BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

hi all.
i am considering buying a pair of Motolight caliper mounted driving lights.
see: http://www.motolight.com/index.php?page=Home
if anybody has any comments, either pro or con, i would appreciate hearing them.
thanks.
-daniel.

Had them on an 02 R1150RT. They were GREAT. On a country road at night, you can see into the woods on both sides of the road. I ran them in the daytime too, because I began to notice that people in cars would not pull out on me from farther down the road! At first, I thought this was my imagination, but its not. People see you as a larger presence with them on. I would like to hear from other riders on this. I don't have them on my R1200R because I don't ride as much at night anymore. I should have them just for the daytime safety though. Ride safe,
Hank

I just wish they weren't so damn expensive...

what about the Lumalink.com version of caliper mounted lights?

By all means check out the Lumalink setup; way more light and way less alternator draw. The clamps are the R1200R specific mounts, and you can specify what kind of lights you wish to mount in them. The lights are the Trail Tech SMR-16 HID Lights and have built-in ballasts, so no high voltage wiring to contend with. They are also way less money than the PIAA version that is obviously the same thing ! Replacement lamps are about $80 and take all of 2 minutes to replace. I would suggest ordering two spots rather than the floods or one spot and one flood. The floodlight version has too much spread to be a useful driving light.

If you really want the caliper mounts, they sell those also.










Doug

ka5ysy wrote:By all means check out the Lumalink setup; way more light and way less alternator draw. The clamps are the R1200R specific mounts, and you can specify what kind of lights you wish to mount in them. The lights are the Trail Tech SMR-16 HID Lights and have built-in ballasts, so no high voltage wiring to contend with. They are also way less money than the PIAA version that is obviously the same thing ! Replacement lamps are about $80 and take all of 2 minutes to replace. I would suggest ordering two spots rather than the floods or one spot and one flood. The floodlight version has too much spread to be a useful driving light.

If you really want the caliper mounts, they sell those also.










Doug

Are the lights switched, or do they stay on all the time?
If switched how did you install the switch, and any pics?

I purchased the wiring harness for the lights from Lumalink. It is a push button that works a latching relay that I mounted under the seat close to the battery. It is labeled "PIAA" so that tells you that the lamps are probably built by Trail Tech for PIAA.

I have it stuck on top of the clutch fluid reservoir until I figure out a better place to put it:

A nice alternative switch is called the "Autoswitch". Available from a variety of vendors, got my last one from Aerostich as I was ordering some other gear.

Nice thing about this is it uses your turn signal cancel button to turn the auxilary lights on/off. No added switches to add to your handlebar and works seamlessly.

Bet if you use the search function on this board you can find some other references to it as well, probably even some info about connections, etc.

Cheers!

BJ

PS. ka5ysy, like those HID's! Looking for something to mount on my '04 R11S, those may be the ticket. Thanks!

I had Motolights mounted on my first R1200R. They are very high quality and were very conspicuous. I ordered the brighter bulbs since I only planned on using them during daytime. I just haven't ordered them for my current R because they are so expensive but I definitely am going to order a set when Spring rolls around.

I like them on mine.

I like the thought of HIDs better but the caliper mounts of the motolites look better to me.

Mark

celticus wrote:I like the thought of HIDs better but the caliper mounts of the motolites look better to me.

Mark

I've really gotta mount and take photos of the HIDs in the Gordy caliper mount.. you still might want the motolite, but I think the Gordy mounts are also pretty fine looking.

deilenberger wrote:

celticus wrote:I like the thought of HIDs better but the caliper mounts of the motolites look better to me.

Mark

I've really gotta mount and take photos of the HIDs in the Gordy caliper mount.. you still might want the motolite, but I think the Gordy mounts are also pretty fine looking.

Where are you going to mount the ballasts/igniters? Oh, maybe you're using HIDs w/ those integral to the lights...

AmostThere wrote:

deilenberger wrote:I've really gotta mount and take photos of the HIDs in the Gordy caliper mount.. you still might want the motolite, but I think the Gordy mounts are also pretty fine looking.

Where are you going to mount the ballasts/igniters? Oh, maybe you're using HIDs w/ those integral to the lights...

Exactly - the same ones PIAA sells for twice the price.. from TrailTech. James designed and made a set of brackets specifically for the shock mounted TrailTech lights (with a tiny bit of help from me..) and he'd sent them to me a few days before he passed.

The Trail Tech lights have internal ballasts... no HV wiring to run all over the bike. Only 12VDC and ground.

I changed out the flood light bulb to a second spot bulb and the two spots work great at night for long range coverage, about 30 degrees wide. Lots of light is a good thing.

Doug

Dan, do you have the standard 35 watt bulbs or the 50s?

ka5ysy wrote:The Trail Tech lights have internal ballasts... no HV wiring to run all over the bike. Only 12VDC and ground.

I changed out the flood light bulb to a second spot bulb and the two spots work great at night for long range coverage, about 30 degrees wide. Lots of light is a good thing.

Doug

UPDATE: I finally got a chance to go into the country away from any lighting on a dark, overcast night several days ago, and while riding, pushed the ON button for the HID's. They take about 15 seconds to be noticeable from a cold start, and then come up to full power after about a minute. It is like watching the sun come up on the horizon. The two spots throw a nice pool of light about a mile down the highway, and it is very, very easy to see what, if anything, is in the road. These are well worth the money. Way to go Trail Tech !

BTW: When I turn them on during the day in heavy traffic, the cars and trucks do not move at all for way up the block as I come toward them. All the drivers were looking intently at the brilliant light and the headlight modulator on the main high beam lamp. It is good !!!

HID aux lights AND modulating headlights....WAY TO GO!!!

NeilS wrote:Dan, do you have the standard 35 watt bulbs or the 50s?

50 watts. They bother the cars more at night, but at least if they see me they might not kill me. It would be cool if they had a dimmer switch.