[Ice]

Daniel  Stern explains the ins and outs of lighting far better than I can.
Heres a link to his web page.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

[olhogrider]

WOW! Thank you so much for that. I will now stop screwing around and go back to a sealed beam. I could have fought with this thing for a long time with no good results. Here's the link to what I was doing.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Too bad, it looked cool and appeared way more visible when looked at from the front. I have no doubt it makes a better daytime running light but I was really looking to light up the road.

BTW I liked him in City Slickers and the voice over in The Wonder Years. Oh, wait. Is that a different Daniel Stern?

[Ducati Scotty]

Awesome article.  Nice to see that someone knows all those kits are crap and wrote down exactly why

Scott

[Ice]

Take a look at the 7" pre assembled headlight that the store carries.
 It puts out far more usable light and throws it farther forward than the stock 5 3/4" sealed beam unit.

[olhogrider]

That is what I should have done but now I have a whole collection of crap. I am using the nfieldgear headlight rings and a 7" Wagner sealed beam. In back to back to back comparison with the HID and H4, I get the best result with the sealed beam.

[Ducati Scotty]

The 7" from NField Gear is even better because it's a moto specific headlight. The beam pattern is just a little different from the auto 7'.  Probably not worth the cost though if you already have a 7" Halogen Wagner.  Even the 5 3/4" Halogen Wagner was way better than stock.

I had the 5 3/4" Halogen Wagner, then a 5 3/4" with a 55/60w H4 bulb.  Both of these were because I just didn't have the cash to get the 7" but needed better than what stock was giving me.  Now that I have the 7" I wish I had just credit carded it on day 1.  It works and looks so much better than stock it's a bargain at twice the price.

Scott

[1 Thump]

That is what I should have done but now I have a whole collection of crap. I am using the nfieldgear headlight rings and a 7" Wagner sealed beam. In back to back to back comparison with the HID and H4, I get the best result with the sealed beam.

In your experience with the HID, do you think the HID might fit this light ?

[olhogrider]

In your experience with the HID, do you think the HID might fit this light ?

Amar, if you follow the links you will see that it is not a question of fitting in the housing. The problem is the shape of the HID arc vis the reflector in the housing. You can have my HID bulb and transformer. You might like the results. I didn't.

The articles really make the point that it is a system and needs to be engineered as such. Trying to adapt 21st century tech to 19th century optics is tough. You are welcome to try.

[barenekd]

Saturday, took a ride in my truck to get a fender my dealer had for me. He handed me the package it came in and I took it home.
This looks like it ought to be a snap, should be done in a half hour or so..
I started to remove the little bolts from Olde J-3 and and when I got them out, i discovered the fender still wouldn't move. Ok, let's remove the big nuts on the inside of the forks. Oops, those are bolts and won't clear the tire. Jack up the front wheel and and try to get that off. While trying to get the Axle nut off, the whole axle is turning taking the speedo drive with it. This ain't good, Dig out the 3/8" impact gun (very worn out after 40 years of use) and see if it'll do the job. It didn't. Ok, what can I use to stop the axle from turning. The wrenches won't reach the floor and I can't find anything to prop the end of the wrench on. Let's see, maybe the BIG crescent will work. Ok it's holding the axle and voila, it will reach the floor. Continue taking the axle nut off and have to find a drift to knock it out. OK, it's out and the wheel has dropped to the floor.
Now I can get the fender nuts out. Can't move the fender, though. The gaiters are in the way, so had to shove them up out of the way and wrestle around quite a bit to get the fender mounts out, and twist the fender to get it out. I grab a plastic fender bag  and remove the fender-it's a rear fender. I grab the other bag and and pull the fender bag and pull the fender out and it's another rear fender! Damn!
I ponder on what I'm going to do with the old fender, am I going to go through that battle to put it back on, or just ride it without a fender. I stack the axle through the forks an wheel to hold it on overnight and figured the jack is going to leak down (it did) and the bike is either going to be sitting on the forks or the center stand is going to fold up as it goes down and the bike will crash. It didn't.
Sunday morning, still pondering, but will probably go with no fender for awhile.
I'll be getting some new tires in a week or so, so I'll revisit the question.
Bare
 

[olhogrider]

What do you need a fender for? I hear it never rains in Southern California.

