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R1200R Aux Lighting question

Cycl2day

Cycl2day
I have read many posts on auxiliary lighting but clarity has not yet arrived. So for my simple processor, can you help me with this question:

Want brighter lighting in the front; I am mostly concerned about better visibility at night on those dark backroads. Looking for a good boost in vison without drawing an inordinate amount of power. In a perfect world I would also liek lights that I can install myswelf without a $250 labor charge from BMW.

What lights would you recommend?
 
Pretty open and difficult question to answer regarding what will work for you. As a general rule, the most bang for the buck is going to be HIDs. Low draw [not that that matters considering you're on an RT with 720 watts to play with], clean light that gets right on down the road.

I run both spot HIDs with a 400 foot cast and PIAA 1200X floods pointed slightly toward the road shoulders to keep an eye on Bambi and friends.

Here's a shot of the front of my scooter. Note under the mirror are the PIAAs, the WARN HIDs are above the mirrors and have orange stone guard covers on them in this shot.

IMG_0131.JPG


With it all lit - I'm riding behind the eyes of God down the road.

The problem with trying to recommend something like this for someone else is there are a lot of factors involved that only they can answer. For example, what do you want the accessory lights to look like on your bike, where do you intend to mount them, how much money are you willing to spend, what are you trying to light - width, distance, directional lighting or flood lighting - etc., etc., etc.. What you see on my bike is in the $700 arena, and worth every penny to me. I ride at night a lot and ride in the desert southwest where I may be the only vehicle on the road for an hour or more at a time. I can light the world up and never have to dim my lights once. That may not be the case for your riding style.

Hope this helps a little.
 
I have read many posts on auxiliary lighting but clarity has not yet arrived. So for my simple processor, can you help me with this question:

Want brighter lighting in the front; I am mostly concerned about better visibility at night on those dark backroads. Looking for a good boost in vison without drawing an inordinate amount of power. In a perfect world I would also liek lights that I can install myswelf without a $250 labor charge from BMW.

What lights would you recommend?

Installing the lights is a job most people can do. On a CanBus equipped bike it is probably easier to install a switchable fuse block to tie-in the lights and any other electrical additions. In my opinion it is difficult to beat LED lights for increasing your daytime conspicuity. I have a set of Denali LEDs on my GSPD and my wife has them on her F650GS. In daylight they standout from a very long distance. At nite they are not the equal to HIDs. http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/5224
 
Motolights

For the R, a lot of people run the MotoLights. They complement the look of the R nicely & get a bit more light down on the ground. They have a few options in terms of throw & power.

With the limited mounting options on the R, choices are more limited. If you mount engine guards, you have a few more options for mount location & thus can look at other options (like Clearwaters, which are nuclear lighting!).
 
This picture shows a set of Wunderlich Micro-Flooter Halogen lites on my R (http://www.wunderlichamerica.com/motorcycle/R1200R/8600486-823.html). They are mounted on a Hepco Becker engine protection bars. The lites do okay; nothing special, just a set of halogens like PIAAs. I like to mount aux lites as far away from the headlite as posible to provide a larger swath of lite for the cars to aim at.

Not the best picture but you'll get the idea.

R12R2012.jpg
 
As already stated by AK Beemer you mostly need a seperate fuse panel

Once you have that installed you can pretty much load up on lights, my preferance would be for the newer technology of LED as these are awesomely (is that a word) bright wight minimal loading to the system, granted their a little spendy but it is new

If you are comfortable working on your bike you can have the fuse panel and lights installed in a day.

One last item on the fuse panel, I would recommend using a switched style

Regards
 
I've got no connection to Motolight other than having a set on my RT, tied into my low beams for conspicuity. FWIW got this in an email this morning.

10% Off your next purchase at Motolight
Thanks for being a loyal customer. We hope you enjoy this discount on any of our products.
Please feel free to share this discount code.
Expires April 15, 2012
Online orders only at Motolight
Enter Coupon Code: EARLYSUMMER
 
Here's a shot of the front of my scooter. Note under the mirror are the PIAAs, the WARN HIDs are above the mirrors and have orange stone guard covers on them in this shot.

Are the Warn HIDs mounted on RT-P brackets?
 
No. They're prototype brackets Warn built for me. They are thin enough to come up through the space between the mirrors and the failing. They use two bolt holes in the existing fairing frame.
 
Want brighter lighting in the front; I am mostly concerned about better visibility at night on those dark backroads. Looking for a good boost in vison without drawing an inordinate amount of power. In a perfect world I would also liek lights that I can install myswelf without a $250 labor charge from BMW.

What lights would you recommend?


Have you considered Clearwater Glenda's? They're beautifully made. The lights are LED and the mounts are painted anodized aluminum and the wiring, relay, etc are top quality as well. They use very little power at full intensity and even less when dimmed. The kits for newer BMW applications include a CanBus connection. They also come with a dimmer (actually volume control). The Glenda lights are like motolights, on all the time. They're actually a little too bright during the day and way too bright at night for opposing drivers. So the adjustable volume control allows you to vary the brightness on low beam. When your headlight is switched to high beam the Glendas automatically run at full intensity. You can buy them directly from Clearwater but check around because some dealers or suppliers will discount them.
BTW they are easy to install and come with high quality connectors, no wires to cut.

http://www.clearwaterlights.com/glenda_pp.html
 
R12r

Thanks for all the good advice. I am leaning to LED and Denali D1 or D2......has anyone mounted these to an R12R?
 
Have you considered Clearwater Glenda's? They're beautifully made. The lights are LED and the mounts are painted anodized aluminum and the wiring, relay, etc are top quality as well. They use very little power at full intensity and even less when dimmed. The kits for newer BMW applications include a CanBus connection. They also come with a dimmer (actually volume control). The Glenda lights are like motolights, on all the time. They're actually a little too bright during the day and way too bright at night for opposing drivers. So the adjustable volume control allows you to vary the brightness on low beam. When your headlight is switched to high beam the Glendas automatically run at full intensity. You can buy them directly from Clearwater but check around because some dealers or suppliers will discount them.
BTW they are easy to install and come with high quality connectors, no wires to cut.

http://www.clearwaterlights.com/glenda_pp.html

Clearwaters are great, but they don't support the R1200R. I have seen some people graft them on with custom brackets.

Lots of people mount the Krista (big brother of Glenda) on the GSA. It puts out nuclear lighting & I'm a huge fan of them.... just wish they support the R.
 
R12r

Ok, thanks to all of you - I did my best to look at everything that you mentioned.

- .the Clearwaters are too many $$$,
- most manufacturers don' t make a mounting kit for the 12R.
- xplorermoto lights seem to be replicas of the Denali and about the same price
- did not like the looks of some light housings
- the Denali has improved the D1 when they moved to the D2 and they have a canbus connector which I hope will help with the install.

So I think the answer is Denali D2 as they are priced reasonably (compared to some) and have a low draw with high luminary output. I did consider the D1 thinking that they would be enough light but it appears that they are not dimable. I will need to improvise on the mounting but that is true with most lights for the 12R. I may come to regret that but hopefully not.
 
hellalightsfrontview1.jpeg


(The lights are now mounted below the mounts for better triangulation and to avoid any possibility of them hitting the tank..)

Hella FF50 lights (less then $100 on Ebay with a bit of patience) and LumaLink light mounts. Wiring wasn't difficult - they came with a reasonable harness - that only needed to be shortened for the bike (it was designed for a car..)
 
R12r

Ended up with Denali LEDs. Inllation is now in progress. Anyone know which of the three headlight wires (yellow, brown and white) is th high beam and which wire is the low beam?
 
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