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Who doesn't run passing lights? Does it really make a difference?

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Old Dec 4, 2012 | 07:59 AM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by jjames
The leds are on my wish list but for now I've got the standard headlight with passing lamps. I've ridden bikes with and without passing lamps and they do improve vehicles visibility of you but the biggest thing to me is they greatly improve your visibility of the road at night. I can see much more with my low beam and passing lights on than with my high beam and passing lights off (I gotta figure out how to do the mod to keep passing lights on).
I went from the stock headlight to the Harley dual bean halogen and halogen passing lights...and wow! When going to high beam, I have as good of coverage side to side as with the passing lights on, and a LOT brighter and longer throw with the high beam. And it's $139.00 from Harley...

The thing about LED's is pretty simple. You can't see most of them in daylight as well as you can the stock or the halogen light. I not only want to be able to SEE at NIGHT, I want to BE SEEN during the day! Passing lights help do both, but the right bulbs are essential as well...

http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...Comparison.pdf
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 08:54 AM
  #22  
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I added passing lights before I picked up my ride. Using TruckLite LED on headlight and passing. Help a lot at night, especially help lighting up the side of the road.

Also, consider this: When car drivers see one single headlamp coming at them, they might not instantly know it's a bike, might be a car with a headlight out, and hard to know whether it's the L or R headlight that's out. With the passing lamps, they'll know exactly where the bike is in reference to the road. Make sense?
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 10:30 AM
  #23  
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Running stock bulbs for now on my Heritage, but added the auxilary light pigtail and the running lights pigtail for the rear. Well worth the dollars spent...
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 05:24 PM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by jjames
Dammit you mean I gotta step inside a dealer...I'm never gonna get any respect here. Thanks for the heads up. I'd seen it mentioned in a couple threads that people were doing it just never looked into how they made it happen.
You can still get your respect. Just order from Surdyke.com. No dealer stepping in required. I just got my aux light setup in today but it's technically a Christmas present so it has to go under the tree for a few weeks. It'll have the regular bulbs in it for a while but I'm planning on upgrading the headlight to the Phase 7 in the near future. Might get the HD light harness too. Not sure right now.
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 06:26 PM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by Guitardude
I went from the stock headlight to the Harley dual bean halogen and halogen passing lights...and wow! When going to high beam, I have as good of coverage side to side as with the passing lights on, and a LOT brighter and longer throw with the high beam. And it's $139.00 from Harley...

The thing about LED's is pretty simple. You can't see most of them in daylight as well as you can the stock or the halogen light. I not only want to be able to SEE at NIGHT, I want to BE SEEN during the day! Passing lights help do both, but the right bulbs are essential as well...

http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...Comparison.pdf
I was looking at the upgraded head light. Doesn't the factory light have two bulbs?
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 06:29 PM
  #26  
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The upgraded one that isn't LED does have two bulbs but it's almost the price of the phase 7 I think. Somewhere around 150 or so. Not really worth the price IMO.
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 06:50 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by Fatbob usmc EOD
The upgraded one that isn't LED does have two bulbs but it's almost the price of the phase 7 I think. Somewhere around 150 or so. Not really worth the price IMO.
I posted this in another thread about headlights a while back so won't go in to all the details, but when I decided to go to the dual beam headlight I had a chance to test them side by side on another Heritage. we spent an hour adjusting and setting them up to make it as fair as possible, and found that the dual beam halogen gave a wider beam on high than the Truck LED, and gave as bright of mean with a distance that you couldn't tell the difference in. And during the day you can see the halogen better due to the color spectrum they each operate under. power draw difference was also negligible...and for 139.95 from Harley, it was cheaper...

And when on highbeam, the beam is WIDER than the LED, actually giving as good of side to side coverage as the passing lights give.

So I went with it, then took off to Arkansa for a week, running dark mountain roads at night...and the people we met up there that were running LED lights wanted to follow us because of the difference in what you could SEE at night under those conditions.

Anyway, that's our experience with the two...
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 07:03 PM
  #28  
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the new truck lite that came out is supposed to have much improved side lighting , tad over 200 bucks
 
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Old Dec 4, 2012 | 07:11 PM
  #29  
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I added driving lights to my Softail. More light's good at night to see, and be seen during the day.
 
Old Dec 4, 2012 | 07:34 PM
  #30  
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I run my passing lamps all the time. I can see better at night with all three on, even better than using the high beam. And I'm a firm believer that during the day, cars that I am passing, or are passing me (going same direction) can see me better, and see them longer, than just with the low beam by itself on.
 



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