SuzukiSavage.com - Headlight mods.

arteacher

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Headlight mods.
09/24/14 at 14:42:18

We all know that the stock headlight is no where near sufficient for night time driving, especially on country roads at 50 mph, where you over drive the low beam considerably. The high beam is nothing to write home about either, but it is strong enough to upset oncoming motorists, so you can't drive with it on all the time.
My intent for this thread is to
1) Find out how others have addressed this problem, and whether or not they are happy with their results.
2) The technical difficulties encountered and how solved. (ie- where do you put all the connectors and stuff that normally fits in the stock light)
3) Sources for said lights.

If the thread turns out to be a useful source of info, maybe it could be put in the tech section.

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verslagen1

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #1 - 09/24/14 at 15:05:57

I've put a GS series 5 3/4" headlight on with a stock bulb and I'm satisfied with it's performance. But that city and superslab riding and no where near as dark as rural riding. The advantage is better focusing of available light.

Around here, HID light are frequently found on cars and bikes and are substantially brighter. 3x more light is what's advertised and yeah, it is. But if you don't have the starter cutout relay it will dim out when you start and you'll need to shut it off to restart it. I had the halogen high beam version so I just put it to high beam whenever I was going to start.

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HondaLavis

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #2 - 09/24/14 at 16:42:13

I saw today that cyclegear has a new LED headlight conversion kit. It's on sale for $60, and I'm considering getting one. I don't know if the connector will be compatible, but that's easily rectified. It looks simple enough: find a place to mount the small box, then plug and play everything else. with 2200-2400 lumens, 30,000 hr life, and and only consuming 24 watts it seems a bit enticing.

http://www.cyclegear.com/SPEEDMETAL-LED-Conversion-Kit

That cyclegear light looks nearly identical to lights by CREE. Here is essentially the same kit, but it has 2 lights for a car. If somebody wanted to go halfsies, you could save money splitting a kit between two people. this kit is only 1800 lumens, though.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Brights-LED-Headlight-Conversion/dp/B00HFK2RAE

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Dave

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #3 - 09/25/14 at 04:40:19

Here is a link for a fellow that replaced the stock headlight with a Marauder headlight....supposedly a bolt on switch.
http://www.joe-freeman-personal.blogspot.com/2011/05/suzuki-s40.html

I am not sure about the quality or durability of the new stuff that places like Dime City sell. Some have plastic lenses, reflectors and/or housings, and I fear they are cheaply made products. Most OEM headlights are well built and hold up well, and Harley folks are always changing and ungrading their stuff....so you might find a nice affordable OEM take off on eBay or Craigslist. Most likely the Harley stuff will require you to make an adapter to mount them to the Savage. You can find some really nice headlights if you look around a bit. For the search you will find the most selection if you put in something like "Suzuki Headlight", the open a listing and go to it and then click on the category "motorcycle parts" at the top of any listing, then type in "headlight", then click on the link "highest cost + shipping price", then go over and type in the highest and lowest prices you are interested in. This way it does not restrict the light to a specific brand or model. You can also type things like "-LED" if you want to eliminate that stuff from the search.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/97-Buell-M2-Cyclone-Headlight-Head-Light-B37-/1709613...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/suzuki-vs1400-intruder-1400-head-light-lamp-assembly-...

This fellow bought a Dime City headlight and is in the process of mounting it, and currently he is having trouble with the size of the fork mounts being too small.....it is worth watching this thread to see how it works out for him.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1411097139

Just about any headlight bucket will accept the number of wires that the S40/LS650 has in the headlight bucket....it has very few connections inside the bucket.

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Fishbulb

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #4 - 09/25/14 at 08:37:38

Quoting myself from that linked thread:

I went with a fork mounted set up from DCC and I am very pleased. MOved to a 7" with a Hella light. I Went with the chrome larger british style bucket, well built. MUCH better light output, even without adding a relay.

I did get the medium duty brackets, and they are a bit long for my tastes. And, as others have mentioned, they required a little bending.

The shorter ones you are looking at will be better for bringing the light closer to the forks, but I think it will take a bit of a bend to get it to meet the bucket.

I Would look for some of the brackets that already have a 'step' built into them, so you don't have to bend them yourself.

Good luck!

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stewmills

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #5 - 09/25/14 at 18:13:43

So no one else has attempted the Marauder swap other than that guy? I'd be happy getting a used Marauder and bolting it right on if it's in fact that simple and provided a little more light. I'm just not up to any significant mods requiring relays, rewiring, new brackets, etc. as it's not that critical.

No other Marauder success stories/comments/un-success stories?

