Headlight Question

[natemoen]

Would a XJ headlight and ring fit and hook up inside an xs special bucket?

[ManagerMike]

Don't know the answer to your question Nate, but I do have the original healight assembly off my 78, bucket, ring, and lamp, in excellent condition if you are in need of such a thing.

[crazy steve]

Nate, according to the parts fiche the XJ and Special 'headlight assembly' (consisting of the rings, light, and rear shell) are identical for all years. So the answer is yes...

[natemoen]

Well we all know the parts fiche is not always accurate....but good to know. It does look very similar from the picture I can see of the mounting holes and all. I just want to make sure.

Thanks for the offer mike, but I have the rectangular one already and I am planning on putting that in my fairing and then just leaving it in there and then have a special light on the bike when I dont have the fairing on there. I bought a special lights assembly for super cheap on fleebay and it said there was a small dent on the ring but it was still functional and mounted perfectly. Well lets just say that the small dent was really some road rash and the \"mounting perfectly\" was by means of tape to hold the ring on. And the glass was not the right glass, its about an inch too small and you cant get it to stay in the mounts at all.

[CatatonicBug]

Mine has a sealed beam bulb in it. Not sure if you can remove the glass and exchange them, but when my bulb went out, I just went to Advance Auto and bought a plain round automotive headlight, and it fit perfectly.

[cywelchjr]

The Vetter Fairings do use an automotive headlight bulb, but there was actually a MC specific one available at one time. Mine has a shell that uses an H4 bulb that was made specifically for MC's, it even says "motorcycle" on it. I am currently running a silverstar bulb in it, and it's a LOT brighter than the stock H4 was. I know it won't last as long, but that's OK, I'll just carry a spare with me.

Of course I may be doing a RLU bypass and putting in an HID unit anyways, but it's kinda down the list a ways. Especially since it looks like I'm going to be replacing my rear tire about once a year.

[crazy steve]

Well we all know the parts fiche is not always accurate...

ain't that the truth, although you should be reasonably safe on this one...

As to substituting a car light, yes you can do that but they are not the same as a motorcycle light; automotive lights have a left side 'dip' in their optics which the bike light lacks.

[Poprock]

+1 on the RLU bypass. All it takes is to open up a 1/4" spade clip a little bit and slip it over the two pins you need, which happen to be side by side in the plug. Fill it up with dielectric grease and fold it back out of the way. If you ever need it again, just pull the jumper and plug it back in.

[b.walker5]

:... automotive lights have a left side 'dip' in their optics which the bike light lacks.

Really ??? didnt know that, was aware they dipped down but not to one side as well. Does that mean international light manufacturers have to produce 2 different types, one for left drive countries and one right?? and how do you tell the difference??

I just checked our draconian vehicle testing rules for second hand imported vehicles and theres no mention of it so it's obviously not a priority for the safety police here, either that or they dont know about it.

[crazy steve]

Really ??? didnt know that, was aware they dipped down but not to one side as well. Does that mean international light manufacturers have to produce 2 different types, one for left drive countries and one right?? and how do you tell the difference??

Yep, there's two types; three if you include motorcycle, although I don't know what the rules are for motorcycles elsewhere. You've got the British empire and Japan (right side dip), everywhere else (left side). and motorcycle (no dip here).

You can see it if you shine your headlight against a wall on low beam; the low beam cut-off line isn't quite straight, it's more of an open 'V'. In the US in non-motorcycle applications, the left side of the V is level, the right side runs up a bit; just the opposite for you. 'Motorcycle' lights (at least here) are the same both sides.

Back when sealed-beam lights were the rule here, motorcycle headlights were marked as such to prevent inadvertant swapping (and I think they still are). I noticed when I got a newer XS H4 headlight assembly to replace my 78 sealed-beam that the lamp socket was rotated slightly compared to my car lights to remove the 'dip'. The cut-off line (dip) is built into the lamp, but it's orientation (left/right/level) is determined by the socket position and the lens optics. Here's a link...

http://www.cibieusa.com/cibie_main_frameset.htm

Now, the interesting part here is he doesn't show different versions for anything except the round lights (except for the 'Euro' versions with the built-in park lights), although I don't think he sells their full line. And with so many vehicles now using 'styled' headlights that only fit that particular vehicle, maybe the 'standards' have changed. I do know that when I changed one of my other bikes' headlight from the OEM to a automotive-type Cibie the change in the dip was very obvious.