS, and after parking in the garage and walking to my office I remembered reading this post. So of course my OCD self had to walk back out to the parking garage and make sure that I didn't turn the key to far!

HAHA, but seriously its posts like this that make me glad I found this board, cause my old yamaha 650 didn't even have a lock, let alone a parking break.

pwostrel · April 16, 2009, 05:34:08 PM

Yea, I never understood this feature! I was going to make a post on this same topic. I wanted to know if the parking light turned off after some time, but I guess not too bad it's not like a dome light in a car and it turns off after some time!

08GSSteve · April 16, 2009, 05:44:42 PM

+1 on Euro countries having to use parkers.

On bikes that I have seen with this feature the front light is more often than not just a small torch light globe at the base of the headlight and does not come on as part of the main light circuit.

The feature is used in certain countries where roads are narrow and visability is poor EG fog.

In saying that I have never seen a movie or TV show where cars and bikes are parked up on the side of roads with their parkers on?

Toogoofy317 · April 16, 2009, 10:03:29 PM

Yup, this happened to me in February was in a bit of a hurry to go to PT. Did a quick lock ran to the appointment! Came out saw the lights on KRAP they were really dim. I have done this a few times usually when in a hurry but it is just too easy to do! I also wondered why we had such a useless thing on our bike. I did use it the night I ran out of gas to push the bike to the gas station. Guess, it does have some uses. But, more of a pain!

Mary

Esteban · April 17, 2009, 08:41:25 AM

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on April 16, 2009, 10:03:29 PM
I also wondered why we had such a useless thing on our bike. I did use it the night I ran out of gas to push the bike to the gas station. Guess, it does have some uses.

Weren't the handlebars locked if you were using the parking lights to light your way?

That would make it a little tough to push, unless you wanted to do some pretty sad "donuts".

I'm thinking of replacing that parking light with a Luxeon LED. It would be higher efficiency, but the color might be a problem (most white LEDs are a higher color temperature than the stock incandescents).

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Holy cow, glad I checked the bike