How are your lights set up

That does have a lot of interesting information, but it's all about the 1150GS, mine is the 1100 and has the single rectangular light so that isn't relevant

Thanks for trying to help.

Re: Usual stuff....

The Mechanic said:

Hella FF50s mounted on the engine bars and wired through the main beam switch, this way they come on when you flash your headlight.

Now considering where to mount the search light and 50mm machine gun for truck drivers that insist on overtaking another lorry thats travelling 55.55789mph slower than their 55.55899mph!

Click to expand...

Which Engine bars?

On one of my bikes I have

Two Big KTM "cannons"(really narrow angle)that move with the handlebars and they can also be adjusted on the aximut angle


the main lights came from a Kawazaki ZX-7,and I use high power PIAA bulbs


the lower light are PIAA 910 mounted under the tank so they are well protected when I crash the bike


I don't use them all at ones,and i'm very courdius with incoming traffic(reason for the adjusters) but belive me the difference is very noticiable

on GOLEM my other running bike

I run a 4300 calvin HID from"cat-z" on a honda black bird(XX-11) headlight, the high beam is a phillips,,high vision something


sorry i just don't have to many pictures of the bike,maybe
because most of the time i'm on it


let me tell you it works really well


This set up is proving to be Optimal,the main light is really high and well protected from crashes,I also run the "Flat" turn signals inside the Mini little fairing,and they don't really break that much.

I do ride at night a lot,even in the dirt,so i need all the help i can get,the flog,and traffic were i live are pretty brutal and I find lights to be life savior.

I hope this helps on your quest for the Ultimate light set up

hey Ricky,

That pic of the moving lights reminds me of a thread from some time ago when you were looking into making a light bar out of some non-metal material - Delrin??
Did you get anywhere with that?

Mind you the setup on Golem looks good, so maybe HID replacement of the stock lights is a better way to go.
Is the main beam redundant with a HID on the low beam?

Oh while I'm at it thanks for the report on the Alaskaleather gear on advrider - just got mine
I went for a rather more sober plain black though.

Keep posting over here, some of us have a lot of respect for your way of looking at stuff

S

HID on the Stock 1150GS

This is from a Installation we did a few months ago

I'm Just "pasting" my comments............


let do a WRITE Up ricky style,,,AKA COnfusing ,,scatter and Incomplete

first we took the windscreen and the instrument panel,,the wind screen you now ,,to take the instruments is just this 6MM bolt and to rubber mounted "spigots"......easy:ricky


the right spigot


we deside to take the "whole" light mount out,,much easier this way highlly recomended,,is easy,,just two bolts,the ones you can see i'm touching

Part Two

lights OUT,,the one on the left is the focus of the work,,the LOW beam


A TV less Home


take the stock H-1 bulb


Insert the HID H-1 type Bulb


we keep thefoam to avoid any "ilegal touching"the bulb goes right IN,,no need to machine, drill, dremmel,,nothing


the connector is much longer reason why you need to "dremmel" the plastic cover


I present you the best handpiece ever,,thanks Jabba:ricky


getting there,,little by little


the finish HOLE


well this is why we work so much,,came up Perfect:evil


the whole ensamble


this is how we mount the ballast
I'm not to happy with it,,I use velcro and a ziptie to hold it,,but the zip tie diminish the avility of the light to change asimut
so we left it loosee..next time the strap will PIVOT with the light,,independent of the headlight sub frame


we mount this other piece i think is a "capacitor" on the left side of the bike,,perfect place,,just some velcro on the bottom


and the connector when on top,,more or less the perfect installation,,everything fits,,not to difficult,,next time 1 1/2Hours max


typical pointless final result photo,,belive me,,you can strip paint and cook Hot dogs with this things


highy recomended investment,,actually a very easy install


Here is the WHOLE thead

Thanks for the Comeents Simon,I do try to be helpfull,and see stuff in the most rational way

BWM 1150GS brochure quote. ' The front end is dominated by an assymetrical twin headlight. With an ellipsoidal-principle dipped beam and accurately adjustable beam angle control, it guarantees unsurpassed lighting and optimum visibilty after dark' What a load of feckin bollox! Who said the gerries have no sense of humour!:koi

Hella FF500 Fogs...

...Connected to Rob Farmers Motoswitch

They make the world a brighter place but I don't use them in the day as mostly we have bright conditions, and as somebody has said, if you're relying on lights to avoid been a "SMIDSY" victim you're on your way to being one.
Next step is to get brighter bulbs or to uprate the main beam to an 85/110w.
If the GS had the same headlamp candle power as a VFR800 I wouldn't have bothered with any of this!

Re: Hella FF500 Fogs...

BawdyMonk said:

...Connected to Rob Farmers Motoswitch

They make the world a brighter place but I don't use them in the day as mostly we have bright conditions, and as somebody has said, if you're relying on lights to avoid been a "SMIDSY" victim you're on your way to being one.
Next step is to get brighter bulbs or to uprate the main beam to an 85/110w.
If the GS had the same headlamp candle power as a VFR800 I wouldn't have bothered with any of this!

Click to expand...

I was wondering if bulbs this size give any problems , like melting the wire due too to much current draw or burning out the reflective backing of the light. I know people that have had these problems in cars. The lights on a GS crap as is without causing any more problems and having to pay hundreds to fix it.

Anyone seen or tried one of these?

It was making the rounds of the IBMWR list a couple of days ago and appeared to have positive responses. I got a note from the fellow supplying these - I gather he's in Japan - and he said to try it and if I didn't like it he'd refund the money.

Looks just like a direct 12v supply to your lights, IPF and PIAA have been selling them for years.It will save your wiring but what about the reflective backing of the lights from too high a wattage bulb, how high is too high. Brown isn,t a very good refletive colour.

Like some of the others here I ride year round, day & night, commute 65miles each way every day and would really like to see where the bloody road goes. I tried the Philips high intensity or whatever bulbs and found they were brighter but the problem is the spread, controlled by the lens. Therefore, in my opinion, it doesn't matter if you put 60w or 100w or 150w bulbs in, you still won't have a clue whats goin' on on the right hand side of the road.
My question is to do with the small auxilliary lights I've seen. They cost a fortune but do they give a good spread or just a long penetration (quiet at the back!!) I was planning a trip to Halfords but it sounds like the Hella's might be worth a punt.