Looking for a low cost driving light solution

I am looking for a reasonably priced (< $100) driving light solution for a 2009 R1200R. My searches have come up with 2 things, high end like Clearwater, Denali, PIAA or Cheap Chinese stuff for $20 a pair. I don't ride at night so these are for visibility during the day. What else is out there?

For simple conspicuity on an unfaired bike, I think I'd try the cheap Chinese stuff. I've got Hella Micro DE lamps that I've used on all my bikes for always on lamps. They just happen to double as foglamps very well since they're projector. There are chinese knockoffs on ebay that I've got a couple of pairs of for cage installations. They don't have too different a cutoff from the expensive Hellas.

I think I'd send you in the direction of the smallest LED lamps you can find that aren't retina burners (drives price). They should still be visible during the day.

For being seen better, I can suggest, Skene. I like the P3 for rear, and don't care for the Photon Blaster.

JMHO. Now about being reasonable priced...that is you to be the judge.

For being seen better, I can suggest, Skene. I like the P3 for rear, and don't care for the Photon Blaster.

JMHO. Now about being reasonable priced...that is you to be the judge.

The Skene lights are a possibility price is reasonable.

MondoMotos bullet led's. Just a little north of $100. I think he is now selling mainly via EBay. Very well made. Here is a link to a review. The guys riding in front of me say mine are as bright as the Motolight led's. www.roadrunner.travel/2016/08/23/product-review-mondomotos-mm10-bullet-auxiliary-light-kit-v3/

over in classifieds, you've got a great deal on moto lights...

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1006017&gonew=1#UNREAD

The 2 low cost options that come to mind are the Mondo Moto that was already noted and advmonster lights. I know a few guys who have had very good luck with the adv monsters!

And based on the posts over at advrider the fellow who runs adv monster is very responsive.

http://stores.advmonster.com/led-lights/

Oh ... and I would definitely go with LED's as they are the technology that has really changed lighting. They are more durable and draw very little current.

You could do a lot of experimenting before getting to half the cost of the OEM or top of the line Clearwater or Denali PIAA etc lights. If you find ones you like you can get spare units incase they punk out. I will say that the folks that buy the good stuff are very pleased with the performance and reliability

I am trying these and they are very inexpensive. They are more of a flood light but are super bright and I measure only a 2.4 amp draw each when coming off a fully charged AGM battery ~$55

https://www.amazon.com/Qiilu-Motorcycle-Headlights-Universal-Motorbike/dp/B073PZC6CJ/ref=sr_1_4?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1519513198&sr=1-4&keywords=qiilu+motorcycle+led+headlights

If you want to wait a month to get them, and maybe accept a little more risk for delivery, you can do what a billion Chinese folks do and buy off of Aliexpress and get knock off OEM for $73 including the wiring harness These look more like the spot style lights.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/40W-Motorcycle-LED-Auxiliary-Fog-Light-Kits-Spot-Driving-Lamps-with-Protect-Guards-Wiring-Harness-For/32822991258.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000014.4.3389369fl7c1Jb&traffic_analysisId=recommend_3035_null_null_null&scm=1007.13338.80878.000000000000000&pvid=c7f15ae9-6eea-41c5-9a48-7ab2e36d8122&tpp=1

These can be cut in 3 light increments. Find a way to mount them, and you have your low cost solution.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/flexible-strips-and-bars/outdoor-led-light-strips-weatherproof-led-tape-light-with-18-smds-per-ft-1-chip-smd-led-3528/1466/

Go to plasmaglow.com and look for 'single color' led products..

Denali makes nice quality lights at a good price.

Carried by Twisted Throttle and likely others.

The Skene Photon Blasters are good if you want only visibility lights.

JR356

Ltljohn,

For visibility, daytime and night, a very inexpensive way to go are LED bulbs in the headlight, brake light, and turn signals. LED's are usually far brighter (you can choose the lumens) than incandescent, halogen, even HID bulbs, plus they run so much cooler, draw way less current (because way less current is converted to heat), are unaffected by vibration or shocks, are not affected by blinking or on-off cycles, and they (usually) last much longer than the others. Plus, they are a straight replacement, no wiring mods, just pull the old bulb and stick the LED in and plug in the wire connector. I have them in '99 R11RT, '99 R11S, 00' K12RS, HI & LO beams, turn and brake/tail lights, even most instrument lights.

