- What's up, everyone?
I am Chase, here at Rocky Mountain ATV MC
and these are my top five tips for night riding.
So, we do a lot of trail riding at nighttime here
at Rocky Mountain, especially in the summer months
when it is blazing hot outside.
Now I will be the first one to tell you
that for a long time I didn't think that trail riding
at nighttime sounded like a whole lot of fun,
but after giving it a try I'll admit I was wrong.
I was missing out, it is a ton of fun,
and I look forward to it all the time.
So, if you've never given it a try
I'm telling ya' you are missing out as well.
So myself, along with other riders here at Rocky Mountain,
we have compiled a list of our top five tips
to help you out for your night riding.
Alright, so our first two tips
are gonna be all about lighting.
And the first one is gonna be lighting for your bike.
Now, some bikes do come with a stock headlight,
but it's hard to find a good, usable stock light
that's gonna give you enough lighting.
And I'll tell you right now, you can never have enough.
So, either adding or upgrading your lighting
for your bike we're gonna say is a must have.
In fact, we have one rider here at Rocky Mountain
who put a six inch LED light behind his number plate.
It pretty much turns the night into day,
but he can see really, really well
when he's trail riding at nighttime.
We do have some other great options
for auxiliary lights for your bike.
Couple that we really like are
the Baja Designs Squadron Pro.
So these are small, but very very bright.
Now, one thing you do wanna keep in mind
with the Squadron Pro is these do not come
with a mount for your handlebars.
So, you gotta get a little bit creative.
The way we like to do it is we actually make
a little L bracket and we mount these
right up to our hand guards.
So, that's how we run it and they work really, really well.
Another great option to look at is ThumperJockey,
these guys have a couple of different kits available
for bikes with or without electric start
and these do come with handlebar mounts.
So, they mount right up to your handle bar.
The one four electric strut is gonna go
right into your battery.
It has a switch to turn off and on, and then the one
for bikes without electric start are gonna have
a battery pack and they're gonna give you good power
and they last a very long time.
But if you do want extended life,
you can pick up a separate battery pack as well.
But that's gonna be our first tip, is either upgrading
or adding additional light to your bike.
So tip number two when it comes to lighting,
is going to be a helmet light.
Now, helmet lights are nice because they're small,
they're lightweight, they're very bright,
and most of them are just gonna mount
just using a GoPro mount which is what most riders
already have on their helmets.
Now for us at Rocky Mountain we like to run a combination.
We'll have lights on our bike
and we'll also have a helmet light.
The reason being, we just want as much light
as possible and like I said earlier,
you can never have enough light.
What's great about these is, like I said,
they are very, very bright.
Plenty of riders here at Rocky Mountain
that just use helmet lights and they do a great job.
The other big benefit is that they allow you to see
what's going on where you're pointing your head.
So, if you wanna see what's going on to the side of you
you're gonna have illumination there
and also, say you're coming up on the trail
there's a corner ahead of you.
Well, you can look forward and see
what's coming up around the corner.
You also gotta keep in mind if you're ever
off the bike, well you need a way to see
when you're not riding so a helmet light
is gonna give you that ability.
Now a lot of riders say, well, is one helmet light enough?
That's totally up to you, it's your opinion
but what I do know a lot of riders
will do is rather than having just one helmet light
they'll actually have two.
So, they'll have one mounted to each side helmet.
I'll tell you right now, that gives a lot of illumination.
Now, when it comes to helmet lights this is our Tusk brand
that we have in stock here and we have other
great options to choose from.
We also have a lot of kits where you can get one
or multiple lights that come with multiple batteries.
I like to carry a second battery with me
on my ride just for peace of mind.
We do some long trail rides at nighttime,
long into the night.
I've never had any issues with batteries
as long as I have a second battery with me.
So, just keep that in mind.
But that's gonna be very important, when it comes
to night riding light's gonna be the most important part
so having good light setup is gonna
make it much more enjoyable.
So for my third tip, it is very short and very simple.
And that, is just making sure that you have
a clear lens when you're night riding.
We like start a lot of our rides when it's either dusk
or still light out and we'll ride into the night.
I've seen a lot of guys show up and they just have
a tinted lens and then when it gets dark, well,
it makes it even darker and a little bit harder to see.
So, the best advice I can give is
either have two sets of goggles.
You have one with your tinted lens at the day,
if that's what you like to do, and then you have
a clear lens that you can switch to while you're riding.
Or, if you don't want to have two sets of goggles
what you can do is most goggles that come with a tinted lens
will come with a clear lens included.
