Hey everyone, I'm new here but have been lurking for months now as I've been bike shopping. Of course, I was considering all the regulars such as RC390, Ninja 300, CBR300/500 and the R3. My decision to go with the R3 over the other bikes is another story, but I am waiting for my home town dealer to source a Raven instead of Red/White which is all they have in stock... Enough back story for that....
A little personal background... I'm an instrument, controls and analytical technician (though soon to be in a new profession) and I've been building cars/trucks/bikes for as long as I can remember. I'm coming into the sport bike world from Supermoto and have owned 5 of those to date but have been bike-less for about a year now. I'm very mechanically and electrically inclined and am interested in possibly offering my knowledge and skillset to other R3 owners...
1. I'd like to share my experiences with HIDs... I've installed countless sets (literally), both plug and play, as well as one off relay setups with/without custom projector installs... Out of EVERY brand I have installed. I cannot begin to say how pleased I have been with VVME HIDs. I have had the same set in 5 different Chevy pickups now, which is over 4 years of use and 40k+ miles. They are German engineered, but are built and shipped from China. They ship using DHL 2-day and are less than $40 bucks a set. They can be found on a few sites, but eBay and ONLY eBay is where I trust to buy them from (another long story). If you search for them, they will either have a red, or a black box. The black box slim ballast are the best IMO. Here is a link, but unfortunately at times they will go with a "bid only" option and no BIN.
EDIT: Tried to link, but post count is too low right now
2. I've also used many LED bulbs. Fan cooled as well as some cheaper options for other applications. The fan cooled are great bulbs. They do get hot in an enclosed cap, such as a CANBUS fixture (or an R3!), but I have not seen many failures even when extremely hot. Melting the enclosure would be the only scare, but the LEDs I have been using are not getting anywhere near as hot as some of the other brands. I would like to find someone who may have a few of the bulb caps I can purchase, so that I can plasti-weld the caps with an extension and offer them at a great price to R3 owners.
3. Dual bulb + dual beam option.... I see a lot of questioning about running 2 bulbs for low beam and still have a high beam option. Well, there is plenty hope! Running LED/HID lights you have the opportunity to run 2 bulbs through both sides of the factory switch without overcurrent... This will of course take a custom built harness, which I plan to design and build. How would you have a dual beam option you ask? Well, the H7 and H4 bulb mount the same. Except there is option to buy dual beam H4 bulbs, but not H7. The difference in the two bulbs are the prongs on the H4 and H7 are different. Once again, no problem with a custom harness. This would be an option for both HID as well as LED lights. I would want to include already modified light caps as an option so everything is literally plug and play. The LED option would be about double the price unfortunately but I believe many will still prefer the LEDs over HIDs.
Feel free to add your opinions to this. Anything is appreciated!
FYI, I do NOT work for anyone doing these things. I work a full time I/C job I just have a passion for this kind of stuff and have done tons of it in my spare time and definitely do not mind helping this community!
A little personal background... I'm an instrument, controls and analytical technician (though soon to be in a new profession) and I've been building cars/trucks/bikes for as long as I can remember. I'm coming into the sport bike world from Supermoto and have owned 5 of those to date but have been bike-less for about a year now. I'm very mechanically and electrically inclined and am interested in possibly offering my knowledge and skillset to other R3 owners...
1. I'd like to share my experiences with HIDs... I've installed countless sets (literally), both plug and play, as well as one off relay setups with/without custom projector installs... Out of EVERY brand I have installed. I cannot begin to say how pleased I have been with VVME HIDs. I have had the same set in 5 different Chevy pickups now, which is over 4 years of use and 40k+ miles. They are German engineered, but are built and shipped from China. They ship using DHL 2-day and are less than $40 bucks a set. They can be found on a few sites, but eBay and ONLY eBay is where I trust to buy them from (another long story). If you search for them, they will either have a red, or a black box. The black box slim ballast are the best IMO. Here is a link, but unfortunately at times they will go with a "bid only" option and no BIN.
EDIT: Tried to link, but post count is too low right now
2. I've also used many LED bulbs. Fan cooled as well as some cheaper options for other applications. The fan cooled are great bulbs. They do get hot in an enclosed cap, such as a CANBUS fixture (or an R3!), but I have not seen many failures even when extremely hot. Melting the enclosure would be the only scare, but the LEDs I have been using are not getting anywhere near as hot as some of the other brands. I would like to find someone who may have a few of the bulb caps I can purchase, so that I can plasti-weld the caps with an extension and offer them at a great price to R3 owners.
3. Dual bulb + dual beam option.... I see a lot of questioning about running 2 bulbs for low beam and still have a high beam option. Well, there is plenty hope! Running LED/HID lights you have the opportunity to run 2 bulbs through both sides of the factory switch without overcurrent... This will of course take a custom built harness, which I plan to design and build. How would you have a dual beam option you ask? Well, the H7 and H4 bulb mount the same. Except there is option to buy dual beam H4 bulbs, but not H7. The difference in the two bulbs are the prongs on the H4 and H7 are different. Once again, no problem with a custom harness. This would be an option for both HID as well as LED lights. I would want to include already modified light caps as an option so everything is literally plug and play. The LED option would be about double the price unfortunately but I believe many will still prefer the LEDs over HIDs.
Feel free to add your opinions to this. Anything is appreciated!
FYI, I do NOT work for anyone doing these things. I work a full time I/C job I just have a passion for this kind of stuff and have done tons of it in my spare time and definitely do not mind helping this community!
