New Headlight Housing, Now Which Bulbs? - Fifth Generation VFR's

I gave up on trying to fix my 01's fractured headlight assembly and bought a new one for 225 from Ron Ayers.  The bulbs in the old one had both shattered and now I'm trying to decide which is my best option for bulbs...  Stock?  Silver Stars?  What will give me the best visibility without blinding oncoming drivers?

PIAA bulbs are great.

Silver Stars are junk.  Burn out real quick.

 ki-speed, on 24 June 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

Silver Stars are junk.  Burn out real quick.

This. Mine lasted just over a year, minus 6 months of winter = 7 months.

Sylvania said no warranty, sorry.

I had been running Silver Stars and then purchased Ultra Stars.

The silver lasted about 16-18 (three sets in two different 5th gens) and now the Ultras have lasted about 8 months.

One low beam burnt out on the way home from TXMac and the other one about a month later.

I wont be buying any more sylvania bulbs.

It is good to see someone concerned about blinding oncoming drivers/riders.  Too often, when driving the cage, I'm blinded by overly bright headlights from oncoming cars.  Usually, they are running their brights on a dead straight road, but sometimes it is just overly bright low beams...rude and unsafe.

IG

Wow, you guys put a lot of thought in this headlight topic...

I buy the H4 two pack from Wal-Mart and clip two of the tabs off so they fit in the VFR housing.
They last for years and years and years... And they are affordable.

While the $20 two pack from WallyWorld do indeed last longer than any of the Sylvanias I have modified in the same way to work in the Honda m/c housing, they also throw a nice yellowish light out there in front of you.

In fact it is just far enough in front of you so that you can safely stop from about 40 mph on a straight road at night.

If you dont ride at night or dont ever ride speeds beyond where your lights allow you to see then the two pack from Walmart is fine.

The Charlotte crew (lead by Doug, Brian and Bryan and swept by AARPVFR) did a night run at Shady Valley during the fall meet several years ago.  You get to the start point, every bike but the last folds their mirrors in a bit so they wont be blinded and everyone puts on their highbeams and heads up or down the Mt.  I was running Silverstars then and could pick my lights out from the middle of the bunch and received positive comment from riders in front of and behiond me about how good the light was.

But they still dont last long enough so no more for me.

btw, I also dont buy the cheapest tires I can find nor the cheapest boots or gloves.  I ride at night and believe that the quality of the headlights is directly related to my safety. I do as much as I can to place myself in the best position for survival while enjoying a sport that is relatively unsafe.

I too am a Silverstar fan for the amount of light it puts out and the color (I'm on the road mostly at night). Though as others have pointed out, the bulb life is short, usually just around 1 year. Its that short because of the filament burning at a higher temp, which obviously shortens its lifespan.

Is it an expensive option? Sure. But like windshield wipers on a car, you should replace headlight bulbs at regular intervals, instead of waiting till they're so dim you can barely see 5 feet in front of you cause you're waiting for it to burn out on its own. Being forced to replace them yearly shouldn't be any different then replacing your wipers yearly.

You do replace your wipers yearly, right?
Edited by DownAndOutNYC, 25 June 2012 - 10:10 AM.

I went with these bulbs: http://xtremelights....vision-set.html  They are sold in Europe and are road legal over there.  Here's a link to the Phillips motorbike bulbs in the UK: http://www.philips.c...lbs/283658/cat/  I got them from Ebay in the UK and they got to CO in 5 days (shipping ~$5).  I can't a test to their longevity, as I just installed them this spring.  Maybe someone from Europe has used them and will chime in.  I can see a lot better at night with these bulbs.  If you have your low beams adjusted properly, they will not blind on coming drivers.  The hi beams are at least 40% brighter and extend farther down the road, but I'm comparing they to Honda H4 headlights that were old and one low beam had burned out.  

Oshram also makes a H4 bulb called the Night Racer Motorbike H4 that's made in Germany: http://www.consumabu...bdet.php?id=841  They look to be even brighter.  If you want some bright, that you can see with, go with the Oshram or Phillips that are made in Europe.  From my research when I was looking for bulbs, The Oshram or Plillips bulbs that come from Europe are probably not DOT approved, but give you more light.  We'll see how long the ones I got last, but they are built for motorcycles (ie more vibration resistant).

It does take modifications to the H4 bulb to get them to fit and I also installed the ss trim rings under the bulbs, but you need to do this mod, unless you go with the Honda bulb.

Good info, but I'm still undecided...  Think I might go with the cheap H4's for now, since until I work out any PO kinks I probably won't do much night riding.

There IS different wattage ratings in the H4's tho, right?  I think the ones at O'Reilly's were 65 watt?  Have to look again to be sure.

H4s are typically 55/60 watt whereas the OE Honda bulbs on a 5th gen are 45/45 watt.

[image: View Post]Veefer800Canuck, on 26 June 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

H4s are typically 55/60 watt whereas the OE Honda bulbs on a 5th gen are 45/45 watt.

55/60's...  That's what they were.  Should be a slightly noticable difference over stock I would think?

I used PIAA Superwhites in mine...it was like wielding God's own flashlight. Nice, white light with no bluish or yellow tint at all. Had them in for 3 years/20k miles when I sold the bike.


edit to add...

Forgot I had this pic...

[image: Posted Image]

Looking at PIAA's site now...  Don't see a "Superwhite".  Looking into the H4 Night-Tech halogens.  Pricey, but might be worth it!