Well when we bought the new 2016 Limited I was really excited about the led headlight and spots. Had actually came close to adding those to my 2010 Ultra.

But it did not take long at all to start shaking my head and asking what is wrong with this picture.

Took the bike back to the dealer and they had me to ride it in the shop and stay on the bike while they checked the alignment of the lights. On the headlight he said they set them all up as high as the adjustment would allow and all was good. On the spots he hit one with his hand and moved it out slightly and assured me I was good to go. Then for $20.00 he offered to program the spots to stay on with the high beam which I did. That did help but I was still very unhappy with the lights. My brother had the same issues and concerns with his 2015 Limited and so do many here on the forums from what I have read.

Fast forward to last week and I rode with a buddy whose spots and headlight were blinding two bikes behind me in bright sunlight. We stopped for fuel and I walked over and looked to see what he was running. They were the stock HD lights exactly like on my bike. I asked if he had done anything to his that his lights look awesome. He replied that it was ALL in the ADJUSTMENT. Like me he was very dissatisfied when he bought his 2015 Limited. He got the Manual out and adjusted them exactly as it states in the manual. He rode in front of me a while and said I definitely needed to adjust mine, that my new Custom Dynamics turn signals were brighter than my head light and spot lights.

Well yesterday I got the manual out and read it several times. I think they could have stated it much simplier but I figured it out. I followed the instructions to the "T" and sure enough the lights were aimed LOW. So now we have a problem because the head light is dialed up all the way according to the dealer. I pulled the trim ring off and sure enough the screw at the top, at 12 o'clock was all the way in. I studied this about an hour and actually thought I might have to shim between the headlight bracket and the fairing. Finally it hit me. There is a screw at 3 o'clock and at 9 o'clock for the vertical left/right adjustment. If I turn them both out because they are spring loaded the bottom of the light will come out causing the beam to rise. I started screwing them both out an equal amount so the beam stayed straight with the bike but raised up. It took a lot of turns to bring the beam up to where the mark was on my garage door. Once I had it where it was supposed to be I walked in front of the bike and WOW it was almost blinding.

Next came the spot lights. They were great for the shoulders of the road out about 50 feet. I took a 9/16 socket and ground a groove in it to allow clearance for the electric wire running through the hex nut. Very carefully I loosened them both and raised them up until the headlight and spot lights looked to all be at the same intensity while standing about 75 feet in front of the bike.

Well I took it for a quick ride tonight after dark and WOW I am very pleased. My wife stood on the road in front of our house and could not believe how bright the lights are now and said they all look equal with the new LED turn signals.

To me it feels like I have three times the amount of light ahead of me now. Instead of seeing about 100 to 150 feet ahead on low beam I am seeing twice that much. Our property has 470 feet of road frontage. I stopped on one end and could easily see all the way to the other end and beyond with the high beam on.

The spots fill in very well left to right as needed. I did not have time to ride to where we have some sharp curves but I feel confident there will be a nice improvement.

Harley should never let these bikes leave the factory out of adjustment based on their very own manual. As for the dealer mine apparently has never read the manual and does not have a clue.

Hope this helps someone else. I can see and I can definitely be seen.

The way I have adjusted the headlight the bottom of the light extends out beyond the trim ring a 1/4 of an inch. It does not look bad just different to me. The average person looking at it would never notice. This was the only solution I could figure out.

Ride safe.

 

I noticed the same thing on my 2015 Ultra. I adjusted mine up as much as possible like you did at first, but wasn't happy with it. Tomorrow I'm going to try your idea. Thanks for the tip!
.

 

Very good write up. Thanks will try this

 

I don't ride after dark much anymore, but when I do, I notice that the headlamp coverage of the road ahead is poor. I have already raised my headlamp a bit, but maybe not enough.

I've taken to riding with my high beam on all the time at night. I decided to ignore any oncoming traffic flashing me for being too bright. but no oncoming traffic ever flashes me!

This is very different from other bikes I've owned. It tells me for sure that the HD headlamp is not getting the job done.

 

For the OP, have you tried running your brights ?, seems my brights are way up when dims are set up higher

 

I'm with ya Tpc, It's like squirrel hunting at night with a beam of light that's like a 3' X 3' area lit up waaay out in the distance THEN.........you can't see what's on the road in front of you!!

 

Yes as mentioned in the original post first impressions with the brights (high beams)are good. My property line is 470 feet and I see from end to end pretty straight ahead with the brights. I hope to actually put a few miles on it tonight with multiple road conditions. May have to make slight adjustments.

I did try last week turning the spots upside down and that was crazy. I could see all the owls up in the trees. May have worked okay if I had adjusted them down a little.

 

Subscribing, I hate my lights at night.

 

It took me quite a while to get mine adjusted the way I like them on my '14 Limited. I tried adjusting them up while on low beam but the high beams were basically useless. After much trial and error I finally got them adjusted to where low beams are good and also high beams.

 

After properly adjusting the low beam to light the road further down (probably about 150 ft ahead), I rarely need to use the high beam...I only use high when traveling over 60 mph on a dark country road. Also had the dealer set the spot lamps on when using high beams as well (he did it in 2 minutes for free) and pointing slightly outwards, so they light up any critters on the sides of my country roads.