B400 front light upgrade

[bdouvill]

Hi guys,

For those of you who are living in north hemisphere, winter is coming ;-) Here in France, we switched to winter time almost 3 weeks ago and since my tiny B400 became my daily driver 6 month ago, I really start to feel like I need a better front light.

I currently run a stock front light (with stock mounting brackets) together with a Philips Motovision H4 (which is already an improvement over a basic light bulb) but I still feel like high beam gives me what low beam should. I am wondering if some of you have tested some headlamp improvement(s)s. I just found some detailed pictures of Suzuki new SV650 and I remembered I already asked myself if getting a SV650 headlamp (let's say a Naked version from 2003 to 2009) will help on that matter (+ if it fits without any modification). And I'd like to keep the default old school style of my little Bandit ;-)

Any thoughts on the subject?

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Squishy]

On old bikes something you can try is to clean the inside of the headlamp. They simply get dirty.
If you are still not happy you can try start thinking about alternatives.. There are even some high wattage H4's.. (you'll have to check/replace some wires and fuses first though) like these:
http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H4-130-90W-Halogen/dp/B000VUB4CW

Or, something like fake xenon, or of course real xenon if it's allowed.

[ventYl]

For cleaning inside of headlamp - take it easy. Surface can be easily scratched and / or corrode if water is present. I have old headlamp which was hit by small stone while riding on highway and has small hole in glass. I tried to clean it with water to see what will be the effect on reflective surface. I'll examine it to see what happened to it. I have it sitting in the garage to see if reflective surface doesn't get matte after being cleaned by water (some surfaces sustain water, some not).

Another option is to buy brand new headlamp. It does not cost so much (about 150E?). Third option is to measure and check the voltage across bulb contacts. Even the best lamp would not give you much light if voltage across contacts has some drop (drop of 1V is sufficient to wreck even the best bulb's performance). While in most countries DRL for motorbikes is mandatory for more than two decades I assume that contacts on your light switches will be slightly worn and/or corroded and this might cause voltage drop. If this is your case it should be quite easy to replace switches (even from different bike model).

I would avoid changes like xenon-like, xenon or higher power bulbs. Higher power bulbs will give you more light but for the price of increased currents in light circuitry which will cause greater thermal wear of contacts. Retrofitting of xenons is (presumably like in Slovakia) forbidden being unauthorized change of motorcycle construction invaliding your roadworthy certificate.

[Squishy]

You can get new universal headlight units off ebay for about half that (75 euro), and they are clear screens too.
Those will give you better light as well.

[bdouvill]

Thanks for all your answers.

Maybe I was not clear enough in my original post: I was thinking that a more modern headlamp would give me better lighting performance but I might be wrong. This is why I thought about 2nd generation of naked SVs. Do you think my assumption is correct? I also thought about aftermarket headlamps but I like swapping with other Suzuki parts and I believe original Suzuki pieces should be better quality than (cheap) aftermarket ones.

[ventYl]

If your current headlight is worn a lot you might get a better performance but If it is in good shape then the gain would be probably minimal. Unless you would opt for lens-type headlight I don't think there's a lot new headlight might be better at. Actually there's slight chance newer headlight will be worse that old one.

[greg737]

This spring (2016) Suzuki is bringing out a completely redesigned new SV 650 (considered to be a 2017 model).  This new SV has a round headlight just like the original '99 SV had.  I bet this new round headlight is plenty bright.  I'll be lurking on Ebay, waiting for people to start crashing and parting-out some of these new SVs.

[bdouvill]

This spring (2016) Suzuki is bringing out a completely redesigned new SV 650 (considered to be a 2017 model).  This new SV has a round headlight just like the original '99 SV had.  I bet this new round headlight is plenty bright.  I'll be lurking on Ebay, waiting for people to start crashing and parting-out some of these new SVs.

I fully agree with you Greg. Too bad for this winter, I have to find another solution until then ;-)
I started rebuilding a VFR 750 that has been fully flooded and I hope I'll be riding it before winter 2016 ;-) but I can't get rid of my little Bandit so I have to find a solution anyway.

[ventYl]

I've examined the light which was cleaned with water. Reflective surface didn't corrode after being cleaned with water so far. It was OEM GSF400 one. It was cleaned some 8 months ago.

[bdouvill]

A quick update. Until I find out whether a newer front light is a good choice or not, I went to the front light bulb upgrade for now.

I read several reviews of Philips Xtrem vision or Osram Night breaker + (H4). A lot stated that the time life was very poor, like a lot!!! Many stated the lights blown off after a few weeks of usage... So I gave a try to Bosch Gigalight Plus 120 Xenon H4. It claims it performs 20-30% better than conventional bulbs and this is what I can feel compared to my old Philips Motovision (which is supposed to be a premium one if you consider the price of this thing). Feels more comfortable at night, I appreciated on January and early February. But days are getting longer now ;-)

Time will tell if time life is "german quality" too or not ;-)

[GSF]

If you do decide to upgrade the headlight and go for a twin headlight, don't do what the previous owner of mine did and stuff all the wires inbetween the new headlights and the steering column because they won't fit in the back of the twin headlights. You'll have to move the connectors back to under the fuel tank somewhere and run wires up to the front from there. If you stuff everything in behind the headlights they just get mashed by the steering locks and you'll find half the wires end up being cut in half.

When I bought the bike (it was cheap!) I thought the headlights didn't work because of a blown bulb or maybe a fuse. I also did not realise that the B4 didn't come with twin headlights as standard. It didn't help the indicators were missing either, but when I put new indicators on and found they didn't work either I traced the wires and found a bunch nicely cut in two behind the headlight casing. Not fun.