What Auxillary Lights Shall I Fit

flyingrasb

Premier Member
#1
I have decided to install some auxiliary driving lights onto my FJR 1300 - 2008 Model off a bracket below the mirrors I think. I don't know what light to purchase, I see Denali do a set for £300.00 which look to be the dogs b****** . I want them to be on all the while at night even through on coming traffic.

However I have been on e-bay and see you can pick driving lights up for around £30.00. Can someone point me in the right direction. I don't wanna pay £300.00 if I can get away with £30.00, but on the other hand I don't wanna spend £30.00 for crap. Your thoughts and suggestions would be most appreciated.

Bazza
 

biquer

Premier Member
#2
Me too with an '08 FJR. I fitted 10 degree Cyclops led spots from www.ledrider.com. The owner is an IBA guy. He's 'Justin' on the FJR Forum. He's easy to deal with and is excellent with warranty issues. I installed the Skene harness, which allows the spots to run as low power driving/conspicuity lights and they switch to full power when the high beam switch is activated. I made up a set of brackets to mount them to the mirror mounts but I'm sure he would have brackets to suit. They are excellent. They are all you need for night riding. I have seen some of the Clearwater led range in action and they are superb, but they are pricey.
 

FJRPilot

Brit Butt Rallymaster RBLR1000 routemaster
Premier Member
IBA Member
#3
When I had my FJR I too had some fogs mounted via brackets from the mirror mounts. Other than down low on the forks there isn't really anywhere else to put them unless you've got those huge american made crash bars I've seen. Mine were just cheap Halfords fish eye lensed fog lights. Due to the inferior generator on the Gen 1 bikes I fitted 35w bulbs instead of the standard 55w. They were OK but not awsome.

When I bought my GSA last year I budgeted for a set of Clearwater Krista2 lights from my injury compensation and biquer is right, they are fantastic but very pricey.

A cheaper version which you can dim down for normal use and reverts to full power when you hit main beam sounds like the best of both worlds.

A friend of mine put some £30 single LED fogs on the forks of his ST1100 and he's very happy with them though.
 

Megabuck

IBAUK Verifier
IBA Member
#4
I fitted my R1100 RT with a pair of Hella driving lights - home-made brackets above the mirrors. Depending on your point of view, they were either 'very effective' or 'dazzingly anti-social'. I was surprised at how willing car drivers were to move over on motorways when I came up behind them; I did end up masking half the lenses off with duct tape to make them a little less 'aggressive'!

Based on Mark's comments, and articles in the Iron Butt magazine, I'm intending to get a pair of Kristas for the next bike.

Regards,
Martin
 

FJRPilot

Brit Butt Rallymaster RBLR1000 routemaster
Premier Member
IBA Member
#5
I very occassionally get flashed but have lowered the angle a bit since I first fitted them and keep them dialed down to their lowest setting for normal dip beam day and night riding. They're on the BMW foglight switch so I can always switch them off too. Martin at Rollcentre Racing near St Ives who are the UK stockists of Clearwater lights is very helpful.

 

OX-34

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#6
I have decided to install some auxiliary driving lights onto my FJR 1300 - 2008 Model off a bracket below the mirrors I think. I don't know what light to purchase, I see Denali do a set for £300.00 which look to be the dogs b****** . I want them to be on all the while at night even through on coming traffic.

However I have been on e-bay and see you can pick driving lights up for around £30.00. Can someone point me in the right direction. I don't wanna pay £300.00 if I can get away with £30.00, but on the other hand I don't wanna spend £30.00 for crap. Your thoughts and suggestions would be most appreciated.

Bazza

Bazza it seems you're only looking at LED lights. Good. LEDs have become better and better and cheaper and cheaper. Except at the very top end where the better probably are better, so not cheap. HIDs still work as well as they ever did, but the warm-up delay makes them less attractive these days.

I take it that when running at night into oncoming traffic you will be at least using low power on the lights? Your choice there is to have one or more pairs that reduce in intensity when you dip your lights from high beam to low beam; alternatively run two or more pairs of lights on separate switches.

Deciding exactly what you want the aux lights to achieve is the first decision - to see or to be seen. That is not universal. I'm in Australia. Like riders in west Texas or Nevada, I often feel the need for very long range down the middle punch to help me see wildlife that may kill me. I'm also on deserted roads so I can make the most of thousands of lumens. Riding my Tenere through the outback one night I was 'flashed' by an oncoming truck nearly 20 MILES away. That sort of lighting is probably pretty useless in most situations like in and around population areas and twisties. Those roads are better lit by a wide/fog beam that helps you see around corners when tipped in a bend.

Consequently I tend to run two switches - one for SPOT and one for WIDE, both only available via the high beam as is the law in Oz.

Having a third switch for a pair of smaller lights aimed at a lower or a divergent angle so as not to dazzle the oncoming traffic and only triggered by the low beam is one way to still have aux lights running all of the time.

Here's a few of my FJRs sporting three different aux light set-ups:

Clearwater Glenda and Krista on a dimmer.



A mix of HID and Twisted Throttle Denali D1 on one switch, and Denali D2 on another switch.


Two sets of LEDs - 2x 3500Lm on one switch, 2x 1000Lm on another switch


So the decision on how much to spend is not so simple. Once you figure out what the lights are supposed to achieve, then buy the best for your budget.
 

OX-34

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#7
Its my Tenere and not an FJR, but this two switch set-up cost less than AUS$1000 (about USD$750 or about £500). It is a bit mental, though it works very well.

 
#8
Bazza
Just fitted a set of denalli's to my fjr Not used them much at night lighter nights and all that. But made some brackets so go nicely under the mirrors my were the D2's sounds like your looking at the same if your looking at £300. Cant say they have a downside some denalli's are brighter but advantages from my point of view can be turned off completely - when on they switch between full and low power on the high beam switch have a very low power draw something like 1.5 amps , come with both fog and spot lenses and are physically small. I also fitted an additional tail / fog light at the same time lots of choices for led tail lights again low power draw, I am not impressed by fog specially on German autobahns I slow down in the fog not so sure about our German friends do get passed a lot.
Cant say I am in any way disappointed could have paid a lot less but spent a couple of months looking at the options and went for the D2's for the above reasons.