> One reason why I'm considering adding auxuillary driving lights is > beacuse the stock headlight is so poor. OK, the lens gives a nice > wide beam, sharply defined, and a 80/100W bulb is plenty bright. My > complaint is with the vertical adjustment, particularly switching > between high and low beam. > > If I adjust the low beam (with a nice, distinct horizontal cut-off > at the top), to a height that just barely doesn't blind on-coming > drivers, then the high beam is pointed up somewhere near comet > Hale-Bopp. Conversely, if I adjust the high beam so that I get good > light on the road at a distance, the low beam seems to be focused > about 20' in front of the bike. Not ideal for highway riding at > night. > > It seems as if there's no overlap between the two settings. BTW, I > noticed the same thing with the original 60/55W bulb. > > Has anyone else seen this problem, or found a simple solution. Yes, > I know about the adjustment screw (mis-labled in the shop > manual--they swapped the position of the vertical/horizontal > adjusters). The problem isn't in the angle itself, but the switch > between high beam and low. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I have the very same problem. On high beams, as I drive down the road, squirrels leap from the trees into my path, blinded by my light! (Well, not really! But you get the point!) What's the fix? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You could adjust the headlight beam down. The screw is not documented in the manual with the bike. As you face the head light look under the light. You will see two holes in the plastic with a frame brace running left to right. If you look up into the hole you will see a screw/bolt adjuster. the one on your right as you face the light is to adjust the light up and down. take a 10mm socket and turn to tighten to bring the light down. don't touch the one on your left. BTW, those holes are also for tie down since they help you hook to the frame brace. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- => Are you having any problem with the bulb socket warping from the heat of the 80/100w bulb? => Mike Coan => HTTP://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/mikecoan I'm not having any problem. In my BMW, I did have just this problem, and PIAA sent me (gratis) a ceramic H4 socket to go with their wiring harness. I'm using that socket on the GTS. I don't think that this is a standard item for PIAA, and I don't think they sell it separately. It apparently came out of their misc. parts bin! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While mentioning the headlight adjustment bolts, the factory service manual is wrong in this area. One adjuster is for left/right, while the other is for up/down. My local mechanic aand I kept adjusting according to the service manual until we gave up and concluded that the heaadlight had broken. When he got the replacement in he played and then found the error. Mike is correct, the one on the right, facing the bike, is for up/down. The one on the left, facing the bike, is for left/right. Maybe some playing with the left/right would help the problems by changing the cutoff in the next lane, allowing a little more freedom in the up/down. Keith Lutsch ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>While mentioning the headlight adjustment bolts, >>the factory service manual is wrong in this area. >> One adjuster is for left/right, while the other is >>for up/down. When I adjusted mine a few years ago I distinctly remember L/R and U/D marked on the plastic shroud surrounding the hole. I simply aimed mine at the garage wall and brought the headlight WAY down. Kevin Hawkins // Greensboro, NC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Does anyone have any ideas where to mount these? > > > > They have a website. www.motolight.com > > They look interesting, but two things: > 1) They're intended to mount on forks. > 2) They're $245.00 US. Kinda pricey. > > If we can get a volume discount it might be worthwhile, but I don't > think I'll shell out that kind of money for 'em. > > -K > > = Brackets to mount PIAA driving lights to forks can be made for under $30. Brackets to mount PIAA driving lights to mount anywhere can be made for little cost. Let me know what people are looking for (what height off the road to mount the lights, and what lights to mount, etc.) and I will weld up some brackets. (what metal would you like the brackets (aluminum or Stainless?) Louis Tweed ------------------- Yes, it can. There are two socket head cap bolts with phillips slots under the headlight. The one on the right (from the riders point of view) controls the left-right adjustment, the one on the left controls up-down. The bolts can be accessed via holes in the metal supports for the front fairing and radiator. Note the following: The manual (shop or owner's--I forget which) is WRONG. It reverses the labels for the up-down and left-right bolts. A small adjustment goes a long way. Try to do your adjustment at night, with the bike on the centerstand, on a level surface, with the light aimed at something like a brick wall from at least 20' away. The idea is to tell how far you are changing the aim. Using a screwdriver is difficult, and liable to strip the bolt. If you use a small (8mm?) metric nutdriver, it will be much easier. I've found that the real problem with the headlight is the lack of overlap in position between the high beam and low beam settings. This is particularly evident when riding with a passenger, even if I've stiffened up the rear shock. If the headlight is adjusted to illuminate the road correctly on the low beam, it seems to be at a 15 degree angle above horizontal on high beam. A good angle on highbeam means that the low beam hits the ground about 45' in front of the bike. - ---- Mark Bergman Biker, IATSE #1 Stagehand, Unix mechanic ------------ > Can anyone tell me if the direction of the head light can be raised or lowerd, > and if so, how? Look under your front cowl. There are, in recessed wells, two adjustment screws. One does left-right and the other up-down. You don't need to remove anything to access them. Take care, Mike Michael Weaver (706)542-8872 weaver@arches.uga.edu UCNS Network Specialist LAN Support Group University of Georgia, Athens Ga. Pager (706) 227-5526 ------------------------------ From: "Hawkins, Kevin" Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 15:22:22 -0400 Subject: RE: Head light Look underneath the headlight Ray. You will see two holes...one says L/R and the other U/D on the plastic surrounding the hole. They adjust Left/Right and Up/Down. The GTS1000 is notorious for being delivered with the headlight improperly adjusted. L/R seems to be okay, but U/D needs adjusting. Kevin Hawkins // Greensboro, NC