Round headlights

[jmcvey1]

Hey all,

Work's slowed on my bike since i got some pieces blasted and painted due to moving it back to chicago and school starting again. Who knew getting a masters degree would be time consuming?

Anyway, my next move (since its winter) is to order some parts and first on my list is a round headlight / blinker assembly for it. I've been looking on and off for a midnight special assembly or just a round one from an xs1100 but would others work as well? How particular is the mounting of a headlight? I assume xs850's would work but what about lights from other bikes?

I'm not terrible concerned about keeping my bike stock, but are there issues I should look for when browsing for headlights?

thanks,
joshua cade

[tom clisham]

Depends on signals

You can use 1 from an xs750 or xs850 with stock special signals. You need to make sure you get the little adjusting bracket for the bottom to frame with the light if you use 1 of those. the bracket is differnet from 1100 7 not really compatible.
If you have a standard & retain stock signals, you can use a lot of different
headlight set-ups. Some " engineering" usually required.

I have a few round headlight set-ups 4 sale PM if intersted.

[crazy steve]

You can fit most any 7" round side-mount headlight on there, but one thing to be aware of is how much room there is in the bucket for the wiring. Some buckets just won't hold it all or get it too close to the headlight (risking melted wiring), so look for a 'larger' light. The 750/850 buckets Tom mentioned will work fine, I'm sure there's others that will. Mounting will require some fabbed/modded parts, as there's enough differences between the Special and standard trees and light setups that they won't directly interchange.

[jmcvey1]

as long as its mounting that needs to be edited i'm ok. I can bang metal around with a hammer alright, I just don't want the headlight to explode because of electrical things i don't understand. I haden't thought about the bucket size, I'll keep that in mind when I'm looking

Tom, pm sent.

[BA80]

The special headlight, signals, and ears will work on the standard you just need to shorten the tubes that slide over the the fork tubes at the tripple tree.

Other than that the wiring is pretty much the same.

Some others have done this.

[crazy steve]

You need to shorten the 'ear' tubes about 5/8" and fab a headlight adjustment bracket to do this....

[IMG][/IMG]

I took the 5/8" off the top of the tubes, this is the adjuster...

[BA80]

Hmmmm......I was thinking to take the length off the bottom.

The stock special adj. bracket won't work?

I can't tell by the pic Steve but it doesnt look like there is any rubber insulators where your bracket bolts to the triple tree. I would think the vibration would be tough on headlight elements.

[crazy steve]

Hmmmm......I was thinking to take the length off the bottom. The stock special adj. bracket won't work?

I can't tell by the pic Steve but it doesnt look like there is any rubber insulators where your bracket bolts to the triple tree. I would think the vibration would be tough on headlight elements.

The 'extra' length in the special trees is mostly at the top, so that's why I trimmed there. The OEM special bracket might work, but I didn't have one as I got the bits piecemeal. As to the solid mount, all my Harleys mount their headlights solid and they're not known for eating lights, so I figured I'd give it a try...

[petejw]

you could also use an 8" bucket as well
as theyre fitted to the sports models over here,
tho they can be hard to get a hold of.

[jmcvey1]

awesome, thanks for the replies. i'll keep my eyes open

[BA80]

as to the solid mount, all my harleys mount their headlights solid and they're not known for eating lights, so i figured i'd give it a try...

jat................

[jetmechmarty]

An old Yamaha 650 Seca had the big 8 inch light. I know a guy with on on his XS650 "tracker". It gets your attention. I like it.

[natemoen]

Stock special adjusted bracket doesn't work on a standard. I doesn't reach out far enough. I also took off from the bottom of the tubes and my bucket it just a hair away from touching the gauge cluster.

[crazy steve]

...I also took off from the bottom of the tubes and my bucket it just a hair away from touching the gauge cluster.

That's interesting.... I had all sorts of room between the headlight and the gauges, enough that I installed the gauge bracket under the top tree rather than on top of it, lowering the gauges about 1/2".

Of course, did either of us know we had Special ears? I got mine off eBay and they were listed as such (and looked right) but you know how that can go... And I can't say for sure that I installed them right side up either (I tried both ways, the 'trim' off the 'top' seemed to fit better), so this may be 'YMMV'...

One thing we can agree on, you do need to trim about 5/8"...

[natemoen]

Of course, did either of us know we had Special ears? I got mine off eBay and they were listed as such (and looked right) but you know how that can go... And I can't say for sure that I installed them right side up either (I tried both ways, the 'trim' off the 'top' seemed to fit better), so this may be 'YMMV'...

One thing we can agree on, you do need to trim about 5/8"...

The bold part is probably the part that matters!

I put them on so that the longer part of the tube was on the bottom so that the light sat as high as possible.

And yes the 5/8" is just about right for trimming

I also used slip joint washers (used in plumbing) on the top and bottom of the tubes to hold them steady and centered on the fork tubes. This though also effectively killed any chances for the ground circuit that used to be there so I had to run a separate ground for the turn signals.