jap spec bulbs

[Deviant400]

who does thye standard jap spec headlight bulbs in the uk ,,,, david silvers ?? anyone ??

[RobTriskele]

Im having this issue too. I need to replace a bulb on my VFR and I don't want to go thru the rigmorole of cutting away the back of the lamp unit or modifying the bulbs, and then having to install a relay to take the current of the uk spec bulbs.

Its gotta be much easier to find a Jap spec bulb dealer either in the UK or even in the EU that will ship to the UK. Or should I be saving up for a plane ticket to Japan and come back with a few suitcases full of bulbs!!!

[ibby4585]

Am sure Dave silvers and Rick oliver can get some.

kris

[surfer 69-b]

if you cant find them anywhere else
you could have a look at cmsnl.com but they are expensive

[RobTriskele]

Am sure Dave silvers and Rick oliver can get some.

kris

Just found out that Rick does them at about £8 a pop. I'll be giving him a call in thr morning. Thanks :)

[Drunkn Munky]

Thats explains why not 1 dealer in my area had the correct bulbs

£8 a pop....ouch

[RobTriskele]

I might add that that price from Rick is less than half of what some geezer on ebay is selling them at !!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Headlight-Bulb-Ha ... 20b0a53b6f

[CMSMJ1]

They are a H4R bulb..my local shop had some cheap when I got mine

[w00dzy]

Why not install an HID kit... the standard bulbs are like riding by candle light

[Neosophist]

Why not install an HID kit... the standard bulbs are like riding by candle light

Aside form the fact their illegal if any anal copper pulls you over your in trouble.. i've heard of a few bikers being pulled over for having HID kits in there.

Most of the cheap chinese junk is really unreliable... they dont' make 'h4' style HID bulbs so what you get is an acutal HID capsule bastardised onto an H4 mount...

Getting the HID lights set up properly is the hardest part.. while they may at first appear 'brighter' there just lighting up more of the immediate area.. long-distance visibility can actually be quite decreased.. its' like driving a car with fog lights on.. it seems brigher but it isn't.

Plus your more likely to be throwing light into other peoples eyes.. proper HID's are deisgned to be self levelling and self cleaning.

The shape, orientation and precise placement of the arc from an HID kit very rarely meets up with OEM recommendations for bulb placement, and often come with no 'caps' to stop direct light from passing out at all angles.

As a result they often throw light all over the map and can often take what was a reasonable set of headlights and produce a dramatic and horrible light spread. Often times putting far less light on the road, far more up into drivers eyes hurting both your ability to ride while alone, and endangering yourself and others while sharing the road. It'll look 'very bright' and often produces dramatic glare that might look from the drivers seat as an improvement, but is actually not placing light where you need it most. 'Brighter' isn't always 'Better'.

A fairly well known link passed around for automotive application still passes muster and applies to motorcycles today as well. It's worth the time to read the three linked PDF's in the link as well. While not directly using a motorcycle as an example, it certainly demonstrates the issue of throwing HID lighting into a standard reflector housing.

While there are a very few examples of cars which use reflective HID setups (and D2R masked bulbs, full caps, and very carefully engineered housings) the bulk of all HID systems use a carefully designed projector assembly to keep the light properly focused and legal. However it's worth mentioning that even on the vehicles and motorcycles that use standard projector housings with halogen bulbs, throwing in an HID kit can still produce bizarre and unreasonable light spreads.

I wish I'd saved photos of the most recent motorcycle I had in the shop here with one of these 'kits' installed. It was a newer CBR600, which took what was a pretty reasonable set of headlights, and after installation of an HID kit threw light upward at an angle of around 20 degrees lighting nothing below the beltline of the motorcycle (and thus, nothing on the road what-so-ever) and putting all that new found ultra bright light right into the windshields of drivers.

In the dark it lit the roof of the shop up at around the 8' mark and I could have probably read a book by the light it threw up at the second floor. Upon removing the 'kit' (which was marketed directly as a motorcycle kit, and a direct replacement') it was obvious the tube was sitting a solid inch further into the assembly than needed and as a result you could get a direct look at the arc which threw light nearly directly up at 90 degrees.

Hopefully (the author has) taken the time to carefully re-aim (the) headlights and confirmed the beam spread is acceptable and not throwing glare up. I'd hazard a guess however that if it is indeed working, it's probably the minority of reflector housings that will actually produce a good light spread with an HID assembly installed.

It's probably still worth mentioning to the public in general that slapping down a credit card for an eBay HID kit can easily produce a poor set of lights, and at worst, very dangerous set.

Otherwise, thanks for all the effort you put into your reviews."

Just one of many articles from people in the know.. i'd never reccomend anyone get HID lights, even though they might seem fancy.

Get some decent H4 55/60watt bulbs like Philips X-Treme (rated best H4 bulbs)

The UK spec H4 upgrade is deffiantly worth it over the standard japanese 35/60watt bulbs though :)