Headlight orientation

[Doc_Qanai]

[size=14]I’ve got a stupid question: does the parking light hole in the reflector of the R65 go toward the top or toward the bottom of the headlight shell? The reason I ask is that at night I can hardly see the low beam, which seems to not project forward on to the road, while high beam seems to project as far as the low beam on my RS.

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[Bob_Roller]

Parking light goes on the bottom .

[Doc_Qanai]

[size=14]Bob,

Thanks. That is what I thought. I am just used to seeing much more light on low beam. Maybe I just need to do the conversion to a 80/100 bulb like I have in my RS.

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[Bob_Roller]

What kind of condition is the inside of the lens and the reflector in, I need to clean mine about every 5 years or so due to the build-up of what ever gets in there .

Ever think about running the head light directly from the battery using a relay to control the light bulb itself, instead of the undersized OEM wiring ?

[Doc_Qanai]

What kind of condition is the inside of the lens and the reflector in, I need to clean mine about every 5 years or so due to the build-up of what ever gets in there .

Ever think about running the head light directly from the battery using a relay to control the light bulb itself, instead of the undersized OEM wiring ?

[size=14]Bob,

The lens (and the reflector) is as clean as new (the former owner had put a fairing, which had its own headlight, on the bike and kept the almost-like-new original headlight stored in his house. I removed that awful barn door of a fairing and replaced it with the original headlight and a café fairing (and immediately increased gas mileage by 10 mpg). I am used to the 80/100 watt headight on my RS and the output of this 55/60 seems much to weak for me. I now plan to install an Eastern Beaver high wattage  kit, which will allow me to run an 80/100 watt bulb like I have on the RS. I do a lot of night riding and I’ve got to be able to see.

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[montmil]

"I now plan to install an Eastern Beaver high wattage  kit, which will allow me to run an 80/100 watt bulb like I have on the RS. I do a lot of night riding and I’ve got to be able to see.  Doc"

And hopefully, your R65 alternator system will be up to the increased load.

Monte

[ambrose78]

I had a similar issue whereby there was little variation in high low beam - to the point where it was better in low beam than high.

After working out the bulb was in fact working and wired correctly.

I rectified the problem by merely removing the lens from the lamp assy and installing it so that the H4 was upside down.

[drewboid]

I upgraded the alternator with the Omega system and then added a pair of cheap Pep Boys driving lights. They dump a lot of light on the near portion of the road which makes up for the dim low beam. They also provide additional points of light so the cars get a better idea of where I am and how fast I'm moving. It is hard to judge speed and distance from a single point of light. YMMV but it works for me.

[Dizerens5]

Years ago (in Britain at least) several companies provided re-silvering service for headlight reflectors. In the days when all headlights had separate reflector and front glass - just like the R65!. Maybe somebody still does this service. I seem to remember it made a big difference.

[bjamesw]

 I replaced my lens, reflector, and  bulb with an off the shelf round Sylvania Halogen automotove single unit replacement at WalMart about 15 years ago.  It has served me very well so far.   There were three little glass alignment tabs that had to be dremel sanded off the edge and then if fit perfectly within the shell and the trim ring.  The R65s' harness even plugged in and hi/lo worked without modification.   I was pretty amazed.   May not have the firepower that some of you are describing, but since this size appears to be a common enough standard, with the proper three pins for our harness,   I'm sure there are high performance ones to be had out there.