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6 Posts
Hi Everyone,
I'm Jim from Michigan & Indiana, and this is my first post. I appreciate that this forum is here and have used it for advice & suggestions for months. I bought a 2017 TW in April and have put ~2700 miles on it.
The 1st month of riding my bike, I realized that the stock headlight bulb was basically inadequate for night riding. Although I would like to install a crazy-bright, LED headlight, I want to keep the bike street-legal.
So the First Modification I made was to replace the factory H4 bulb with a higher-end Sylvania, Silver Star Ultra bulb. This made quite a difference in seeing down the road at night. I'd say this easy-to-do modification made the Low-Beam about 20% better, and the High-Beam about 50% better.
The Second Mod was to replace the stock Indicator Lights bulbs with more durable LED bulbs. After a slightly bumpy afternoon ride, two of the filaments bulbs burned out (the TURN and NEUTRAL). I bought several replacement LEDs from SuperbrightLEDs. I tried a simple White LED, but found that using the same colored LED as the plastic lens above the indicators looked the best. So it was best to use Green LEDs for the TURN and NEUTRAL lights, and a BLUE LED for the HI-Beam indicator.
Although the Odometer/Speedometer light was still working, I liked the look a BLUE LED imparted to the instrument and replaced it. Many other colors are available: Red, Green, Purple, Amber, White (various shades--warm to cool) and even Black Light (ultraviolet).
Next, I replaced the factor Tail Light bulb with a more-durable LED, dual function bulb. There were a few to choose from, some were reported to be "Way too bright, you couldn't see the difference between running light and braking." so I opted for one of average brightness. I think its probably 10% brighter than the factory, filament bulb.
The most recent modification was to add 2, small off-road lights (10W each, 30' angle). I removed the 2, yellow reflectors on the motorcycle's fork. I had to increase the diameter of the hole slightly, by running a drill through the mount with a bit just a little larger than the existing hole. To power these lights, I tapped into the bike's HIGH BEAM power system (Black for ground/negative, and Yellow for Positive).
So to use my bright, off-road lights, I need to be using my headlight's HIGH BEAM, then flip another switch to activate the LEDs. This way, if there's on-coming traffic, I can turn off both the off-road LEDs and the HIGH BEAM by simply switching to LOW BEAM. So far, I like this arrangement, and am currently building a mounting bracket for the off-road LED switch (keeping it within thumb distance of my left hand).
See Pictures Below. Thanks!
I'm Jim from Michigan & Indiana, and this is my first post. I appreciate that this forum is here and have used it for advice & suggestions for months. I bought a 2017 TW in April and have put ~2700 miles on it.
The 1st month of riding my bike, I realized that the stock headlight bulb was basically inadequate for night riding. Although I would like to install a crazy-bright, LED headlight, I want to keep the bike street-legal.
So the First Modification I made was to replace the factory H4 bulb with a higher-end Sylvania, Silver Star Ultra bulb. This made quite a difference in seeing down the road at night. I'd say this easy-to-do modification made the Low-Beam about 20% better, and the High-Beam about 50% better.
The Second Mod was to replace the stock Indicator Lights bulbs with more durable LED bulbs. After a slightly bumpy afternoon ride, two of the filaments bulbs burned out (the TURN and NEUTRAL). I bought several replacement LEDs from SuperbrightLEDs. I tried a simple White LED, but found that using the same colored LED as the plastic lens above the indicators looked the best. So it was best to use Green LEDs for the TURN and NEUTRAL lights, and a BLUE LED for the HI-Beam indicator.
Although the Odometer/Speedometer light was still working, I liked the look a BLUE LED imparted to the instrument and replaced it. Many other colors are available: Red, Green, Purple, Amber, White (various shades--warm to cool) and even Black Light (ultraviolet).
Next, I replaced the factor Tail Light bulb with a more-durable LED, dual function bulb. There were a few to choose from, some were reported to be "Way too bright, you couldn't see the difference between running light and braking." so I opted for one of average brightness. I think its probably 10% brighter than the factory, filament bulb.
The most recent modification was to add 2, small off-road lights (10W each, 30' angle). I removed the 2, yellow reflectors on the motorcycle's fork. I had to increase the diameter of the hole slightly, by running a drill through the mount with a bit just a little larger than the existing hole. To power these lights, I tapped into the bike's HIGH BEAM power system (Black for ground/negative, and Yellow for Positive).
So to use my bright, off-road lights, I need to be using my headlight's HIGH BEAM, then flip another switch to activate the LEDs. This way, if there's on-coming traffic, I can turn off both the off-road LEDs and the HIGH BEAM by simply switching to LOW BEAM. So far, I like this arrangement, and am currently building a mounting bracket for the off-road LED switch (keeping it within thumb distance of my left hand).
See Pictures Below. Thanks!
