the solution is simple......
 

Fit an EXTRA, but small lamp, ( like the harley running lights) say on front of mudguard, or somewhere easily visible, with an extra easily accesible but separately fused switch and when your Wife needs to attract your attention, she just switches THAT on...:thumbup1:

Martyn

Thats a nice find John! It's good to hear that someone has asome kit that works!

Kiss
 

Yep, variations on the arm-waving approach. Often, the one behind has to more or less catch up first so that the lead rider can make out what is being pointed out. Anyway, it works if the following rider just catches up and waves in some form.

The stopping technique:
This simple way of getting the lead rider to stop also works when the following rider falls off - basically it is fail safe. :rolleyes2:
If the lead rider can't see the follower in the mirrors and making progress, then it is time to stop - it works every time.

suppose your wife is in trouble. All she has to do is stop, and press the call button. it willl ring and lights will flash. You have about 3km before you get out of range, bye then you 'should' have noted her absence. Especially if you have an earplug in your walkie talkie. alternatively ride behind her.

Some of you guys are missing the point. She refuses to stop and let me ride on. She always freaks out that I might stuff up the u-turn, or she is uncomfortable with being alone or stuff like that.

I might just try turning the spotties on to see if I notice that. Other than that. I might also see about UHF which can also be convenient on weekend out on the beach with my mate in the car.

That's a totally new slant
 

Ah well, back to the drawing board!!

You could get a switch fitted for the headlight on the wife's bike or put her out in front.

Good luck!

I still don't understand why you lose sight of her in your mirrors - surely whenever you're riding with anyone else, the front bike keeps the following bike in their mirrors so you can see if they've stopped, got held up, had an off and so they can see you and follow your lead/directions.

If she's in your mirrors, she can signal and pull over and when you see that, forget the U-ey if that freaks her out, just pull in yourself at the next convenient spot and then she can pull out, drive up to you and pull in with you. Happy days.

horses for courses
 

I guess from all the replies that there are plenty of solutions but also plenty different senarios/problems. It's obviously not an isolated problem/situation.

So a case if look at all and figure what works best for yourself.
I.e

• Radios. (direct communication) ($$$???)
• using radios as a pager (flash and beep),
• Flashing the headlight (having it modified to have a switch),
• Let the slowest rider take point (whats their nav like?)
• Always maintan Visual contact (mirrors) ( protentially difficult )
• keep the speed lower / ride together (more realistic daily distance ??)

no hard and fast answer....????

This turned out to be quite an amuzing post.

I'm not going to change anything on the stock electrical setup, seeing as that's the hard and sole of this bike so the headlight thing is a no go. I might get her to turn on her highbeam which has 2 35W spotties wired onto it.

We do ride within view so I do see her in the mirror, but I can't always see the indicator, plus the indicator is a bit dodgy for traffic behind her as they think she's going to pul over right there and then.
The waving can't always be timed right with my looking in my mirror, so she ended up waving quite a while which has some safety implications.

I'll just have to experiment I reckon.

I would expand on Martyn's idea and put a coloured spotlight on the bike , green for example .
[ and yes it may be illegal - but who gives a sh#t ]

The suggestion from Skidz is the way that my Partner and I rode for years, after a short while it becomes second nature and works perfectly !

Hi All, Lidls in uk are doing some thing like this £24.99 per unit and headset etc, £49.98 is better than £80+ and guaranteed 3 yrs cant be bad:eek3:
TDMalcolm

High power LED's are very bright, very small and directional. Plod and MOT inspectors might be happy with the idea they are part of a defunct alarm system, so long as they aren't blue and flashing. Check out Maplins/Radio Shack etc.

Also, you can pick up mobile phone ring alerts for a tenner. If one riders gets lost, ring the mobile and the LED device in the tank bag lights up.

Andy

In line with what Walkabout Dave said, could you not just get hold of a UK-spec switch? Second-hand cheap from a breaker. In Britain, and other countries, the nanny state has not yet taken the light on/off decision away from us. With a UK-spec switch (or maybe just re-wire?), your wife could ride with the headlights on, avoiding attention from your police, but flash it on and off when she needs to contact you.

Alternatively, could you re-wire the electrics, maybe adding some circuitry, to allow your wife to flash her indicators simultaneously, hazard-light style? This could have other uses eg warning other road-users when broken down on a busy road.

wife to me signal
 

How about letting her ride in front.save you money and then youll know she's safe.just a thought