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hella bulbs

T

tricyclerob

Guest
Hi all, Just a quick question. Does anyone know of a source for 12 volt 18 watt festoon type bulbs for hella bar end signals? I just installed a set [finally]on my R-69, when I figured out that probably no one under 40 or 50 knows what hand signals mean. Vech at BenchWorks is out of them. I would really like to find a "bulb distributor" , but an net search seems to find most are in G.B. thanks rj
 
I just installed a set [finally]on my R-69, when I figured out that probably no one under 40 or 50 knows what hand signals mean.
i discovered the same thing last fall, although to my advantage.
i was in the middle of the road, stopped, to take a left turn, a car was approaching me from the opposite direction, and i just had my arm out to signal to the cars behind me why i was sitting in the middle of the road. well, the car in front of me had no clue why i was holding my arm out like that, and his reaction was to stop and let me turn. i'm not aware of any hand signals for "no that's not what i meant" so i went ahead and turned.

i have no idea where to get your bulbs though. good luck :)
 
Well, one universal "hand signal" does come to mind, but it does not seem to be a good way to make friends, or to be a good ambassador for motorcycling.rj
 
Well, I think I've answered my own question. I was told it was necessary to use 12 v. 18w festoon bulbs, or the bulbs would not flash at the correct rate. I had considerable difficulty finding that wattage bulb, so I thought I would see what else would work. A trip to a "PepBoys", a local auto parts store showed a very limited selection of festoon bulbs. I did find a "Sylvania" bulb, #6411, [12 volt 10watt] which when combined with a "Tridon/Stant, 12v.,2 terminal,"thermal variable load" [this was printed on the box and I'm not sure if this flasher is any diff. than your standard #552 flasher] flasher # 552 , worked fine. Good flash rate, and plenty bright. On the plus side, these bulbs were 2 for $3.99, compared to $4.15 ea. w/Bench Mark. [Note: all the bulbs I located on a net search that fit the volts, watts and length exactly were in G.B., so that might explain Vech's higher price, but I'm a big fan of adapt and overcome] Also, these bulbs are avail. when "out on the road". The only diff. I found was the orig. bulbs were 39.2mm long and the Sylvania bulbs were 42.5mm long, however, the springs in the Hella lights compressed enough to take the extra length. Anyway, so far so good, but I will report any evidence of premature failure due to the lower wattage. rj
 
Just curious why you are looking for 12 volt bulbs for your R 69S? Do you have an authority model or do the 12 volt conversion? My R 69S and older bikes are all 6 volt as are the bulbs for my ox eye blinkers.

Friedle
 
I guess I should have mentioned that I did the 12v. alt.conversion.rj
 
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