I recently got a warning on my '77 kawi ke-175 for driving with an inoperable headlight in the DAYTIME. Cars around here never have lights on during the day, and I see bikes without them all the time, So I figured all I had to do was make my brake lights work to drive it around in the daytime. But apparently I was wrong. The 6volt charging system on the bike is trashed, and that is more work than I want to deal with, so to fix the brake light, I have a 6v lantern battery under the seat, and it is wired to the foot brake switch, as the front brake switch is destroyed. And that powers the original brake light bulb. They work great, I just have to buy a new lantern battery every once in a while. I was wondering if yall think I could duct-tape or hard mount a flashlight to my front fender and use that as a daytime headlight? The bike will not be driven at night or in the evening, and it is a $100 old sloppy bitch of a bike that is just driven from trail to trail, and I want to put the least amount of money into it I can.
Long enough for me to get a couple of rides in. I just dont know if I will take flak from the po po's for it being a flashlight duct-taped to my front fender. Officer: your headlight is out me: Don't worry! ive got batteries with me! not sure how that would go over.
halfassed brother..pretty sure a flash light taped to a fender no way shape or form meets any DOT standards
I misunderstood, I thought you rigged a lantern battery to power the stock brake light, and would just use it until you wiped out the battery. It would be easy to do that, and it would be a secret, because everything would look normal.
That is exactly what I did, I just have room for an extra battery under the seat. lantern battery-brakelight flashlight-headlight.
If I needed to demonstrate proper operation of the headlight functions, I could wedge a piece of wood under the front of the light to aim it up a little bit to be "brights" Absolutely in no way legal, but if you can make a cop laugh, the your chances of getting out of a ticket double.
For riding on roads I WANT a headlight. Without a headlight you could easily be overlooked and be posting in the face-plant forum. Every state I've lived in (several, prior military) have required headlights on at all times for motorcycles.
Convert the head and tail/brake light to 12 volt. Rig a small recharable sealed battery to power it. Just charge it every couple days. Or not.
I think I'm just going to do the flashlight taped to the front fender, I dont need the light to be able to see during the day, I just need a visible light for oncoming cars. A small bicycle light might produce more light, but a big lense cheapo flashlight will e more visible to oncoming cars. I will post pics of it when I am done.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o> </o> Keep the piece crap off the road, if we are lucky you'll only hurt or kill yourself!<o></o>
Piece of crap? This baby is a GEM that is more reliable than most modern bikes. I've driven gs's,xr's,dr's,klr's,ktm's, and this old $100 beater is more fun than all of em combined. (I know I have more fun than you do) Yeah it doesn't have good lights, but I only drive it in the woods during the day. Have fun worrying about scratching your fancy new bikes, If I smash mine, I'll either spraypaint it or go and get parts for it off of junkyard bikes.
the clever solution would be to cram a flashlight through the back of the stock headlight housing so the lens is illuminated. The lens is the DOT part so i think you could avoid a ticket that way. Just find a flashlight with a on/off button on the bottom so it sticks out. I guess this assumes you have a headlight that just isn't working, if it's missing than maybe a cateye would be easier..
why no tjust get a cheap $10 voltage regulator and wire both lights off the stator ?it will be AC not DC without a rectifier but it wont pop bulbs..my'79 Kawi KLX250 is wired that way it is 6volt lighting system but will peak high enough to pop 12volt bulbs..i threw a cheap regultaor on it and put 12 volt bulbs in it..sure they dim at idle but the dont blow out..took me a whole hour maybe to wire the bike
black wire to ground and just splice the yellow wire into your lighting coil wire of the stator..done and done sorry it is $13.99
See I don't know a thing about electricals, and this is the kind of idea I was looking for! I'd be willing to spend a measly hour making my lights actually work for real with 12v bulbs. Unfortunately, the only switch that still functions on the bike is the brake light switch and engine kill switch, so I will have to run another switch for the headlight. Or run the headlight through the stock lense, I could easily fit one of the previously mentioned bike lights in the back where the bulb goes.
Sorry to be that annoying guy who gives advice without fully reading the OP. Englewood, huh? My whole In-law family is down there in all months where there might be snow here in Maine. Nice place. First time I went there I couldn't get over how unlike my prior FL experiences it was.
How do you mean unlike other FL experiences? More relaxed of a town? I am in palm beach/miami right now, and it is all hustle and bustle.
Quiet, no high-rise buildings, people look like regular human beings. Nice looking farm land just outside of town. Looks like I could live there and live the same kind of life I live here in Maine, but with no snow! I'm sure there's plenty on other parts of Florida that are nice, I just hadn't seen them. The first time we went to Englewood, we had been in Ft Lauderdale for 4 or 5 days, and then crossed over to Englewood. I was not too impressed with Ft Lauderdale.
