Dumping the led low beam

[ottafish]

Last weekend I was coming home after a good say out and ended up doing the last hour in dark.
I've tried many led "bulbs" in my bikes, both low and high.
While the led on high beam works well, yet again, I'm left wanting for visibility on low.

Decided I'm going to ditch the led for low and go back to a quality halogen or similar.
Getting older, I need as much light as possible when I'm caught in the dark.

I did consider doing a projector setup but the sharp cut off when leaning into corners worries me.

While the LEDs look great and are super bright, the throw and pattern sucks donkey anatomy..

 

[2002 FALCON]

HID my poop is like the SUN!!

 

[Dopey]

Last weekend I was coming home after a good say out and ended up doing the last hour in dark.
I've tried many led "bulbs" in my bikes, both low and high.
While the led on high beam works well, yet again, I'm left wanting for visibility on low.

Decided I'm going to ditch the led for low and go back to a quality halogen or similar.
Getting older, I need as much light as possible when I'm caught in the dark.

I did consider doing a projector setup but the sharp cut off when leaning into corners worries me.

While the LEDs look great and are super bright, the throw and pattern sucks donkey anatomy..

I'm with you Carl, I've got led in both of mine and it lights up fine right I'm front of me but even with the added led lights I copied from c10 is just not enough. I did find the silver star bulbs I was getting from autozone worked pretty well but they kept blowing in the low beam and I'd end up having to buy another within a month or two because no matter where I put it up I could never find the receipt. Be sure to let us know what u decide to go with as I'm definitely interested because around here it's much safer to ride at night to avoid the cagers but me being night blind makes me ride a lot less aggressive even tho everyone in front of me says it looks like sun is behind them. I'm thinking about getting a used headlight to try to retrofit a projector into or I'm hoping that the gen 3 coming out will make the price of the aftermarket projector headlights as cheap for the gen 2 as I've seen for the gen 1.

 

[fallenarch]

I hate to be the guy who always brings up BMW but the 1600 had adaptable headlights. And since it was the bike's only redeeming quality, I feel comfortable bringing it up, haha. It had a deflector that moved based on information from the IMU. total revelation in lighting in my opinion. It also cost $2,600 to replace in a crash!

So to the point, add accessory lights to the fender area and splay them out a bit to light the perimeter of the front of the bike better. This will also make you look huge to other vehicles at night. Good ones are expensive ($300-$400+) but this is the solution to really good lighting IMO.

 

[ottafish]

Just an update to anyone that cares..
After a week or so research and reading stuff, decided to give these a go on low beam. With winter coming up and getting dark early, anything is worth trying.

 

[Dopey]

Just an update to anyone that cares..
After a week or so research and reading stuff, decided to give these a go on low beam. With winter coming up and getting dark early, anything is worth trying.

View attachment 1649348

Let us know how they work

 

[ottafish]

After a 2 day, 1100km trip, I came home late last night in the dark.
I must say, the above halogen is 100% improvement over the LED - well for me anyway.
Even during twilight, I could see the light bouncing off the roadside signs.

But once it turned full night, the light and side to side spread was such an improvement over the LED.
Now, i have tried many leds and I still may not have got the right one, (from cheap to mega $$), but as far as I'm concerned, the halogen now is the only thing i will stay with.

LEDS may be great for looks and brightness, but for usable light on my gen2, they were lacking quite a bit.

 

[Quiksilver]

After a 2 day, 1100km trip, I came home late last night in the dark.
I must say, the above halogen is 100% improvement over the LED - well for me anyway.
Even during twilight, I could see the light bouncing off the roadside signs.

But once it turned full night, the light and side to side spread was such an improvement over the LED.
Now, i have tried many leds and I still may not have got the right one, (from cheap to mega $$), but as far as I'm concerned, the halogen now is the only thing i will stay with.

LEDS may be great for looks and brightness, but for usable light on my gen2, they were lacking quite a bit.

Thanks for this. I had a 55w hid on my gen 1 and the light output was amazing. Alot of work to retrofit the projector but we'll worth it. I put an LED in place of the projector setup but wasn't impressed. Now m looking to upgrade my gen 2 headlight and and not sure which way to go. I find the stock light just isn't up to par. I may try to put a projecter with led or keep it simple and put an upgraded halogen. Thanks for the input!