An evening ride testing HIDs through Mary Valley.... ST1300

[Diesel]

So I've just finished a massive wiring project on the ST, and also fitted the V-Stream windscreen, and it happens to be Friday evening.....         hmmmmm...

You wouldn't know it - 20 mins later I find myself heading in to the setting sun towards the Wide Bay / South Burnett Region of Queensland.

For me - that means a ripper burn up the Mary Valley Way which includes the lovely boroughs of Kenilworth, Amamoor, Kandanga and Gympie. All this after a great run up to Maleny, and dropping down the range out the back door.

A quick check of the outside temperature at 6pm whilst riding,  to see if I'll die of frost bite...



30*C - should be OK!       

Anyways - the miles rolled on and the sun disappeared and it was time to see what the HIDs and Halogens were capable of....



WOW! - Like everyone will tell you, the pics don't quite do justice to the actual scene - and they are a little blurry...



Here are the full lights on.... dual 55W HID headlights on high beam; 55W Halogen spotlights; and 55W HID spot lights...notice the glare back from the HID covers to the rider's eyes. I'll have to put black tape over them, and I'll have to raise that RHS HID spottie a gnat's knacker....



And here is the same with no HID spotlights...



With this setup, I am able to set an aggressive angle on the 55W under-mirror halogen spotties (to light up the tabledrains) to an angle of around 30* from straight. This also helps see "around" corners as you tip in.....



The frontal and side illumination is impressive and reassuring. Flotsam, jetsum, potholes, and other organic matter (read mammal carcasses) on the road in front of the bike are extremely well lit up and plenty of notice of their position in my lane is given for avoidance. It does not reduce the amount of wildlife - nor stop them firing out of the ground cover at you, but the amount of warning when approaching stationary or slow moving ones is greatly increased.

They say you can NEVER have enough light and this is true, as most OEM headlight arrays are found 'wanting' when night riding out in the great black yonder.

One unexpected result was a slight ache to my left thumb from being too sh*t-scared to move it away from the dip-switch for oncoming traffic! I couldn't always see the oncoming glare letting me know that a car was coming, so I had to be quick on the trigger so as not to turn them to organic dust!

ALL my light arrays are switched to different circuits (but work in unison) so that I can have all sorts of lighting combos to suit different conditions.



See the independent switches on my LHS glove box panel here....



Here is a pic of what Stella Treacherous (my FarWeapon) looks like now....




These were taken at the big traveller service centre just south of Gympie whilst having a nice warm moccha after a heavy session of research!

332kms for the evening. Smile measured around 150mm (ear to ear).

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Diesel

[Whizz]

Mate, that looks REALLY impressive, there should be no threat from wildlife, if they slowed down even a little bit they'd burst into flames!! It would be interesting to have an Ammeter in your alternator O/P circuit to see what sort of current drain you are imposing on the alternator...quite high I'd think!

[ST2UP]

Very cool....we run IPF HID's on our cars, I'm a convert of a couple of years ago......haven't bothered with the bike lighting other than +100 H4's....I'm not a purist, sun goes down bike comes off the road, to many grass hoppers with attitude.

How went the Screen ??? Don't leave us hanging !!!

Cheers

[tj189]

interested in the screen as well, does it hit the lights when you put it down?

[Diesel]

Cheers - here is a pic I took during the wiring stage on a hi (or low - dunno which one) aperture setting....



The HIDs are the 6000K temperature variety. Clearly brighter than the halogens under the mirror. Visible here also are the 'marker' lights (in the corners of the headlight array), which used to be the same colour as the old halogen headlights.


The bacon in front of the bike was just about ready when I took this.       


The V-Stream wind screen:

- is waaaay more efficient at throwing the wind around you;
- gives a better 'attack' to the front (causing less turbulence/buffeting);
- goes up waaaay higher than OEM screen (I was able to mount this screen back on the lower of the two factory positions); and
- gently kisses the HID cases as she squeezes past them when raising or lowering. A small amount of flex is observed during this operation.

Cheers, Diesel

[Down Under]

Some where in south east QLD!   

[Diesel]

Ha! My lights don't cause anywhere near as much concern for other motorists as the ones on YOUR bike do.                               

[OzRider]

Diesel to get even better lighting remove the plastic covers makes a heap of difference plus to dont get flare back off the tabs that hold the covers on 

[Streak]

Diesel to get even better lighting remove the plastic covers makes a heap of difference plus to dont get flare back off the tabs that hold the covers on 

 i know why we use light covers.  but for the smaller HIDS and stuff is it worth having them on, i get a bit of flare back from mine

[OzRider]

I leave the covers on of a day at night I figure there is not as much traffic on the road so less rocks etc, I like as much light as I can get......maybe I'm scared of the dark 

[Streak]

Duly noted ;)

[Tackleberry]

To avoid the flare from the covers just put a bit of gaffa tape around the lights.  Holds the cover on and also blocks out the flare.  I find them better on than off so I'm not paying for extra lights I don't need. 

[saaz]

A Steve says, some tape around the light does wonders for reducing glare. The converted driving lights tend to have more glare, like the Narvas I did.

[ST2UP]

If your at all concerned running without your clear covers you can get a roll of Light Skinz.....they are a clear stick on film that you cut to size and stick onto the lens of your lights that are rock absorbent to some degree, as they are flush against the lens I find no noticeable light distortion.

Cheers

[saaz]

Never heard of that before, so thanks for the tip. I prefer having no headlight cover as it tends to reduce the light and increase glare, so that could be what I am after.  It would be good to have on under the plastic covers untill the HIDs are needed, then off with the plastic covers.

[JuST Peter]

A workmate has this on his 4WD headlights and reckons they'll withstand being hit with a hammer, although he declined my offer to test the theory 

[saaz]

I just went out and bought a lightskin motorcycle kit.  There is enough film in there to easily do over 4  ST11 headlights (going lengthwise, 2 protectors out of each section).  I will do my headlight and HIDs.  Have to see if I can squeeze in the car headlights or do some others bike headlights.

For anyone who has not applied this type of film before, the main tricks are plenty of soapy water solution to you can locate the film properly, a squeege to apply it and squeeze out the bubbles, and a bit of heat if required to form the film to a curved surface.  Any sign writer who does vinyl signs could do it easily (I used to do some)

ST13 has a more curved headlight so don't know how many could be done from one kit.