ratsidecar
.060 Over
Thought I would try some new headlight bulbs in my rocket as I wasnt impressed with the sickly yellow glow I had before. There are no mods to the lighting circuit on this bike (yet) other than an inline switch to cut power to the low beam so I can run with just sidelights on, power to the headlights is still running through the keyswitch.
I have used HID kits on bikes before and am not a fan of them, they give off too much glare to other road users and have a poor beam pattern in reflector lenses. So I went for a straightforward replacement. The bulbs I fitted are called philips whitevision, the same 60/55w power as the originals.They claim to put 60% more light on the road by being both brighter and by having the filament positioned differently to cast a longer beam pattern. The colour temperature is 4300 kelvin, philips claim the light output is around 40% whiter than regular bulbs. The glass has a blue tint to it with a whitish blue opaque coating on the end.
The package also included a pair of w5w 5w sidelight bulbs, the glass of these also has a blue tint to it and gives off a pleasingly white shade of light as seen below with just sidelights on. I have also played around with LED sidelight bulbs in the past but have always been disappointed as the light from them is just too directional and fails to light up the reflector properly, creating large angles from which it doesnt even look as if any lights are on.
And with the headlights on, I have played with the camera to get a picture that shows the colour of the light output as closely as possible. They are significantly brighter and offer much improved vision at night than the stock bulbs, the downside being that they only have a rated lifespan of 450 hours, around half that of a regular bulb. Cost was £16 gbp or around 22usd for a package containing a pair of headlight bulbs and a pair of sidelight bulbs. It satisfies my desire for better lighting without all the HID kit hassle. It will be interesting to see if they improve even more whenever I get an eastern beaver headlight relay kit fitted.
I have used HID kits on bikes before and am not a fan of them, they give off too much glare to other road users and have a poor beam pattern in reflector lenses. So I went for a straightforward replacement. The bulbs I fitted are called philips whitevision, the same 60/55w power as the originals.They claim to put 60% more light on the road by being both brighter and by having the filament positioned differently to cast a longer beam pattern. The colour temperature is 4300 kelvin, philips claim the light output is around 40% whiter than regular bulbs. The glass has a blue tint to it with a whitish blue opaque coating on the end.
The package also included a pair of w5w 5w sidelight bulbs, the glass of these also has a blue tint to it and gives off a pleasingly white shade of light as seen below with just sidelights on. I have also played around with LED sidelight bulbs in the past but have always been disappointed as the light from them is just too directional and fails to light up the reflector properly, creating large angles from which it doesnt even look as if any lights are on.
And with the headlights on, I have played with the camera to get a picture that shows the colour of the light output as closely as possible. They are significantly brighter and offer much improved vision at night than the stock bulbs, the downside being that they only have a rated lifespan of 450 hours, around half that of a regular bulb. Cost was £16 gbp or around 22usd for a package containing a pair of headlight bulbs and a pair of sidelight bulbs. It satisfies my desire for better lighting without all the HID kit hassle. It will be interesting to see if they improve even more whenever I get an eastern beaver headlight relay kit fitted.
Stuff looks - it's the functionality at night I want.
