G1 B12 Headlamp upgrades?

[Mini4x]

Anyone recommend a good upgrade to the stock Bandit headlamp?  I'd prefer to just buy a better bulb, maybe a wiring realy..

PIAA or Hella?

Does teh Bandit have a regualr H4 bulb?

[ttewejnodnarb]

I replaced my H4 bulb with a Silverstar bulb.  Same wattage but much brighter and much whiter, for $19.95 (single bulb "for motorcycle only" package).  For the money I think it's the best / easiest.  I tried one of the cheap H4's off ebay and was very unimpressed - too blue and even dimmer than stock!

[Red01]

IMHO, PIAA is no better than Hella or Osram/Sylvania. The only thing I've ever seen them better at is lightening your wallet.

If you go with a bulb any brighter than stock, you'd be wise to install a relay. The stock wiring isn't up to the task of the extra draw of higher watt bulbs. Just a relay alone will give you a notieable difference!

[Bazza]

Hey Mini:

I installed the Hella units on my 2002 B-12 and if you pop into my site, you can see what a difference a new set of relays alone will make.

If you scroll down the page there are a couple of pictures with the Hella units before & after the installation of a new harness & relays. The harness cost me about 47 USD, and I could not build one with the same quality wiring & relays for less money.

I am guessing your bike & mine have the same wiring harness & I recorded quite a voltage drop with the stock harness when the lights were turned on. I recorded no votage drop with the new harness.

Anyway, have a look, it's all pretty self explainitory.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/Zukeman/bandit_headlight_mod.htm

[Red01]

The harness will be similar, but not the same since the 1G has only one bulb and the 2G S model has two.

[ldbandit76]

Anyone recommend a good upgrade to the stock Bandit headlamp?  I'd prefer to just buy a better bulb, maybe a wiring realy..

PIAA or Hella?

Does the Bandit have a regualr H4 bulb?

It does indeed have a normal H4.  

The relay harness will do you plenty of good.  With said harness, you can safely run at least a 120 W bulb.  I ran such an animal for a short time.  It threw plenty of light, but it only lasted 8 months or so.  You'll get a slight improvement with the harness and a stock bulb.  

The Osram Silverstar bulbs are well-regarded, but hard to find.  You're looking for the clear ones, not the blue-tinted ones (those are bad: tint=less light output).  

Some folks have had luck running both filaments of the H4 at once.  I haven't tried it.  There are obvious problems with that arrangement.  

I eventually added Hella FF50 lights, detailed here:

http://forums.banditalley.net/viewtopic.php?t=4350

As good as the stock reflector is, it doesn't put out nearly the spread of these things.  Truth be told, at eBay prices, those were a better deal than anything else I tried, though I needed my relay harness to run them.  

Lots of options.

[Mini4x]

The PIAA XTreme Whites are about $35/bulb..

I can't find anything even close in a Hella..

Optilux..  blue coated glass trendy xenon look  

[Red01]

I got my non-PIAA euro-spec H4 bulbs (forget now if they were Osram or Hella, but they were 100/130w) from a local 4x4 shop for $14/ea. They were asking ~$60 for the equivalent bulb in a PIAA box... and I get a discount there.

[Mini4x]

Jusdt picked up a set of these off FleaBay for $15..

http://toucanindustries.com/index.php?src=directory&view=products&srctype=display&back=products&id=58079&submenu=Eurolite&category=Performance+Lighting&pos=0,15,18&PHPSESSID=7776af0c58ad049d29390666d9079cd1

Going to remove stock turn signals, and use the LED's.. hope it works out.. if not heck they were only $15.
 
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