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Fresh off the transporter from Wisconsin, my GS550LX, as does so many others, only has one headlight. On the used parts market (read: eBay) a "replacement" headlight assembly from front bezel to rubber insulator can be had for cheap. I say "replacement" in quotes because what I'd like to do is simply add another headlight to the perfectly operational one already on the bike.
The motivation for this is four-fold. 1) The most likely pattern of my riding will requite quite a bit of night riding and anything to help me see and be seen at night is a plus. 2) A second headlight, independently switchable, guarantees headlight availability, even if far from a supply of new bulbs late at night, 3) The addition of a second headlight seems a relatively straight forward, yet technicly challenging fabrication task. and 4) looking for ways to make my bike my own, I think it'd just look cool.
I briefly considered an tandem arrangement, one over another, but even accounting for partial occluding, in order to keep the lower light high enough to not hit the front fender at full suspension travel, the upper light would have to be just too high.
Side-by-side, though commonplace, will provide ample challenge for this fabrication novice, and can still be done in a novel and astheticly pleasing manner.
Obviously, two of the major challenges in a side-by-side dual headlight conversion would be fabrication of new left and right brackets for the forks and upgrading of the wiring from the fusebox, through the handlebar switches, to the buckets for the higher current draw on two halogen bulbs. I know this could add additional stress to an electrical system already known to be prone to failures, but I have a plan to deal with that, which will likely be performed before this mini-project.
Interference with the gauges, especially the tach and speedo cables can't be discounted either, but as I'd like to see mine rise a little higher and angle back a little more, I see no reason why that problem should be a show-stopper. With the two headlights separated from the centerline, there will also be ample room in front of the gauges for the new bracket to also house the wiring which was formerly housed in the single headlight bucket, minimizing the disturbance to the existing wiring harness. With fewer wires running in andout of the bucket(s), I'd likely weld up the outside holes in the two buckets completely, and might even see fit to weld fillers into the remaining (inside) holes to make them smaller to prevent the insides of the buckets from collecting anything I wouldn't want them to.
While in the fabrication and rewiring mood, I'd like to make the outside pivot points hollow to allow for the mounting of the forward marker lights directly to the headlight brackets with the wiring coming from within the buckets themselves.
For extended bulb life, especially during daytime riding, a switch could be added to the left switch cluster to variably switch which light(s) should be active: left-only, both, or right-only.
This next part is prolly going a bit far, but I have a tendency to over-engineer everything I put my mind too. Just because my BRC instructor showed off the power headlight tilt feature of his Honda tourer, an R/C servo could be installed to electricly tilt both headlights up and down with the use of a rheostat, also added to the left-hand switch cluster, or on the handlebars.
Whether I do the whole enchilada of this idea or not, I'll be scrubbing the headlight bucket out and applying a rust remover before painting every part of it that's not electrified inside and out. How hot does the rim of the glass get? Surely it wouldn't require engine/furnace paint.
So... whattayathink?
The motivation for this is four-fold. 1) The most likely pattern of my riding will requite quite a bit of night riding and anything to help me see and be seen at night is a plus. 2) A second headlight, independently switchable, guarantees headlight availability, even if far from a supply of new bulbs late at night, 3) The addition of a second headlight seems a relatively straight forward, yet technicly challenging fabrication task. and 4) looking for ways to make my bike my own, I think it'd just look cool.
I briefly considered an tandem arrangement, one over another, but even accounting for partial occluding, in order to keep the lower light high enough to not hit the front fender at full suspension travel, the upper light would have to be just too high.
Side-by-side, though commonplace, will provide ample challenge for this fabrication novice, and can still be done in a novel and astheticly pleasing manner.
Obviously, two of the major challenges in a side-by-side dual headlight conversion would be fabrication of new left and right brackets for the forks and upgrading of the wiring from the fusebox, through the handlebar switches, to the buckets for the higher current draw on two halogen bulbs. I know this could add additional stress to an electrical system already known to be prone to failures, but I have a plan to deal with that, which will likely be performed before this mini-project.
Interference with the gauges, especially the tach and speedo cables can't be discounted either, but as I'd like to see mine rise a little higher and angle back a little more, I see no reason why that problem should be a show-stopper. With the two headlights separated from the centerline, there will also be ample room in front of the gauges for the new bracket to also house the wiring which was formerly housed in the single headlight bucket, minimizing the disturbance to the existing wiring harness. With fewer wires running in andout of the bucket(s), I'd likely weld up the outside holes in the two buckets completely, and might even see fit to weld fillers into the remaining (inside) holes to make them smaller to prevent the insides of the buckets from collecting anything I wouldn't want them to.
While in the fabrication and rewiring mood, I'd like to make the outside pivot points hollow to allow for the mounting of the forward marker lights directly to the headlight brackets with the wiring coming from within the buckets themselves.
For extended bulb life, especially during daytime riding, a switch could be added to the left switch cluster to variably switch which light(s) should be active: left-only, both, or right-only.
This next part is prolly going a bit far, but I have a tendency to over-engineer everything I put my mind too. Just because my BRC instructor showed off the power headlight tilt feature of his Honda tourer, an R/C servo could be installed to electricly tilt both headlights up and down with the use of a rheostat, also added to the left-hand switch cluster, or on the handlebars.
Whether I do the whole enchilada of this idea or not, I'll be scrubbing the headlight bucket out and applying a rust remover before painting every part of it that's not electrified inside and out. How hot does the rim of the glass get? Surely it wouldn't require engine/furnace paint.
So... whattayathink?
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