Afternoon all,

I live in a rural area where, to be honest, the deer out number the humans and that makes riding at night (especially) a little unnerving. Last thing I or anyone wants to do is hit a deer on a bike. As such, I decided to put the Harley Davidson LED Headlight and Passing Lights on my bike, believing that they would give me better lighting for night or after dark riding. How wrong and disappointed I was!

The LED Headlight is no better than the factory headlight the bike came with, in some ways it is worse. Sure the LED's are brighter, much brighter, but they certainly do not light the road any further (even on high beam which is only marginally better than the low beam) than the stock head light. They definitely do not light the sides of the road by any means what so ever. I should add that these lights were fitted AND adjusted by a Harley dealership so I can only assume they were fitted and adjusted properly.

The only good thing I can say about these, very expensive, lights is that everyone for miles around can see you, which is great of course; however, my definition of good lights is for the rider to be able see as well and not just be seen.

So, what I am thinking now is to get rid of the LED headlight and replace it with a damn good HID Headlight but keep the LED Passing Lights.

Any thoughts on this? Any ideas of what lighting to get?

 

Adjust your passing lamps to illuminate the roadside perhaps?

 

Outlaw, that is a thought and a good one but I am still looking for "distance" with the lights and that seems to be an area of the LED headlight that is not working for me.

What I don't understand is how companies can make headlights for cars, truck etc that light the road up for what seems to be miles ahead and from side to side, yet us bike riders are unable to obtain the same sort of lighting. You'd think that companies would be doing more for us riders (in terms of lighting) and give us the same sort of visibility that car owners enjoy.

A question then, why is it not possible to take a "current" hi/low beam car headlight and put that on a bike? Or, why can't headlight manufacturers make headlights that have the same effect as a car headlight? I don't understand why car headlights have to be so (apparently) different to bike headlights. Am I missing something?

 

My Trucklites on my Road King are way better at illuminating distance. I also wired my passing lights to stay on with the high beams. I think that they are much safer for night riding. I have no experience with the HD LEDs though.

 

An interesting alternative, using a Truck light on your bike. I also like the idea of wiring the passing lights into the high beam, that would solve the pattern problem with the HD LED light, or any other light.

A question then, will the 7" round Truck lite fit the bike and what (if any) mods would need to be made for it to work? I assume the HD LED Ballast will work with the Truck Lites, is that right? And finally, how much were these lights and where do you get them from?

 

Trucklites can be had from Amazon. They are actually the very same lights that Kuryakyn sells as their phase 7s. Of course Kuryakyn sells them at a higher price. Trucklite has a website, check them out. LIke I stated above, however, I have no way to compare them with the HD version of LEDs.

 

I got an HID kit a few years back from forum sponsor motorcyclemetal.com. As part of the installation of this kit the passing lamps stay on when switching to high beam. I replaced the HD halogen passing lamps that I had upgraded from sealed beams several years ago with LEDs from Trucklite. While not an inexpensive mod, it was worth every penny. It gives great distance plus a wide dispersion. I can see just as well (if not better) than when in my car with two headlights on high beam.

 

I, too, live in deer country. One hit my LS400, doing about 1K worth of damage.

I have Trucklites on my bike, both headlight and passing lights. I think they are much better than the stock headlight. I put an Amazon sourced 55W HID set on my RAV4 ($40/pair) and they are really bright, much better than the stock headlight bulbs were, but the current draw on startup is probably too much for a bike system, without adding a relay and a direct line to the battery (or starter solenoid, whatever). Those were also low beam only, but I think there is a similar HID with both low/high. I put a HD ($$$$$) LED headlight on the sporty. It is much brighter than stock, or even a HD ($$) halogen bulb, at least in daytime visibility. I've had both behind me at the same time and the HD LED looked twice as bright as the expensive HD halogen on another bike.

 

I think both LED and HID technology is difficult to put a finger on. I bought one of the original H-D HID lights, which was brilliant as a daytime light, but pretty useless as a night-time one. When supplied as original equipment (I have two cars with HIDs) they can be quite remarkable, but as aftermarket I am holding fire.

One of our cars has outer headlights that turn with the steering, which is truly cool! I wait with baited breath for the day when we can have similar lights on our bikes as stock, turning and leaning as we sweep along - I have seen the future and know it can be done!

 

Seems like the Trucklite lights are the way to go. Have been on their site but was unable to find where to buy them so I emailed them for details etc. Still waiting for their reply. At this stage, looks like I might have a new HD LED Headlight for sale at some point.

Also like the idea of having the passing lights on with the high beam ... will go that route and adjust them out a little for better "side of the road" lighting. Should be interesting to see how it all works out.

On another note, just curious about the maps some of you guys have showing (presumably) where you ride have ridden in your sig block. Where do you get that from please?