Should I get aftermarket headlight and gauges?

[Guest]

I have an '82 GS450E. It is mostly stock, except for clubmans and bullet turn signals. I have recently been considering changing the headlight and instruments. For the headlight I am thinking just keep the stock one, but add one of those visor things to it. I could also replace the light with an aftermarket one, like one of the LED halo ones. I thing they look pretty cool, but I'm not sure how well it would fit with the pseudo-cafe racer style I am eventually working towards. I also have been considering replacing the gauges. The stock cluster works fine, but I just think it looks a little bit clunky and ugly. Also, mine is a bit cracked on the bottom right corner. Does anyone think it is a good idea? And if so what kind should I get. The stock cluster has a gear indicator, which I think is really cool, but obviously not necessary.

[Jmanor]

I have bought a speedometer (with N light, etc...) and Tach from Dime city. I just mounted them but have not wired them in yet for my 82 GS1100 project.

[ShadowFocus603]

I can't speak to the headlight but I am getting the Trailtech Vapor with the add on surround for turn signals etc and I'm fabbing an aftermarket gear indicator onto it that I got on eBay from China. I like the idea of electronic gauges etc. The kit number for the unit that will work with old air cooled Suzuki's, according to Justin Yancy with Trailtech, is 752-704. Gear Indicator Link http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Universa...item4ab78caedd

[statue]

Thanks for the replies. I think for now I least I will stay with the regular headlight, unless someone convinces me otherwise by the time I order the replacement bulb in the next couple of days. As far as the gauges go, I think something fairly low profile would be best. I saw some headlight buckets that have the gauge imbedded, old British bike style. They look really cool, but then you can only have one gauge, and I would like to have speedo and tach. They also are a bit longer than the stock bucket, which I don't particularly like. I also would prefer analog gauges to digital.

[Spiff]

I had the black 2.5" mini speedo and tach from dime city cycles. They cleaned up the front end real nice.

[kacken]

Personally couldn't stand the large cluster. Also got the mini speedo and tach from dime city. I much prefer the minimalistic look

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[Spiff]

but the blue led I think is to powerful, it annoyed me a little since we have a lot of tunnels here and some don't have lights which means I have to use the high beam :P

[Gorminrider]

excellent point,Spiff. I tried a similar one (smaller cheaper than yours) and the superbright leds are annoying at night. Some kind of scratched or matted plexiglass cover over these might do it...but I found my tiny speedo too small to bother looking at anyways. ...in the end, I managed to cobble a "no-ugly-case" cluster together from a T .

Ask me about pitfalls if you think you might want to go my route. I had a bit of a struggle because I had to mixnmatch gauges.

added. some form of resistor might dim those leds if you don't drop it below "forward voltage"