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View Full Version : Driving lights and other farkles



Ritten
03-25-2009, 05:08 PM
I went on a little back road ride this past weekend with some buddies who ride around town and seeing the pig of a GS up against those shiny, clean, new machines really made me smile. HOWEVER, it also made me realize that a bike can have too many personality quirks to it and it's time for me to fix-r-up.

The list:

- Replace the spacer/bolt combo that sheared off between the H&B crash bars and the engine. Part of the bolt was left in the block so I'm sure this will have to be drilled out (definitely NOT e/z!) I've already contacted Andrew at Adventures Workshop to see if he can get me the parts.....waiting on email.

- Soak and clean the spoke wheels. After a few dozen tire changes and wheel weight relocations, I am left with sticky felt and residue all around the wheels.

- The wiring for my battery tender has corroded and broken pretty bad. New cord is on order

- Jesse bag seals and cam locks. I think when I dumped the bike on the Canadian Hwy. in Alberta..........or when I was damn near hanging off a cliff in Colorado and had to drop it on it's side.......or overloading the port bag with ammo for a shootout one day......I must have bent one of the cam locks since the box now sits at a tiny slight angle. The seals also need replacing as I have never lubed them or treated the rubber.....Dohh

- Driving lights.....this is where I'm asking for opinions. For the past 3 or 4 years I've run the Hella FF50's and loved them. The only problem is that I can't really find a lens guard for them and rocks have broken the glass lenses and allowed water/dirt to scuff up the reflectors to the point that they're about half as bright as they originally were. I LOVE the small profile of these lights and am looking for someone who may be running the FF75's or FF100's which are just a tad bigger, but also have guards available. Anyone......Bueller..........Bueller?

- I've also noticed 3 or 4 little bolts and screws that have been sacrificed to the road gods, but those should be easy enough to replace after a visit to the local hardware store.



....and NO I am not getting ready to sell this bike. Just getting it ready for another 3 or 4 years of riding.

ka5ysy
03-25-2009, 09:21 PM
- Driving lights.....this is where I'm asking for opinions. For the past 3 or 4 years I've run the Hella FF50's and loved them. The only problem is that I can't really find a lens guard for them and rocks have broken the glass lenses and allowed water/dirt to scuff up the reflectors to the point that they're about half as bright as they originally were. I LOVE the small profile of these lights and am looking for someone who may be running the FF75's or FF100's which are just a tad bigger, but also have guards available. Anyone......Bueller..........Bueller?



Here are the auxiliary lights and brackets I purchased from Lumalink (Gordy Tool, Inc.) They make a number of brackets and sell a lot of different lamps to mount on them. They are also good people to deal with.

Their site is here:

http://www.lumalink.com/

The brackets are the Split-Link Style Bracket set for the R1200R, and the lights are the Trail Tech SMR-16 HID Lights. These lights have built-in high voltage ballasts which greatly simplifies installation. The interesting thing to note is that these lights are the exact same thing that PIAA sells at considerably more cost. The wiring harness furnished with these lights is a latching relay setup that is very easy to install and tuck into a spot under the seat, and actually carries the PIAA logo on the switch!. They work great. One suggestion that I have is to order the "SPOT" rather than the FLOOD lamps. The spots are not that tight like a pencil beam and two will cover about a 30 degree wide area on each side of the bike with some overlap in the center.

By happy accident I had ordered two floods, and the set actually came with a spot and a flood which is the way PIAA sells their set. While doing the installation, I discovered the error and ordered a second spot to finish the installation. The floodlights in this size lamp spread the light too much for useful distance, but would work as turn or cornering lamps which I will probably install at some point.

Here is the setup:

View of the overall setup on the R1200R:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/ka5ysy/DSC_7719.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/ka5ysy/DSC_7720.jpg

Closeup of one of the lamps on the Lumalink bracket:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/ka5ysy/DSC_7721.jpg

Oblique View:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/ka5ysy/DSC_7722.jpg


I have, since installation, removed the yellow reflectors and moved the brackets down to the base of the forks to avoid a clearance problem with the tank and the lights when turned at full lock either side.

The Trail Tech lamps are outstanding lights! I have run them in dark areas, and can easily see a good mile down the road, and within a quarter mile, everything is like high noon lighting. Cages do not miss them in the daylight either !

Ritten
03-25-2009, 11:08 PM
They look great.........how do they hold up to a rock at 70mph?