[audioholic]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

In addition to neil.jericho's suggestions, there might be one more way to have your cake and eat it too. Try sourcing the old (now deprecated) Thunderbird / Thunderbird 350/500X headlamps which had projectors, and maybe a retrofit might work since they are also of the same 7" size..

I second this. If it fits directly, then this would be a good idea. There is a projector for low beam which gives an option of switching to HID, and there is a halogen high beam which can be left as it is. The only tricky part will be the wiring setup since I believe the 650 twins come with single bulb setup for low high whereas in this case the low beam is always on and only high beam is switchable. Hence in this case you will have to direct the low beam to ignition and add a relay to support HID, and the high beam alone can be connected to the switch.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Overall your options are
- halogen bulb replacement to a better bulb
- LED bulb replacement
- LED headlight unit replacement
- Projector setup / bixenons

To help riders who maybe new to headlight upgrades, I am just listing a few points on each of these options. There is a lot of reading and research to be done in the Modifications & Accessories section where we have dedicated threads on these. The same principles apply to cars as well as bikes so think of these pros and cons here as a beginner guide to help you dip your toes in these waters. Sometimes you may not need aux lights and can spend the money you have earmarked for it on other accessories or riding gear instead. Ive given the price range of entry to mid level options in the market, if you go for the international brands you will have to shell out many times the same cost but its a worthy option for some. Do spend some time reading through the different threads on the forum and see what suits your wallet and needs the best.

1. Halogen bulb replacement to a better bulb
Here you are basically just replacing the existing halogen bulb that you have with a better halogen bulb from a reputed aftermarket vendor. So its a plug and play solution. Typically for cars, people go for Philips X-treme Vision or Osram Nightbreaker series bulbs. Ive seen them usually sold as a pair, you might get some as a single bulb. There will be benefits to the OEM lighting but I would say it would be in the range of 10 - 20% improvement. Prices for a single bulb should be below Rs 1,000. A lot of people have faced problems with the overall life of the bulb but Ive been using Osram Night Breakers on my cars for years now and till today not one has conked off. These will be yellow bulbs so they are suitable for all weather conditions.

2. LED bulb replacement
First things first, LED bulbs are not always designed to mimic the light throw of a halogen bulb. So the output of a LED bulb replacement in your stock motorcycle headlight reflector may not always be to your expectation as you may struggle with intensity, throw, focus etc. Again, this is a plug and play solution. The output from a LED bulb will be far brighter than a halogen bulb but usually there will not be much of a difference in the low beam and the high beam. The high beam may look like the low beam ++ instead of a differentiated high beam as in the case of halogen bulbs. Prices vary wildly depending on the seller and the brand name. I would suggest that you look for someone who has tried a particular brand with the bike you have and if you are happy with that output, go for it from the same seller. If you are willing to experiment, you may need to go through 2 - 3 different brands before you hit the jackpot. This is what several members have experienced with their cars and LED bulb replacements. Do remember that while LED lights look cool, they may not work best in the rain.

3. LED headlight unit replacement
Now things start to get a little more serious! You will have to remove the whole headlight unit from your bike and replace it with an aftermarket unit that has LED bulbs in its own headlight dome. Prices that I have seen range from Rs 3,800 for unbranded ones with good output to around Rs 7,000 for the popular Mad Dog lights. No experimentation required here, if you have seen the output of these products, you know what you are getting. Its not exactly plug and play, but any seller will be able to get them on in less than 30 minutes tops.

4. Projector setup / bixenons
For those looking at serious light output with perfect cutoffs and great intensity. These come with ballasts and need to be carefully installed. I would suggest them for bikes with a full fairing since it will be easier to install and setup. Prices depend on the quality of the product used. The best lighting output of the lot while being the most expensive as well.

5. Aux lights
These are my preferred option and given the choice, I would prefer coupling them with the OEM lights on my bike. You have the option of spot lights or flood lights. The names give away the type of lighting that they take care of. Always go for spot lights since you get a good focussed output and with a pair of good lights, you can carefully align them to illuminate the road in front of you. With flood lights you will well, flood everyone and everything with these lights. Including people who are driving on the opposite side of the road which can be hazardous. All you need to do is switch on your spot lights when you need to and they will complement your stock lighting. Again, prices vary by the quality of the lights. You get aux lights from Rs 1,500 to Rs 7,000 or so for branded ones with warranty.

