Lighting capability?

[keithquad]

Im about to press the button on a new GS1300, once Ive worked out all the variances …
Im leaning towards; adaptive light mode & then potentially their auxilary lights.
For those that have this package are they capable enough to see on country roads with no street lighting? Living in Cumbria the roads are twisty, dark & full of pot holes - thats the A roads!

Whilst I may push the boat out to Lone Rider or similar if the answer suggests that they arent that good, next question is how easy are additional lights to add? Research suggests, taking the panel's off, plugging in & there also appears to be suggestion of needing to use a computer to programme them!
Searching on this site suggests those who have gone for LR appear v.happy with them, has anyone added them to the GS, where & how easy to fit?

Thank you in anticipation.

 

[KJB]

Im about to press the button on a new GS1300, once Ive worked out all the variances …
Im leaning towards; adaptive light mode & then potentially their auxilary lights.
For those that have this package are they capable enough to see on country roads with no street lighting? Living in Cumbria the roads are twisty, dark & full of pot holes - thats the A roads!

Whilst I may push the boat out to Lone Rider or similar if the answer suggests that they arent that good, next question is how easy are additional lights to add? Research suggests, taking the panel's off, plugging in & there also appears to be suggestion of needing to use a computer to programme them!
Searching on this site suggests those who have gone for LR appear v.happy with them, has anyone added them to the GS, where & how easy to fit?

Thank you in anticipation.

Morning Keith
Had my 1300gs for over a year ( Trophy) which I stupidly didn’t check does not come with riding lights a standard. After a few night rides became clear standard lights are poor and my riding buddies mentioned how poor and dangerous the rear brake/ indicator lights are, so like you did a lot of research which led me to Shiny Side Up, James Riccardo the guy is a real guru when it comes to to all things BMW, he refitted my Inovv camera system, Lone Rider running lights my own Denali B6 brake light all operated through the Motoscan System. James does numerous other things I suggest you call him and follow his daily FB posts. I am currently saving for the next range of upgrades
Unfortunately like all Bm’s nothing is cheap hope this helps

 

[Martin GSA UK]

I find the standard lights with the adaptive function do their job well. Beware the YouTube sales guys. You'll spend so much you'll have to kid yourself it was necessary. And it will end up looking like a tart's handbag.

I do agree with a point made above about the rear lights, my mates have difficulty seeing my indicator when I'm braking, but they can clearly see the braking function.

 

[gateway77]

I had the adaptive lights plus the OEM auxiliary lights fitted to my GS1300
Standard lights alone are ok but not good nearly enough if you ride on unlit rural roads.The aux lights help but are just "ok".

After a year I added the Lone Rider Moto lights and immediately realised the huge difference they and similar after market lights offer.
Absolutely night and day difference and would suggest the BMW aux lights at the cost from BMW are a waste of money.

So in my opinion - Better to spend the same money and add a bit more for something that really makes a difference.

I'm in Devon so almost no roadside lights anywhere - since fitting the Lone Rider option night riding now is no issue at all.
I can clearly see the road edges, gutters, pot holes, gravel, cow slurry etc for a long way ahead. Brilliant.
Also can see the hedges and borders and anything lurking in the shadows.
At night especially I'm more concerned about hitting an animal than anything else and this lights mean I can see clearly any potential dangers.

NB. The lights are very strong, much more powerful than the OEM offering and mine are set to about 25% to 50% of available power, depending on the separate light functions.
For daytime riding they are set to about 5% power. No reason to piss off on-coming riders / drivers.

The whole system is highly configurable and fairly easy to install and set up. Highly recommended.

Hope that helps.

 

[J biker]

On my second R1300gs. Both came with headlight pro. No other lights fitted.
There is no need for any extra lights, imo. I find the lights bright (very) with excellent illumination, spread etc. I can compare to an R1250gs that had the fancy adaptive lights AND the little spots and the new set up compares very well.
My only comment is, the headlight needs to be set up correctly. My 2nd bike the beam is slightly high. So needs a minor adjustment.
I have ridden bothy bikes at night (setting off from North East for Le Shuttle) at 3 am,) heading down country roads, A68 and B6275 and been impressed.

 

[zoltan]

Whilst I may push the boat out to Lone Rider or similar if the answer suggests that they arent that good,

Thank you in anticipation.

Hugely effective, I am on the receiving end. Chap I encounter on my commute (B road) has a 4 spot set up on his 1300GS. It's blinding

 

[Bubb]

I have standard headlight and aux lights and am happy with the spread of light on unlit country roads.
I have also fitted weiser wizards and extra brake light to the rear as I didn’t like the way the indicators were masked by the brake lights…. Brake lights very bright…and even better with the extra Denali brake lights very fitted.

