If the lens has an arrow pointing to the left (kerb) then the lens is for a rhd motorcycle, if there is no arrow, then the lens is for a Lhd motorcycle. Not sure what the protocol is on recent bikes where the headlight lens is ‘universal’, possibly a double ended arrow. Much easier to get a lhd replacement than a rhd one, old BMW boxer suppliers are a good source. If you ride with your lights on, either by choice or rule of law, worth considering a LED headlamp bulb which draw around 30w, gives your old alternator and possibly switch gear an easier ride. Make sure you get one that gives some form of beam pattern, the cheaper ones deliver no pattern at all.
This is exactly the lens I have. Looked it up with ref. 1.305.604.017 found on it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/372795890309 The SSD parts catalog shows two different references for lhd and rhd, as it should. Still have to figure which one I have, but the bike coming from Japan (and probably from Australia or NZ before that), it should be lhd… Anyways, I no longer ride at night. Rule of law in France is for bikes to ride with lights on even during day time. I use high beam by choice. Bikes seem to be invisible to people in cars. So it’s become a matter of safety for me…
The lens on your lamp is a RHD one. If you look at the facet in the lens adjacent to the 4 in H4, that is for a RHD vehicle. If that almost triangular facet was adjacent to the H in H4, it would be LHD.
I think the lens you have listed is a right hand dip for a lhd vehicle, as it doesn’t have an arrow on the glass which would point to the kerb (left hand dip) as fitted to a rhd vehicle, per the example below, arrow under the E mark. As such the one you have looks correct for France. Even if it’s the original lens, doesn’t mean the bike was not delivered to a rhd country, as in those days if they didn’t have the correct headlight for the country, I think they just fitted whatever was in the parts bin…..
In Japan, England, Australia, NZ, etc. all vehicles drive on the left side of the road, don’t they? I assumed this is what you guys called LHD… A bit confused about the naming now. I guess LHD refers to the side on which the wheel is found inside a car then? Which doesn’t apply to a motorcycle…right? As @Mr Bimble mentionned just above, I do not have the little left pointing arrow on my lens. And the whole « drawing/facet/dip » inside the glass is symmetrically opposed to the picture he posted. So… I guess I’ll figure it out when I switch the light on for the first time, and see on which side the beam goes higher. which is the curb side (for a better view of road signs et all…).
No. It refers to the side of the car that the steering wheel is on and can be a little confusing! As to the headlamp, it's not the arrow per se, it is the way that the lens is designed.Look at the picture immediately above of yours, then look at the one posted above it by Mr Bimble. Mr B's is for EU / USA / LHD countries, yours is a UK / Aus / NZ / Japan et al RHD countries. Focus on the triangular almost section of the lens - that's the bit which decides how the dip or cutoff works. I think you're going to have to get a correct lens for the headlamp, if only to fit it just for the Controle Technique as the RHD one will fail on the beam pattern when tested.
I am pretty sure the pic posted by @Mr Bimble is actually for Australia/England/NZ/Japan RHD countries, as he explains (little arrow pointing left etc.) Just to confirm, I went and checked my 851 lense. That bike never left the EU (Austria > Germany > France). And the little « triangular » shape is on the left. I believe it’s role is to lower the beam of light on that side (to prevent blinding opposite traffic drivers). It’s just like on my Darmah’s lense. So there is no more doubt for me now. It’s a EU/LHD lense.
For final confirmation see the following two links at MDINA Italia: Countries that drive on the left i.e. RHD e.g. UK, Australia, Japan https://www.mdinaitalia.co.uk/SKU080138275.html Countries that drive on the right i.e. LHD e.g. EU & USA https://www.mdinaitalia.co.uk/SKU080138275.1.html
Having just looked at a photo of my Discovery with LHD lamps, the lenses are the same as the one on your bike Guillaume so I shall get my coat and slowly edge out of the conversation..........
Glad to know I wasn't the only one that got confused... this was why after raising the topic I never added further comment... ho hum.
Well… while you were pondering whether you would google this lense nonsense or not, I went and looked into the clutch. Very happy with what I found in there. Everything looks as new. Friction discs are « Surflex » branded, clutch pack is 40mm thick and springs look healthy at a 29.5-29.9 mesured height. I fiddled with the troncated push rod, cleaned and greased up. I was anticipating more drama with this one, but it went pretty well after reading this: https://forum.bevelheaven.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=92 And also realizing that if everything goes out pushed left to right when removing it, the small diameter bits need to go back through the left (clutch) side and the bigger diameter ones through the right (sprocket) side. Very simple. With this done, sprocket is back on. Looking good !
The first time you take the bike for a full throttle blast, you will find out whether the clutch slips or not. Hope not, but if it slips it's pretty quick to slip in a new clutch plate stack.
After i tuned my 900 the damn clutch slipped when it felt like. 450 single springs, different friction plates and the plain set surface ground flat. Even then it would still give at times. Achilles heel.
Yeah all the plates looked good on mine and sure enough in the initial days there was quite a bit of slippage when giving him some grunt at only around 4/5k. Tbh by then I'd had enough of working on him (for various reasons) and just wanted to get out & ride so I shrugged & put the slippage down to the long lay up and the use of a modern multigrade oil.... But as the miles went by the slippage got better & it now only appears occasionally, often when cold and always when, as Pete mentioned, giving it big throttle at 5/6k revs. And I can live with that. Besides you get the best out of the bike by rolling the throttle on/off and maintaining progress rather than in a point & squirt manner.
