PIAA Madness

[Sand_man]

Not sure what to make of the Auxilary Lighting world. I live in a rural area and will be riding primarily on a divided freeway in the mountains, and two/four lane rural roads.

 

Have tons of deer (and some moose) in the area. Know I want/need peripheral views, but do not want to compromise too much projection down the middle.

 

Have narrowed down my selection to two systems;

 

PIAA 510XT SMR

PIAA 910

 

Any and all input/suggestions regarding these lights, or additional systems, would be appreciated.

 

[Rocket_Cowboy]

I had a pair of PIAA 910s mounted under the mirrors on my previous bike, the ST1300.

 

Overall, I really liked those lights, but was limited as to when I could actually use them. Riding long stretches of Interstate, there's too much oncoming traffic at any hour of night to be able to leave them on. The only time I could use them for any real duration was when I was out on 1 or 2 lane county roads well after dark. Most of my travel puts me on the Interstate after dark, so the only time they were getting real use was on long distance rallies. The 910 will reach far out into the darkness, and does a good job lighting up deer eyes at quite a distance, but I found myself wanting more up close lighting to cover the shoulders while not blinding oncoming cars.

 

This time around while setting up the RT, I'll probably go with the PIAA 1100X's. I'm still trying to work out mounts for them, but I had purchased them when I had the ST1300 to use as those fill lights I was looking for. If I can find a good way to mount them to the RT, I might finally put them to use.

[ednowicki]

I have PIAA 1100X's mounted under the oil cooler on my 1150RT. I notice good peripherial lighting with these lights.

 

I understand the downside to these lights are 1)not a long service life on the bulbs, and 2)expensive bulbs.

 

I got mine on ebay for much less than MSRP.

 

 

Ed

[tallman]

Sand,

3 areas

 

first, conspicuity of your vehicle to oncoming vehicles

a Motolight caliper/fork/fender set up does a good job.

When you change tires, the caliper ones come off/on

these turn w/front wheel add more side illumination and light up down the roadway a bit

 

second, lighting the roadway, real world usable to supplement low beams such as PIAA 1100, they do a very good job extending direct light down the road, this is a factor of mounting height, ususally under oil cooler

or

landing lights that you can only use w/out oncoming traffic

 

third, change of stock bulbs or change to HID, do a search, many positive results

 

I have up graded my low beam headlight

added Motolights

and PIAA 1100

my morning commute is in the dark, over an hour, 2 lane, w/99% of road traffic coming at me

very seldom get any flash w/low & Motos

@ 1-2% flash low/Moto &PIAA's

have 35 mile stretch w/almost no traffic

high/mot/PIAA's does an excellent job of Bambi/road lighting w/PIAA's almost like a high beam

the PIAA's add quite a bit of light to the roadway, more than a high beam forhundreds of yards

the high (stock) beam extends a bit further

HID gives you the best results AFAIK, higher initial costs

better long term, BUT I don't have them and don't know real world reactions of oncoming cars to them

Best wishes

[BluesTraveler]

Like Rocket Cowboy I too had PIAA 910's mounted under my mirrors only on a ST1100. I had the same problem with being able to use them. They really put out some light and put it way down the road. Many switch out the 110 watt bulbs for 85 watt bulbs and were able to use them more often. My line of thought is there is no such thing as too much light so I stayed with the 110's and only used them when I could get away with it. The 910's also seem to be made better then the rest with an alloy case ( looks nice when polished) and a crystal lens, I liked that.

 

Big plus is when that on coming cage won't dim his lights. All it takes is a quick on and off of the 910's and they dim theres in an instant.

[hindsight]

I had the PIAA 540 ion cyrstals on my GS and changed them out for the Lightforce 170 and I couldn't be happier. They are lighter than the PIAA and put out much better light. Plus I can change out the lenses so I have a pencil beam or a more defracted light for fog or a combination of the two.

 

Don't rule out the Lightforce offerings.

 

Motorcycle R&R in SLC is where I bought mine.

