I cannot do an LED at this time. I just put in a Silverstar. It cost me about $20 at Walmart. They don't sell the Ultra in a single pack, so I just went one level down. It is brighter than the bulb that was there when I bought the bike, but not significantly. I found a single pack ultra at an auto parts store for $26, so I'm thinking I'm going to take the Walmart bulb back and get that single ultra. I'm wondering two things, and I hope someone has experience with this and can help me. One, is it worth it to bump up to the ultra bulb- will it make a difference? And secondly, I'm looking at going with an HID kit. I've seen that the E Code lights focus the light really well, and I was wondering if the HID does the same thing? If I get one of those, will my single bullet headlight not light up the side of the road enough? I want to be able to see the deer on the way into work, so I don't want to go a direction bulb-wise that will only light up the road, and not the sides. Thoughts?

 

First off, the Silverstar bulb will be quite a bit brighter than stock. If you like it, get a spare and keep it in your bags because they burn out fast. Less than a year usually.

Secondly, bulbs don't determine light spread. The reflector and lense does that. If you really want to light up the sides of the road, I'd suggest passing lamps like on the tourers, or get some fog lamps and mount them whereever you can. They will spread the light out side to side and light up the ditches.

I don't know much about HID lights. But I thought HIDs had ballasts that had to warm up before the lights come on. Makes you wonder what happens when switching from high beam to low beam, and vice-versa, at highway speeds. Hopefully, someone with more HID experience will let us both know.

 

If you look at my picture you can see the LED lights on my bike. Save your money until you can get some. They are the best safety investment you can make.

 

E code lens throw a good light spread on bright and dim if adjusted correctly. Susquehanna Motorsports has the good ones. They also have 100/90 halogen high power bulbs. These work fine if you wire in a high temp or ceramic plug. The stock electrical system can handle it. They are available off ebay for less than $10. I have 3 bikes and i installed this on all of them. Silverstar bulbs might be worth it for a quick upgrade but they burn out quickly.

 

To answer your first question - don't return the Walmart bulb just to get the Ultra bulb. You won't notice ~that~ big of a difference. On the other hand,,, I've been using the same Ultra bulb for 4 years & 25k miles. Granted, I never use the high beam so maybe that has something to do with it.

You may ask why I don't use the high beam? Because I installed a pair of Kury Silver Bullets that throw an absolutle ton of light on the road. Seriously, you wouldn't believe the amount of light you get from these $110 (4 years ago) lights.

 

I run a Piaa Extreme White anti vibration bulb. They are available at most auto parts stores for $25-$30. They are very bright.

 

Hah- I wonder if it's brighter than the Silverstar Ultra that I just swapped out for? Yeah, I did it. Hope it is better, but I see from a previous post that it is said to not be worth the effort. Maybe before I open this Ultra I will go get the Piaa. Damn, this quest may never end. At least it's an awesome day for riding here. Not to brag, but we have 72 and only partly cloudy. Great day!

So WRAITH, do you know, or do you at least "think" the Piaa is brighter or better in some respect than the Ultra?

 

[quote=Baeseman1;9014400]To answer your first question - don't return the Walmart bulb just to get the Ultra bulb. You won't notice ~that~ big of a difference. On the other hand,,, I've been using the same Ultra bulb for 4 years & 25k miles. Granted, I never use the high beam so maybe that has something to do with it.

You may ask why I don't use the high beam? Because I installed a pair of Kury Silver Bullets that throw an absolutle ton of light on the road. Seriously, you wouldn't believe the amount of light you get from these $110 (4 years ago) lights.

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I like the idea of those, but I'm wondering how much light they throw out. In reading about them, it says they use 20 watt bulbs. Is that really going to throw out that much light? Or are you using different bulbs in them?

 

Silverstars lasted years on my car and even longer on my bike.

 

Mine came with 35w bulbs. I had some 50w laying around, so I threw them in. Didn't notice a difference, which is why I suggested not returning the Walmart bulb.

To show my brother how much light these put out, I straddled the bike and turned the ignition on. (at night of course) I held my hands over the headlight to show how little the field-of-view dimmed down. Then I moved my hands and covered the Silver Bullets. Very significant difference.

Swapping from the stock (headlight) bulb to the Ultra was a help, but nothing like what the Silver Bullets added. And since they are such low wattage, I just tapped into the low beam wiring inside the headlight. (which is why I don't use my high beams)