Member Contributer 2thdr Posted December 27, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 27, 2013 Good write up. I would really like to do something with my CB1000R headlight. I got spoiled by my 6th gen VFR, which I believe to have excellent lighting. The ST1300 is great too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer mk2davis Posted December 27, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 27, 2013 Thanks for the write up. This seems to be an option worth considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer apexandy Posted December 27, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 27, 2013 A lot of people in my home town of Kelowna are in the over 65 year range and most of the seniors are VERY quick to flash their high beams at you if they protest your bright lights. Supernaturally quick really. It's kinda spooky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted December 28, 2013 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 28, 2013 For those who would feel better ordering a kit from a reputable US based firm that has been around for more than a few years, here is a link to a different site that sells LED upgrade kits. For the most part the kit looks identical to the one I installed and cost is similar though slightly higher. Still looks like it uses Cree LED bulbs and cooling fans mounted in a similar way and with a very similar design. Certainly worth looking at as another company to order a kit from. They also offer a number of other LED products that might be worth looking at. http://www.vleds.com/bulb/h4-cxa-2000lm.html At the time I started looking to upgrade my headlights I had considered the HID's from this company. At the time I was unaware that they sold LED kits. Always good to have a few different options when it comes to purchasing kits. Thanks to Apexandy as he reminded me about this particular company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vfrcapn Posted December 28, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 28, 2013 The eBay company got back to me a few days ago, apologizing profusely because they had apparently run out of stock on the kits after I bought one. They offered 1) an immediate refund, 2) wait 5-6 business days for them to get it back in stock and a small credit to their eBay store. They also posted a note on the eBay auction that delivery was being delayed 5-6 days. So I'll get it in next week, no big deal. Nice of them to get right on it and offer a couple of reasonable solutions. So I asked them if they were genuine Cree chips.. They are genuine Cree LED processors indeed and manufactured in Taiwan.We offer a two-years warranty, if there is any problem,we will issue the exchange.If you have any question,please contact us. Whatever, I'm satisfied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted December 28, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 28, 2013 Very reasonable ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted December 28, 2013 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 28, 2013 I will be interested to hear your appraisal on the LED's vfrcapn. Let me know how it works out, and I hope you are as happy with them as I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I like it!!! Thaks for going to so much trouble with so much detail and the write up and installation instructions and everything. A friend and I are seriously looking at LED options for the VTEC (6th gen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted December 28, 2013 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 28, 2013 I'm glad you found the post helpful. I have received soooo much help from members of this forum that I felt it only fair to return the favour. Not being the MOST mechanically skilled individual (motor and major mechanical things are not my strongest suit) I do enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together. I likely won't be building a Street Fighter like Apexandy's any time soon, but minor upgrades are certainly up my alley. Upgrades always begin with one person or a group of people seeing a need or desire for something different, and doing their best to either make it happen or make it better. The internet and forums like this one sure make it easier to share ideas and I'm happy to be able to share. Whenever I have a written a "How To" I always try to write it for the person, like me, who may have never attempted to perform such a task. I can remember the first time I tried taking the fairings off my 1985 Interceptor (VF1000F) and snapped a tab off because I had no idea how it went together. Live and learn is good, but knowing "How To" without the "Crack, Snap, Awwwwwe S#%^, What did I just break......." is just better. If I could save someone that utter pain and anguish and do something cool at the same time, THAT is just fantastic in my book. My dad always told me "You need to learn something new every day, otherwise life just gets boring." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted December 29, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 29, 2013 My first upgrade I put a Vance & Hines header and rejet carbs on my Suzuki GS750. It ran like crap, tore it back down and recheck every thing nothing wrong. Looked inside the pipe and part of the packing was stuck inside the baffles . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted December 29, 2013 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 29, 2013 I must submit. You Switch, are the better man. However, I do recall having to drop the headliner in a Bentley Continental GTC a little while ago in order to repair the hail damage on the roof, hood,deck lid, fenders and quarter panels a little while ago. Scared the living crap out of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted December 29, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 29, 2013 I must submit. You Switch, are the better man. However, I do recall having to drop the headliner in a Bentley Continental GTC a little while ago in order to repair the hail damage on the roof, hood,deck lid, fenders and quarter panels a little while ago. Scared the living crap out of me. Na Just more experienced .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,84626.