Driving lights for R1200R

[mgdoc8307]

Anyone put driving lights on their R1200R. Any input on PIAA 1100X driving lights, fit, function, ease of installation??? for the R1200R

[gbagen]

I love Motolights. The fork mount really makes them stand out, especally with 50W amber bulbs. I have them on my R1200R, R1150RT and Honda St1100A.

[Nick S]

Are yours fork mounted or caliper mounted?

Do you have any pictures available?

Thanks

Nick

[SockMonkey]

I have the PIAA 1100 on my FJR (you'll have to excuse me as I'm only a wannabe R1200R owner...). If I was to do it all over again, I'd definitely go with these: http://www.clearwaterlights.com/index.html. I've seen the Clearwater LED lights up close and personal on several FJRs at recent rallies and they are far brighter than either the Motolights or PIAAs, plus they require far less power (they're also on a dimmer which is a nice feature...)

[deilenberger]

Anyone put driving lights on their R1200R. Any input on PIAA 1100X driving lights, fit, function, ease of installation??? for the R1200R

http://www.eilenberger.net/R1200R_Roads ... lights.htm

IMHO, PIAA = marketing over engineering. Also seem generally overpriced. Hella has been around as long as BMW has - and has made lights for them as long as BMW has been around. They have excellent light patterns with lots of light at a reasonable price. No bling - just good lights. This is the 3rd bike I've had FF50's on, and they outshine some very expensive HID auxillary lights (club shootout in the parking lot when leaving a meeting..)

[michael Tobias]

there is also a nice set of lights available from these guys. all the mounting hardware is included...very reasonably priced. I put mine on the lower part of the deflector on the front fork.

http://www.martinfabrication.com/Martin ... _Home.html

[gbagen]

Caliper mounted. E-mail me and I'll take a couple of pics for you. [email protected]

[MJB]

Don

You might be the one to ask.....

I was out with other BWM riders over the weekend, and the topic of lighting came up.
One member had changed his headlight bulb.
Now much stronger and brighter.....more of a "White" light.
I think he said he installed a PIAA Bulb, but I'm not sure.

Don...any suggestions with this one???

[deilenberger]

Don

You might be the one to ask.....

I was out with other BWM riders over the weekend, and the topic of lighting came up.
One member had changed his headlight bulb.
Now much stronger and brighter.....more of a "White" light.
I think he said he installed a PIAA Bulb, but I'm not sure.

Don...any suggestions with this one???

He'll gain a lot of experience swapping bulbs. The PIAA brighter/bluer bulb is pretty well known for an extremely short lifetime. IMHO - they're crap. A better bet for getting more brightness with a reasonable lifetime (there is no free lunch, more light at the same current draw = shorter life.. no way around it.) would be to visit http://www.powerbulbs.com - and look for the Philips +50 bulbs, or Osram Silverstar (not the same as the Sylvania Silverstar they sell in the US - which is crap..) +50 bulb.

While the life of these is less than a standard halogen - it's not as short as the PIAA bulbs.

One thing to note when people tell you how much brighter their new bulb is.. they're comparing it to an older used bulb, and just like with tires - the new one always seems wonderful when compared to an old one. Bulbs DO loose output with age - as much as 50% (depending on the operating voltage, where strangely - with a halogen-cycle bulb, higher volts [within reason] = more light and longer life, but not for the obvious reason - it has to do with higher operating temps evaporating filament outgassing off the quartz envelope and back onto the filament.. Google "halogen cycle" for more info.. but I digress..) so a new bulb of identical design is going to look great compared to the old one.

I'm actually a big believer in auxiliary lights - both for daytime conspicuity, and for additional usable lighting in the dark. A pair of FF50 lights pretty much make the headlight redundant.

One other point - whiter/bluer is not necessarily better - for lots of reasons: The blue dye used on most bulbs to make then whiter reduces the light output from the bulb, and by filtering out the yellow/red components of the light - tends to lessen contrast at night (ever wonder why "blueblocker" sunglasses work? They do just the opposite..) There is also more scattering of light happening as you move to blue - meaning - more glare. Try something next time you see a good neon sign display. Look for neon in red - and look carefully at it. Then look for blue - do the same. You'll find you can focus the red easily - the blue will have a halo around it that makes it very hard to focus on - that's blue scatter at work. Same reason BMW cars (and aircraft) use a red/orange lighting for the instruments at night. If you have pre-cataract eyes (as many of us do..) the effect is even worse - the scattering happens in the lens in your eye.

[MJB]

Thanks Don

As usual Top Notch

[Mollygrubber]

Jeez Don, somebody should make you Captain or something... anybody got a big 'ol 'C' path we can sew on his Aerostich?

[bimmerguy]

Lots of opinions on here...
I bought a set of piaa driving lites years ago and never installed.
I'm going to put them on my 01 rtp.
The bike has lots of extra switches let over from being a cop bike.
I'd like to use the cop switch for the piaas.
Anybody have a wiring diagram for 01 rtp 1100?
Driving a cop bike is a SURE way to get cage drivers to notice me. LMAO

[xcell1600]

I recently purchased and had the dealer install a set of Clearwater Glenda lights using Lumalink mounts.

The ++

1. Very bright
2. Low amp draw
3. Look great on the bike

The only - is they are expensive!

I am a fan of daytime driving lights and feel they should be on every bike as a safety feature!

[r12gecko]

I'm going to mount a set of Denali D2 shortly.

[ka5ysy]

Clearwater Kristas just added to mine. Report here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=22886


They are VERY bright, look great on the bike in the silver and black, and use very low power. Night driving is easy with the wide beam long throw pattern.

[LostViking]

I have a set of Piaa 510s from a Ducati Project that ended badly. I'm going to try a set of LumaLink brackets on my R and hang them upside down as pictured in the gallery.

[ipokebadgers]

I installed a set of HID driving lights on my 2007. I bought them from Martin Fabrication. I like them a lot. Finding a place to stash the two ballasts was fun and I ended up having to buy a wiring extension to make everything reach but they are worth it to me. They asked for pictures of my installed lights but they never put them up on thier website. They are mounted on the low bolt of the air deflector on the forks. They are very visible during the day without blinding people and at night they actually help a lot. I have the right side light aimed to the right a little to light up the side of the road and the left side is aimed straight forward. I have them wired through a aux fuse box with a trigger wire so they only come on with the ignition plus they are switched. On Martin's website the say that if you are in stop and go traffic for a long period of time it is best to turn them off so the reflector doesn't distort.

Sean