As others have mentioned, Super Bright LEDs is a good source and they have an excellent "bulb finder" (Vehicle LED bulb finder) with motorcycles, plus a selection of bulbs of each type with the ratings, lumens and Kelvins and price of each.

Now, if you are really interested in "visibility" in daylight hours, I'll open up the new "oil debate thread" of modulators. There are those here and on other forums that absolutely despise and detest anyone with a headlight modulator, and I'll get flamed. And that's OK. BUT, given the choice of possibly momentarily offending another rider on the road, or, possibly getting the attention of a snowflake millennial car driver with his/her nose in their facebook page coming at me, I'll do the modulator, thank you. I was rear-ended at a light in my car two months ago by one of these creatures doing just that. On my bike, it would have been bad.

All kinds of research shows that blinking lights will catch your attention MUCH BETTER than non-blinking lights. Our eyes and brains have been hard-wired since the days of predator/prey to direct our attention to movement, even in your peripheral vision, and blinking is seen as movement, even in a field of view from a moving vehicle where everything is seen as moving. And this is what is so annoying and why some people hate them BECAUSE IT WORKS. All emergency and LEO vehicles use "Emergency Flashers", aircraft strobes, obstruction lights, even your instrument warning lights will flash when something is getting critical like your fuel level. If I'm riding in a group anywhere but first, I'll turn it off, easy as that. It is annoying to constantly have your eyes diverted to your rearview mirrors. Also, motorcycle headlight modulators are legal in the US.

That said, there are several types on the market. Some will also convert your blinkers to "always on" marker lights but blink to turn. There are also brake light modulators that are also very effective. Super Bright LEDs also has a very inexpensive ($7) programmable LED modulator that I installed on all the brake lights, along with accessory and very bright red LED strips and spotlights. On the RT, I even put several of the brake lights on separate modulators with different speeds and patterns that REALLY gets your attention. Cheap LED modulator

+1 on Lowndes —

I've had modulators on my bikes for years and would just add I feel the same about them as Darby O'Gill felt about the Leprechauns: “I believe in ‘em, but I don't trust ‘em!”

http://stores.advmonster.com/led-lights/

John, what direction did you decide to go in?

Shawn

Wal-mart $20 55w halogen lights. Been going strong since about 2010 on a near daily rider, have wired to come on with the low beams. Simple tap into the low beam switch line to the relay.

John, what direction did you decide to go in?

 

Shawn

I have not made a decision yet. Still getting ideas here.

John, what direction did you decide to go in?

 

Shawn

I have not made a decision yet. Still getting ideas here.

Here is what I mounted on my touring bike: link

I was after reasonably priced supplemental lighting for night riding. The lights I selected turned out to also be very good at making me more conspicuous which seems to be your main concern. I started with a 30 degree light but ended up with a pair of 10 degree lights which are much better at providing useful light for driving.

Since many people can be following this discussion for ideas for their bikes I would like to make a couple of points. Most of these led "driving lights" (even expensive ones) make really poor driving lights because they do not have any ability to focus the beam pattern beyond the degree spread. They will throw their light out equally in all directions. The light can be very bright, but very bright might make it MORE difficult for you to see what is down the road.

I bought a pair of led lights from the ADVmonster guy (against my initial better judgement) after reading many glorious reviews on Adventure Rider. One ride in the dark told me I should have listened to my inner voice. The problem with the light was that they were very bright, but the the light went everywhere equally. That means that lots of those lumens were shining upward where light wasn't needed, but the big problem is that lots of bright light was directed to the road directly in front of the bike. This light will drastically reduce your ability to see down the road as your eyes adjust to deal with the bright light close to you. I could actually see much better down the road with those leds off. You are basically blinding yourself as if someone was driving toward you with their brights on.

True driving light focus the beam pattern to provide the light down the road. Most of the led types are just flood lights. The ones in the link above are one of the few that even give you a choice with degrees of spread. The ones on my bike work for me because I have the tightest pattern and I have them aimed to the sides to help illuminate the sides of the roads to detect deer, cattle, and other creatures.

Super bright light isn't always better and can make things worse.

John, what direction did you decide to go in?

 

Shawn

Shawn,

I procrastinated for a while and finally decided on THESE in 60 deg pattern from Superbrightleds.com. Thanks to Eddd for the suggestion.