 

Good luck.

[Officer_Impersonator]

I had these installed on my bike a couple of months ago.

 

http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/PIAA-3-Driving-Lamp-Kit-p-18327.html

 

I had them fork mounted, so the light follows my turn. The fork mounting is really neat when you're maneuvering around a dark parking garage or other slow speed/sharp turn environment.

 

Out on the roads, they are super easy to position so you can, with a little trial and error, aim them so they provide maximum coverage in whatever direction you want without blinding oncoming cars or blasting the rear view mirror of the car in front of you.

 

The lights really enhance your visibility to other drivers as well. They are visibile not only from the front of the bike, but also from the sides as well, which helps prevent the cages from merging into you.

 

I think the aluminum mounts you can see on the Aerostich web page are what I have (or similar). They mounted right on to the reflector mounts on each of the front fork tubes.

 

I never ride without my extra lights switched on.

 

Pictures of my set-up are here:

 

http://www.dvandkq.net/Motorrad.htm

[DR Major]

take a look at the Hella FF50.

 

I have them on my GSA and really like them!! Better than PIAA 1100 at putting light down the road. The 1100 have a much wider beam pattern.

[snod]

I have the PIA 910's mounted above my mirrors, and PIA 1100's mounted under the oil cooler. The 910's really get down the road. I use them mostly on back roads, and deserted Interstates. They ave been my friends at 2:00 AM a few times. The high mount position helps show critter eyes very well. The 1100's are good for close in. I leave them on most all the time, day and night. They seem to help ward off the occasional inatentive cager. Both sets are controlled by Autoswitch. The 910's are in parallel with the high beam, so that I can cut the blinding stuff all at once with one switch. The 1100's are on the turn signal cancel. I also have 10 gauge running to my H4, and use an 80/100 in it. The only improvement I would make would be to uprade to HID's on the high mounts.

[BluesTraveler]

Hindsight: I had a friend turn me on to a free set of the Light Force 170's. I have them mounted on my GS. They are a great light and im very happy with them. Like you said, they are very light in weight and the lenses are interchangable. They also have colored lenses, from yellow (not sure why) to black light. You can also focus them by turning the lens in and out something like a Mag flashlight. Did not know this till the friend who gave them to me pointed this out.

[beemerFROG]

I have a set of the 510's mounted under my mirrors on brackets I made myself and they do a GREAT job. I am in the process of mounting Hella Micro DE's to home made brackets that will mount them just ahead of the "engine ears" so as to have them only about a foot or so off the ground. I have also swapped out the bulbs in the Hella's for yellow bulbs in an effort to get lower lighting without the reflection from white light. (That's my only issue with the position of the 510's, they look great and the light is terrific, unless you run into some fog!) I am in the process of making a custom switcher box that attaches to my tank bag that will allow me to seperately switch driving lights, fog lights, heated gloves, heated clothing (SAE), have a cig plug, and allow additional power to tank bag items (cell phone, temp/ clock/ timer/ volt, i-pod) I'll send pics and diagrams when I am finished.

 

So far... it's pretty COOL!

Of course my wife thinks I am the biggest GEEK! Any help or words of encouragement that can be passed along to her would be helpful. If not encouraging, you can make fun of her a bit if you like.

[Sand_man]

Appreciate everyone's input. Have yet to narrow down my choice of lights.

 

It appears there are endless ways to accomplish this task, as it boils down to personal preference, though I'm leaning toward two sets of lights to accomplish both roles.

 

Am interested in previously mentioned techniques for dovetailing the systems to the low/high beam switch (THX snod.) Any other concepts on layouts would be welcomed.

 

Thanks to all for the ideas!

BH

[graemer57]

I have a set of the 510's mounted under my mirrors on brackets I made myself and they do a GREAT job.

 

Can you post some bigger pictures please

[beemerFROG]

Here are some pics of the mirror brackets that I had laying around as well as a mount I made for attaching my Givi case. As I said, I will post the Hella brackets as soon as I finish, hopefully within a week.