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LED Headlight ?

40K views 88 replies 23 participants last post by  "Captain D" 
#1 ·
Last evening a project to put a new center stand on my vt1100 ending up to be a midnight ride because I brought to a buddys house and one of the mounts needed some welding to repair.
I was very disapointed in my headlight that I bought last fall.
It was a Halogen H4 projector style and just wasn't very bright on the road.
Has anyone gone with the LED headlight ?
or suggestions for a good bright headlight bulb.
It was so bad that I couldn't tell if was on when riding, so I stopped and had to check that it was. I even am considering possibly a bad ground, as the headlight is actually in my bolt on Vetter fairing.
Can someone shed some light here with ideas for a better headlight.
Thanks
km
 
#6 ·
Opt 7 here too. Love it.

I installed an Opt 7 H4 headlight and Opt 7 H3 fog lights.
You can see the difference in the brightness from the Sylvania Silver Stars and the Opt 7.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
I bought the Cyclops LED H4 kit which to me is a lot similar:
3800 Lumen H4 LED Headlight bulb

I believe my buddy has OPT7 installed and comparing them eye to eye they almost look exactly the same while on but haven't done and extensive testing.

I took a TON of pictures so if that's ok by the forums rules I'm posting the album that I'm sharing using google photos here:
https://goo.gl/photos/SkS9St2rKZ26fkVZ7

The moral of the story is for $50 - $70 get one as I feel MUCH safer on it especially at night. I mean you can get used to low amounts of lights as I used to cycle on my road bike with low head light mounts but I mean I get up to 30 mph max. This is almost like day light again in front of you. I'm more worried on those dark open roads that something might run across putting me in a bad position or some debris on the road and this really puts my mind at ease allowing me to see and pay attention on whats ahead. It makes me wonder how people in the past road with dim halogen/non halogen bulbs before other than just "tuffin it out" which I respect but I wouldn't go back to it now.

Also I feel I stand out more in the day time as I have one of the screw mounts off so that it wobbles more to be a little more noticeable but not too much to be supper annoying nor damage the kit. Yes I'm that guy that will drive with his brights on in the day time but I don't have it pointed up at peoples heads to blind them and a be a jerk face. I'm sure they would rather be annoyed at my brighter light vs to not see me and run me over. We can all get some road rage at times but once we come down from that and think rationally, I'm sure we were glad or wish we didn't do something being emotional.

tl;dr - buy one you want and never look back.
 
#8 ·
+1 on the Cyclops. Easy to install and unbelievable amount of light on my 2012 Shadow Aero. I ride sweep with my riding group because I am so easy to be seen far in the rear by the road captain due to the bright white light. Just make sure if you purchase one to not touch the bulb while you are installing due to the oils on our fingers can lessen the life of the bulb. I wore simple cotton gloves when installing mine.
 
#15 ·
This is a dual H4.
. I believe it means a high and a low on each side. You can see the two bulbs on each side in the first pic.
here are all of the components on a H4 Opt 7. Tape measure there for scale.
 
#13 ·
@ blue flames: nobody here has found any headlight bucket it WON'T fit, to my knowledge.
 
#18 ·
Ok. I did contact them. Ask if the bulb is one beam or a hi and a low. This is their response.
"Our FluxBeam do come with a dual beam bulb option. On the dual beam bulb the low is a 30W and the high is a 40W per bulb."

So reading that it would appear you have to select the duel beam option. Which takes the price from $54 to $99. If that's the case I think I will go with Cyclops.


Ride like no one is watching. They're probably not.
 
#19 · (Edited)
No, dual H4 means two complete bulbs, both having high and low LEDs inside them. You only need one bulb for a motorcycle. Dual would be for a car or a motorcycle with two headlights, therefore you'd need two (dual) complete bulbs. I paid 50 bucks for one OPT7 bulb there for my bike. It has both high and low LEDS inside.
 
#21 ·
Yeah, that makes sense. I was trying to remember what I ordered. Flux beam, I think it said. Must have cornfused that with dual beam.

Blue flames, you won't be sorry.
 
#24 ·
I just ordered the Afterburner LED headlight. SuperboyX recommended it in a post a few years back. It puts out 4500 Lm on high (50W) and 2250 Lm on low (25W). Haven't put it in my Shadow Spirit yet as I'll probably have to relocate all of the wiring from the bucket to under the gas tank to accommodate the fan. Anything I should know before pulling the wires?

Bulb is available through Canadian Cruiser Customizing.
 
#25 ·
Not familiar with that bulb, but I cannot imagine an LED with the fan large enough that you would need to relocate your wiring.

Check with the outfit that makes it.
If that is indeed the case, I'd send it back and get an OPT7 or Cyclops.

That is way too much hassle for a particular bulb.
 
#26 ·
+1 to the Opt7, installed one on my 59 1100 and I love it, nice and bright, was plug and play however only issue I had was the wiring and hte small unit would not fit in the bucket, so I had to stash it behind the forward faring.
 
#29 ·
I've been wondering about that! I've been thinking about upgrading to the opt7 and I didn't know if it would fit because of the small headlight. I don't know how it compares to the unit that you installed. Has anyone done the opt7 upgrade on the 750 spirit?
 
#28 ·
I savvy that: small bucket.
My mistake. Thought you were putting it in an older bike like mine.
 
#31 ·
I also just ordered an Opt-7. I have switchback LEDs for my turn signals which act as aux lights and in comparison my headlight looks so dim and yellow, even with Silverstars. I like the fact that this one is plug and play as a lot of other options I have seen are pretty complicated with external heatsinks that take up a lot of space.
 
#32 ·
Thank You Scared for this upgrade to my Bike from your ex-bike...


I think I`ll like the change, from what I read here, AND what I SAW when you demonstrated it for me at Dragon Days...


Lets RIDE, BUT NOT in the Dark!
 
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