Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech A better Headlight

For anyone interested I installed one of those
Slyvania Silverstar headlight bulbs and it works
great. The light is very bright and very white. It is
much better than stock and better than one of the other
aftermarket bulb I had tried. It was $19.99 at the
local parts store but I saw them go cheaper on Ebay
after I bought mine. Definitly worth the money.

I installed one recently too, but haven't had the chance to try it out. Heck of a lot cheaper than the PIAA but has similar specs.

Be sure to carry your old bulb in your on-board spares as the Silverstar's are notorious for being short-lived. YMMV though.

how did you know which one to buy?

The Sylvania Silver Star H-4 is made specifically for motorcycles...or at least the one I bought says it is. Supposed to resist vibration.

I just installed an H4 HID conversion on my KLR650 from http://www.hidexpress.com You can read about it here. The light output is unbelievable. I'm going to order another one for my TBA. I'll post here when I get it installed.

Going with a true HID system is expensive but it has a some very real advantages in addition to superior light output including long life, less heat (and power consumption), and greater daytime visability to oncoming cages.

I put a higher h4watt bulb in, a 100/80watt.,don't know the brand name. I got it at a cycle shop. It works great. it lights up the whole country side. Thought it might be to much for the system,but it works great.

I finally got around to installing an HID kit in my BA last night. It's the same kit as that used on my KLR mentioned earlier in this thread. I mounted the ballast next to the right coil under the tank and the rest of the wiring went into the headlight housing.

I mounted the relay and fuse just to the rear of the left side coil (this relay directs power straight from the battery to the headlight ballast when the key is on).

Nothing beats HID for light output and it saves you 20 watts to boot. Not cheap (H4 high/low kits are around $250) but if you drive at night, it's well worth it. Also, the contrast of the white/blue HID with the yellowish halogen driving lights is a real eye catcher for those left turning cages.