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After riding my buddies bike with an LED headlight, I knew it was time to upgrade mine. I could see so much better at night. The only problem is that I love the look of my street bob's stock light... nothing fancy.
All the LED headlights I see either look like R2-D2 or a robotic spider with like 8 bulbs or a halo or something. They just wouldn't look right with what I'm going for (I know I'm stubborn).
Does anyone have any suggestions for any headlights that still have that stock/classic look? Or are thaere any LED bulbs that I can just replace the stock bulb with that make a significant impact? Check out the pictures below for more detail. Thanks in advance for the help.
~ Blaque
What I have What I don't want The closest thing I've found so far
Some bulbs I've used with great results in conventional housings...
In order of brightness (low to high)
Sylvania Silverstar (halogen)(not great, but better than OE)
Philips Xtreme Vision +100 (halogen)
Philips Xtreme Vision +130 (halogen)
GTR Lighting CSP Mini (LED)
GTR Lighting Ultra 2 (LED)
The Philips stuff is easy to recommend since it's still halogen, not crazy expensive, and 100% fitment. They do have shorter life in exchange for the higher output. The +100 lasted about 6 months WITH 30+ HOURS PER WEEK USE in a Freightliner. The +130 has been in my car (with Cibie E-Code 7" housings) for a couple years now but only used a couple hours a week, max.
I haven't used the GTR bulbs in a Harley bucket so I can't say for sure if they'll fit but they have extremely good optical design and the CSP Mini is about as small as you'll find and still have decent output. Not cheap, but the cheap ones suck.
Last edited by cggorman; Apr 26, 2020 at 04:45 PM.
I'm still running LED bulbs in the stock housings of the Limited that DK was selling a few years back. They still work well enough, though I had to lower the aim of the headlight slightly and turn the passing lamps off when coming up close behind another vehicle when it's dark.
IMO, if you really want LEDs, best to pick a design that isn't too obnoxious and let it grow on you. If you really want to keep the stock reflector bucket, get a high output halogen. The LED bulbs in a traditional bucket will never be as good as a true LED design.
I'm still waiting for the DK bulbs to die, the damn things won't.
Last edited by roadmutt; Apr 26, 2020 at 05:29 PM.
After riding my buddies bike with an LED headlight, I knew it was time to upgrade mine. I could see so much better at night. The only problem is that I love the look of my street bob's stock light... nothing fancy.
All the LED headlights I see either look like R2-D2 or a robotic spider with like 8 bulbs or a halo or something. They just wouldn't look right with what I'm going for (I know I'm stubborn).
Does anyone have any suggestions for any headlights that still have that stock/classic look? Or are thaere any LED bulbs that I can just replace the stock bulb with that make a significant impact? Check out the pictures below for more detail. Thanks in advance for the help.
~ Blaque
What I have What I don't want The closest thing I've found so far
I know what you mean, I put a set on my Heritage and I'm not crazy about the look but because they are lights I went with funtion over style. The old design had me replacing bulbs every 6 months.
About 4 years ago I converted my 07 Dyna and the Wife's 04 1200 Custom to H - 4 LED bulbs. Very white and very bright. HOWEVER the light beam pattern was pretty much centered with not much difference between hi and low. Last week I replaced them both with Hogworkz 5 3/4 LED headlight. Very white and very right AND nice wide light pattern. My conclusion - pick function over form. I can live with an R2-D2 LED headlight.
One style or technology is not automatically better than another and brighter is not better without a good beam pattern.
Lots of LED bulbs and replacement housings boast super high brightness but can't put that light into a usable pattern. 10k lumens is useless if most of the light is in the trees and/or at your feet and those setups blind oncoming traffic.
Here is a comparison I did between a very good halogen setup (Cibie E-Code w/ Philips +130) and a decent LED (Clone Speaker 8790A)
about 25' from a white-ish warehouse wall...
Speaker Clone.
Cibie / Philips.
Both at the same time.
These are both low beam. I absolutely LOVE the Cibie/Philips combo. The clone pattern is too wide to be properly bright down the road. The Cibie has that "wing" that cuts up to right and really makes signage pop while the other half of the beam is just wide enough to fill the road while projecting way out there. I am still planning to get the genuine Speaker 8790A in the hopes that it performs better than the clone as I think the adaptive feature is better suited to bike dynamics.
Some bulbs I've used with great results in conventional housings...
In order of brightness (low to high)
Sylvania Silverstar (halogen)(not great, but better than OE)
Philips Xtreme Vision +100 (halogen)
Philips Xtreme Vision +130 (halogen)
GTR Lighting CSP Mini (LED)
GTR Lighting Ultra 2 (LED)
The Philips stuff is easy to recommend since it's still halogen, not crazy expensive, and 100% fitment. They do have shorter life in exchange for the higher output. The +100 lasted about 6 months WITH 30+ HOURS PER WEEK USE in a Freightliner. The +130 has been in my car (with Cibie E-Code 7" housings) for a couple years now but only used a couple hours a week, max.
I haven't used the GTR bulbs in a Harley bucket so I can't say for sure if they'll fit but they have extremely good optical design and the CSP Mini is about as small as you'll find and still have decent output. Not cheap, but the cheap ones suck.
I've been using the Philips Xtreme Vision +130 for 2 years and find it great for the money.
I have been going round and round for several years about upgrading my lights. I have a 2003 Heritage and have upgraded from the stock lights to the same one OP has. Looked into the day makers and the ones I wanted didnt fit my model. The 2003 day makers werent a option because I didnt like their look. I finally decided to get the best light and had to compromise the look. I went with custom dynamics probeam2 adaptive, running lights and turn signals. Unfortunately to get the LED light you will have to sacrifice the look.
I felt the same way you do until I did a long ride with friends who had both old style and new LED’s installed. As I was riding in front of the group and would look in my mirrors it became very obvious how much easier it was to spot the LED lights during a bright and sunny day. This alone was enough to have me switch to all LED’s. Of course the nighttime benefits are way, way better. It’s been a couple of years now and I do not even think about the aesthetics of the LED’s. Safety trumps all as we ride among cagers who are texting, putting on makeup and just all around oblivious to their two wheeled neighbors on the roads.
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Classic looking LED headlight?
