Dirt bike headlight??

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cruzzer

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Ok, so I have some down time as winter approaches and nursing a injury from a bad crash in the NJ pines a couple weeks ago. I was asked to start practicing night riding by a friend to possibly take part of a 24hr race next august. My bike is a beta 350rr. I have a 200w charging system, a AGM gel battery, its fuel injected.. The headlight it comes with is a joke. Its DOT but I can't see how. I can't see the end of my driveway at night and my driveway isn't that long. I don't ride roads much, maybe 6 miles at a shot to the trail head and rarely past dark. Looking for some major lumens as I live in deer alley of the pocono's. Ive hit one every other year with my trucks and hit several on bikes in the woods. Night will be interesting. My friend is hooking me up with helmet lights that are battery powered that look similar to some in the mountain bike section. Ive found Baja design lights but don't want to spend $400 on something I may not end up getting into. At 47 night riding seems a bit risky. Any lighting advice?
 

Alaric Darconville

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Ok, so I have some down time as winter approaches and nursing a injury from a bad crash in the NJ pines a couple weeks ago. I was asked to start practicing night riding by a friend to possibly take part of a 24hr race next august. My bike is a beta 350rr.
If you can possibly get a bracket fabbed to either install this or this, go for it.


I live in deer alley of the pocono's.
Apparently, deer love getting killed (and sometimes take drivers and with them) over there. You may need better lighting on all your other vehicles, and you (and a lot of the drivers that are hitting deer) may need to *slow down*.

My friend is hooking me up with helmet lights that are battery powered that look similar to some in the mountain bike section.
Be sure not to use those on public roadways.
 

cruzzer

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I'm looking at the baja designs 8" race light mount but its a lot of weight to put on the front of a dirt bike. plus the mounts are not cheap. i've been looking for a decent 5.75" version for a while but have not come up with anything. And I know about the helmet lights a no no on the roads.. good thing is we have no local PD.. only State Police patrol and they leave us alone. My jeep I was running the Hella E-code with osram hyper H4's 115w high beams. I know off road only but was great for deer spotting. I'm driving a 15 silverado currently and have not upgraded the headlights yet. Will do it soon as they are bad. My 05 colorado has better lights stock.
 

cruzzer

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Oh,, and I'm only 35 minutes from Susquehanna motorsports. -rallylights.com guys. They helped my put lights on several other bikes but I need really bright without breaking the bank. The one I want there is like $710..
 

Alaric Darconville

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i've been looking for a decent 5.75" version for a while but have not come up with anything.
You will not find a better 5.75" motorcycle headlamp than the JW Speaker I linked above.

And I know about the helmet lights a no no on the roads.. good thing is we have no local PD.. only State Police patrol and they leave us alone.
Shouldn't matter if they're there or not. Don't use a helmet light on a public road. Rule 11 applies here; you're endangering others if you use such a light on a public road whether the police are there to observe it or not, or whether they ticket you or not.

My jeep I was running the Hella E-code with osram hyper H4's 115w high beams. I know off road only but was great for deer spotting.
Those Osram "Off Road" Hyper H4 are blue-tinted junk. Any advantage a 100W (nominal) major filament or 80W (nominal) minor filament might give you is lost in reduced beam focus from oversize filaments, and by the deep blue tint on the bulb. Not a good bulb to run if you want to avoid hitting things.
 

cruzzer

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I may have not made this clear, this is a race bike, not a street bike.. The bike is NOT street legal, it has a license plate but does not pass state inspection, not even close. We are required to have our bikes plated in the type of racing we do as a requirement to use some of the ground for the races. Our races are usually 65-90 miles cross country, timed enduro type events. My whole bike wet weighs only 252 pounds with all gear, guards and oversized fuel tank full. I don't want to add 20 pounds of lighting to it also. The lighting used for night racing will also not stay on the bike. It will be off except for during practice and an event where needed.
I was looking at this set up but cost is prohibiting
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Alaric Darconville

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I don't want to add 20 pounds of lighting to it also.
The shipping weight of the Model 8790 Adaptive headlamp is 2.2lbs. You're not going to be adding 20lbs by replacing the factory lamp with the JW Speaker lamp. You don't need to upgrade your electrical system for it; it's LED and draws 2.9A on high beam, 1.9A on low, and 3.5A with low beam at maximum lean-- the most power this lamp uses is under 48W.

It's an expensive lamp but you will be able to see very well with it.
 

cruzzer

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Mounting a round headlight to the bike would be a challenge. the available kits are the one on the blue bike above. This adds about 14 pounds directly on the steering/forks. The white plastic shell pictured above is what I have with a molded plastic lens. I can put a h4 bulb in but anything with power is a risk of melting the stock lens and the optics of the stock lens are poor at best. I'm looking around to find a way to mount a 5.75 round without major trouble but not coming up with much but harley headlight shells.
And the rounds are $$ but the lumens are not that impressive for the cash. The BD squadron is 4900, does come with a dimmer also but again is $$$. Was on superbrightled's and looking at the 20w 4" twin led light. I may get one to play around with. At night I don't ride on the street. I usually trailer to the trail or camp on the mountain.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Well, looks like your weight requirements are far more important to you than being able to see. You're fixated on weight and on source lumens; the JW Speaker lamp (whether the 7" or 5¾" model) itself is extremely lightweight and the actual useful lumens from it will be far better than any lamp using the (introduced in 1971!) H4 in the same form factor, even with the most advanced H4 bulb available today.

Baja Designs' chief product is marketing. "They make products that emit light" is about all I can say about them.
 
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cruzzer

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I looked into both the adaptive headlights you mentioned. They look like they would be great on the road. Way too much cut off for off road. I need more light, small a package as possible. Reading the specs on those they seam to be gauge on lumens but have found some sites that list them around 3000? Not bad but I would need that in a bigger broadcast. The thing your thinking about is street use. I'm going through the woods at high speeds. The cut off really screws with your depth perception at speed. Ine of the other guys I ride with has two 6" light bars mounted to the front of his bike, one flood one spot. I'm going to have my one buddy who weld alum fab up a bracket for the front to test a few options out. If I can find a 5.75 round headlight holder that isn't heavy harley type thing I'll try mounting one up and see how it does. I'll post pics. Have a bit of time as I believe I have a few more weeks off due to the injury. And weight is a major factor, but if the light is worth it is feasible.. but if not its not.
 

Del

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Well, looks like your weight requirements are far more important to you than being able to see. You're fixated on weight and on source lumens; the JW Speaker lamp (whether the 7" or 5¾" model) itself is extremely lightweight and the actual useful lumens from it will be far better than any lamp using the (introduced in 1971!) H4 in the same form factor, even with the most advanced H4 bulb available today.

Baja Designs' chief product is marketing. "They make products that emit light" is about all I can say about them.

I am having problems seeing the "Like" button after reading your posts!
 

Alaric Darconville

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Thinking about something along this line <snip>
You've been informed of what's worthwhile, but insist on taking the unsafe route because it's cheaper and lighter but mostly because you think you know more than we do. Quite a bit of the same things apply off-road as on-road. You don't want excessive foreground illumination. You want to see distant objects. You don't want a lot of backscatter.

Because of the consistent gainsaying of good advice, and the repeated Rule 3 violations, this thread is closed. A set of recommendations has been made-- accept them or don't, but don't expect us to congratulate you if you don't.
 
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