GSX1250 Driving Light Mounts - New Project

While I always appreciate good engineering and the effort to build a product, I really can't justify the $600 US (PER SIDE) pricing on the Touratech Driving / Fog lights for my GSX1250FA.

Starting this weekend, I'm planning on welding up some mounts that use the same bolt holes as the Touratech.  If the results are satisfactory, I may even consider producing a small run of them if there's interest.



I saw another post where the lower reflector mounts on the fork were used, and then subsequently the caliper bolt with a revised bracket.  I'm one of those OCD people who wants the lights to stay stationary.

Next question will be do I go with HID / projector, or try the CREE U5 housing on eBay?

Does anyone have experience with this particular style of light?  I know that after there's one manufacturer of a product type in China, there's a dozen copies made.  The pictures seem to be pretty impressive, but I don't want to invest a bunch of money in something that's going to need to be brighter.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Pitfalls?

Thanks!

-Daniel

https://nswbandits.forumotion.net/t763-led-driving-lights

Half way down page 2. Rolls installed some driving lights. Mirror mounted. I later became the proud owner of Rolls' bike.
The lights are incredible.

I have LEDs caliper mounted, and also have some brackets that go under the mirrors and create a flat surface to which a spot can be mounted. I have mine to be more conspicuous so the lower mount creates a triangle. See my pics at:  

http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/led-lights-on-gsf1250-forks.html?m=0

I'd suggest a mount that is solid as possible, anything that uses only the fairing would have too much vibration that would cause a flickering light pattern and reduced bulb life.

High power CREE LED's are starting to become a viable option, plus with different lense you can have spot or flood.  Look for max Lumens not max Wattage, otherwise you will end up paying for an expensive hand warmer.

Be careful of the cheaper models, whilst they may look okay, they use 2nd rate components, wiring, and manufacturing which will produce a very disappointing result.

Personally I have not seen any small sealed unit HID projectors, I'm sure they are around but they might be a tad expensive.  Usually HID projectors are mounted inside existing headlight bodies, so the projector itself is not subject to wind, rain, and other road conditions.  I have a set of the smallest projectors from Retrofit (their Matchbox series) and they are 110mm deep.  If they are only for high beam you are going to have issues with the bulb life as they are not designed for continiously switching on and off as you dip your lights to low beam for on coming traffic, you really need a set of Bi-Xenon projectors that use a solenoid to black half the light without powering down the bulb. Also stay away from any HID's that state they are more powerful than 55w, at best you will have a poor light, at worse a potential fire hazard.

And always use relays, fuses and good quality correct gauge wire.

BTW, my brake caliper mounted spots are 35w CREE's, this has the advantage for me with the sidecar that they point to where I am steering (no countersteer leaning for a sidecar)

barry_mcki wrote:I'd suggest a mount that is solid as possible, anything that uses only the fairing would have too much vibration that would cause a flickering light pattern and reduced bulb life.

The two bolt locations that were selected are a direct metal mount to the frame (through the factory mounting bracket,) so there shouldn't be any flex or vibration beyond what the normal headlight would experience.

I think I will be ordering the CREE U5 since it won't require as much hardware (ballast, igniter) as the HID option, and since it allows two different brightness levels.

Now I just need to wait half a month for it to meander its way from China.  :-)

-Daniel

God bless China.   

I ended up buying 2 inch black 10 watt led lights from superbrightleds.com go under work lights and then mini aux lights. bought aux-10w-rx. You can also buy wiring harness with connectors,switch and relay for an extra 20.00 really happy with these lights and are very bright and seem well made and give you the triangle effect and helps you be seen. I was going to mount where the reflectors are on the fork like i did on my v strom but i think they are too close to fairing on this bike. Ended up mounting to fairing under headlight to extreme left and right and seems to work well.

What about mounting a light bar off the mirror mounts ?

Jimcoleman wrote:What about mounting a light bar off the mirror mounts ?

Thought you were kidding, but it seems a trend has already started (however the one at the back looks like he has gone a bit too blue in the color choice):

This is my set-up. https://nswbandits.forumotion.net/t4033-been-fiddling-with-the-bike

4 cree led's per light.