[Sebring]

I prefer bikes with factory fitted LED units, because these are carefully calibrated/designed. I assisted my friend to upgrade his 2011 Honda Activa to LED, but the light just scatters everywhere annoying incoming traffic. This is the reason why even after loving the TVS NTORQ at launch I waited patiently for the LED avatar. The factory fitted light has the best ever throw, on a scooter.

[SS80]

Hi All,

I have a first gen activa, that needs a bulb replacement. So decided to change the bulb holder and bulb to a 35w HS1 instead of the old design that it has.
The stock holder needs to be changed and also the HS1 bulb may need to be bent a bit to fit on the reflector.




I also found the below product on Amazon, which looks very neat, has anyone tried this? Is there something similar available for Activa?

https://www.amazon.in/SUNRAY-ENTERPR...eadlamp&sr=8-4

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

TBHPian audioholic has installed bi xenons on his thread - Double graduation - From a Honda Dio to a Kawasaki Ninja 300.

Overall your options are
- halogen bulb replacement to a better bulb
- LED bulb replacement
- LED headlight unit replacement
- Projector setup / bixenons

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

To help riders who maybe new to headlight upgrades, I am just listing a few points on each of these options. There is a lot of reading and research to be done in the Modifications & Accessories section where we have dedicated threads on these. The same principles apply to cars as well as bikes so think of these pros and cons here as a beginner guide to help you dip your toes in these waters. Sometimes you may not need aux lights and can spend the money you have earmarked for it on other accessories or riding gear instead. Ive given the price range of entry to mid level options in the market, if you go for the international brands you will have to shell out many times the same cost but its a worthy option for some. Do spend some time reading through the different threads on the forum and see what suits your wallet and needs the best.

1. Halogen bulb replacement to a better bulb
Here you are basically just replacing the existing halogen bulb that you have with a better halogen bulb from a reputed aftermarket vendor. So its a plug and play solution. Typically for cars, people go for Philips X-treme Vision or Osram Nightbreaker series bulbs. Ive seen them usually sold as a pair, you might get some as a single bulb. There will be benefits to the OEM lighting but I would say it would be in the range of 10 - 20% improvement. Prices for a single bulb should be below Rs 1,000. A lot of people have faced problems with the overall life of the bulb but Ive been using Osram Night Breakers on my cars for years now and till today not one has conked off. These will be yellow bulbs so they are suitable for all weather conditions.

5. Aux lights
These are my preferred option and given the choice, I would prefer coupling them with the OEM lights on my bike. You have the option of spot lights or flood lights. The names give away the type of lighting that they take care of. Always go for spot lights since you get a good focused output and with a pair of good lights, you can carefully align them to illuminate the road in front of you. All you need to do is switch on your spot lights when you need to and they will complement your stock lighting.

Thanks Neil for the detailed pointers. I went for Option 1 (Ridden: Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 & Continental GT 650 Twin)
Aux lights will be my next option in future if I do serious touring in the dark.

Aux lights is the most effective option as all big adv bikes with advanced headlights also use aux lights in combination with the headlights for better illumination.

/surjaonwheelz

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Thanks Neil for the detailed pointers. I went for Option 1 (Ridden: Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 & Continental GT 650 Twin)
Aux lights will be my next option in future if I do serious touring in the dark.

That is definitely a good choice for your usage, surjaonwheelz. Do share some pics when possible, I havent seen these G-Force ones in action yet. People often overlook this option and jump straight to LED bulbs which as Sebring said, can cause issues for incoming traffic. I am happy with just halogen bulb upgrades on my cars.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by SS80

I have a first gen activa, that needs a bulb replacement. So decided to change the bulb holder and bulb to a 35w HS1 instead of the old design that it has.
The stock holder needs to be changed and also the HS1 bulb may need to be bent a bit to fit on the reflector.

Every reflector is designed for a specific bulb type, since the location of the filament w.r.t. the optics of reflector is the most crucial thing to decide if you have a good light throw or you have light thrown everywhere. If you just change the bulb type, which will have a different placement of the filament, that will make things worse for the lighting output. Hence, do not attempt these things unless you are making sure of what you're doing.

[yesyeswe]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

I would say, leave your headlight as it is and just put on a pair of good, branded spot aux lights instead. You are not fiddling with the stock headlights and hence you dont have to worry about after market bulbs failing on you. Also, you just use the aux lights when you need them as you will have a switch for it. Mad Dog, A2Z etc are a few branded options that are popular on the forum. They are not expensive and are widely available.

This way you get the best of both worlds.