So, these Racecraft from 100% come with a clear lens
included and has protective film over it,
so you just peel this off.
But, what you wanna do is just swap out your lens
when it starts to get dark or if you want,
if you already have a goggle but you don't have a clear lens
for it we have clear lenses for just about
all the goggles on our website.
But that's gonna be my third tip, is just make sure
you have a clear lens for night riding.
So tip number four is about being prepared for an emergency.
So, for whatever reason, if you're not able to make it back
to the truck or back to camp and worst case scenario,
you have to stay overnight.
You wanna make sure you're prepared for that.
On our rides, we have plenty of times where we come across
unexpected obstacles or bike issues
or even riders getting injured.
And we had to stay well into the night,
so you wanna make sure you're prepared for those situations.
So first thing is a first aid kit.
This is our Quick Tac first aid kit,
these are good to have no matter when you're riding.
But case in point is not too long ago,
we actually had a rider who had a tip over
he actually impaled his hand on a log,
so we were able to bandage up his hand
and he was able to continue night riding with us.
Another one is gonna be a survival kit.
You wanna make sure, again, if you have to stay
over night you have things to survive.
So this is our SOS survival kit.
Also, lighter, matches, food, and snacks are good to have.
Gotta keep in mind with temperature changes.
It's a good idea to have extra base layers.
And one that a lot of people don't think
about is an extra head lamp.
Yeah, you have the lights on your bike or your helmet
but if those run out you're gonna need a way to see,
so having a head lamp is very nice to have.
And also, going along with those temperature changes
you wanna make sure you can stay warm at night
or if you get caught in some rain.
So, having a rain jacket or storable jacket is gonna be key.
So this is our FLY Racing storable jacket,
we have other options to choose from as well.
But what's nice is they're small, they're lightweight,
and they pack into themselves.
Let me tell you, if you get caught
in that situation these are a must have.
And lastly, you wanna make sure
that you have the essential tools.
If you have to do any bike repairs on the trail
you gotta have the tools to do it.
So you can put tools in your pack, we also have a lot
of tool pack belts that you can wear.
These are nice, because you can just pack
all your tools in there.
We even have a video that shows you all
the essential tools that we like to carry
basically for any bike repair on the trail.
So make sure you give that a watch,
it's gonna give you some really good suggestions.
But that's gonna be tip number four,
is making sure you're prepared for an emergency.
Alright, so for my fifth and final tip,
it's gonna be about communication.
You gotta make sure that when you're out riding
that you have a way to communicate with friends
and family, and contact emergency services.
So, one tool that we always have that just brings a ton
of peace of mind for us is the Garmin InReach.
You have two versions, the Explorer+ and the SE+,
this is the Explorer+.
I have a detailed product spotlight video on these,
I talk about them in full detail.
So, make sure you give that a watch.
But what these do is allow you to communicate with friends
and family from anywhere in the world, anytime.
So, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And you can do that via text, email, you can even upload
to social media platforms.
So, I know a lot of you out there,
just like myself included, take your cellphones with you.
That's great, but if you don't have cellular service
or if your phone were to die
you need another way to communicate.
And that's what these allow you to do.
And the way they work, is they use
the Iridium satellite network and that's what gives you
that global coverage.
Another great benefit about these is they're also GPS,
so you mark your way points.
You can navigate to and from locations.
You can leave breadcrumb trails.
But the core feature, is gonna be the communication
capabilities that you have and it just brings
that peace of mind that no matter
what happens you can communicate.
And I will show you right here on the side,
there is a built in SOS button.
If you were to press this button,
they have a 24/7 monitoring service,
they will contact you and they will make sure
that everything is alright.
So, that's the Garmin InReach Explorer+,
again, we have the SE+ as well.
Make sure, watch that detailed product spotlight.
But that's gonna be my fifth and final tip,
is you gotta make sure that regardless of where you are
you have a way to communicate with friends and family,
and also contact emergency services if needed.
Alright, so thanks for checking out our top five tips
when it comes to night riding.
Now, I know a lot of you out there have great suggestions
as well, so make sure you comment below.
Now to see all the products and pick these up,
that I talked about today, just click on the link
or head over to our website at RockyMountainATVMC.com
and do not forget orders over $75 ship free.
And if you haven't yet, make sure
you subscribe to us on YouTube.
That's gonna keep you up to date and in the loop
on the latest gear guides, product reviews,
and how to videos we're constantly rolling out.
I'm Chase, here at Rocky Mountain
and we'll see you on the trails.