Self leveling headlight for a motorcycle?

[och]

Not sure if this has even been asked before, or if anyone has considered it. I own a KTM supermoto motorcycle that has a lot of suspension travel, and under moderate to hard braking the front dips so much that the headlight illuminates barely 6 feet forward. Taking curvy highway exits in dark rural areas gets very sketchy. The bike came stock with a halogen headlight, there are LED aftermarket headlights available - they are brighter, but they don't solve the issue of the headlight pointing down when the front dips.

I know many cars have self leveling headlights, mostly cars with LED and HID projector setups, but there is nothing like that for motorcycles. There is an adaptive motorcycle headlight from JW speaker, and in fact I have it on my cruiser motorcycle, and it does a great job of illuminating the road into the direction of the bikes path when the bike is leaning into a curve, but it still doesn't have a self leveling function.

I don't know if there are any aftermarket headlights that have built in self leveling mechanisms, but at this point I am actually considering retrofitting a car headlight onto the bike. I need ideas which headlight may work. So far the only one that comes to mind is the one from Mercedes G-wagen - they are plain round shape, and I believe the self leveling system is internally self contained within the headlight. But I'm open for any other suggestions.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

KTM supermoto would imply off road maybe racing?

The less expensive more effective answer:

Pro 2200 MX RACE (4 Cell) Helmet Mount Light

The Pro 2200 MX Race Helmet Headlamp is equipped with 3 high quality LEDs and comes with Jawbone MX Mount for Pro Series. The quickly and securely attaches to full face helmets allowing you see farther into a turn, giving you more confidence through tight dark turns. SPECIFICATIONS BY FL1...

www.niterider.com

They have more light and more battery capacity options.

There are other less expensive options like Oxbow and Amazonian fare.

 

[och]

KTM supermoto would imply off road maybe racing?

The less expensive more effective answer:

Pro 2200 MX RACE (4 Cell) Helmet Mount Light

The Pro 2200 MX Race Helmet Headlamp is equipped with 3 high quality LEDs and comes with Jawbone MX Mount for Pro Series. The quickly and securely attaches to full face helmets allowing you see farther into a turn, giving you more confidence through tight dark turns. SPECIFICATIONS BY FL1...

www.niterider.com

They have more light and more battery capacity options.

There are other less expensive options like Oxbow and Amazonian fare.

Neat idea indeed, but this is certainly more of an offroad application - I use my motorcycle on the public highways.

 

[turbodog]

Self-leveling motorcycle headlight bulbs offer a huge, cheap safety upgrade

The ALLight guys didn't manage to get their self-leveling motorcycle headlight bulb over the line in their first crowdfunding attempt, but they're back, and this time it looks like it's going to happen. It's a simple gadget that replaces your stock headlight bulb with one that stays level in…

newatlas.com

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Is it against the law to have a helmet mounted light source on a public road?

 

[John_Galt]

Is it against the law to have a helmet mounted light source on a public road?

States may have some differences, but I'd say that's a no-no, federally. Even if it's a legal gray, and even if you wired the helmet lamp to trigger on/off with the bikes highbeam, it takes one trooper having a bad day to ruin it.

I am not aware of any self leveling lamps on bikes.

 

[John_Galt]

Is it against the law to have a helmet mounted light source on a public road?

States may have some differences, but I'd say that's a no-no, federally. Even if it's a legal gray, and even if you wired the helmet lamp to trigger on/off with the bikes highbeam, it takes one trooper having a bad day to ruin it.

I am not aware of any self leveling lamps on bikes.

Perhaps an auxiliary lowbeam lamp, mounted to the fork, and wired to tilt upwards with a servo motor and lever arm with some sort of raspberry pi controlled accelerometer?

 

[och]

Well, I have decided to design a custom bracket to mount aux lights to the bottom fork, that stay stationary. Right now I have a set of aux lights mounted to the crash bars, which move with the suspension travel, so I will have to do some custom work.

 

[turbodog]

Well, I have decided to design a custom bracket to mount aux lights to the bottom fork, that stay stationary. Right now I have a set of aux lights mounted to the crash bars, which move with the suspension travel, so I will have to do some custom work.