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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18099 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #6 - 09/26/14 at 04:05:03 I would be concerned about the amount of room that is required for the backside of the light bulb. It appears to stick back pretty far - and it requires a cooling fan be mounted on the backside. I don't believe that is going to fit in most motorcycle headlight buckets....and where is the cooling air going to come from?
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Kris01 Serious Thumper Offline Eat, sleep, RIDE! Posts: 3767 Tennessee Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #7 - 09/26/14 at 18:22:16 Which Marauder are we talking about? ...or does it matter? What size is the headlight?
Back to top	There's no problem that a full tank of gas and a sunny day can't fix! 2008 S40, Rotella T 15W-40 w/ZDDP added, Dyna, 140/90-15, Battery Tender Jr., Seat lift, #52.5/150/3 washers, Raptor IP Logged

stewmills Serious Thumper Offline Imagination is more important than knowledge Posts: 2641 Auburn, AL Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #8 - 09/26/14 at 20:26:58 Kris01 wrote on 09/26/14 at 18:22:16: Which Marauder are we talking about? ...or does it matter? What size is the headlight? not sure. the blog referenced shows a pic but doesn't specify the exact bike or headlight size. if anyone here can confirm that i would get one.
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HondaLavis

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #9 - 09/26/14 at 21:21:54

You'll have better luck finding it under the vs1400. The pickings for the marauder 800 seem few and far between.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-Suzuki-Intruder-VS1400-VS-1400-S437-headlight-mo...

In regards to the LED conversion, I'm heavily considering trying it next month. I opened up the bucket tonight, and I think it will fit. The bulb sits pretty deep into the reflector, and a lot of space is taken up by the big rubber gasket. I'll give you the point about airflow, and I'll likely be "customizing" the back of my stock housing. If the LED doesn't fit, then my custom vent holes will have to accommodate. Cheesy

My current stock light housing has a few cracks. Hopefully it will hold up, but if it doesn't I'll probably get a vs1400 housing and try it all over again!

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"You ride a single cylinder motorcycle??"

"When you're good, one is all you need." Wink

I guess that means I'm no good anymore; I've got 4 more cylinders! '08 Yamaha FJR1300 and still '01 Savage

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stewmills Serious Thumper Offline Imagination is more important than knowledge Posts: 2641 Auburn, AL Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #10 - 09/27/14 at 08:51:37 thanks, hondalavis
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ToesNose Serious Thumper Offline Pardon me, do you have Hot Sauce? Posts: 1993 Mooresville, NC Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #11 - 09/27/14 at 13:54:39 Here's my HID build, I finally got around to importing all the pics that got cut from PhotoBucket- http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1372603847/0#6 The HID makes a HUGE difference, especially on country roads with no street lights.
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GridMonkey

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Re: Headlight mods.
Reply #12 - 09/28/14 at 00:50:30

Hey,

So i swapped my lamp out for this http://www.ebay.com/itm/261536384680?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=...

3 LEDs 6 watts each, 2 on for low 3rd comes on for high beam at 20$ it was worth testing. The same store has a 30 watt 3x10 version for a bit more, though the 12/18 claims 2000lm and the 20/30 claims only 1600lm I have no idea what the actual output is, only that with the one i got (link'd) and the stock housing, it is a world of difference, anything the slightest bit reflective jumps out at you instantly because of the 6000k white temp and it seems like i can see much farther down the road. My girlfriends rebel was using the other lamp in the 2 pack we bought of sylvania silverstar xtravision (the 2nd cheapest tier) and if she is right next to me you cant even tell her light is on. I will be buying the 20/30 watt version and comparing the two at some point also will include stock pics with the same sylvania bulbs too. For now here are some pics in the parking garage where i work right after i put the lamp in. Of course i managed to flip the wires so my high/low switch was backwards... but otherwise i'm pretty happy with it.

Low Beam oncoming, low center light source. The other lights in the pic are mercury vapor lamps

Low Beam

High Beam

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Kris01 Serious Thumper Offline Eat, sleep, RIDE! Posts: 3767 Tennessee Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #13 - 09/28/14 at 08:37:49 That's a drastic improvement!
Back to top	There's no problem that a full tank of gas and a sunny day can't fix! 2008 S40, Rotella T 15W-40 w/ZDDP added, Dyna, 140/90-15, Battery Tender Jr., Seat lift, #52.5/150/3 washers, Raptor IP Logged

Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18099 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Headlight mods. Reply #14 - 09/28/14 at 18:07:57 Kris01 wrote on 09/28/14 at 08:37:49: That's a drastic improvement! Are you looking at his "low beam" and "high beam" photos and calling that a drastic improvement? It is not a before and after.
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