2wheelsadam wrote:I ended up buying 2 inch black 10 watt led lights from superbrightleds.com go under work lights and then mini aux lights. bought aux-10w-rx. You can also buy wiring harness with connectors,switch and relay for an extra 20.00 really happy with these lights and are very bright and seem well made and give you the triangle effect and helps you be seen. I was going to mount where the reflectors are on the fork like i did on my v strom but i think they are too close to fairing on this bike. Ended up mounting to fairing under headlight to extreme left and right and seems to work well.

I initially mounted some to the fork reflector mounts.  Looked great until I found that on braking the lower fairing would touch the light.  I ended up going to a caliper mount and that worked much better for visibility. (Of me, not by me, if that makes sense)

i`ve been trying to source the appropriate headlight to suit my needs for a naked conversion, and was put on to a certain auto sparky in town who was right into streetfighters, and one of his bikes, he`s put a new aged HI/LOW sealed beam LED on as a main light, and a light bar underneath that for enhanced high beam.  I recon they both look ugly!!

He got rather upset, when I told him, the sealed beam gave poor lighting on LOW beam... in my view! The light bar gave a...not bad throw, was alright for high beam.
The sealed beam LOW pattern, was to directional, and gave no foreground lighting, and only a flat thin slit out in front, with massive holes in useful lighting.

I was polite in my view, and said my Gen 2 projectors (with HID upgrade) gave a far superior light (which was my main view on poor lighting, as he said they were far better than HID) 

Don`t get me wrong, I like where LED is going, and it will eventually be the ultimate lighting when perfected.

I think at the moment, they are to directional, and the kelvin is all wrong. I know thats a personal thing, but I think they should all be 4300-4500 kelvin, as my HID`s are, and I`d never go for the 6000k as they don`t suit my eyes, 4500 is very natural as Barry has said in a previous post.

Supposedly around 4300K is optimal for human eyes as it is most like sunlight which is the frequency where our eyes operate best (unsurprising)

barry_mcki wrote:

Jimcoleman wrote:What about mounting a light bar off the mirror mounts ?

Thought you were kidding, but it seems a trend has already started (however the one at the back looks like he has gone a bit too blue in the color choice):

Looks a bit like the chook chasers may have been impounded  

kewwig wrote:Supposedly around 4300K is optimal for human eyes as it is most like sunlight which is the frequency where our eyes operate best (unsurprising)

yeah that's right.

it seems hard to convince some people of this.

I`ve been playing with HID`s back in 2001 when I first got my first Hella HID spot light.  and they used to be 6000k back then.

I now have 4 of them, ( 3 on my car). (I do a lot of night country driving and riding) They still have the original ballasts, but changed the bulbs to German Philips 4500  back in 07. I flog these things, and have never had a problem with them..meaning, quality does count!!!

I have made my own combinations in my bike by using Hella ballasts and Philips bulbs, and have had the Hella ones for 7 years, again with no issues..before them, a cupboard full of chinese shit that doesn`t compete.

What ballast/bulb make do you recommend?  I like 35W 6000K as the colours of the LED side lights and DRLs all match the headlight, but the Chinese gear is cheaply made and connectors fall off and ballasts rust etc.  I am after a good set I can connect and forget.

these are the ballasts I use. They are out of Hella spot lights, and were OEM on Audi, BMW, and the likes of. You get them on ebay from wrecked cars.
They aren`t cheap generally, but you can get the occasional cheap set that do come up. The problem you may have is, buyer be ware of ebay from a wrecked car, meaning damaged. I`ve been lucky, and am also using my ballast from my spare Hella spotlight along with one I bought on line.
As for bulbs, this is also tricky, as the world is full of liar`s with genuine German Philips bulbs. I can`t find the site right now, but I had to punch in rebased 85122+ Philips bulbs. These bulbs are Philips premium bulbs and don`t fade over time, as chinese WILL!! but were designed for the red plug you see in the photo, that being a DS2/DR2 bulb, and you will have to get an adapter for that plug. I got mine from the retrosource company in the states. A particular manufacturer had the rights from Philips to rebase to your own bulb base.

A bit of mucking around, but in the long run,, WAY better,

Sorry to high jack the thread !!!

kewwig wrote:What ballast/bulb make do you recommend?  I like 35W 6000K as the colours of the LED side lights and DRLs all match the headlight, but the Chinese gear is cheaply made and connectors fall off and ballasts rust etc.  I am after a good set I can connect and forget.

I mounted some LED spotlights today, the joys of a naked bike!

Nice work SD.
They look very neat.

Low beam



High beam + spotlights (I know the neighbours   )