Yes, I know about the questionable legality and the DfT ‘view’ of things (though not necessarily backed up by the law, as it arguably applies only to original installation not to after-market fit).
BUT, I live in a rural area with no street lighting and catseyes that seem to have significant cataracts. So I need something a little bit brighter. Scrap that. A LOT brighter. I reckon that HIDS are the answer. I’ve been shown a very very good kit at £60 per side) but £120 is a lot of cash to be shelling out, when you can get twin kits for £27 on ebay.
So, anyone have any experience with the cheap kits? Snog? Marry? Avoid?
Just have to watch when you fit them that you don’t get the problem I had, where it bizarrely stopped the immobiliser from ‘disarming’ at times and you couldn’t ride anywhere. Disclaimer: it was the most unreliable bike I ever owned. Not got round to fitting a set to the Honda yet.
I was thinking about putting an HID kit on my Ninja, but Rob (the Mechanic) advised against it, due to the heat being generated/ability to melt things…
No idea what wattage mine are as they were fitted 4 years ago and hadn’t need to check them.
I’ve seen some bulbs melting the reflectors on the interweb.
I’ve used the HID kits on all my bikes and never had a problem with overheating, passed MOTs and they never mention anything about them. Usually go for the cheap car kits from eBay, the improvement on visibility is massive!
Go the kit today,and the wiring kit is, well, interesting. It remains to be seen how easily it will go together, but I might very well post a tutorial and review here. Won’t be able to offer a video of the results as I don’t have the facilities, but I very much look forward to it as I’m really quite nervous of going anywhere on low beams at the minute. As they’re ****. Even with decent bulbs.
Not quite as bright as I was anticipating. Perhaps my beam is off (probably) but also ordered some replacement bulbs. To be clear, it was the throw of the main light so probably the beam is set too low. I am having an MOT this week, so will see about getting it set as high as is permitted.
I was installing on a time limit and finishing up in the rain, so no chance for piccies. Needless to say that installation was not that easy due to the lengths of the wires. Neither the +ve nor the _ve wires were long enough. I ended up having to add to both of them.
