When it came to seeing where he was going at night Ben was far from happy about the standard H4 halogen headlight. It was hopelessly unsafe for any speed over about 80kph. He tried changing the globe for one of those new brighter-whiter-no-more-power-used globes. It was an improvement. And he he rode for many a month with that 80w/100w globe.....all the while dreaming about seeing where he was going at night.

Enter the HID headlight.

While surfing the web for LED rear blinkers Ben came across a Melbourne company called Bright Light Auto Parts.
They offered a great range of LED lights for the front, and back of the 'Wing, and, they had HID lights and ballasts for motor bikes and thus a reasonable price. (We only need one globe after all......).

Did not take Ben long to put an order together and for the stuff to arrive.

Here is an animated gif of the hi/lo function of the globe.

In the back of the light fitting is an electromechanical actuator that physically moves the globe in the housing, this shifts the light and the angle that it hits the reflector, thus giving you a high beam pattern and a low beam pattern.

To make room for the high/low beam actuator, you need to take out a bit from the back of the faring.

Its not a lot, but it makes all the difference. The headlight shell still needs a small washer at the back, but it now works well, and the extra time is well worth it, as the HID now flicks from low to high in a nanosecond, and it really gets everyone's attention when you flash your lights at them!

Ben also bought a nice new 'crystal' head light shell from the same place, it gives a much sharper reflection. The old H4 was just all bloby compared to this one.

Here is is the high /low beam pattern on the neighbors fence so you can clearly see it.

Note that the cut off is pretty sharp. I have never, in over a year, been flashed by on coming cars. It just does not get into their eyes.
The other thing that is worth noting is that this is not a dichromatic reflector, what this means is that the light does not twinkle all those annoying colors like you often seen in the newer cars. Its just a bright white light.

Remember, the light you are seeing here is from a single 35watt globe. Yes, thats right, 35watts!!!!!!! Astounding!

I guess you are all wanting to know by now what its like to ride behind a light like this.........one word. Amazing. I wish so bad that you all could have the chance to ride behind this light. Its just amazing on lots of levels. One of the first things you notice is that when riding at night, 'everything' is a different color. We are all so used to seeing the road, signs, tress and the like with a dull yellow light, when you ride behind one of these, you notice that it looks like you are riding during the day. Its like riding your bike at night with the sun shining out the front of your bike. This is because of the temperature of the globe, it really is closer to daylight.
The other thing you notice is during the day........cars see you.
I can not pause here long enough to let this sink in to your mind.....cars actually see you....... They move out of your way, they don't turn in front of you, its astounding. In broad day light, cars see you.
I thought I was imagining it, then I had to disconnect the HID for a few days, I was not imagining it, same trip into town, same weather, different head light. The cars were back out to kill me!!!!!!
Thus I came to the conclusion that this HID light was one of the best safety features that you could put on your bike...... The difference is truly astounding.

So, this new light took me up to 110kph. Life was mostly good. I really like riding at night and wanted to see further. This headlight and globe gave a great wide spread over the road, but I wanted to see a little deeper. Enter what Ben calls the death ray.

Twin Narva 160's with 35w HID's. Here is an animated gif of all three light combinations. Low beam, high beam and then the twin driving lights.

I have measured reflectors to 1.2kms, objects at 900 meters and thus an unknown top speed.

Notice I keep talking about speed. It struck me while riding behind the death ray that really one of the best ways to measure your headlights performance is to talk about how fast it is.
If an animal jumps in your path 20 feet in front of you, your probably toast, but if it moves on the road at the edge of your light beam, how fast can you be going and still stop before hitting it? This is the speed of your headlight. I went from 80kph to 110kph to uh, faster than my old 'Wing can take me!
Its more than nice riding behind these lights.........and the best thing? With all three lights on, I am only drawing 105watts. That's right, this much light and I'm only using 5 more watts than my old headlight on high beam.

Here is another shot of me standing at the front of the bike so you can get some idea how good they are;

Have a look at this shot;

Now, please click on the image and see a larger version of it...... Note that I am standing only a few meters in front of the bridge.
Now click on the image to the right and you can see how far away that bridge is. Obviously I am not standing there, but you get the idea of how powerful and how color correct these light are.....see my red and blue jacket? That's the right shade of color! Trust me, it makes a HUGE difference to how you see things at night.

Note that these four photos of me and the bridge are with the 3 lights on. That's the head light on high beam and the two driving lights.

You have to be super careful using the death ray, it would be all to easy to blind the on coming traffic.....

To install the lights is very straight forward;

The ballasts go in the fairing pockets, the globes in the stock driving lights. Fuses and power. That's it.

Ok, well, that's about it. Its probably up there with the single best safety and pure enjoyment change you can make to your Goldwing.