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auxiliary lights?

royce

New member
Suggestions please for some auxiliary lights for the F800ST? I am interested in being more visible to other drivers, not seeing further at night, if that makes a difference in your suggestions.
 
For street bikes I'm a big fan of Motolights mounted on the calipers. Another option I've tried and have been very impressed with are the little Clearwater Glendas. Dial them down for conspicuity, and on high beam they throw out enough light to help see close objects at night.
 
Denali LEDs from Twisted Throttle. Best bang for the buck at the moment for quality LED lighting IMO.
 
To help prevent those "left turn in front" a pair mounted lower than headlight to get a triangle effect would be first choice. Of what's currently available, I think the Denali D2 is the best combo of visibility and price. They can be always on with the more narrow beam lens properly aimed and don't draw too much juice. They add useful light to supplement bike headlight, also. Motolights have good housings but the bulbs are ordinary indoor types that depend on the housing for weather protection,etc- its not really a full fledged automotive design but a compromise- though the housings are very well made tha's most of what you get for the money.

Skene Photon Blasters could also be added to the front in addition to the lights- that combo is on my RT.

At the rear, a flashing brake light might help cut the chance of being tail ended by one of the phone yakkers. Bigger is always betters so an adapted Whelen truck light is best but Skene P3 would be a good alternate choice.
 
Suggestions please for some auxiliary lights for the F800ST? I am interested in being more visible to other drivers, not seeing further at night, if that makes a difference in your suggestions.

You might take a look at Clearwater lites.
 
On the recommendation of my BMW shop, I checked out the Rigid Industries Dually D2 LED lights. Anything more than 4 LEDs per housing is exteme overkill. I ordered them through the 4wheel parts web site and saved almost $80 on lights that were quite a bit less expensive than PIAAs. Rigid makes lights for our military and they are extremely well built. Their customer service was outstanding as well. they mounted up very well on the light mount sold by Bestrest for my F800GS.
 
+ 1 on Clearwater. I have them mounted on the forks and they actually do stop drivers from crossing my path. Noticeably.
 
I use LED's from ADVMonster. Mounted on the forks and wired through their dimmer. At about 30% power they add conspicuity and go to full brightness when the high beam is switched on. The light in the sidecar is on full power but behind a smoked plexi cover, the fork lights are dimmed.

LED's 002.jpg
 
I use LED's from ADVMonster. Mounted on the forks and wired through their dimmer. At about 30% power they add conspicuity and go to full brightness when the high beam is switched on. The light in the sidecar is on full power but behind a smoked plexi cover, the fork lights are dimmed.

Bob -- any heat issues with the hack light enclosed like that?
 
Bob -- any heat issues with the hack light enclosed like that?
Hi Pete,
I spoke with John about that at the GA Mtn Rally, he said it might over heat and go dimmer, but would still be on. I don't do alot of night riding and have not noticed it going dim, but I have monitored it during the day, and can always see some light reflected from the vehicles in front of me.
 
Hi Pete,
I spoke with John about that at the GA Mtn Rally, he said it might over heat and go dimmer, but would still be on. I don't do alot of night riding and have not noticed it going dim, but I have monitored it during the day, and can always see some light reflected from the vehicles in front of me.

Sounds good. I've always liked the look of that nose. Mine has the recessed light and the indentation is always filled with crud, bugs, and the occasional dead bird.
 
Are you going to run them as driving lights or fog lights?
 
As a type, LEDs are very sensitive to overheating. The biggest deficiency in most inexpensive LED lights is failure to provide adequate heat sinking- so light output goes down a little as the lamp warms up.
Not mentioned so far is the dramatic shortening of life that will happen if light temps exceed a critical limit. The effect is at least as bad as hooking a tungsten bulb to a too high voltage source. Lifespan will be cut by any amount of overheating and can go directly to immediate failure if lights get hot enough.

So before I'd stick an LED normally mounted in an airstream ina housing, I'd take a real careful look at its design and just how much heat the housing might trap. A housing protecting the front but, for example, open or vented at the rear, would be preferable to a fully enclosed one.
 
As a type, LEDs are very sensitive to overheating.

Remember hearing that somewhere, maybe on this forum, but had forgotten about the issue. Thx for the reminder. I have almost settled on the Clearwater Glendas, so they certainly are not cheap. I will have to research and ensure they are not susceptible to overheating.

Again, thx for the reminder.
 
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