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Anyone Else Disappointed With The Head Lamps?


ShinyVFR

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That's not that good, there's dark area right in front of the bike ..

I think that's on the high beam, innit?

Would explain the dark spot directly ahead of the bike.

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That dark area is there on the lowbeams as well.

Ah! Thank you. I guess it's like any other bike, really. I just put some auxiliary spots on my 6th gen

ciaW7T1l.jpg

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With proper viewing technique, the dark part should not be a problem. Looking right in front of the bike instead of far away is one of the most common beginner's mistakes. I've only been riding for 2 years and I still have to force myself not to do it. There is nothing of interest there while riding; if anything appears that close, it's too late for a reaction.

I rode a demo 800F in fog at night, and I thought the lights were great.

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Some headlight conversions dump so much light onto the ground directly in front of the bike they could possibly cause pupil contraction. However, it is very difficult to tell from a photo what the beam spread actually looks like.

Ciao,

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you get a good spread which easily covers the width of any road I have ridden on , dark spot just in front of bike but the distance is great. I get light back from ref;lective signs that are 1/4 mile away! If I am following a car I can see that it is my bright white rather than the cars murky yellow which is lighting the road ahead. Seriously, there is little wrong with the lights

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well I didn't take the pic whilst moving :wacko: I was at the end of a small lay-by though I had to be quick, didn't want to be mistaken for a dogger

And your weren't riding faster then the speed of light were you. It having the new VTEC motor and all.

:goofy:

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Sorry but I think you guys are getting sidetracked by the real issue with the headlights. Riding straight ahead or around gentle curves the headlights are great with good long view illumination. It is around dark tight bends that the issue appears. The LED puts out a fairly narrow band of light and as you crank the bile over it looses the apex of the turn so you cant see it and it throws your (at least my) judgement out. Here in the UK we have loads of dark roundabouts which I find myself crawling around in the dark on my VFR. On my Pani I have no issues and can knee down around the same corners at night. I don't know how Honda are going to fix this with the LED lights but the dark patch you get in front of the bike which you would ignore when going in a straight line imo becomes a real issue around dark tight corners.

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Gotta agree it would be a problem for me.

Sorry but I think you guys are getting sidetracked by the real issue with the headlights. Riding straight ahead or around gentle curves the headlights are great with good long view illumination. It is around dark tight bends that the issue appears. The LED puts out a fairly narrow band of light and as you crank the bile over it looses the apex of the turn so you cant see it and it throws your (at least my) judgement out. Here in the UK we have loads of dark roundabouts which I find myself crawling around in the dark on my VFR. On my Pani I have no issues and can knee down around the same corners at night. I don't know how Honda are going to fix this with the LED lights but the dark patch you get in front of the bike which you would ignore when going in a straight line imo becomes a real issue around dark tight corners.

And I know just add some aux. driving lights but still .

Now wondering what Honda did to help ? Larger LED's or more or more and larger LED's .

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I see your point, Paul, but I think this is a function of the sharp cut-off found on LED (as well as projector xenon) headlight systems, so it is not going to be easy to solve. With a sharp cut-off, low beam is never going to enable you to see into the corner whilst leaned over. Perhaps Honda has omitted the LHS "kick-up" on their UK-spec bikes (opting for a completely flat cut-off), which I believe is legal. (They might have done this so that the bike could be ridden on the Continent w/o having to change the kick-up.) I had an Audi S3 that went from an LHS kick-up to no kick-up at all when you moved the adjuster levers. Ironically, the "low-tech" DOT-spec headlamps (which, legend has it, are designed to provide illumination of overhead road signs...) would work better in these kind of cornering situations!

How is it on main (high) beam? Still cut-off?

Ciao,

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Hey International Bodger you are right on. It is the light and dark cut off issue. On the Duk using halogens the light sort of fades to dark where the VFR G8 has great illumination then more or less just blackness. When I've really had to slow down around a corner at night I've puled the headlight flasher while on low beam and this sort of helps. I love the LED light for cruising but I'm still not too sold on them for twisty dark roads or dark roundabouts. Maybe some halogen helpers will work.

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  • 3 weeks later...

In recent weeks, I've become aware that dark and especially wet roads aren't being lit very well by the headlight within the close quarters of the bike, the wet roads make it terrible to see much at all at night, I've decided to go for a more close wash light without spoiling the look of the bike.

I've ordered a set of Denali DM1, with the 25 degree optic in they should do the trick. I'll look at mounting options when they arrive but my first thought is between the forks and clamped to the top of the outer tube.

I'll let you know how I get on.

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  • 1 year later...

