Auxiluary Lighting

[Guest chong-chong]

I'm looking for auxiluary lights for the front of my bike...to be seen and for seeing. The only kit I've seen is Motolight http://motolight.com/. I really like the way they attach to the forks and they look well designed. But, the price ($350.00) is holding me back from buying them.

 

Are there any other options out there? I haven't found a "bolt-on" kit like the motolights, only individual lights (like Hella) that I suppose you have to figure out the wiring and mounting youself.

 

Those Motolights are pretty sweet. Any other options out there?

[Guest russ]

Search the database. I posted a how to on the $30.00 PIAA Knock offs at Walmart would work but the Guzzi Alternator cannot handle the load, even if you reduce to 35 watt bulbs. Not enough output. Electrical systems on these bikes are garbage.

[dlaing]

I found some 25W x2 lamps, still have not installed them. I am sure you can find 25Watt driving lights in any cheapo place like walmart.

They are not as nice looking and probably will not put much light on the road, but I got them in amber to visually stick out for safety.

 

Other options are:

HID bicycle lights. Effective, but the wiring would be tricky.

LED bicycle lights. Good for being seen, but lousy for seeing, and again tricky wiring.

HID driving lights Effective, but expensive. Also the current may necessitate the use of only one lamp, But with HID, one may be enough.

Improve your headlight bulb.

options for that:

HID replacement for halogen bulb. Works great, but blue light sucks, and the cost is about $500.

Higher output halogen bulbs. Not legal, but effective. And again you might have output and wiring problems.

Xeon bulbs. Legal, effective, but blue light sucks.

Better quality Halogen bulbs. I might go with this option and try to find gold ion type that provide a yellow hue. Yellow light rocks!

 

If you have a naked bike, that is a non-LeMans, you may be able to remove the shield inside the headlamp and get more light where you need it. Again, not likely to be legal.

You may also save a few watts by going to an LED tail light.

But it is hard to find bright LED tail lights.

 

Check out this site:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/lights/

[RichMaund]

I have a set of PIAA knockoffs from Harbor Freight that ran only $12.99 on sale. 35 watts each. I believe the system will carry one light.

Just make an "L" bracket and attach the light to the oil cooler bracket mount. You may need longer fasteners, but SS metric pan head Phillips Head screws are easy to find.

I was going to mount just one on the right side to fill in a little better on the curbside when going around corners at night. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Guest chong-chong]

I went ahead and ordered the Motolights before I read your replies. The Motolights use two 35 Watt bulbs (total 70 watts, total current draw 6 amps). So, what I'm understanding from your posts is that I cannot use them on my bike. That really sucks.

 

Ok, how about upgrading the alternator? What would be involved? Is it possible, without frying the elect. system? I guess it's time to do a little searching on the internet. If you have any tips, I'd really appreciate them.

[docc]

 

If you have a naked bike, that is a non-LeMans, you may be able to remove the shield inside the headlamp and get more light where you need it.

The shield fell off my original headlamp. Peering through the lens one day I spotted it resting in the bottom of the housing. When the replacement lamp came under warranty I found the beam pattern MUCH improved, fuller and better aimed. I was surprised, really, how much dufference the little shield made.

 

I ran a hi-watt H4 on my H***a for several years but it cooked the connector. Had other troubles with hi-watt H4 bulbs on autos. I shy away from them now.

 

 

Electrical problems aren't so bad if you can figure out how to get the smoke back in the wires.

[dlaing]

I went ahead and ordered the Motolights before I read your replies.

Don't worry too much.

Your bike may still be able to handle 70Watts if you keep the revs up but, probably not full time as you may need to give the battery a chance to charge.

You can save about 4 or 5 watts by going to an LED tail light. Woo Hoo!

That may not be enough, so you could wire the lights so they only come on with the momentary high beam switch instead of the high beam. But holding the button down in the twisties at night is a challenge. But it may be useful to hit the lights when entering intersections or approaching merging traffic, etc.

OK, so those suggestions are kind of lame, how about this...throw some resistors in line with your wiring, Yah, you will lose some brightness, so that too may be a lame idea...Perhaps there are lower watt bulbs that could fit.

I guess you could get a $600 HID bulb to reduce your headlamp from 50W to 35W, which is pretty significant. But expensive.

Or you could put one light on another of your bikes, and only one on this bike, But that would be hard to mount symetrically. but not impossible.

 

A bigger or additional battery would only help if you ran the lights momentarily.

A high output alternator would be the best option if there is kit available.

BMWs probably have something that will work, but there may be issues with brush alignments etc.

If you know a good machinist, you could put a small car alternator on the bike. But that is an expensive proposition.

Or you could disconnect the fuel pump and injectors and then run carbuerators!!!

Ok enough rambling. Sorry for not having any great ideas.