HeadLight and Windscreen

[oldmacdonald]

Well that's an altogether better idea. Got a link?

[SeaComms]

Been trying to find it for the last bloody hour! I had one a while ago but now cant find the damn thing! I do know that Harleys use a HID in a standard shape (externally) 7 inch headlamp, not sure what they would be worth thou being stamped HD....

[andyperth]

I have put in two windscreens the Jeep just loves rocks glad I ticked the free glass box.

[Banshee]

Strangely, from investigating HIDs for my bike, (separate low & high with an H7 for each), it seems that the main reasons for HIDs to be illegal is glare from being improperly fitted/adjusted and because the legislation refers to the filament & even when properly adjusted (so it does not cause glare), HIDs do not have a filament.

Yes if not installed properly they cause massive glare & inconvenience for others. Now if only those who have them badly installed were pinged for it, we might get some more proper installation kits/specs/legislation. Technically it is illegal to have them in any vehicle where they are not OEM fitted.

The main issue with them I find is that they take 5-10 seconds to reach full brightness, so while they are ok in low beam, if you are using high beam wherre there is much traffic & going high/low regularly, they are not effective by the time you have to dip them again. So for those reasons, if you do want HIDs, I would go with HID low & halogen high bulbs. For this reason I prefer separate high & low lights rather than H4s.

[SeaComms]

I have installed the Hi/Lo H4 HIDs in my early 80's Yamaha stock headlight bucket (pretty much the same the the Jeep's). It was a huge improvement, but even adjusted correctly it is still quite bright. What you have to remember is that the optics in the Halogen designed setups are not perfect and there is still a significant amount of light shining above the low beam cutoff line.

HID's have 3 to 5 times the light output of a standard good quality Halogen, so stick a HID in there and now you also have 3 to 5 times the light bleeding out above the low beam cutoff line. This is the reason it's not legal to run HIDs in a Halogen designed lens assembly, as this is the light thats shining into the oncoming drivers eyes.

Many do it (me included - but the more obvious a bike is I felt the better) and provided you dont go overboard and only use the 35w lamps, stick with 4300 to 4500 K colour and keep the glass of the headlight clean (very important) the effect is not to bad for oncoming drivers. I have never in 2 years had anyone complain about the light on the bike.

That said - it still not legal!!

I am still trying to find the link to the one I had saved (puter died and lost all my links...). From memory they were not cheap (around $800 a pair), but was hoping by now they had dropped.

[Banshee]

Yeah, that's the problem with H4s. It is a Hi/Lo compromise. My bike has separate high & low lights (H7), so there is much less light bleed above the cutoff from the low beam. Properly adjusted & I have had no problems from passing police.

Of course, the problem with bike lights is that as soon as you start cornering the cuttoff is angled way up on the outside!

[jzp]

I just replaced my windscreen for $180 via the dealership - non genuine, of course!

then on the way home I thought it broke again when a giant rock hit the windscreen.....