In preparation for our upcoming cross country ride, I have added the last of the kit to my bike… Today was a HID Xenon headlight and grip heaters.
I have two fused circuits running from the battery, one to power my accessories (GPS, 12v outlet and grip heaters) and a second, via a relay, to power my LED driving lights (VisionX Solstice).
First the HID light.
I had previously installed a Narva Ultra bright H7 globe in my dip beam, this was taken out and put in my High Beam.
The HID kit comes with the bulb, ballast and controller and plugs directly into your existing light socket. You just need to cut out a round hole in your bulb cover to allow the wires and grommet to fit in – it is a nice fit. The bulb fits straight into the H7 receptacle.
[attachment=3392]photo-2.JPG[/attachment]
As the Ténéré has a pretty tight under dash area, when you allow for the swing of the forks (plus I run my driving lights under the main headlight, taking up some much needed space), I was a little stuck where to run the controller and ballast… It did fit up on top of the dash, secured to my GPS ram mount nicely.
[attachment=3393]photo-3.JPG[/attachment]
It is really nice and bright – I have not had a ride at night, but it is well defined on low beam and does not appear that it will have any impact on oncoming traffic – I think the Yamaha reflector takes care of that.
[attachment=3394]photo-4.JPG[/attachment]
The bulb, while had to see in this photo, is slim and long…
[attachment=3395]photo-5.JPG[/attachment]
Lastly, I installed my grip heaters. I will have to have a good run of these as I had a little mishap when installing. I run Protaper pillow tops, which I am hoping will be ok for heated grips. I installed the clutch side easy enough by simply warming the grip with my heat gun and spraying on some carbie cleaner (a tip I only jus learnt – it evaporates away and gives a real secure fit). While I fir the throttle side element, I left the heat gun blowing hot air into my grip – too long… it disintegrated. I only bought the damn grips today, have to go back tomorrow and throw away another $20… Hope after that the elements don’t melt the grips – may be another tear up of some cash in my future…
[attachment=3396]photo-6.JPG[/attachment]
All in all, the bike is pretty ready, I am just suffering the inability to get out for some long rides so am not looking forward to all those little stabiliser muscles getting a workout on the first day… 16 days and 7,000km will leave some aches.
For those interested in following our progress, it has become apparent that having a Facebook page is much easier for an amateur like me than a website – our page is:
Facebook – End of the Road
Damn tinkering with bikes is fun!
EDIT – sorry, I have no idea why the photos are being rotated…
