Boxerdad Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 After searching the site I noticed that at least one of you hade trouble with the front fender striking aux lights mounted under the oil cooler. Is this a common problem? For those of you mounting your lights up high, have you noticed oncoming traffic having difficulty seeing your turn signals? Do those of you with fork mounted lights notice shaky light beams and shortened bulb life due to fork vibrations? If snow is God’s way of telling us to modify, then brother…I need to modify! Link to comment
USAF1 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 After searching the site I noticed that at least one of you hade trouble with the front fender striking aux lights mounted under the oil cooler. Is this a common problem? I had trouble just like you're describing. But I think if I'd moved it a bit further back....inside, it may have worked.....more work than I wanted to do. Took it all off. For those of you mounting your lights up high, have you noticed oncoming traffic having difficulty seeing your turn signals? Do you have trouble seeing turn signals on cars?? A lot of vehicles have them closer to their headlights than we have on our bikes. But your questions did cause me to wonder.......how would you notice that they'd noticed?? Do those of you with fork mounted lights notice shaky light beams and shortened bulb life due to fork vibrations? No.....Have had my Motolights on for just about a year now.....they get dirty....and that's about it. Have not had to change a bulb out yet. They've got about 500 hrs on them by now. Pat Link to comment
beemerFROG Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I have a set of PIAA 510's mounted under my mirrors on home made brackets and I have never had any problems with traffic flashing brights at me. My only issue is in the fog, they tend to reflect too much. In response to that I am just finishing up mounting a set of Hella Micro DE on brackets (home made, "I like to tinker!") that place them just in front of the engine "ears", maybe 12 or so inches off the ground. I have replaced the bulbs with yellow ones and will most likely just run them in the day time too, just to be seen. The PIAA's are a great light that make a world of difference so adding the Hella's should just make things even better! Hope this helps. Link to comment
MASSRTRider Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I have PIAA 1100's mounted just below the oil cooler inlet on my 1100RT and when I hit a bad bump the right side light comes into contact with the fender. It has caused some small scratches that usually can be buffed out. I also have discovered that the PIAA bulbs do not last very long. I typically ride about 15k miles a year and am lucky to get an entire season out of a set of bulbs. Add to that the bulbs are expensive $40 each and a major PIA to change. I have been seriously thinking about switching to Moto-Lights. They have a set up that mounts to the calipers and they guarantee their bulbs forever. If they do burn out it should be easier to swap bulbs as they are out in an easily reached place. The drawbacks I can see for this mounting design is possible damage as they do sort out "hang out" at a low height and might catch some flying debris. I would think the chances are rare for this to happen. The other issue might be the light pattern moving when you turn the handlebars, although this might be useful in some situations. Good luck on your decision. Link to comment
philbytx Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 I installed PIAA's with Martin Fab. fender brackets. No problems in over 4 years of use. I preferred the fork mount to the inside mounts as they are easier to set up and I can angle them for "deer spotting" plus, when stopped you can use them as spotlights by turning the forks Link to comment
FrankT Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 I have the fork mounted Motologhts, no problem with shaky beam or shortened bulb life. As pointed out above, they guarantee their bulbs for life, and even if one burns out in the middle of nowhere, they can be found at Home Depot and such places. I went with the fork mount over the caliper mount since with the latter, every time you remove the calipers, i.e. at front tire and brake pad replacement, you also have to remove, reinstall, and re-aim the lights. I'm not sure about the snow, not much here, but sure enuf cold to modify. Link to comment
wolcott Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I have a '98 RT with pat's EMP brackets, eager beaver headlamp harness, and FF50's. I ride at night a lot through the boonies of SW Florida. I have had everthing from gators to possums to racoons run out in front to me (thank you, ABS) and thankfully have never wrecked. I feel that with the FF50's on at night, that I am blinding oncoming traffic so I always turn them off with my autoswitch which is connected to my t/s cancel button. With the FF50's on, an upgraded lighting harness with relays, and an upgraded bulb- It just makes me paranoid that I am blinding the oncoming cage monkey and he will take me out by crossing over the center lane. Comments on FF50,s? Link to comment
Jim VonBaden Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I have the fork mounted Motologhts, no problem with shaky beam or shortened bulb life. As pointed out above, they guarantee their bulbs for life, and even if one burns out in the middle of nowhere, they can be found at Home Depot and such places. I went with the fork mount over the caliper mount since with the latter, every time you remove the calipers, i.e. at front tire and brake pad replacement, you also have to remove, reinstall, and re-aim the lights. I'm not sure about the snow, not much here, but sure enuf cold to modify. Same experience on 3 bikes now, and 85K miles, with no issues. Jim Link to comment
Boxerdad Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Can anyone tell me where I can get some Pat's EMP Brackets? Link to comment
Davis Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 http://www.empdesigns.com/ Production has stopped since the 1200 design changed, so supply is limited to stock on hand. If there aren't any EMP brackets left, you could post a wanted in the classifieds here and on IBMWR. Also, there is a similar product except it allows the lights to be over or Under the mirrors which also was being closed out. See this post Link to comment
Delboy Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Have you thought about these,i bought some for mine and i`m really pleased,very simple and relativly cheap. http://www.hawksproducts.com/images/MivaFSOwl-LH.jpg Link to comment
USAF1 Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Fernando might still have some left also....he's at www.motoequip.com Pat Link to comment
Ken H. Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I have a '98 RT with pat's EMP brackets, eager beaver headlamp harness, and FF50's. I ride at night a lot through the boonies of SW Florida. I have had everthing from gators to possums to racoons run out in front to me (thank you, ABS) and thankfully have never wrecked. I feel that with the FF50's on at night, that I am blinding oncoming traffic so I always turn them off with my autoswitch which is connected to my t/s cancel button. With the FF50's on, an upgraded lighting harness with relays, and an upgraded bulb- It just makes me paranoid that I am blinding the oncoming cage monkey and he will take me out by crossing over the center lane. Comments on FF50,s? If your FF50s are aimed right, I don't think they are much of an issue to oncoming. I rarely have people "flash back" at me with mine always on. Link to comment
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