New LED lights

Just mounted some LED lights I found on EBay. The
$25 headlamp doesn't need a shell and has high/low beam.

Listed on EBay as:
5-3/4" 5.75" LED Projector Headlight Sealed Hi/Lo Beam Round For Sportster Dyna



Here's the bent alum mounts I made for it.



and the tail light listed on Ebay as:
LED Rear Tail Brake Light For 50 70 110 125cc ATV Quad TaoTao Nst Sunl

Everything is brighter now. Tailight burns red and has brake light.

I am sorry BUT that is one damn ugly headlight. but i would not expect a beauty queen for $25.00

bill said:

I am sorry BUT that is one damn ugly headlight. but i would not expect a beauty queen for $25.00

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No not as pretty as a chrome teardrop but I don't care (and not really any worse looking than engine fins). Recently I revved to redline and the headlamp blinked out. I was blinded by an oncoming car and couldn't see either the centerline or the edge of the road. I was close to crashing at speed. Now that would have been truly ugly. The solid state LEDs don't have a vibration weakness.

I could have carved on it a little and put it inside the old Bates headlight shell but decided on simplicity instead and weird as it sounds I'm getting to like it - its kind of a road warrior bike anyway and I've got a thing for the stark naked functional look anyway.

Sealed beam LED choices are limited (most don't fit into a shell) and I don't feel like spending $100 on an experiment.

Here's what is looks like from the side:


Here's a better looking one with a shell that I found AFTER I already bought the one above. The shell sells separately. Its just another sealed beam but with a cosmetic covering. I prefer to ditch the cosmetic cover.

https://www.amazon.com/SKTYANTS-Hea...HR7VF603JTH&psc=1&refRID=0JECTSZVNHR7VF603JTH

Or just buy one of the more modern H4 LED bulbs that fit the existing shell no problem including the MK3. Most are brighter than Philips Vision plus 150% bulbs and use less power. Getting a lot cheaper now as well.

I keep a Stihl brush cutter, hedge trimmer and a blower on the floor next to my Norton. 2 stroke competition for my free time. They always lose.

Opps, off track. But, they dont have LEDs.

jseng1 said:

The solid state LEDs don't have a vibration weakness.

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Yes, they do. Solder and circuit boards.

maylar - solder and circuit boards to not break as easily an a filament stretched across two points. With a solid mount motor I have broken several filaments at redline and I'm ready to try the LED to see if it holds up better.

gortnipper - thats a Mac 91 racing gocart motor in that chain saw - I used to cut firewood for a living before I figured out that I was working myself to death.

madnorton - I never had a stock shell on this bike, closest I had was a Bates with the bottom center mount and it fit the homemade alum strap stretched across the fork pinch bolts as in the above photo 2nd from top. Now that its too late I think it would have interchanged with the black shell above.

jseng1 said:

maylar - solder and circuit boards to not break as easily an a filament stretched across two points. With a solid mount motor I have broken several filaments at redline and I'm ready to try the LED to see if it holds up better.

Click to expand...

I only say that to emphasize that they are not immune to vibration failure. I had an LED tail light that flickered when the engine was running, and not when not running. A fella on another forum this morning reported that he put a pre-focus LED in his B50 and it shorted out and blew the main fuse the first day of use. Very possibly manufacturing defects rather than design limits, but they do fail.

That said, my Norton is all LEDs now. Let's hope for the best.