Light

So, when you ride at night you want to be able to see where you are going, before you get there. And, you don't have a fat wallet to do it with.

Here's what I did:

The light from these lamps is simply amazing! While it is true that they are a spot beam, there is also a significant amount of spread, out to 90 degrees each side of the bike. This makes night riding in the twisties much easier.

You have to connect these up so that you can turn them off instantly, or you will blind someone. If they are blind, they might just run over you, so it is enlightened self interest to do this. I accomplished this by tapping into the bike's high beams, to the switch, then to the relay that actually supplies the current for the lights.

I don't think they will survive any close inspection from any Department of Transportation, but having used them conscientiously for several years now I haven't had any enforcement type problems. Before you try any of this at home, you need to determine your local regulations and enforcement environment. If you get busted with an equipment violation or run someone off the road, it's your own fault!

The same lights on an ST1100 Thanks, Carl.
Carl bent the aluminum bar brackets using a torch, two bricks, a clamp, and pliers. The two bricks insulated the clamp from the heat (being used as a make-shift vise), the torch heated the bend area, and the pliers allowed him to bend the bar without burning his hands.

The bulb format is called PAR36. It is a sealed beam, with a diameter of 4-1/2" and a depth of 2-3/4". The reflector is integral to the bulb, so it can't get dirty unless the bulb breaks. There are two bumps on the back edge to register the bulb in the housing. There are a huge variety of voltages, wattages, brightnesses, and beam patterns available. For my purposes, I am concentrating on those designed for aircraft landing lights.

I made the brackets from two thicknesses of .090" aluminum sheet using the templates from Guy B. Young of the COG list, adjusting the dimensions slightly to fit my bigger lights:
Light1 Light2 Bracket

Previously, on my Sabre with Rifle fairing, I just put a flat bar of aluminum across the bottom and mounted them on each side.

My housings came from NAPA, and were ~$10 each (they cost twice as much if you get the ones wrapped in plastic!) The bulbs that came with them are utility bulbs (flood type) and are useless to me. If you know someone who maintains emergency exit lights, this is the type of bulb used in those.

There are a wide variety of places you can get these at. Northern Tool has two of them, one for $9 and one for $20. I've seen them at Advance Auto and Auto Zone. I would imagine Pep Boys or Canadian Tire would have them also. You just want to make sure the bulb fits before you buy them.

The biggest problem with these cheap rubber housings is that the rubber is fairly thin and flexible, and the light beams jiggle as you ride.

A good looking steel housing is available here:
Superior Signals
(all you need is the housing; we will use a different bulb)

A heavy-duty rubber housing is here:
Utility Lights

Truck-Lite have some nice housings in metal or metal or rubber. They can be a bit hard to find; places that sell to truckers often are dealers for them. As far as I know, they do not sell direct.  One place I found online that sells them is Levine in CT. Apparently Signal Stat was sold to Truck Lite. I ordered these from Levine, and when they came in, they had Signal Stat stamped in the back of the housing. They are quite a heavy-duty unit; the housing without the bulb weighs 14.2 ounces. Pics here.

This is the bulb I use:

H7604 50W 100,000CP 7 degree spread 100 hours

Available for $10 here:
NiteHunters.com

Available for $15 (generic) here:
Atlanta Light Bulbs

Available for $14 (GE brand) here (search for h7604):
Aircraft Spruce

If you have wattage galore, you can get these instead:
Q4509 100W 140,000CP 7 degree spread 100 hours

$25 here (generic):
Atlanta Light Bulbs

$10 here (GE brand):
Aircraft Spruce

Other options

There are many small driving lights available at auto parts and department stores. I first tried these for about $50 for the set, including wiring harness and illuminated switch.

I was quite disappointed in these. While they were better than not having anything at all, they did not provide any large improvement. As a matter of fact, running with these on, my buddy on his new Concours behind me allowed me to see my shadow in his stock headlights :-(

For the Concours, a pricey plug and play kit is available to upgrade the stock headlight to Hella duals.

And, it is really possible to spend a bunch of money to decrease your lighting performance:
High Performance Headlamps

If you are using a truck or off-road vehicle where lamp size doesn't matter, this same type of bulb/lamp is also available in PAR46 size, which is 5-3/4" diameter and 3-3/4" deep. In this size range, some landing-light bulbs go as high as 450W!