BTBR goes HID
- Thread starter BTBR
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The master of understatement speaks
I suspect I'm in a minority here but I think anything bigger than micro DE's or FF50's looks out of place on a bike,some of the lights I've seen on GS's would look out of place on a 4x4
Deleted account 211025001
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As a motorcycle approaches it can be very hard to judge it's speed as the brain uses information gained by increase in size over time to estimate the bikes speed. If a single headlight is on this can sometimes obscure the bike, to an extent, and hence the driver of the car waiting in the side street may misjudge your speed and pull out thinking it is safe to do so.
Fit two aux lights and the motorist is going to see, as you approach, two diverging lights which should help him/her process how fast you are travelling.
Fit a 'blue' colour temp hid to your dip beam and you have the added advantage of unusual colour, the light pattern of three lights and differential contrast between the blue HID and the white aux lights.
That's what I've done and IMHO it has to make me more visible in amongst dense traffic.
And, before anybody pipes up, yes I know it doesn't protect from somebody who just isn't looking; I still ride defensively and assume nobody has seen me
Andres
Wildcat
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Thanks
Thanks for the opinions chaps. I'll ponder some more whilst on my hols but a pair of aux lights of some description seems a likely result. Still undecided about the HID issue! Did anyone else think the Daniel Stern article relevant?
Thanks for the opinions chaps. I'll ponder some more whilst on my hols but a pair of aux lights of some description seems a likely result. Still undecided about the HID issue! Did anyone else think the Daniel Stern article relevant?
GSpot 1200
Guest
more light
hello all, been watching this thread with interest.
I have a HP2, is it possible to have the 50W HID on that bike, both on the main and high beam.
where can I buy a good kit ?
I have room for the ballast behind the windscreen
jan
hello all, been watching this thread with interest.
I have a HP2, is it possible to have the 50W HID on that bike, both on the main and high beam.
where can I buy a good kit ?
I have room for the ballast behind the windscreen
jan
hello all, been watching this thread with interest.
I have a HP2, is it possible to have the 50W HID on that bike, both on the main and high beam.
where can I buy a good kit ?
I have room for the ballast behind the windscreen
jan
Indeed you can, as for where to purchase them from, send Colebatch a PM.
He'll sort you out, no problems at all.
Deleted account 211025001
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Mmmmmm..............I think he's going to disapear up his own ****
All I know is that I can see far more clearly and make much better progress on unlit lanes at night than I ever could with the standard (or Philips 50% brighter) bulb.
Job's a good 'un
Andres
I have now read most of the article and to be quite honest, and dare I say that I even tend to agree with most of the stuff that Daniel Stern has written.
Of course the limiting factor will always be the lense, after all it was designed for a 55w bulb, not a 35w or 50w burner.
But and here is the interesting bit, and as Outtomuch has already stated, I know which one I prefer on a unlit road.
But I also accept that they can and do cause glare problems with other road users, a point that I am not 100% happy about.
At the end of the day, if you are that concerned about it and your are the sort of person that never speeds, or makes some dodgey overtakes once in a while, then HIDs are most likely not for you.
Is it some sort of cost-justification thing?
Seriously, they're just bright lights
No No No they are an essential piece of safety equipment
i have micro de xenons fitted and when filtering it is like moses parting the red sea
even in the daylight best mod i have ever done on a bike same set up for ballest brackets neat tidy and will not get soaked from wheels etc
Cole
Registered user
First thing to note: Daniel Stern is, was, and always will be totally anti HID ... his perspective is hardly a balanced one. He doesnt even think HIDs on new cars is a good thing. He has a very strongly biased position, which I have always though it hard to justify with my experience and indeed the huge majority of people who have HID lights, either factory fitted or converted.
For example, Stern argues that the whiter light colour of HIDs (does he not know that you can get a plethora of HID colours - including yellow - which are LESS white than halogens) does not make colours and objects easier to differentiate. Thats purely opinionated and not fact based, and totally in contradiction to my (and I would imagine many many others) experience.