 

[keithquad]

I had the adaptive lights plus the OEM auxiliary lights fitted to my GS1300
Standard lights alone are ok but not good nearly enough if you ride on unlit rural roads.The aux lights help but are just "ok".

After a year I added the Lone Rider Moto lights and immediately realised the huge difference they and similar after market lights offer.
Absolutely night and day difference and would suggest the BMW aux lights at the cost from BMW are a waste of money.

So in my opinion - Better to spend the same money and add a bit more for something that really makes a difference.

I'm in Devon so almost no roadside lights anywhere - since fitting the Lone Rider option night riding now is no issue at all.
I can clearly see the road edges, gutters, pot holes, gravel, cow slurry etc for a long way ahead. Brilliant.
Also can see the hedges and borders and anything lurking in the shadows.
At night especially I'm more concerned about hitting an animal than anything else and this lights mean I can see clearly any potential dangers.

NB. The lights are very strong, much more powerful than the OEM offering and mine are set to about 25% to 50% of available power, depending on the separate light functions.
For daytime riding they are set to about 5% power. No reason to piss off on-coming riders / drivers.

The whole system is highly configurable and fairly easy to install and set up. Highly recommended.

Hope that helps.

That is an interesting comparison (not to dis’ those who have also contributed).
The roads around here I imagine are similar to your Devon roads with the road surface being part of the equation & also lurking animals - deer in particular, which I have unfortunately hit with a car!

Thank you.

 

[GS_PS]

Not had a chance to do a great lot of night time mileage but enough as see (no pun intended) that the adaptive function does help. You can see the beam widen to catch more of the verge and centre line while the cornering lights fade in and out depending on lean angle. Would class the throw of light as Ok but not mega. Not checked the configurator to see what the present price is but they were £155 at the start of the year so relative to the overall price of the bike it's an option I'd tick again by default. Probably worth it as a lighting baseline then add the additional-aftermarket- lights as a top up esp given your rural road requirements.

 

[KennyDies]

I just installed the MTL4, Split air horn and Motocan V2. All in it took me about 2.5 hours. Stripped down both sides of the bike, front and above the tank. Ran the cables over the top on the tank and under the cove.

I had v1 of the software and noted a couple of missing functions but that was addressed in V2 (indicator trigger as an example)

Would highly recommend the lights. On full beam it is like the sun has come out..

I never buy model dependent accessories if I can help it as I like to transfer the kit between the bikes.

 

[KJB]

Reference my earlier post I completely forget to mention apart from the benefits mentioned I have serious concerns about idiot car drivers who for whatever reason just don’t see standard lit motorcycles, during my first few weeks of my 1300 had a number of car and van drivers just pull out from side roads for whatever reason. Now with my Lone Rider set up it never happens, what does happen is what I call “THE SECOND LOOK “ you can just see the minds work “ fuck that’s bright” if not the main beam flash even in day time wakes them. You cannot cost safety !

 

[WrexhamWrider]

I had my second "misjudging how long it takes to get home" on my new GS at the weekend; for about an hour in rural Wrexham, Denbighshire and West England.

Mine is "Headlight Pro" I think, but I don't have any aux lights. I was pulled out on twice in that hour, and proper emergency stop level of being pulled out on too; blimey the brakes are good.

The headlight is "meh". It's not terrible, but it's not like it's daylight either. The long range beam is flat and wide with a sharp cutoff, which is probably a bit lower than I'd like, but the dipped beam seams to cause drivers to flash me. I think the "Pro" part means it illuminates the gutter when leaned over, which is something I wasn't aware I needed, but okay.

I'm not sure whether to add some extra spots; I've got some 100mm PIAAs from my last bike in the garage, but they look a bit daft in the factory location so would have to probably go on the front of engine bars, which I don't have.

Are there any decent small lights for the higher position? I'm adverse to having anything with "Lone" or "Rider" written on it anywhere near my bike.

Can you set a HexCAN to leave the indicators running as DRLs, like on a Honda?

 

[siddo]

I got the Lone riders. 23000 lumens. Awesome kit and I have ridden loads at night and everyone sees them. Great during the day when splitting traffic.

 

[KennyDies]

I also installed so T3's as puddle lights on my handle bars to increase side on visibility

 

[Beerman]

I find the stock auxiliary lights to be perfectly fine. Then again, I rarely ride in the dark...

 

[Clifton]

Mine has "headlight pro" and the aiming of it seems odd. When I got it the low beam seemed a little high, then up from that there was a dark bar before the high beam that was illuminating the tree tops. I lowered it all a bit and it seems ok at night but my friend riding ahead of me in the day commented "your headlight isn't very visible at all" so I switched to running high beam during the day which he said shows up better.