Sacrilegious headlight replacement?

[oregonjake]

We all know how difficult it is to find a good headlight. Buckets are easy, that large glowing eye is the tough one. I had never liked having to mount one of those aftermarket "Xanadu" headlight assemblies even though they are made in steel and look okay, the bucket was too small to hold all the wires. I was at a friends the other day and as he was talking I was rummaging through his boxes of weird and mis-matched parts. I came up with a headlight assembly that said Yamaha on it. It was bigger in both headlight and bucket, I asked if he would let me take it and see if the mountings would work and he said take it. Turns out it is off an early XS1100. Low and high beam work, and the adjuster also works. It allowed me to mount the original headlight brackets which I could not do with the "Xanadu" light, bolt hole on bracket too small for bolt. I think this works, temporarily anyway.

Now I know I should NEVER put a Yamaha part on my beloved Miss Bugly and will be duly chastised for it, but I gotta admit, the bucket holds the wires much better (no stuffing) and the look of the bucket and light fit right in to her personality and persona. If this gets my place in the GSR dinner table cancelled, I will miss you all.

[ShadowFocus603]

Hey if it works and the price was right I'd say you got it made. Seriously it looks really good.

[oregonjake]

Thanks much. She needs all the love she can get. I'll give her a hug from you.

[dorkburger]

I think Yamaha used the 8" light on certain models for a short time. Go with it....
Sacreligious? I ran a 7 incher on my old 1100e for a short time after a crash.

[Griffin]

I think Yamaha used the 8" light on certain models for a short time. Go with it....
Sacreligious? I ran a 7 incher on my old 1100e for a short time after a crash.

The 1982 XJ650 Seca used an 8" headlight. Unfortunately, the Yamaha ring won't fit on the Suzuki bucket, and vice versa. The mounting holes are in different places.

I have been looking for a Seca headlight for years, because about ten years ago I scored a NOS 8" Seca bucket for $30. Still have the bucket in the original box, waiting for a headlight to match up with it.

[phydeauxmutt]

If you hadn't mentioned it here, nobody would have known about it.

[oregonjake]

"If you hadn't mentioned it here, nobody would have known about it"

Until on a ride when someone looking over the bike says "hey, this is a Yamaha headlight!" I just wanted to preempt any clash of sensibilities.

Besides, everyone likes to see what others have done to their bikes, even if it is not quite up to certain standards...LOL!

[Deuce]

It must have been an 1100 Special or something. My cousin had a 78 XS1100 and it had a rectangular headlight. I'm assuming you won't enter this in a concours event, so no worries. Is there even a concours event for bikes?

[gsgeezer]

I'm not a square headlight fan, had a couple of bikes with them.
I have an aftermarket light on the 1000. My stock one was pretty scratched up....

[Grimly]

Huh, after 20 years of wearing a Kwak GPZ1100 headlight on the GS, that rectangular unit got fitted to the XS650 today. It was one of the best stock headlights of the 80s and is still damn good, especially with an LED in it.
It looks right at home on the XS, too.

[oregonjake]

The annual Concours de Elegance in San diego usually has a motorcycle class, but those are Vincents, Excelsiors, Indians and other odd and very collectable bikes. I doubt they would allow a 1983 GS1100E even in showroom condition. Too Japanese (1969 Sandcast CB750 notwithstanding.)

I think you are right, I remember the early XS1100s as having a square headlight too.

[gsgeezer]

The gpz headlight doesn't bother me, since it fits the bike better, visually.
I put over 60k miles on my stock xs650 and a halogen bulb did help!

[1_v8_merc]

You kidding right. I have Ford bolts holding things together on my 650. And my Camaro Z28 has carb-boot clamps from my 1978 gs750, which are holding the Grease-boots on, for the steering system, and a bunch of other crap too. They actually fit Perfect. Geez I'm frankensteined so much **** together, I lost count years ago, haha.

[gsgeezer]

I gotta frankenbike, too! A gpz with gsxr front and rear.
The purists probably don't like it, but what the heck!

(I know guys that have Ford rears on their Chevys.)

[Burque73]

That looks really good. When I picked up my GS1100GL it had a broken windjammer and of course, no headlight or blinkers underneath. I picked through some boxes at a friends shop and found a couple of aftermarket brackets, blinkers from ??, and used a bucket from a GS750. Looks a little funky, but the wires fit inside and all worked out great!