Unhelpfully neither the owner’s nor Haynes manuals give the type of bulb to use, only the voltage and watts. The latter has different sections though, for standard YBRs from 2010 onwards with a bulb looking like yours, and for standard ones until 2009 and all custom models with small globe bulbs (like the non-Halogen 395 one from Halfords) with the same bayonet fitting as my links. But I checked the bike to be certain and it is definitely the bayonet bulb.
Thanks for all the help, by the way. It is really appreciated.
I probably should not be trusted with a bike as now another thing happened today.
Been riding around and was on the way home when I went to use the back brake and it felt (and sounded) like my toes briefly hitting the ground.
Obviously that could not have happened, even fully pressed the pedal is about ten inches off the ground. But then it kept happening all the way back, which thanks to the junction works at the oval included a lot of braking. Not every time, but I could not discern any pattern to when, and I tried having my foot further forwards and backwards in the peg. Everything looked normal around the pedal.
Brake pressed equals noise of scraping … does brake seem effective still … i would suggest investigation into rear brake that something hasn’t detached in the drum … or has the adjuster locknut unwound itself giving excessive travel on the pedal ?
The operation was fine, and the sound was more of a “donk” as though bouncing from impact, but checking the bolts I think I found the cause. The adjusting nut was fine but the torque arm bolt was loose, obviously I must not haven tightened it properly. Thank goodness for the split pin. Presumably when the shoes made contact the wheel was able to pull the brake back slightly and that is what I was feeling and hearing.
My mechanic of the last 6 years is Dunstan at Motorcycle Surgery on Sunnyhill Road in Streatham. He’s a very good indy… Don’t be fooled by his laid back nature, he knows his stuff.
Does he/they still exist? They are practically neighbours so last year when I broke my speedo cable and needed help they were my first choice. But after emailing and phoning a couple of times with no reply, not even voicemail, I just assumed they had closed down.
He definitely still exists… I was there the other week with a cutting out issue. Ended up being corroded connections that Dunstan fixed for an hour’s labour (£60 incl vat). He tends to be hard to contact in the morning but try around 1pm.
I finally got around to going down to my old ‘test track’ to try out the halogen bulb I fitted a few weeks ago. Wow.
Absolutely incredible. It still could have been brighter, but was the difference between being totally useless and perfectly useable. The stock bulb must have broken. I know it is mainly a commuter bike and not expected to be bouncing around country lanes in the dark, but surely they would not have sold something so dangerous just so save a few pence on a bulb.
But, and here is the dumb question, where exactly should the headlight be pointing, how far ahead in the road? I ended up stopping quite a few times just to fiddle with it and try different positions out.
Also the times the bike ended on the floor last year must have knocked the lamp out of alignment as it seems to point a tad to the left. Which was a bit awkward approaching right turns, being so narrow I sometimes had to switch to the dipped beam to see onto them properly. Or maybe that is a normal thing to do anyway? Nothing physically looks bent with the bracket though, so hopefully loosening the bolts will be enough to reposition it.
Is this a YBR? If the headlight’s been pointing to a daft place it’ll feel like the bulb’s crap, because you’ll be riding in its periphery - it’s odd how not-obvious it often is when the beam’s pointing at the wrong place.
Personally, I tend to adjust the dipped beam by riding down an unlit road, and looking at where that beam of really-well-illuminated light is. I adjust it such that the top of it is a little below an approaching car’s bonnet. There is a proper way, detailled in the back of a haynes manual, which involves a wall, a tape measure and some chalk.
The beam needs to be slightly pointing left and a little bit down (so you don’t blind oncoming drivers or hit the rear view mirrors on a car in front)
Sorry for the vagueness, I can’t remember the distances involved.
http://www.motuk.co.uk/mcmanual_160.htm
There ya go, will fail if the hotspot is above the 0 degree horizontal, past the 0 dergree vertical right and past the 2 degree left.
It is a YBR Custom, so mechanically the same as a 2009 YBR which is why it still uses the older type of bulb. But with the stock one I could not even see to the left, so the angle would not have improved much. Sadly though all the Haynes manual for the bike only says is that it can be adjusted up or down, not actual guidance on how best to set it.
Thanks for the link mole, that is great. Now I just need to find a wall and some flat ground, as where I park is anything but.
The lamp itself is definitely misaligned though, sitting on the bike and looking down it is slightly offset from the wheel, which would explain why on a quite straight road the full beam was aimed more to the banking to the left than the centre of the lane. Not something I have had to notice before though, the dipped beam is wide enough that just going around town at night the effect is not apparent.