I agree with PaulB, I can put up with the dark spot when going straight, but tight turns in the dark, I have a thin strip of light, and not much is illuminated around the corner.   You don't need to be knee dragging, but going slow in tight corners (around 30K), and it is really bad.  I have not looked, but is it a bulb or optics issue?    You can get LED bulbs for all the different types, wondering if the bulbs are interchangeable, or if you have to replace the whole unit - housing and all..

 

 

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On 11/12/2014 at 0:17 AM, PaulB said:

Sorry but I think you guys are getting sidetracked by the real issue with the headlights. Riding straight ahead or around gentle curves the headlights are great with good long view illumination. It is around dark tight bends that the issue appears. The LED puts out a fairly narrow band of light and as you crank the bile over it looses the apex of the turn so you cant see it and it throws your (at least my) judgement out. Here in the UK we have loads of dark roundabouts which I find myself crawling around in the dark on my VFR. On my Pani I have no issues and can knee down around the same corners at night. I don't know how Honda are going to fix this with the LED lights but the dark patch you get in front of the bike which you would ignore when going in a straight line imo becomes a real issue around dark tight corners.

 

Paul is absolutely right, it's only high beam in unlit corners that's the issue; with the really sharp cut-off you get with LEDs you don't get the 'secondary' light (if I can call it that) that the four halogens on the 6th gen give out, which allows you to see better round bends in the dark when leant over.

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An old thread but an interesting one nonetheless, especially for me now that I have a 2015 model 800X Crossrunner which has the same headlight as the 800F.

 

I agree that night cornering is not as well illuminated with the LED setup as it was on the 6th Gen, probably due to the sharp cut-off inherent in LEDs as much as the beam pattern. A set of aux lights would probably sort that as long as they were properly set up and aimed. Conversely, for day riding I think the LEDs are fantastic and catch the eye of cage drivers even better than the best incandescent setup that I've seen.

 

I'd like to get some aux lighting for my winter mornings & evenings but the standard setup from Honda on the Cr is ludicrously expensive so I'm interested in how others mount their aux lighting without resorting to bull bars.

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10 hours ago, Razzman said:

I agree with PaulB, I can put up with the dark spot when going straight, but tight turns in the dark, I have a thin strip of light, and not much is illuminated around the corner.   You don't need to be knee dragging, but going slow in tight corners (around 30K), and it is really bad.  I have not looked, but is it a bulb or optics issue?    You can get LED bulbs for all the different types, wondering if the bulbs are interchangeable, or if you have to replace the whole unit - housing and all..

 

 

 

Overall I think the lights are very nice even though they have the strangest beam pattern of any car or bike I've ever owned.  As you can see in my vid, even at gentle lean angles, they don't provide enough illumination on turns because of the severe light cutoff.

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

And just because I've not revived an old thread on the site...

 

 

Have just ordered some cheap LED spotlights to try out for size. My thinking is to put them where the front fender is bolted on as there doesn't appear to be a lot of room anywhere else. Won't bother with the wiring harness kit yet, will see if they fit first! As others have noted, the headlights are really good (better than any other bike I've owned) except when you hoik it right over at night. Seeing the road disappear is more than a little unnerving!

 

Spotlights.thumb.jpg.2e60616df553ceb7d71a41c59f6dd027.jpg5a18449823505_2015VFR800FFender.thumb.jpg.6fefb68c454a58a558af7675f67e1e88.jpg

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Hey Katie, you might also be able to somehow use the reflector mounting bolts?

 

Awhile back, I was tossing around the idea of adding aux lights to either the upper fairing, on the sides of the headlight, or the mirror stalks.  They would ideally be angled "up and away" (and adjustable) so that when leaned over, the beams would then be illuminating the road up ahead through the turns.  I was also thinking about adding a tilt sensor/switch so that they would be unlit until leaned over and only the light on leaned side would turn on/off.  I emailed a few companies on aliexpress but none of them got back to me and then I sorta lost momentum and motivation...  lol

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3 hours ago, Samuelx said:

Hey Katie, you might also be able to somehow use the reflector mounting bolts?

 

Awhile back, I was tossing around the idea of adding aux lights to either the upper fairing, on the sides of the headlight, or the mirror stalks.  They would ideally be angled "up and away" (and adjustable) so that when leaned over, the beams would then be illuminating the road up ahead through the turns.  I was also thinking about adding a tilt sensor/switch so that they would be unlit until leaned over and only the light on leaned side would turn on/off.  I emailed a few companies on aliexpress but none of them got back to me and then I sorta lost momentum and motivation...  lol

 

 

I saw that on another pic but sadly, the UK doesn;'t have the reflector thingy.

Also know what you mean about the motivation thing. I find chocolate and coffee are great at reinstating it!

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