Ride magazine - cheap mod on a GS

[walkon40]

Just read the article in this month's Ride magazine, covering some mods on a GS. They quote a price of £20 for ride lights, which seems incredibly cheap (so far, I worked on well over £100, so haven't bought any . Does anyone have any advice on models/prices (esp if they are £20 ).

thanks

Martin

 

[wessie]

 

[walkon40]

Somehow the pic of the lights looked different, but then - each to their own .

Martin

 

[Mouse]

What do you mean by "ride lights"? Do you mean general running lights to improve your visibility but not really light up much more of the road?

If so, I got a set of fog lamps from Halfords (£30) and wired them up myself, cost of relay and wire etc was probably £10. So that's £40, not quite as cheap as you quote but certainly not £100.

Currently mine are attached to my crash bars with some very dodgy clamps though, need to do something about that

 

[cookie]

nice

 

[Cheesy Mike]

nice

Just up the road from here is Weston Super Mare. It has a scooter museum if you ever
feel the need to look.

The photo below (yes it's wide, I'm sorry!) is a local scooter group.
I only found this picture a couple of weeks after the chap in the brown shirt,
slightly left of the yellow portaloo, left my office.
If only I'd known.....

Mike

 

[split28]

Mmmmm... so what size batteries do you think they use???

 

[Geoff2]

Mmmmm... so what size batteries do you think they use???

See that yellow box about 5th scoot down, well.......

 

[Alte Wolf]

Cult

Somehow the pic of the lights looked different, but then - each to their own .

Martin

Martin I think you might just have started a Cult thing

 

[walkon40]

Have been fiddling to get a pic of what I really mean - and no, the answer is not 42 . But can't get the site to work, so it's the additional lights that some GSs have fitted to improve the poor lights on the GS ..., think they are called drive or ride lights AND THEY ARE NOT FITTED TO HARDHATS, AND I DON'T RIDE A B *****Y SCOOTER (although have thought about it once or twice in the foul weather !!!

Martin

 

[Cheesy Mike]

Martin,

OK, time to be serious (for once). You can pick up either driving lights or foglights at Halfords for £20 or less per pair. Add on a fuse holder and a relay plus some wires, crimp connectors, shrink sleeve and a scotchlock for tapping the main beam wire and you have a setup for less than £30. But then you need to mount them on something. MiGSel's light bar is nice but chop up an old kids McLaren buggy and you get a nice straight piece of aluminium spar that will serve you well. You can then get a bit more sophisticated by adding an autoswitch (or normal switch) and extra relay to run them independent of main beam. The choice of driving lights or fog is entirely your preference. Driving lights are like main beam and illuminate everything - more suited for main beam augmentation. Fogs have a flatter wider beam that "fills in" the road surface in front of you and is therefore better for dipped beam augmentation.

As for my bike, my cheap Ring Ice Blue driving lights were crap and leaked like a sieve. My replacement cheap Ring fog lights are superb.

Mike

 

[walkon40]

Halleluja - some sound advice !!! So, Mike, where did you get your lights from? I've discovered a pair at Polo in Germany (www.polo-motorad.de) for ca. 120 Euros, including fitting kit for the GS, so that's ca. £75, and as I'm going to Germany anyway (well, snowboarding on my GS via Brussels and the Ardennes mountains), I might have a look at them.

Martin

 

[Cheesy Mike]

If you are going through Brussels to the Ardennes then stop in to see MiGSel and get one of his excellent lightbars. That's part of your problem. I got the autoswitch from www.cyclegadgets.com but you can now get them from Nippy Normans. As for the lights I got mine from Halfords. As far as I'm concerned, cheap auxilliary lights combined with replacement 50%-brighter H1 bulbs in the dipped and main beam mean that I'm quite happy. I really didn't see the need to spend more money on Hella or PIAA lights.

Mike

 

[Pthagonal]

20 quid

they probably were talking about replacing the bulbs for a set of the philips II ones.

the 50% brighter ones..


pthag

 

[Dahoum]

Just read the article in this month's Ride magazine, covering some mods on a GS. They quote a price of £20 for ride lights, which seems incredibly cheap (so far, I worked on well over £100, so haven't bought any . Does anyone have any advice on models/prices (esp if they are £20 ).

thanks

Martin

They didn't by any chance mention a 90p hugger did they?

 

[Steve]

well, snowboarding on my GS

That should be fun to watch!!

 

[walkon40]

They didn't by any chance mention a 90p hugger did they?

er, no, but just had a reply back from Ride re the £20 lights. Apparently the bloke got them off e-bay , so I think they are cheating a bit in their article.

Also enquired with Polo in Germany, their lights aren't available until March. So maybe have to go the DIY route , enough time until next winter, when I'm leaving home in the dark and come back in the dark .

Martin

 

[Greg Masters]

Have you read this?



Greg

 

[walkon40]

Have you read this?

nice one !!!. Might give this a go, once it's warmer outside (stiff fingers don't work with fiddly work ). Have to convert the beemer to clear lenses, though.

thanks for the tip

Martin