Just curious......

Never heard or seen this on a bike. All the sport bikes here have the super white bulbs or rainbow colored ones

 

Bikes outrun lights way too easily. It's nearly impossible to get a decent pattern that will work at all lean angles and not blind everyone on a public street. Therefore its hard to justify the cost in a high intensity setup. Also the ballast would be very vulnerable, add undue heft and most importantly take up valuable space. That said you can do it w/ pretty much any aftermarket kit designed to replace oe sized halogen bulbs directly. It has been done several times and in practice should be no more difficult if not easier than the same in an automobile.

 

Forgot about the ballast and space. What do you mean by:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tonydatyga &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bikes outrun lights way too easily. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

you are covering ground faster than your lights can illuminate it... you should learn this in basic driving school. The point is if you saw a fat deer, you wouldn't have enough time to stop before hitting it b/c the lights do no illuminate far enough ahead. Thus the driver is supposed to limit the speed but we all know how that works on 2 wheels.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tonydatyga &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you are covering ground faster than your lights can illuminate it... you should learn this in basic driving school. The point is if you saw a fat deer, you wouldn't have enough time to stop before hitting it b/c the lights do no illuminate far enough ahead. Thus the driver is supposed to limit the speed but we all know how that works on 2 wheels.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is for all vehicles when you go to fast in the dark. That would just be crazy to outrun your lights on a bike, IMO. Scary enough in a car.

 

hah did you think he meant bikes go faster than speed of light? now where can i get that bike

 

A friend of mine has HIDs on his gixx, looks kinda cheesy. The bike looks nice but you cant really tell what it is cause the light would burn ur eyeballz. If your thinking about giving your bike a second look, forget the lights and go for a nice paintjob

 

IMO, Buy something else!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid93Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

This is for all vehicles when you go to fast in the dark. That would just be crazy to outrun your lights on a bike, IMO. Scary enough in a car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its really easy on a bike,its put me in dangerous spots quite a bit...

 

I have seen HID on bikes, infact many bikes. I think its great for 2 reasons.

Safety to see.
Safety of others to see you.

the only thing is be sure to get the right setup, some bikes were setup bad and the glare was horrible and some had a great pattern.

 

I don't know what you guys are saying about HID's bein inferior to standard bulbs on a bike.

I have a conversion on my bike that is WAY better then the stock one. The HID lamp lights up a lot more on the periphery as well as is way better for distance. I've compared them back to to back on my F4.

Didn't look 'cheesy' as if I care what it looks like--I care what it does.

From a safety perspective, at least the one I have is FAR superior--but it is also quite a bit brighter. If you don't have it focused/aimed properly it can be a problem for other motorists. Just need to make sure it is focused properly and it works great. During the daytime I'm at a serious advantage because it is much easier to see me at day than an average bike.

I'm not sure what tony was talking about the balasts 'vulnerable' and taking up space/weight, etc. It is very simple to find room for the ballast, simply stuck it on my front fairing out of of the way. The box on mine is like 1x4x3 or weighs perhaps 12oz. Not a problem, and it isn't real vulnerable to the weather or anything. They are designed to be in the elements.

Lastly they aren't all that expensive--next to your leathers, boots, helmet, I think it is very easy to justify the cost--as long as you get a HID system that does work better on your particular bike.

-k

 

I think I'll just stick with my PIAA H4's

 

I had them on my R1 and ZX6.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rotten &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'm not sure what tony was talking about the balasts 'vulnerable' and taking up space/weight, etc. It is very simple to find room for the ballast, simply stuck it on my front fairing out of of the way. The box on mine is like 1x4x3 or weighs perhaps 12oz. Not a problem, and it isn't real vulnerable to the weather or anything. They are designed to be in the elements.

Lastly they aren't all that expensive--next to your leathers, boots, helmet, I think it is very easy to justify the cost--as long as you get a HID system that does work better on your particular bike.

-k</TD></TR></TABLE>

Vulnerable to moisture and stray objects. Also high temps and impact on the side fairing where you put it. It would nice to have it somewhere centermass around the battery or tail where it would be safe but the nature of the beast requires short leads to the bulb. I'd bet that you're blinding more motorists than you realize, but then again most riders use Hi's during the day so I guess it's a right. I just don't like the way patterns change during lean angles. A good lean pattern is shooting way high to both sides during straight riding. That is right in the face of any oncoming motorist. Cut that down for them and you get no coverage for sweepers. Have to slow sweepers and I don't see the point in riding at all. At least not for the sake of riding. Transportation is another story

 

The F4 has a lot of room near the headlight assembly, which is where I kept mine. Not a lot of heat or moisture, and not a lot of impact. These units are designed to handle a fair amount of heat, dirt, moisture, etc. They aren't delicate units, normally are mounted in the engine compartment of an automobile--is no different on the bike.

I don't know where you'd fit it on the side.

Weight simply is not an issue... a couple of ounces isn't going to make enough of a different to shift the center of gravity.

As far as the patten--I really didn't notice a change in the pattern that was drastic. After all it used the same reflector, just was a lot more light. I never had an issue with the lean angles/pattern, but I suppose that has more to do with the reflector and specific bike then anything.

 

they are also rather vulnerable to theft....just take a rotozip to the side of your fairing reach in and go...

 

I live in Washington state where don't really have to wory about theives with rotozips.

 

J_J do you have any pics of the beam pattern on the ground? Im thinking of HID'ing up my YZF too. What were the pros and cons you noticed?

 

Im more worried about those theives that drive around with those big electromagnetic cranes. Lift your bike right out of the driveway.

 

Don't new Ducatis 998 and 748's come with HID's? Or are they just projectors with halogen bulbs?

 

Sorry, I don't have any beam pattern pics and the bikes were sold a long time ago.

I liked the lights, the only bad thing I can say about them is loss of high beams. This only mattered in the canyons though, other than that I was glad I had HID lights because of the extra visibility.

 

It looks cool but i dont think its worth the money for the function of looking cool. Id rather save my money for rubber.

 

silica

 

you have a couple of options. trail tech is a company that makes a hid foglight that is an inclosed ballast. piaa makes a version too... do some modding and incorperate them into you lights. i have a 93 zx7 with a race front(no headlights) and i molded in two hid projectors that i made from the euro m3 lenses and a set of the hid fogs...get creative. its worth it