First off, a bit of background� I was knocked of my Tenere at the start of October by some doofus in his �luxury sports sedan� who completely failed to indicate or look before pulling out of standing traffic 6ft in front of me� I didn�t have a chance, hit the brakes and swerved though had no option but to collide. Fortunately I was only going about 15mph at the time and didn�t go down too hard, no major injuries � Good job I wasn�t going any faster! The bike didn�t fare too badly either with the majority of the damage being superficial and/or cosmetic though the insurance company�s repairers have taken their time fixing it� Now it�s 10 weeks later and I�ve just got back my Tenere



In the mean time I�ve been considering a few things to help avoid this type of collision in future � this is two in two years since I�ve been riding in London and I don�t want to make it three from three if I can help it!



I figure I need to make the bike as visible and as loud as legally possible to make sure people pay attention in London traffic � seems like considerate driving has gone out of the window in the big smoke, with the majority of car drivers seemingly not looking past the front of their bonnet or too busy on their mobiles to care about motorcyclists so I think it�s time for some shock treatment... I�ve been looking at running lights and a new exhaust - I reckon the lights will give me more chance of being seen, and with loud pipes, even if they don�t spot me, they�ll hear me coming� I don�t have an abundance of spare cash at the mo, so looking for the maximum effect with minimum financial outlay!


First up, lights� has anyone used these? - http://www.bikevis.com/motorcycle-cr...aux-light.html


They are supposed to be just as good as the Vision X Solstice, but are less than half the price� Also, they are available in wide or spot beam � Any suggestions as to which would be better to make sure the b*ggers see me? Maybe one of each would be good, though I don�t know if they do a mixed set� Also considering setting one up to point into car mirrors, and the other to get the white van drivers�


I�m also gonna swap out the sidelights for these - http://www.bikevis.com/motorcycle-t1...sidelight.html - I had them in my old Varadero and they certainly catch your eye, bright little blighters though they don�t project light very far�


Now for the exhaust� I�m looking at the MTC Single Oval as it looks like a good economical option and many posts state that it�s fairly loud � as long as I don�t attract the boys in blue, the louder the better! Problem is I�ve seen several old posts on here talking about potential melting issues using the MTC�s with Yamaha Panniers� Is this still the case?


For now, my bike is all standard, though having read through most of the forum in the last few months, I know a few tweaks are in order! Kev Mod, O2 and filter upgrades are in the pipeline, though I can�t afford both these and the exhaust at the mo, so will it cause an issue fitting the single pipe for the decibel boost without making the mods straight away or would I be better off waiting till I can get the lot done at once? MTC say that they work well without any fuel mods, can anyone confirm? Performance isn�t the main focus at the moment but I don�t want to knack anything either!


Anyway, that�s probably enough rambling for now� Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers


SolitaryDread