Well, is anybody here running any kind of accent lights, accessory lights or underglow kits?
I was on the goal of getting my bike more noticeable at night....because I do the majority of my riding then.
And I was thinking.....I see Commercial Trucks with insane lighting kits in order to be more visible at night.
Why not a bike....
So, I was just wondering if anyone here is running any extra lighting accessories, and how has the battery life been for you?
FWIW, I think the single biggest thing you can do to increase visibility is replacing the headlight bulb with an actual HID bulb. A real HID bulb kit will come with a transformer, and needs a little bit of rewiring. They run 35 watts vice 55-60 that halogens do, so they free up about 20 watts for extra other lights.
Though they run less input power they are more efficient and put out 2 or 3 times as much light as halogens.
Unfortunately they are not approved for on-road use ... I haven't been stopped for it yet though.
One additional negative is that my headlight is now bright enough that it tends to wash out the front turn signals, making it harder for people directly ahead of me to see that the signals are signaling.
I'll eventally make the front turns brighter and possibly relocate them further from the headlight.
Actual HID kits run $50 on up.
During the day a headlight modulator is VERY effective.
You shouldn't run them at night (and pretty much can't ... there is a light sensor that turns the modulation off at night). They wont work with HID.
They are legal in all 50 us states, though I did get stopped by a cop who didn't know the laws once. He told me to turn it off but didn't attempt to write a ticket.
I personally would recomend adding extra LED tail/brake lights and LED side markers (rather than just the reflectors we have now) rather than lights that are more ambiguous. (i.e. I would have made the lights on Steve's wife's bike yellow ... but thats just me)
For mine, I intend to (eventually) do all the following:
HID (already did this one)
front LED running lights (at full "flasher power" rather than the reduced power most are)
front amber side marker
rear red side marker
2nd additional tail/brake light (high mounted at the top of a really tall sissy bar)
2 red rear markers mounted at the turn signals, they will be overpowered by the amber rear turn-signal when the turns activate. (I do NOT want red rear turn signals. they can confuse people for a split second ... that could be a critical split second)
There are flashers for the brake lights that will flash them 3 times before turning them steady on, this is supposed to help with visibility, and is pretty much not addressed by the law, so pretty much not illegal.
They tend to work best with LEDs.
On one of the LED threads a while back, there was a company selling LED driving/marker lights for the front that advertised an interesting feature:
They strobe them just at the rate where you can't quite see the flashing and it seems steady. However, your peripheral vision is more sensitive to motion, so it picks up the strobing and draws your attention to it.
This seemed like advertising hokey to me, but was interesting.
I hooked up a LED taillight to a microprocessor and played with it.
It was actually shockingly effective. I will definately incorporate that into ALL the LED lights on my bike.
(this feature will ONLY work with LEDs, regular lights can't flash fast enough)
), I know there are MANY here that would not like them. 
