Auxilary lights

I'm looking for some ideas and inspiration for upgrading the lights on my '79 KZ750.

I've seen OMR's dual headlight mod and it rocks. But that's not quite what I'm looking for. I was thinking of something more like adding some driving/fog lights to the bike to help me see and be seen.

Anybody done anything like this on their bikes? I'd like to see some pics in particular how you mounted the lights, etc.

Thanks!

Maybe something in this catagory would work:

Driving Light Mounts & Wiring
www.gadgetjq.com/wiredrivinglights.htm
www.shadowstuff.com/links/products_light_mount.htm
www.valueaccessories.net/Light%20Bar%20Wiring.htm
www.demonscycle.com/Lights-and-Blinkers/...or-p6205748-1-2.html
LED Driving Lights (low current draw, not needing a relay to power the lights)
www.webbikeworld.com/lights/motorcycle-driving-lights/
www.webbikeworld.com/lights/
www.whitehorsegear.com/bikevis-bullets
www.whitehorsegear.com/cree-high-intesity-led-running-lights
www.jpcycles.com/product/3100441

Driving Lights Kits
www.chaparral-racing.com/Product/bikemas...-bikes/326-6400.aspx

The biggest improvement is to dump the stock headlight and go halogen:

www.summitracing.com/parts/WAG-H6024/

I changed the turn signals and running lights and brake light to 3W Luxeon LEDs from superbrightleds.com That frees up about 50W to burn on an auxiliary light.

Those are some really helpful links. I live down a twisty road out where there are no street lights, lots of trees and several blind corners.

Riding at night I feel the need for a little wider field of view especially going into the turns.

Anybody got pics of their own aux light install?

bountyhunter wrote: I changed the turn signals and running lights and brake light to 3W Luxeon LEDs from superbrightleds.com

Is this as simple as swapping the bulbs or do you need other mods?

Topper wrote:

bountyhunter wrote: I changed the turn signals and running lights and brake light to 3W Luxeon LEDs from superbrightleds.com

Is this as simple as swapping the bulbs or do you need other mods?

Just swap the bulbs and install a solid state flasher for the turn signal (they sell those too). The LEDs pull so little current they won't work a standard thermal flasher.

These are the ones I use:

www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/in...pecs%2F115x-xLX3.htm

Solid state flashers:

www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/in...Disp=%2Fflashers.htm

Well that sounds like a good place to start. It'll at least free up some extra Volts to run my aux lights when I add them.

Still looking for some pics of anyone's aux light installs including light bars, fork mounts, etc.

As bountyhunter mentioned, you definitely need to free up wattage before trying to run any other lights. I went Otakar's route and swapped out every incandescent bulb on the bike- indicator lights, gauge backlights, turn signals [again, as bh noted, you'll need a no-load flasher unit], tail light- all LEDs; additionally, I installed one of his HID headlight kits, my headlight is as bright as a 100w halogen light, but only uses 35 watts of power.

And to answer your question a little better, I've seen lights mounted on the turn signal stalks and the signals mounted on the bars (like Harley's), and I've also seen them mounted on the lower triple tree clamp, to the outside.

mtbspeedfreak wrote: I went Otakar's route and swapped out every incandescent bulb on the bike- indicator lights, gauge backlights, turn signals [again, as bh noted, you'll need a no-load flasher unit], tail light- all LEDs;

Did you use the same sort of BA15s 3 watt LEDs for the gauge backlights? Or do they need something less bright?

Topper wrote:

mtbspeedfreak wrote: I went Otakar's route and swapped out every incandescent bulb on the bike- indicator lights, gauge backlights, turn signals [again, as bh noted, you'll need a no-load flasher unit], tail light- all LEDs;

Did you use the same sort of BA15s 3 watt LEDs for the gauge backlights? Or do they need something less bright?

You need something that will fit. Let me get the part number for you when I get home tonight- I tried three different bulbs, only the third fit inside the gauge. I used the 45-LED bulbs for my turn signals. They offer a 360 degree beam pattern and match up with my turn signals (aftermarket) better. I'll post a few pics tonight.

Thanks, I'm trying to figure out what the base size is for the bulbs in the gauges. Are they BA9s?