My own take on the Kat lighting/hi-beams.

[mx916]

I very rarely ride at night, not by choice, but it always seems my riding day ends before dusk. After seeing numerous posta about brighter, HID, lighting, I decided to finally take a ride at night and see what was up. I dont live in too rural of an area so the headlights seem adequate. I proceeded towards Jones each (Long Island) where I know there are no lights on the road. It definitely required the Hi-beams, but they seemed plenty bright with a good distance ahead. Maybe it was because it was new to me, or maybe it was a short ride and no deer in the area to worry about. Just my $.02

[The CyberPoet]

A lot of riders have issues with night-riding because of poor night vision, poor optics (glasses that don't pass through as much light as possible, ditto on visors), poorly aimed headlights, weak charging systems and/or poorly manufactured bulbs (cheap replacement bulbs instead of bright ones).

Add to that the fact that you have a partial moon tonight (lighting the ground some), probably a lack of mountains and forests blocking ambient light (including moonlight), and no fog or other light-cutting weather phenomena...

KNOW THIS:
HB2 bulbs are H4 bulbs manufactured to a stricter standard on filament placement. 9003 is just another name for H4.
9003 and HB2 are both interchangable with H4 (same retainer shape, same plug pin shapes/locations).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[kiba]

My hi's are fine; it's the low's that are useless.

/kiba

[WildKat]

High beams all the time at night until traffic comes..I find the stock bulbs adequate, but then again, I do alot of my riding at night so Im used to it.

[Crackshot]

High beams all the time at night until traffic comes..I find the stock bulbs adequate, but then again, I do alot of my riding at night so Im used to it.

+1

[ThAzKat]

I have riden at night many times and the sylvania super blues are the ones I use and I love them. definitely brighter than stock. I try not to ride at night during harvest season here because the deer are bigger than my bike.

[kiba]

my low beams at night with no street lights are useless. i over run the light way to fast, the high beam is very bright and has distance but its to high. it reflects off signs too much becoming distracting. id like a new low beam bulb that is bright and aim it up slightly.

+1

Silverstars are da bomb. They are, like, extremely bright and stuff.

It's not that the stock bulbs are too dim (could be brighter, though), the biggest problem is that they're pointed too low. You can't see far enough down the road for them to be of any use.

/kiba

[The CyberPoet]

It's not that the stock bulbs are too dim (could be brighter, though), the biggest problem is that they're pointed too low. You can't see far enough down the road for them to be of any use.

I have the same issue. I stuck a pair of PIAA H4 Xtreme White Plus bulbs. Very bright but I was hoping to see a greater improvement in the view distance.

Reaim your headlights, guys!

On the 98+ models, there are four knobs (one in pretty much each corner of the headlight assembly) that you can turn by hand to move the reflector dish assemblies up/down & in/out. It can take a number of tries to get your lowbeam set to a point where it's really useful, but it can be done. The pre-98's have some similar kind of aiming system built-in, but depending on the age of the bike, the knobs themselves may be just phillips head bolts rather than large black hand-knobs.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[The CyberPoet]

do you have to rip the fairings off? i remember when i had to pull my gauges out all the plastics had to come off then the headlight, will it be a similar process as that?

No, you don't have to rip the fairings off -- at least I don't (98+)... Turning the wheel all the way to the opposite side should leave you enough space to snake your hand in there from above, although you may end up coming up from below. It normally takes me about 2 hours to aim & fine-tune the headlights when I get a Kat; first a general aim, then test/ride, adjust, repeat cycle until I'm hitting the light where I want it (braking and acceleration are both part of the aimming process for me -- although I'm sure you could just use the factory system and aim at some specified height above the ground). I realize that my highbeams can probably blind oncoming drivers (esp. if I'm on the gas), but I won't out-drive my lowbeams normally...

Speaking of which -- mx916 said he was 100% satisified with how much light hit the road (on his low-beams I suppose), he may not be aiming out as far as I do... The further the beam goes out, the weaker it will be when it gets to that spot, so the better bulbs (like the Sylvania SilverStars or the Hella part # 8GJ 002 525-821) actually get more light out to that spot. Remember also the HB2's are better spec in terms of focal length precision, so you may get a better spot with an HB2 than with the same brand/make H4 bulb.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[WildKat]

I was THIS close to taking off the fairing when I was trying to line up my headlights the first time. There is adequate room, just takes alittle maneuvering around..but if you have big hands and arms, its alitte snug, but again, not that bad.

[Mojoe]

when i ride at night on the backroads, it is highbeam all the way...and this includes when i meet traffic. i have no choice...my lowbeam sucks bigtime. so they get the highbeam. at times i might change it....such as in a right hand curve where it would get the other driver directly in the eyes. otherwise they just have to deal with it. besides....i only have one headlight...they have 2. i call that even...lol.
it can't be that bad, cuz they never flash me to dim.

[midqetsex]

I have Sylvania Silverstars in my car and they make a big difference. My friends have made a few positive comments about their brightness. They're far from blinding (at least how I have them aimed) but they really light up the road. I never need my high beams, although I'm usually pretty close the city.