Back when I attended the Northwest Overland Rally a few months ago, Cyclops Adventure Sports was there selling LED replacement bulbs for H4 and H7 halogen headlight bulbs. While the stock headlight on my KTM is pretty good for a motorcycle, riding at night has made me want more illumination if possible, so I took a chance and bought their 3600 lumen H4 LED bulb.
I know that most folks say you can't simply replace a halogen bulb with an HID or LED "bulb" because they emit light from different locations and in different directions, so the reflector becomes ineffective. I was hoping that Cyclops had figured out an ingenious solution--certainly their triangle-shaped emitter is unique. The product seems like it's high quality, so my hopes were high.
Unfortunately, my hopes have been dashed (click to embiggen):
While this may be a great option for folks who don't ride on the road, the loss of the horizonal cut-off and the resulting glare that would hit every oncoming driver just isn't acceptable. Adjusting them low enough to reduce the glare ends up with a focal point that's too low, meaning that the LED headlight won't light up objects on the road as far away as the halogen H4 will.
Unfortunately I had to make modifications to the rubber dust cover on the back of the headlight to fit the Cyclops bulb, so until I can get a replacement cover I'm stuck with the LED bulb--and consequently riding only during the daytime.
It's a real shame, but physics doesn't lie.
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