Fog lights for R1200GSA - how good?

bmwbikeruk

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #1

Are fog lights for R1200GSA worth an option adding to? As I have never ridden a bike with fog lights in 32 years, many thousands of hours in the dark as well as daylight , I have a few questions:

I wonder if this is merely a safety feature in foggy weather.

Do the light beams being white improve visibility in front of you in fog? Would yellow paint make a huge difference?

Or are they just an ego factor or a good selling point in the future?

Your comments from your experience would be most appreciated before I make up my mind!

 

Les Wassall

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #2

The lights look like Hella Micro DE's in a B#W case, good light's but get eaten up if you have HID fitted.

 

dlevett

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #3

One reason I fitted them to my GS (Touratech's which are actually Hella's) is that I ride in a lot of traffic and the drivers here in South Africa are mostly insane (and that's being polite!).

In traffic they certainly help in making people move over for you.

In the car, on the way to work, it has taken me 75 minutes to do 2 km before (sometimes only 20 minutes though) - the total journey of 17 km takes 20 to 25 minutes on the bike, and is fairly consistent!

I guess most people do not use the 'fog lights' for fog, but use them so that other people can see you.

 

Flipfly

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #4

dlevett said:

One reason I fitted them to my GS (Touratech's which are actually Hella's) is that I ride in a lot of traffic and the drivers here in South Africa are mostly insane (and that's being polite!).

In traffic they certainly help in making people move over for you.

In the car, on the way to work, it has taken me 75 minutes to do 2 km before (sometimes only 20 minutes though) - the total journey of 17 km takes 20 to 25 minutes on the bike, and is fairly consistent!

I guess most people do not use the 'fog lights' for fog, but use them so that other people can see you.

Click to expand...

I'm with you dlevett. My brother is looking at HID for light quality and a set of fogs for his ADV following an incident with a Punto driver last week who pulled straight across the road infront of him . Punto driver said that she couldn't have braked to go in her drive because there was a van following really close. (kill a father, save ya bumper, make sense to me )
For these occasions I think extra fogs do help, but a mighty big stick ar a 12 bore shotgun may be better!!!!!!!

 

John Armstrong

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #5

Since BTBR fitted the extra lights to my bike (shameless plug ) I'm sure that less people "miss" me. So as fog lights, probably useless, as extra visibility, priceless.

 

dirtydog

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #6

The fogs certainly are not Hella's, they are way inferior, but they do a pretty good job of getting you noticed and putting some extra light on those dirty dark roads

 

dronning

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• Oct 23, 2006

• #7

John Armstrong said:

So as fog lights, probably useless

Click to expand...

Upgrade them to HIDs. HI/LOW (both 5000K) 3200 lumen each + the fogs (3000K/yellow) 3300 lumen each = 13,000 lumens. Only problem is finding the space for 4 ballasts.

The fogs really do fill in nicely and the yellow light really adds detail.

No flashes from oncomming cars either.

Dave

 

Westhyde91

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• Oct 24, 2006

• #8

I have the standard factory fit fog lights on my GSA.

I have noticed they provide a lot more light in a low spread beam - after all, this is what fog lights do! But they are not HID's, which may provide more glare back as they reflect off the fog.

I have not encountered any fog yet to guage how they perform, however, I would agree with the others in that they will certainly provide more light and make you more noticable. In the scheme of things they are not that expensive What price safety?

However, when it's close up and personal, I still think that an Akro can (ex baffle) is the ultimate car mover when filtering on the commute!!