My headlight has always been crap (dim) from new, I`ve put a Ring `up to 100% brighter` xenon bulb in but still the comparative difference to other bikes lights is destinctly noticable. Other than a HID conversion or not riding at night are there any glitches to look out for specific to this bike or is it just the standard wop electrics? Bike in question is a 2007 900ie supersport with low miles and no electrical mods.
Check earths, check for corroded connectors, bad realay etc. Just to make you feel better both my 749 and Muttley have crap dipped beam.
headlight on my ss ie is rather dim yellow looking especially next to the led sidelight bulb going to check the wiring and add an extra earth to the headlight on the point of hid lighting I was looking at converting to hid on the ss found a kit on ebay available for £19.99
`Ride slowly at night..?` You must be fu**ing joking! the last time it was 50 mph and excruciating wrists knees neck etc etc by the time I got home I had lost the will to live. :Bawling: Seriously though I have already checked the earthing and connections. I know HID`s are an MOT failure but someone was recently telling me that they can drain the battery due to high output and the bulbs blow frequently. My understanding is they run at 35w or so therefore I assumed the power consumption is less?
I shat myself every time I was out in the dark on my SS. My mobylete had a better headlight when I was a nipper in France! Quite frankly there is nothing to be done as the reflector is of very poor design.
I was trawling the internet for a write up on these lights, quite expensive works out to about $200 to ship to the uk Motorcycle Headlight | 70 Watt LED Motorcycle Lights | Led Lights | Led Light Bar | Lifetime Led Lights Saw them mentioned on another forum a while back, just need to get some actual feedback I've also written to these guys to see if they have ever done the conversion for an SSIE Ducati Designs, LLC - Headlight Upgrades
Graft on a set of VFR VTEC lights. My VFR headlights are better than my car (seriously). I think it just comes down to it being a shite lens shape? My carby is terrible too
I converted to a hawk hid kit, cheap, not as good as the one on my ST but far better than standard, recommended
A candle is better than the standard light. I find it baffling how the design and testing team can't rectify this problem after doing road test. Shows they never go out at night.
Thought this was about ET for a moment My SS wasn't the greatest for light either think the bulb was changed to a brighter one which helped Do they have dark nights in Italy?
interesting it was the hawk hid conversion I was looking at apparently does not need a separate live feed compared to usual hid conversion but have not got a clue as not dealt with hid conversion before
sorry mate,, did not mean your conversion which sounds good idea,, but the light situation in general,,,, lots a darkness ooop ere
I recently bought and fitted a hawk HID conversion to my 04 ssie. When I bought the bike I ditched the standard bulbs for osram nightbreaker's which made a noticeable improvement but it was still poor. I fitted the HID and down an unlit road its one step better than the bulb upgrade but even with cleaning the glass on the inside and the reflector its still no par on previous bikes because of the crap design of the light. Easy to fit too, best way take out the light its much quicker that way and just plug into existing H4 socket. Perhaps a wiring upgrade would help too but its a start and boy can u see it coming.
just been looking up about hid lights just out of interest as been told these bulbs are illegal and would fail an mot ? not heard this info before during discussion so upshot of it all is hid bulb does not give correct beam in a headlight designed for a halogen bulb something to do with the way the light is emitted from the hid compared to halogen so you get a bright light but not a lot of projection with hid conversion in old headlight tech so you really need a complete hid headlight assembly with different lense for it to work ........... not sure about all this but seems feasible explanation link below made interesting reading if nothing else Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