He further fails to mention that due to 55w halogen car lamps producing less than half the visible light of 35 watt HIDs, visible contrast at much lower light levels is dramtically lower, even if the colour of the light is slightly more favourable. He is very good at arguing obsure angles that dont actually relate to reality. Yes it may well be the average halogen bulb may have a colour that offers slightly higher contrast than the average HID light ... but that's for a given level of light. What relevance is a 10% gain in contrast for a given level of light, when you actually need to be comparing it to something that offers 2.5 times the light in the first place. .... rendering his argument ridiculous and completely unrelated to a real HID vs Halogen comparison. We are not comparing a 1400 lumen halogen with a 1400 lumen HID (which is what he is effectively arguing) ... in the real world HID vs Halogen debate we need to be comparing a 1400 lumen halogen with a 3200 (or maybe even a 4600) lumen HID. So by avoiding the real world debate, his arguments are deliberately misleading.
The guy has a vested interest in selling halogen bulbs. Thats his business. The vast bulk of his anti HID comments are totally without any fact behind them and are just his opinions. You can read his opinions on every possible negative about HID light vs halogen light here http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/disadvantages/disadvantages.html ... note this page isnt about HID conversions, its about HID light full stop.
You will also note that he has no page anywhere that goes into the disadvantages of Halogen light vs HID light. And by not doing that, by only ranting about the disadvantages of one side of the story, and failing to discuss the disadvantages of halogen lights, his bias, and his agenda is clear. His website and the info on it is indeed part of the story and part of the overall picture, but it needs to be recognised as being the extreme edge anti HID position, whose information needs to be balanced and taken into account against all the pro HID information.
We all have opinions, but dont read too much into the opinions of one guy. Opinions which I would add seem contrary to the R&D teams of all the car manufacturers, not to mention people like Hella who are specialist lighting manufacturers. Does he really think Hella are developing more LED and HID automotive lighting if they are worse?
my simple 5 part test is this
1 can you see with main beam on -------------------YES
2 can you see with hid xenons on--------------------YES
3 can you see better with xenons on-----------------YES
4 do you feel it makes the ride safer-----------------YES
5 would you fit again recommend to others-----------YES
there we have it xenons work and i would recommend this fit before exhausts screens tt bits etc
if anyone up North dosnt believe me they are quite welcome to look at my set up and when they leave i guarantee they will want hids i will even help with there fitting giving valuable asistance and advice and you can use some of my kit for splicing looms etc and as the old advert says
SEE AND BE SEEN
Droopy Dick
Registered user
I gotta agree.
I first fitted HIDs from HIDs4U two years ago.
Now upgraded to Walter's 50w jobbies.
I have BTBR's additional light fit.
One thing I do know is that I'm often sent out to lead when riding with a group at night. This might be because the lamps are so bright that they cause distress to the folk you follow, but equally, I'm sure that they chaps behind get to see a huge chunk of the upcoming road.
Even now I'm toying with getting hold of some of the those American Micro DE look-a-likes that have the ballast built into the rear of the lamp. A bit costly, but a very neat solution. And who knows, the Hella oval lights might even get treated to some HID lamps in due course (and if I can find somewhere to hide the ballasts), although that's getting easier now that they're getting smaller.
I once had a go in a WRC car at night - it was a few years old and no longer being raced at that level. When you switched on its EIGHT huge Cibie lights the effect was simply staggering. Better than daylight, even. You could have illuminated Mars.
And then again, given the lifespan of the ballast and lamp, and its lower current draw, we can even say it's 'green' to switch to HIDs.
I first fitted HIDs from HIDs4U two years ago.
Now upgraded to Walter's 50w jobbies.
I have BTBR's additional light fit.
One thing I do know is that I'm often sent out to lead when riding with a group at night. This might be because the lamps are so bright that they cause distress to the folk you follow, but equally, I'm sure that they chaps behind get to see a huge chunk of the upcoming road.
Even now I'm toying with getting hold of some of the those American Micro DE look-a-likes that have the ballast built into the rear of the lamp. A bit costly, but a very neat solution. And who knows, the Hella oval lights might even get treated to some HID lamps in due course (and if I can find somewhere to hide the ballasts), although that's getting easier now that they're getting smaller.