[GlennF]

Take a look at the 7" pre assembled headlight that the store carries.
 It puts out far more usable light and throws it farther forward than the stock 5 3/4" sealed beam unit.

In Australia the UCE bikes come with a 7" beam and it puts out passable light.

That said, my early motorcycling days were spent at a place called Moree on the western plains of NSW. Long flat dead straight roads and lots of wildlife. After a few incidents with the boucy furry critters tourist love I came to appreciate better lights. ( A hint for visitors, accelerate at kangaroos not brake as you really do not want to collide with one with your front wheel heavy under brakes. This technique saved me a serious fall when I collected a roo at 60mph and managed to glance off him. He mangled my driving lights, crash bars, left pegs and pipes but I came out uninjured and did not drop the bike. )

My XJ900 at that stage had a 100w halogen 8" main beam and a pair of 55w driving lights slung off the crash bars.

These days I no longer live on the edge of the outback and am too old to hammer through the countryside at night at 100mph plus, nor could the bullet do that even if I wanted to. I am also doubtful bullet electrics could handle 200w of lights.

Which gets to the point of this post. Extra lighting never hurts and one possibility is retain the standard headlight and fit a HID mini driving light. A single HID accessory light should draw about 50w (35w for the arc and 15w ballast). Alternatively you could have a relay disable the normal high beam and switch on a pair of HID drivers when you flip to high beam.

[barenekd]

What do you need a fender for? I hear it never rains in Southern California.

Not the rain, it's those streams at intersections where people have been watering their lawns. Actually, the biggest reason I put it back on is that the fender is one hell of a fork brace. If I had another fork brace handy, I would've left it off.
I have become an expert in the art of removing and replacing front fenders on G5s, though. and it is an art! I replaced the old one today, it went better than the removal, but there were still tings to be learned. The only bad thing about this exercise is that I have to do it again when the real front fender arrives. I said I know how, I didn't say I cared for the job!
Bare

[GlennF]

Not the rain, it's those streams at intersections where people have been watering their lawns. Actually, the biggest reason I put it back on is that the fender is one hell of a fork brace. If I had another fork brace handy, I would've left it off.
I have become an expert in the art of removing and replacing front fenders on G5s, though. and it is an art! I replaced the old one today, it went better than the removal, but there were still tings to be learned. The only bad thing about this exercise is that I have to do it again when the real front fender arrives. I said I know how, I didn't say I cared for the job!
Bare

Next time, video the procedure and put it on youTube

[Desi Bike]

Today was my day off work so with the wonderful weather I went for a ride. Crossed over the  Ambassador bridge from Ontario into Detroit and caused some suspicion at the border with an inquisitive US Customs guard. He was all over my bike, stopping short of licking it. I had to open up all the compartments and such. Turns out he is a biker too, and hadnt seen a RE before. Methinks he might buy one now lol! I gave him the name of the local dealer in Detroit, Crawford Sales, might be a referral bonus for me if he buys one haha.  The ride went flawlessly on the bumpy roads of the forgotten, abandoned and decaying sections of Detroit. Cruised up the riverside past all the fancy houses and took the Sombra ferry back over to Canada. I must say the ferry ride was better than the open decking of the Ambassador Bridge. 200 miles of smiles today.

[bob bezin]

picked up a 3 inch nail at 55+ mph..tire went down in a second . bike went all over the road i kept it upright . pumped all my adrenelen . a harley guy gave me a ride home (3) miles. got my trailor  now i'm wondering if i should get a new tire.it's kinda worn, and i was thinking or taking it to steelville.