• Welcome to the Yamaha FZ1 Forums. Member registration disables ads and allows you to post and share. Register Here.

Headlight Bulbs.......halogen or led ?

Blue Flash said:
I have some shop time scheduled this week, working on a bicycle for my nephew's little girl. I'll have to shoot a pic of my BeamTech pattern. I still have the tape on the wall that I used to adjust the beams on the truck. The top of the low beams should sit at at about the height of the headlight centers at 25 feet. The truck headlights are only slightly higher than the bike, so it should be a good reference. You can get a comparison with your OEMs vs the BeamTech bulbs with that.

I didn't adjust the headlight aim at all after installing. They were pretty much spot on, but adjusting the lights only takes a minute or two if you think you need to tweak. The pattern looks good, though. Pics coming!
Click to expand...
OK, in regard to the question about the beam patterns, here is a shot of the pattern in the shop today. I did have some lights on in the shop, so it's not quite as clear here, but the distinct line is certainly where the top of the beam is, and it's nice and straight across. Unfortunately, my phone camera doesn't make it quite as clear as I saw it, and the left side of the pic fell victim to the scattering on that side like my truck light pics. I didn't drag out the polarizer. however, on the right side of the fridge, you can see the nice, flat-topped beam pattern on the wall. I guess I should pull the bike out of the shop and point it at outside shop doors. Maybe that would help.


MAYBE I could bring the lights up just a tad, but they looked great on the road! These tapes were for the Truck alignment, so they are a little bit higher than the bike lights should be. It's been kind of rainy lately, so the bike has been hiding in the shop.



20241108_161904.webp
 
Last edited:
toddmtnbkr said:
Don’t have factory bulbs pic for FZ1 but figured these might be helpful.

(One of the few good things about living next to A sound walll. Lol)
Click to expand...
That looks great, but you have a Gen II right?

I'd like to see a Gen I, not sure how the reflector housing compares against the Gen II. I didn't take any photos when I tried the LED bulbs, but I wasn't happy with the output. There was a well defined cutoff, but LOTS of light scattering above the line.

Do you guys have any issue with the beam shaking? I never noticed on my old silver Gen I, but this blue one I bought recently make me realize the headlight cutoff shakes a lot. City roads aren't good where I live, lots of unevenness and bumps everywhere.
 
I would check the mounting areas of your front fairing. Are the bulbs secure in their housings? Neither of my gen.1's, have a shaking problem with the bulbs. With one bike, having 145K miles on it.
Dean
 
spyd3rm4n said:
That looks great, but you have a Gen II right?

I'd like to see a Gen I, not sure how the reflector housing compares against the Gen II. I didn't take any photos when I tried the LED bulbs, but I wasn't happy with the output. There was a well defined cutoff, but LOTS of light scattering above the line.

Do you guys have any issue with the beam shaking? I never noticed on my old silver Gen I, but this blue one I bought recently make me realize the headlight cutoff shakes a lot. City roads aren't good where I live, lots of unevenness and bumps everywhere.
Click to expand...
Hey man. New to the FZ world. Not sure how I know which gen I have.
As to the shaking, never noticed that myself.
 

Attachments

  • beamtech headlight.webp
    beamtech headlight.webp
    199 KB · Views: 11
Dean L. Dinnetz said:
I would check the mounting areas of your front fairing. Are the bulbs secure in their housings? Neither of my gen.1's, have a shaking problem with the bulbs. With one bike, having 145K miles on it.
Dean
Click to expand...
The bulbs are secure and the headlights are secure. It's the front suspension. I can see the cutoff line (of my halogen bulbs) bouncing rapidly, and notice it on reflections off overhead signs.
 
Dean L. Dinnetz said:
Time for a front end, rebuild?
Is your front tire cupping? Loose steering stem ball bearings? Check all front end bolts/nuts.
Some thing is not right.
Click to expand...
No cupping, no loose bearings. Everything is nice and tight. Just a bouncy front over my rough roads here, looks like I'm flashing my lights sometimes.

I did just replace fork seals and cleaned everything inside and out, with fresh oil and it feels a whole lot better. I had a bad seal leak, and the 20 year old fork oil was disgusting despite the low (4000) miles on it. Bushings looked good with no wear whatsoever so I reused those.

Back to the LED discussion I tried yet another set of cheapo Amazon H4 bulbs and they're insanely bright. There's a nice clean cutoff that matches the halogen cutoff but unfortunately there's a ton of scattering above the cutoff, so back to the halogen for now.



This was just the right bulb. You can see the clear cutoff with a lot of good usable light below the line. But above that line you can still see a big projection of the outer headlight lens, which isn't there with the halogen bulb. If I stand anywhere within that space it's blindingly bright.
 
I am still running some LED bulbs on my 2001 FZ1, that I picked up from a FZ1OA forum member, about four years ago. These bulbs have fans attached to them, to keep them cool. They are very bright, and have a great illumination field.
On my 2002 FZ1 with 145K miles, I just run halogen bulbs. They work, okay. Don't do long tours on it, anymore.

The 145K mile bike, has had the front fork fluid changed, many times. The o.e.m. fork seals that came with bike from Japan, have never leaked fluid! Pretty amazing. Mind you, the bike gets detailed, quite often. California weather! No salt.
Adios
 
I bought led off amazon, they were the ones that had positive reviews on youtube(I can look if you need). They are OUTSTANDING at night on high. Good on low. During the day I have had several people ask me what they were were for their bikes.

The cheap LED don't cast the correct patterns. Don't believe the lumen hype. It's about casting the right pattern
 
vonzep said:
I bought led off amazon, they were the ones that had positive reviews on youtube(I can look if you need). They are OUTSTANDING at night on high. Good on low. During the day I have had several people ask me what they were were for their bikes.

The cheap LED don't cast the correct patterns. Don't believe the lumen hype. It's about casting the right pattern
Click to expand...
Please share, PM if you're not comfortable posting the link/brand.

You're 100% right, lumens are virtually irrelevant, it's WHERE those lumens go that matter. I'm on my third set to test and so far they're the same, excellent output but too much light where it shouldn't be.
 
spyd3rm4n said:
Back to the LED discussion I tried yet another set of cheapo Amazon H4 bulbs and they're insanely bright. There's a nice clean cutoff that matches the halogen cutoff but unfortunately there's a ton of scattering above the cutoff, so back to the halogen for now.

This was just the right bulb. You can see the clear cutoff with a lot of good usable light below the line. But above that line you can still see a big projection of the outer headlight lens, which isn't there with the halogen bulb. If I stand anywhere within that space it's blindingly bright.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I am talking about. Too many people would put those in and say the look fine to me and call it a job done and then go out and blind people. I am glad you checked that scatter to see how bad it was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top