I once had a go in a WRC car at night - it was a few years old and no longer being raced at that level. When you switched on its EIGHT huge Cibie lights the effect was simply staggering. Better than daylight, even. You could have illuminated Mars.
And then again, given the lifespan of the ballast and lamp, and its lower current draw, we can even say it's 'green' to switch to HIDs.
My 2p worth
A little while ago Les Wassel fitted 2 50w Hids
1 main 1 dipped to my 1200GSA
awsome lights
but yesterday he took it to the next stage
2 x 35w HID's in my spots
the old ones then looked yellow
but after he fitted the new ones this is what happened
i left Les at about 19:00
went down th M6 towards heathrow
takes about 3.5 hours to get home
so it was dark and i mean very dark along some stretches of the motorway around Oxford
the effect of all of them on was :
fogs
create a beam of light that lit up the floor like a police helicopter
dipped
this mixed in with the fogs made the floor even whiter
with these 2 on it lit up every sign on the motorway for a long way ahead
all three lanes were lit up
all three lanes on the other side were lit up
if there were any trees on both sides
these also lit up and bounced light off em
then i put on the main beam
it was like a torpedo
jumping across the other three beams way out into the distance
i at that point didnt realise how little light cars and lorries have
even an artic lorry with all the spots on was dingy compared to my spread of light
from a safty point of view
no one and i mean no one could ever say sorry i didnt see you
they make me feel very very safe at night
look great
and dont cost much to fit (put a price on your life)
best mod you will ever have on a GS
if you want the same just drop Les a line
and he might be able to help
A little while ago Les Wassel fitted 2 50w Hids
1 main 1 dipped to my 1200GSA
awsome lights
but yesterday he took it to the next stage
2 x 35w HID's in my spots
the old ones then looked yellow
but after he fitted the new ones this is what happened
i left Les at about 19:00
went down th M6 towards heathrow
takes about 3.5 hours to get home
so it was dark and i mean very dark along some stretches of the motorway around Oxford
the effect of all of them on was :
fogs
create a beam of light that lit up the floor like a police helicopter
dipped
this mixed in with the fogs made the floor even whiter
with these 2 on it lit up every sign on the motorway for a long way ahead
all three lanes were lit up
all three lanes on the other side were lit up
if there were any trees on both sides
these also lit up and bounced light off em
then i put on the main beam
it was like a torpedo
jumping across the other three beams way out into the distance
i at that point didnt realise how little light cars and lorries have
even an artic lorry with all the spots on was dingy compared to my spread of light
from a safty point of view
no one and i mean no one could ever say sorry i didnt see you
they make me feel very very safe at night
look great
and dont cost much to fit (put a price on your life)
best mod you will ever have on a GS
if you want the same just drop Les a line
and he might be able to help
Maybe not the best place to advertise someone elses fitting services
Or maybe the best place, depending on who you are
Sorry, I'll leave now
oh but before I do I will add that BTBRs standard lights are now the cheaper option
brassmonkey001
I should change this
I changed my standard headlight bulb (H4) for a visionplus 50% brighter bulb which was a slight improvement. After a while I changed to a higher wattage bulb which was a slight improvement again. Then I changed to a Bi-Xenon HID kit and the difference was staggering. I can see much futher up the road at night and much more clearly. I would recommend going for HID to anyone.
And how do you work that out
Sorry, Probably didn't explain myself very well. What I meant was that the non HID set up, whilst inferior to the HID set up is a slightly cheaper option.
Personally I have a standard set up like BTBRs at the moment, because they lights weren't available as HID back then (other than the OE hella which were crazy money).
When I hid'd my headlights the light output from the micro DE's was swamped by the headlight and the lights became useless other than for other people to see me.
I will HID the MicroDE now that they are available, as soon as finances allow.
Just finished fitting the Les Wassall HiD Low Beam & Micro DE upgrades to my BTBR light set-up.
Get a load of this. Astonishing or what!!
Along with my full Akra pipe. This must rank as one of the best upgrades i've added to my GS...bring on the night!!
Get a load of this. Astonishing or what!!
Along with my full Akra pipe. This must rank as one of the best upgrades i've added to my GS...bring on the night!!
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