This is the best option for highway riding and i'll not have to fiddle with anything else. But i want to increase the intensity for city use as well, and i am sure we can't use auxiliary lights in city. So i'll se what i can do with the thunderbird light. Thank you for the suggestions and the help.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

In addition to neil.jericho's suggestions, there might be one more way to have your cake and eat it too. Try sourcing the old (now deprecated) Thunderbird / Thunderbird 350/500X headlamps which had projectors, and maybe a retrofit might work since they are also of the same 7" size.

This is what came to my mind the first time i decided to get aftermarket lights, the look of the single projector somehow compliments the retro look yet give it a modern charm, i'll try and see if it will fit. There will issue as the gt has a H4 socket while the thunderbird's come with two H7.

[aarnav_b]

Hey guys, so I came across this ad in an old edition of Autocar that was lying at the house, I wanted to ask if anyone here has used this bulb as the only plug n play led bulb alternative is from Osram, which I already have and is a good one, but is hampered due to the bad reflector design.
I was thinking of getting one for my Aprilia, but this bulb is nowhere to be found online and the nearest store that stores it is at Opera House, which is like 3hours drive one way from my place.
I'm also thinking of giving the Osram Rallye 45W another go, as the previous one died after 3 months, and I replaced it with the LED.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by aarnav_b

Hey guys, so I came across this ad in an old edition of Autocar that was lying at the house, I wanted to ask if anyone here has used this bulb as the only plug n play led bulb alternative is from Osram, which I already have and is a good one, but is hampered due to the bad reflector design.
I was thinking of getting one for my Aprilia, but this bulb is nowhere to be found online and the nearest store that stores it is at Opera House, which is like 3hours drive one way from my place.
.

It's available on Amazon for 2000 bucks.
https://www.amazon.in/Philips-Motorc.../dp/B08BJCHNW5

How is the Osram LED bulb for a scooter ? Better output and spread than stock halogen ? What about the throw ? Obviously it won't be perfect because of the reflector design but hopefully it's better than stock. I have a cheapo LED on my Activa which is better than stock, especially with the DC conversion I did which eliminated flickering. It lights up the mid range decently in low beam but close and far range is poor. It's better in high beam as it lights up both LEDs at once but at the same time will dazzle oncoming traffic which I don't want. Also the colour is just slightly more bluish than expected which is a minus, more 7000k Vs 6000k.
Also how is the Osram Vs the Rallye 45W ? I have one in stock but not fitted since the DC conversion is drawing power from the battery so I prefer a lower wattage LED to balance it out. Although my night riding is about 20% overall so ideally it should not drain the battery completely but why risk it or wiring due to higher current draw. You are lucky that the Aprilia comes with DC headlights.

[Stribog]

Hey guys, need ideas to fix the poor lighting on

1) my old Apache 180 rtr (has stock halogens), lighting is really bad. Needs -95% city road driving, rest will be brief stretches on bypass roads with no street lighting

2) An Activa, lighting is non existent (I think I might need to change the dome also).

Thanks in advance

[swiftnfurious]

Are there experts who do projector retrofit in Chennai / Bangalore for bikes? I have read about someone at Bangalore who specializes in this but I read only about car headlights in their website.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Are there experts who do projector retrofit in Chennai / Bangalore for bikes? I have read about someone at Bangalore who specializes in this but I read only about car headlights in their website.

Check with Automotive Lighting Xpertz in Bangalore. He does car headlights and the reviews are good.

I don't see why he wouldn't do a bike project retrofit job.

I have seen his workshop when I went to install HID kit in my car and it looked professional.

[gadadhar]

My friend has got a Honda Highness LED headlights and is planning to replace his Interceptor 650's headlight with this. It has got a five pin connector (image below) and would need a custom connector to go with the RE Interceptor. Honda will provide this only as a complete wiring kit and is around 6K, One of the shop in JC road said it needs to be bought from the company. Any help in getting this fixed in Bangalore will be great

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

My friend has got a Honda Highness LED headlights and is planning to replace his Interceptor 650's headlight with this. It has got a five pin connector (image below) and would need a custom connector to go with the RE Interceptor. Honda will provide this only as a complete wiring kit and is around 6K, One of the shop in JC road said it needs to be bought from the company. Any help in getting this fixed in Bangalore will be great

Attachment 2122757

Its not directly swappable with the DC wiring of the interceptor. He should also buy the RR unit of the honda to complete the wiring. I got the headlight only for the Dio with a similar six pin configuration and was not able to manage to connect it without the inputs from the RR. As far as I could understand it, there are three pins which serve as headlight signals, low beam, high beam and common ground, and then there are three pins for the rectifier to supply energy and the LED PCB does its own rectification or so. But its a tricky connection and trial error isnt possible.