So for the Baja 500 thing I went all through my xr electrical and got everything working right. I gutted most of the dual sport kit and put all the needed crap under the seat. I don't have a horn anymore and my blinkers are just dummies.....I don't go grocery shopping on the thing. I updated the headlight to an 8" halogen race light, and then have two separate power circuits. One side is rectified DC, nice and clean consistent power, the other side is over regulated AC power, the regulator is from trail tech and is fully adjustable, when I run my light on the AC side the bulb will only last about 20 hours but it's bright!!!! I have been night riding a lot lately and went out last night with a friend who likes to stop and take pictures so I shot a couple with my phone as well.
I have not ridden at night a whole bunch in my life. I rode a race at night years ago and that's about it. Its pretty fun, way harder for me. I don't see quite as well at night so I don't ride as fast. It is weird only seeing where the light shines. If I didn't know the 100 miles in every direction behind my house like the back of my hand it would be easy to get lost.
You should think about getting one of the ebay HID conversions and put in there, it will make a huge difference and supposedly draw less current although they either work or they don't, there is no limping home with a dull head light
Gen 2 AF, yes it's a SH, so I can call it an AF Damm it!
the 450 will have less power and will be harder to start, and will be heavier, but to make up for it it will require more maintenance.
4stroke=dead fish
Ive been looking at some of that cree stuff they come in different configurations like bar mounted, battery powered etc. The halogen light gets way out there, its fully adjustable so I have been playing with where I like it. I think if I ran that halogen up higher and then filled in the closer gap with a flood I would be looking good. I have 100w of rectified DC and another 100 of regulatable AC. I have been running the halogen mostly on the DC but it's near HID bright on the over regulated AC. Its just fun to play with and riding at night is a cool thing.
One of the best things about the night riding is it's easy to get clearance to ride. My kids go to bed at around 8-9 and my wife usually heads into the bedroom to read about the same time. At that point its so easy to just walk out to the garage and suit and boot. Between that and riding fire roads to work once or twice a week and single tracking it back home I'm getting quite a bit of riding time that doesn't cut real heavy into family time.
Kuma wrote:You should think about getting one of the ebay HID conversions and put in there, it will make a huge difference and supposedly draw less current although they either work or they don't, there is no limping home with a dull head light
HIDS suck for night riding in the desert. LED's have caught up, and have much better light output, are more efficient and more reliable.
I actually like the color of halogen better than really anything else, I carry an extra bulb for the halogen and when it's wound up on the AC side the thing is really close in output to the same light with HID that a friend has. I'm looking at the LED's to fill in the gap, just not sure if I want them on the bike or a helmet mount.
In my younger days we used to do Glamis night rides in the summer, full moon, no lights, this would have been the ultimate weekend for that, Super Moon! works great once your eyes adjust. This was all quad riding, it's a little different on a bike, Summer time usually the only tracks are the ones you make, at times with babybutt smooth sand it's hard to judge youe own speed at night.
sorry for the hijack.
I've got the trail tek helmet light, the larger of the 2, works good but it's a spot wish I had gotten the flood. a buddy has the smaller ones, they seem to work great and draw less juice
Gen 2 AF, yes it's a SH, so I can call it an AF Damm it!
I have the Baja Designs Squadron, (4 x Kree LED, 3600 lumen) on my Husaberg, with an IQ controller to drop input voltage to 40% for "dip" beam. It's bloody awesome, until things get too rough, and then it's pointing at the treetops, then the ground, treetops, etc. . . . . so, I bought two 4800 lumen Ebay units (actually purchased direct from Lights Box in China for about half the Fleabay price), and mounted one on my helmet to 'fill in' the dark areas. Awesome ! BUT, here's the catch. The battery may well last 2.5 hours, but the light wont ! There is a thermal overload system, that shuts it down, after a maximum of 15-20 minutes, to the lowest of 3 settings, which is crap. However, when they are working on full power, they are phenomenal ! I can ride harder at night than during the day, coz you only have to worry about the occasional errant kangaroo or emu, not tapped-out quadtards coming the opposite direction !
Looking for a way around the overheating problem now. If I can sort it out, I reckon I'll ride more at night than during the day. (another advantage is that at night, there's less cops, and no Rangers, and those that do see ya, only see headlight and taillight, not the illegal tyred, stripped and mirrorless bike in between those lights . . . Happy days !)