Riding at night / and HID  By  jdmsoldier (Read 3,665 times)

11 pole upgrade guide scootdawg.proboards.com/thread/21253?page=1

Animals are definitely something to watch out for at night, especially if you ride country roads.

I had a deer jump out right in front of me several days ago. I braked HARD and hit the horn at the same time, my front tire didn't lock up but it made some skidding sounds, rather than one long skid. I got stopped quick, too! The deer was right in front of me sideways and jumped back further away of me when it finally saw me----still in my line of fire, then darted off. I would've came really close to hitting it if it didn't jump away.

Too close for comfort, yet no big deal and not enough to deter me from ever riding at night. My heart skipped a few beats, and then it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home.

I ran over a raccoon once, but other than that nothing major. It's gonna happen sooner or later no matter what you drive.

Another thing is riding after a storm, especially at night. Look out for debree(branches, tree limbs, small trees, etc) as a lot of that stuff isn't going to be moved off the road for quite some time.

Road debris can dangerous at night...especially from blow outs from old tires. It's a dark object on a black road, which makes it very tough to see from a distance

I do like midnight rides in the country and good lighting does help. My current bike came with twin 55 watt H7 lamps mounted in automotive grade housings located in the front body fairing. They throw a lot of light front and off to the sides which is one of the main deciding factors in my choosing the bike. Yes I tend to over-analyze.

A moderate upgrade after 2 years usage when the low beam bulb burned out was to go with the Sylvania/Osram Xtravision H7 bulb instead. That bulb even though only moderately more expensive then a standard H7 and the same wattage as the original is 3 timers brighter, throws a beam of light 2 times as far and has a 3 times wider beam of light. The only gotcha is the bulb life is about half that of a standard H7 so I only expect to get 1 year from the bulb however it is reccomended that you replace headlamp bulbs annually anyway as the drop-off in light production increases greatly after that. I ride 3 hours per day 360 (that is three hundred sixty don't know why a smiley face show when I see 3 6 0 in the editer) plus days per year while I may take full day trips while on vacation and end up riding 10 to 16 hours per day then on a 280 to 520 mile ride so I combined probably get about 1,500 to 2,000 hours on my bike and it lamps by the end of the year. A 1,500 mile ride to New England or a ride to the Smokies is not out of the question either.

I upgraded my BA20D from 18/18 to 25/25, then to an H4 45/45 but that one had a black tip and cast a huge shadow.
Now I run a bi-xenon 6000k. The lens has never got too warm to touch, even sitting in the sun, running for 20+ minutes for EFI computer tuning, stationary. I also did NOT add any cooling holes like others have done.
I haven't been for a late night ride, but dusk and dawn are well lit. I did change all the other bulbs to LED. I am running an 11 pole stator.

Originally bought the Xingyue for $900
The BA20D bulbs were $8.
The H4 was $9
The HID kit was $30
the LEDs were about $35 including the LED flasher unit.
EFI $430
new exhaust about $100, plus $15 to have the O2 bung welded on.
pod air filter $12
stator upgrade around $100
air-horn $29
13g sliders $30
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$1687
Plus oil, misc vacuum hoses, some spare wire and connections
Riding it for my fourth season now, passed 7100 miles earlier this week.