HID conversion

[ldnz]

I'm doing a fair bit of night riding and finding the stock headlight on the zx6r (97) to be pretty shitty. Been looking at buying one of those h4 --> HID xenon kits. Anyone use one? Make much difference? At $400 ish they aren't cheap, though thats for a pair - maybe someone would like to go halves?

Or am I going to be better off fabricating a completely new headlight maybe a twin bulb design? I can see myself running into flat batteries...

Cheers,
Ben

[Blackbird]

There's been a few threads on the UK Blackbird site about HID kits and it sounds like the quality and output of different makes vary considerably. I can only suggest you do some thorough searches on overseas bike websites like Visor Down and so on to arm yourself with as many facts as possible.

[imdying]

Flag that idea. Buy some Hella 'Plus 50' globes. 50% more light output for the same heat and current draw. They're about $25 each iirc, but a worthy upgrade for the money.

[vifferman]

I was talking to a guy the other day who had some accessory lights fitted to his BMW. They were very tidy (and small) and he said they completely transformed his night riding - he didn't even bother using his headlight. I dunno what brand they were, but they were mounted in alloy brackets/housings about 80mm wide by 50mm high. Kerry at Motohaus fitted 'em for him. I'd imagine they'd be easier and cheaper than HIDs.

[Zapf]

[QUOTE=vifferman;927841]I dunno what brand they were, but they were mounted in alloy brackets/housings about 80mm wide by 50mm high[QUOTE]

Either some sort of PIAA / Hella kit. Overseas the Beemer riders love their PIAA's

[ldnz]

Yeah thats the other thing - saw some halogen pod thingys in repco the other day that I could cut up and bodge to fit. Big problem is the current draw - how much headroom does the average alternator have? Surely another 4-5 amps could be a bit much to ask.

Might have a lash at those +50's in the meantime, least you can't go too wrong for that money.

[Horney1]

I'm doing a fair bit of night riding and finding the stock headlight on the zx6r (97) to be pretty shitty. Been looking at buying one of those h4 --> HID xenon kits. Anyone use one? Make much difference? At $400 ish they aren't cheap, though thats for a pair - maybe someone would like to go halves?

Or am I going to be better off fabricating a completely new headlight maybe a twin bulb design? I can see myself running into flat batteries...

Cheers,
Ben


Gidday Ben,

I've looked into this to. From the info and threads I've seen they're MUCH better than halogens, they have a more natural daylight colour and draw only 35W (but a heavy draw on start up). They seem to talk about needing good cut off masks in reflectors and the necessity for lens washers in some places - I guess because the bright light diffracts through dirty lenses and causes problems for those coming the other way. Not really such a good thing if you want them to stay on their side! In a couple of threads I've seen people have bought gear from the UK. I've also seen where people have done fairly straight forward conversions from H7s (I think also H3s) . You'd need to use a good relay and some decent guauge cable from what I gather. I've seen that a couple of products are labelled as HID but are not the real "high intensity discarge" type of bulbs - sorry can't remember which but it would pay to check whatever you decide on...

Are they easily available over there? I'm looking at returning to NZ and buying another bike over there so I went cool on the HID idea here. Get onto Google.com and throw in "HID"

I also found this a while ago, it could be useful for you?? http://www.fireblades.org/forums/honda-fireblade/34750-headlight-hid-question.html
If it doesn't come through as a link copy it into your address bar and hit enter...

Cheers