| Author | Message | ||
     Brupska |
Hello all, I have been riding a lot at night with my 12R and the low beams suck. I have done a search on the badweb to help out the low beams. I don't want to cut up my fairing and add bigger lights either. I was wandering what the best way to improve the headlights would be. Can I buy replacement lamps that have a low and highbeam together or is there a better lamp that I can replace the stock ones with. I will have to adjust my headlamps to shine a litter farther out. Right now I think my low beam is shining about 10' to 15' out in front of my bike now. I don't mind getting the comments about haveing a headlight out. I just want to be able to see at night. I don't want to ride fast at night either. Here in Indiana that is really bad since the deer like to move more at night. Well any help would be great. Thank you Brupska | ||
| Lonexb |
i just replaced my low beam with a high beam,and aimed it down a little. | ||
| Butch_xb9r |
I have the same problem on my 9r. My buddies told me they can't even see me in their mirrors at night so I just ride with the high beam on full time. I've yet to be flashed by an oncoming car so its safe to assume that I'm not blinding anybody. I've thought about removing the half moon thingy in the low beam but I've been too busy to do it. | ||
| Daves |
I think they are plenty bright. Try riding a 6 volt Panhead at night sometime. | ||
| Telewoodski |
I think someone talked about HID bulbs that replace the factory bulbs. I would also like to add side lights that light up the bushes to the side. I've had two close calls in the last two weeks, one deer on the right side of the road (she made the right decision), and a baby moose, left tire tract of the right lane, in the headlights of an oncoming car (she didn't know which direction to go). I think an intensity dial on the clutch handle would be cool too. | ||
| Starter |
I did the removal of the thingy in housing and just aimed it down following the instructions in a manual I had for vehicle lighting. Never had a problem since. | ||
| Brupska |
Thank you all. I will try removing the thingy. LOL Daves I can only ride at night sometimes. I would just like to see better when I ride at night. Maybe the dealer that I purchased my 12R from didn't aim my headlights when they put it together. I will try anything!!! Thanks all | ||
| Firewhirl |
Hmmm...hard choice for me on removing the little thingy. Ever notice it actually vibrates which flickers the light to attract attention? I think a better option would be to leave it in and put in a brighter bulb and aim it up slightly. | ||
| Spike |
You might want to pull the headlight apart and inspect the inside of the reflector housing. My 12R's low beam reflector housing had the reflective coating burned off and dramatically reduced the amount of light from the low beam. I had the headlight assembly replaced under warranty and also installed a PIAA "super white" bulb at the same time. Those changes together made a huge difference in the performance of the low beam. Even my wife noticed the difference while I was riding behind her. Another thing that's important on the low beam is the way it's aimed. The half-moon thing is what gives the low beam it's shape and it does so by blocking out the top portion of the light. The low beam will literally not light up anything "above" the half-moon thing, so if it's adjusted too low then the light will appear to be very dim. Personally I can't stand it when I see motorcycles with their high beams on all the time. Modern motorcycles offer low beams that are plenty bright when adjusted properly. Riding around with the high beams on is a distraction to everyone else on the road and actually makes it difficult for oncoming drivers to see your turn signals. | ||
| Riderx09 |
My low beam vibrates like nobodys business my dad always complains about it flashing in his mirrors..its outta control i already aimed it down more...so im thinking about removing that internal piece and see what happens? | ||
| Butch_xb9r |
I recently replaced the headlight mount on my bike. I didn't do any adjustments to the angle of the beams since it appeared that the new mount was pre-set. The dim is fine when I'm in the country but it is too dim in the city so I run the high beam full time. If people were flashing me I'd be more concerned about adjusting the beams. | ||
| Ponytail |
I popped in here today for this problem exactly. And there doesn't seem to be any one good fix for it. I'm going to try and re-aim it first. But that half moon cuts an aweful lot of light from exactly where I need it. | ||
| Kevinfromwebb |
I just removed the 'half moon' deal and put in some PIAA bulbs. I haven't ridden at night but one short trip, but I can't imagine it cant do anything but help... I hated that moon deal on the low beam, even if you tried to aim it higher you were going to out ride the light at any speed over 40 or so... Firewhirl, I agree that the light vibrating would be a good idea but if you can't see where you're going it doesn't make much sense. I did have a riding buddy tell me as I was going to work that when I was coming up behind him that it looked like I had a small flashlight and he couldn't really see me... He was in his truck at the time so being in a car might not be as bad, visibility wise. Although I live in Texas so most vehicles on the road are trucks or suv's... Does anybody know if the pattern that the low and high beam put out are identical except for the 'moon' deal??? Kevin | ||
| Fullpower |
get an HID conversion lamp and ballast and ignitor for the low beam housing. HID illuminates quite well. i ride at night some, and that is th only (safe) way to go. expensive, expect to pay around 250 plus shipping, but if you want to play all night it will be worth every cent. | ||
| Sparky |
I've been following this thread because I've had problems with my low beam too. The main problem for me was degradation of the silver coating on the reflector. Although I replaced the original headlight assembly which works great, the original reflector is intact and just needs to have a good quality chrome plating applied to the plastic surface. While at the Long Beach IMS show there was a plastic plating vendor there who said he could easily chrome the inside of the parabolic reflector and that when cured would outlast the original (painted?) coating, all for about $20. I haven't followed up on his offer but I wanted to let the board know that there are alternatives in the aftermarket. Sparky | ||
| Lonexb |
cheap and easy fix... call daves or cruise ebay(that is were i got mine for $35) and buy a stock high beam housing.replace your low beam housing with your newly purchased high beam housing. aim it down a little and you problem is solved. | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
I call it the whale tail. I removed it and havn't had a problem seeing since... | ||
| Brupska |
I adjusted my low beam and high beam tonight. I will see if that helps. If that doesn't help I think I will try what Lonexb says to do and replace low beam housing with a high beam one. Then aim the low beam side down a little more then the high beam side. Thanks all. |
