So I've been wanting to add some auxiliary lighting for a while now. Love the Motolights, but I wanted to see what I could come up with on a smaller budget. I like the "triangle of light" concept. I hope that simply MORE light will make me more visible, and the triangle will help my bike to stand out as a separate vehicle rather than blend in with the headlights of the cars behind me.
I've been trolling for PIAA's on eBay for a while, but was never really sure what would work best. I finally settled on some PIAA 002 X Extreme lights and got them for $46. If you got them for less, please don't tell me.
I chose them because they were only 35 watts, and I am concerned about using too much power and being stranded with a run-down battery. I would actually prefer to have a freight train headlight, but for some reason I don't think that would work. My bike, an SV650, doesn't generate a lot of surplus power (I think I have about 125 watts to play with, and like to run a GPS occasionally and have heated gear when it's cold. I'll probably still have to choose between heat or light.) Plus they looked about the right size and weren't fugly.
I was a little worried about how I was going to mount them and have been looking through various forums for ideas. When they came in, a friend helped me wire them up, and I mounted them right where the front wheel reflectors were. Put some wire conduit around the white wire harness to clean it up. The brackets have two slotted holes for mounting, but I only used one. It seems pretty solid, but I'll have to keep checking them to make sure they stand up to vibrations and velocity. The best thing of all is how BRIGHT they are!
They are smaller than I thought they would be, but they blend in with the bike really well (in my most humble opinion). I'm very happy with them. Here's some pics of them, they actually look brighter in person.
I've been trolling for PIAA's on eBay for a while, but was never really sure what would work best. I finally settled on some PIAA 002 X Extreme lights and got them for $46. If you got them for less, please don't tell me.
I chose them because they were only 35 watts, and I am concerned about using too much power and being stranded with a run-down battery. I would actually prefer to have a freight train headlight, but for some reason I don't think that would work. My bike, an SV650, doesn't generate a lot of surplus power (I think I have about 125 watts to play with, and like to run a GPS occasionally and have heated gear when it's cold. I'll probably still have to choose between heat or light.) Plus they looked about the right size and weren't fugly.
I was a little worried about how I was going to mount them and have been looking through various forums for ideas. When they came in, a friend helped me wire them up, and I mounted them right where the front wheel reflectors were. Put some wire conduit around the white wire harness to clean it up. The brackets have two slotted holes for mounting, but I only used one. It seems pretty solid, but I'll have to keep checking them to make sure they stand up to vibrations and velocity. The best thing of all is how BRIGHT they are!
They are smaller than I thought they would be, but they blend in with the bike really well (in my most humble opinion). I'm very happy with them. Here's some pics of them, they actually look brighter in person.
