Cheap Kitchen Headlight Bulbs!!!

[Hogzi]

Hi,

I just bought one of those cheap aftermarket headlamp fairings and have just looked at the bulbs fitted and they look like the ones from your kitchen/bathroom lights!!
The current bulbs are 35w each but I've seen in B&Q they do 50w ones. Does anyone have a headlamp fairing fitted like this and has anyone tried to uprate the wattage without melting anything?

I realise they are cheap units but it might be worth a go for a bit more light.

Cheers

[Sid Squid]

You'll never get any light output worth mentioning, don't waste your money. The 12V downlight bulbs are fine in their many and varied correcet uses, in mulitiples for instance in your kitchen ceiling, they are completely inadequate for road use though, my feeling.

[Scoobs]

Agree with Mr Squid. I have got the same bulbs in my pushbike lights. They are adequate (possibly even overkill 2 x 20watts) for my pushbike commute. However, at motorcyle speeds they just won't light enough of the road to be of any use.

[Hogzi]

Yeah I thought that would be the reply. Ho hum.

Will the bike pass the MOT with these fitted do you know?

Just have to save up for some projectors £180 !!

[Scoobs]

Will the bike pass the MOT with these fitted do you know?

Don't know for definite, but I am thinking - NO. :?

[northwind]

Have you seen Pyramids' Mantis headlight/cowl thing? Comes with a pair of proper projectors, rather nicely put together too. I don't liek the style but it's a huge step i teh right direction for these things- the Acerbis ones are just miserable for night riding. A mate of mine used to have one on his Bandit, and I foolishly took it out for a shakedown ride after fixing some bits for him, and went into the unlit roads near mine... Pretty much horrendous.

Or, KTM Duke 2 headlight assembly...

[northwind]

Or here's another thought... GSXR headlight. Looks surprisngly good without the plastics, you see a few streetfighters done up that way.

http://i14.ebayimg.com/03/i/04/ac/49/bf_1_b.JPG

[Hogzi]

Anyone seen the Acerbis Cyclops? It's got 55w bulbs and looks kinda mean.

[Ceri JC]

On the subject of the damp candle headlight power of a lot of 'fighter cowls, can anyone confirm/deny whether HID systems run cool enough (given their increased energy efficieny and light over standard ones, I can only assume they run cooler than normal bulbs) that you can shoehorn them into cheap fighter cowls without melting them? IE do they run as cool as (or almost) as the rubbish stock "kitchen fitment" ones?

EDIT: Northwind, that looks mint. The gsx-r lights are one of the few things I dislike about the GSX-R styling (on the original bike), but out of the fairing it looks really good. Got any pics of bikes with it fitted?

[northwind]

Can't find any just now, seen a few though- there was a bike in Streetfighters a while back that had one fitted, with a wee bit of fibreglass plastered on it... And an SV on SV Rider with it, though it was a bit of a rough job.

[the_runt69]

Have them in my bellypan, nice little lights and quite bright when new but yellow rapidly.

H