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted December 29, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 29, 2013 Looks the same to me ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer JETS Posted December 30, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 30, 2013 Considering that winter has befallen my home town and weather shall not be overly conducive to riding for a little while I shall not be able to really test out the new lights for a while to come. When I took the photos with two bikes side by side the weather was about -15*C and thus not very good for riding. That being said I did take my bike for a spin a little while later in the early evening after it warmed up a bit and the lights did make a WORLD of difference. A lot more light is cast ahead of the bike, including a fair bit more on the ground directly ahead of the bike. The area in front from about the tire to 4 feet ahead there is more light than I ever remember there being. The extra light here is not annoying at all and I really quite like it. The area from about 5 ft to say 30 feet is filled out nicely and there is definitely more, and brighter light than ever before. There also appears to be a lot more light to the sides of the road (contrary to theory that the LED's only have a 125 degree spread and that I will be missing 55 degrees of light to the side, must be extra diffusion off the reflector) and since the light is whiter, I find the color contrast makes objects being illuminated to be much easier to see. Not really sure how to describe this, sort of something one must see to understand. If you have ever driven a car with HID headlights, or one of the new models with LED headlights you may understand but everything the headlights illuminate just seem easier to see. This is all after only a short (maybe 30 km's) 20 minute ride. In the whole time, I had not one high beam flash, and not one person ahead of me was seen to be dimming their rear view mirror, and I paid close attention to this as with most vehicles without tinted window it is relatively easy to see someone adjust the mirror. I also paid close attention to the where the light beam was being cast on the vehicle directly ahead of me, and how far the headlights of the cars beside me cast their headlight beams. From fairly quick first impressions on the road, the amount of light being cast is fairly similar to a current body style BMW M3 hard top convertible, as I was riding beside one down the highway for a short period. One thing I never mentioned in my original post is that the garage shots were done on different days, and the LED headlight photos were done with the bike about 2 feet further away from the door as I had to move the bike back to get to the power panel in the garage when a circuit breaker tripped. This would likely account for the main difference in the height of the cut off line. Apparently I had a few too many Christmas lights plugged into the outlet on the front of the house. Oops, my bad. A lot of people in my home town of Kelowna are in the over 65 year range and most of the seniors are VERY quick to flash their high beams at you if they protest your bright lights. There are also a LOT of younger guys in town that work in the oil patch and drive highly lifted, newer model 4x4's, and with their headlights being an extra 10 inches higher off the ground, they are glaringly bright even in stock form as they are nearly eye level when you are driving. As a result, most people are used to flashing their lights at you if you accidentally leave your high beams on when you come of the rural side roads that are unlit and head in to town where there are street lights. There is a guy living in the apartment block just a half block from my house with a 2005 VFR who has converted to full HID's and he says he is ALWAYS getting flashed. He said if it wasn't for the fact that the factory harness is now all chopped up he would go back to stock headlights. When my wife came outside with me to flick the switches on the headlights from Low to High for me she made an interesting comment. She turned on her headlights (no comment) and when I turned on the new headlights on my bike her comment was "Shit, my headlights SUCK. You were planning on doing the same to my bike, right?" Naturally my response was the same any happily married man would make, "Why, Yes dear!!" LOL. Seriously though, my wife, who normally does not pay a huge amount of attention to adding farkles to her bike was definitely on board with a headlight upgrade. Even with stock bulbs in the headlights (Sylvania Silverstar H4 bulbs in both bikes by the way) she commented that the headlights on her bike were not quite as bright as the stock headlights on my bike. This may in part be due to the fact that the 5th gen has a completely clear headlight lens whereas the 4th gen is not totally clear. Am I happy with them, YES, I would have to say overjoyed at this point. Hopefully biking season this year is not far away and I can provide some more comparisons, but for now, I will have to wait till winter ends. I have ordered a second kit for my wife's bike (96 VFR) and plan to retrofit her headlights as well. When I finished I will definitely post up some before and after photos and I will be sure to be more careful about leaving the bike in the same position so that there is a more accurate depiction of the difference. Hope everyone has a great New Year and all the best. And you get the award for being calm and cool in the face of rampant criticism from the not-here-to see-it, haven't actually-tried-it theorist. It is kind of like the French joke: "I see it works in practice, but does it really work in theory?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 One thing you'll find out is, you can never convince everyone you encounter in this or any other forum that a mod you are doing really works and is worth it, even if the evidence you might find from other forum members supports it and agrees with your results. Just enjoy your mod and learn to ignore any what you think might be untowards/unjustified criticism you might encounter as in the end, you will be the best judge to determine whether the mod does improve your motorcycling experience.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Dutchy Posted December 30, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 30, 2013 Plenty vinegar pissers on the web.................. VFRD is not free from them, but there are by far not as many as I have seen on other forums So they do not like my blue rimtape? I just ordered blue Bridgeports.