Do yourself a favor and add a headlight modulator. Like to keep you around for a while...

 

[alpg88]

Is it against the law to have a helmet mounted light source on a public road?

bicycle riders have those, not a lot but I see them use a headlamp mounted on their helmet, some even have red light on the back of their helmet. never heard anyone get in troubles for it here, bikes here ride on public roads all the time. Never seen a motorcycle rider have one thou.

ALLight replaces your motorcycle headlight bulb with a self-leveling projector beam

Motorcycle headlights are generally pretty flaccid, sorry things to start with, but when you lean a bike over into a corner, things get a lot worse. Unless you're riding something like the BMW K1600GT – still one of the only bikes on the market to rock self-leveling headlights – the second you tip…

newatlas.com

Adaptive LED Motorcycle Headlight at J.W. Speaker

The Adaptive Series LED motorcycle headlights address a longstanding shortcoming of traditional motorcycle headlights by filling in the dark while cornering.

www.jwspeaker.com

 

[KITROBASKIN]

A motorcycle driven on public roads with homemade illumination?

 

[alpg88]

A motorcycle driven on public roads with homemade illumination?

Not home made, but made in the house lol

 

[och]

The lights I am planning to use are not home made, I'm planning to use either Denali fog lamps, or Diode Dynamics fog lamps. The bracket to mount them is going to be custom made to fit onto the lower forks, which is not exactly an unusual location, made adventure bikes have such setups from the factory - this way the lights wont dive with the bikes suspension. I'll update the thread once I finish this, it'll be a while.

 

[alpg88]

A fog light for a headlight??? interesting solution. completely different beam profiles, but yea, update us on the progress

 

[scalpel_ninja]

A fog light as a headlight?

Paging Alaric & Virgil… 🤣

 

[yellow]

My Alfa Romeo Giulietta has such leveling projector lights (the HID variant at least).
They also look quite small behind that outside covering glass.

The light/beam itself is by far better than the led beams of the New Toyota Corolla.

Just to give another possible "source" apart the Mercedes one.

PS: i have been told the output power is the measure if a Projektor light gets (auto) leveling or not.
Unfortunately the Toyota lights are too weak that the car has to be equipped such way.

 

[och]

A fog light for a headlight??? interesting solution. completely different beam profiles, but yea, update us on the progress

Not going to be a headlight, but rather to assist the headlight. Like I was saying before, under moderate application of the front brake, the front suspension of my motorcycles dives so much that the headlight output barely throws 6-10 feet forward. Since it getting and retrofitting a self leveling headlight is a difficult task, I can settle for a set of good fog lights mounted to a location that does not move with the suspension - this way I can still have some kind of forward lighting regardless of what the suspension is doing to my headlight. And of course, I will not get a set of cheap LEDs, I'll get something with certified fog beam that has a nice pattern and sharp cutoff, either from Diode Dynamics of Denali.

I already have such setup on my cruiser motorcycle, now I will have to do something similar on my supermoto.

 

[och]

My Alfa Romeo Giulietta has such leveling projector lights (the HID variant at least).
They also look quite small behind that outside covering glass.

The light/beam itself is by far better than the led beams of the New Toyota Corolla.

Just to give another possible "source" apart the Mercedes one.

PS: i have been told the output power is the measure if a Projektor light gets (auto) leveling or not.
Unfortunately the Toyota lights are too weak that the car has to be equipped such way.

There are many automotive headlights with the self leveling function, but to retrofit one to a motorcycle it must be a simple shape - round or rectangle, that's why I was thinking the G-wagen light.

 

[alpg88]

G-wagon lights are pretty bulky, they only look like motorcycle lights on the outside.

 

[John_Galt]

Hefty unit right there. Adding a lamp to a (relatively) fixed position is likely the most practical answer to this situation. A high output fog may be sufficient for low speed situations, as described. But perhaps a small "90mm " retrofit lamp would be a better choice. Would give you greater distance.

Edit- perhaps even looking at halogen options, for reduced expense, a hella 60mm low beam projector. Per the departed alaric/virgil, they were poor performing lamps, but they should have further projection than even a DD SS3 Max fog.