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted December 30, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 30, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Skids Posted December 30, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 30, 2013 I'd still be interested to hear about the overspill with this mod. Is there a significant amount of light above the cut-off that would annoy/distract oncoming drivers/riders? Also saw in the link to Sport-Touring.net above that some question the amount of light at distance from LED. Is this an issue? Also, would this kit be useable in the UK/Europe with our higher wattage OEM bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted December 31, 2013 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 31, 2013 I'd still be interested to hear about the overspill with this mod. Is there a significant amount of light above the cut-off that would annoy/distract oncoming drivers/riders? Also saw in the link to Sport-Touring.net above that some question the amount of light at distance from LED. Is this an issue? Also, would this kit be useable in the UK/Europe with our higher wattage OEM bulbs? I can not say with 100% certainty that no one was annoyed by the new lights! only that I did not receive a single (please dim you lights) high beam flash from any other motorists while I went for the ride. Granted it was short, but for the most part I do not believe anyone was offended. The amount of lumens projected at a distance from the light, of say 100 ft, as the other forum question posted, is not something I have tested. As I do not have a light meter I can not provide that information. That being said, I would have to compare the amount of light from my headlight versus the stock one on my wife's 96 VFR to do that comparison. I do have a friend who is a semi pro photographer and he likely has one so I will see if I can arrange some tests in this regard. Maybe I can do some side to side measures as well. Likely won't be for a little while yet though I am afraid. As for the kit being useable in European bikes that use higher wattage bulbs? The only suggestion there that I can offer is for someone to try it out and see. If the LED bulbs are say 50 percent brighter than stock then that would mean they should perform better than a 90 W halogen bulb given that I am basing the findings on a 60/55 standard automotive H4 bulb. One of the he reports I read online stated that a standard halogen H4 bulb was rated at 500 or 800 lumens (can't remember which, sorry) and the LED bulbs are rated at 1800 lumens. Even using the higher number that would mean that the LED is more than 100% brighter. I have read a number of posts with regard to the 6th gen bikes stating that the low beams on the 2002 and up VFR use an H4 bulb for the low beams but that only one filament is powered by the socket and the other has no connection to power the high beam filament of the H4 bulb. This would mean that on a 6th gen bike the lower LED (the high beam diode) would never function with this LED kit as there is no power connection available on the factory harness to power this part of the bulb. On the 3rd, 4th and 5th gen bikes the bulb is used as both the high and low beam so the kit should work on these generations without much trouble as far as power to the bulb is concerned. Vfrcapn has mentioned that he has ordered and is going to install a kit on his 5th gen, so it will be interesting to hear his findings as well. I think his riding season is also much longer than mine so hopefully he may have some test results earlier than I will. Gawd I hope winter ends soooooon. I wanna ride my bike. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vfrcapn Posted December 31, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 31, 2013 I got mine in the mail today. I don't know if it was mentioned but the eBay seller lowered the price $15 to $75. I emailed yesterday asking about a refund of the difference and shipping date, got both today - the lights and $15 refund. Stand up seller no doubt. I hope to get this installed new years day and I'll be riding the rest of the week if I do, got to finish the rear brake line in the swingarm install first. edit: Ok, now the price is $179.95. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted December 31, 2013 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 31, 2013 WTF!!! Just looked at them two days ago and they were on for $75. YIKES!!! Must be a typo. I would hope........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keny Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Intresting. LED lights has rapidly become werry afficient, but as whit the HID lights, as the headlights are designed for halogen bulbs whit a werry spesific burn point, there will always be some degre of light going not where its supose to, like in the eyes of agains comming traffic. The only bright whit that is you will be more easylly noticed during daylight by other traffic, and that is not a bad thing as long you dont get a ticket, as they are illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer KevCarver Posted December 31, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 31, 2013 I found it interesting and odd at the last 24 Hours of LeMan the Audi's had massive and massively bright LED headlight arrays that the commentators said had their own cooling fans. I thought that was one the benefits of LEDs, not heating up like incandescent bulbs. Maybe they meant for the electronics? I'm certainly no expert. All I know is the last time I rode my VFR at night on an unlighted road my headlights were pointed so far down as to be near useless. Zoomzoom, did you notice and higher readings on your voltmeter while riding with the LEDs? (I thought your earlier post said you had one installed?) that's my main interest in this, lower power draw. Or do the fans negate that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer KevCarver Posted December 31, 2013 Member Contributer Share Posted December 31, 2013 Nice job vfrcapn. Had to get your $15, now he jacked the price to make it up! :D Oh well, I suspect he just lost a handful of buyers from here. I was seriously thinking about one, and probably another if I liked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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