Something I have began to realize since I started exploring the motorcycle world more closely is just how hyper-competitive it is. Manufacturers are constantly vying for market share and looking to increase profits. It is interesting that Harley Davidson has more than half the market, but still has a hard time growing. It then is of no surprise why manufacturers continue to produce new and constantly changing models each year instead of supporting their current catalogue. There is no such thing as a comfortable market position even when you control 54%. The unfortunate result is that many manufacturers end up quickly alienating their biggest fans by barely offering them a place in their shows. In my opinion, manufacturers need to respect and promote the concepts that made them popular in the first place. Here I go again rambling. Back to the topic.
Like any good show, the floor was loaded with vendors selling their various wares. I figured this would be a good opportunity to check out a few things I was actively looking at. My goal was to find a new mount for my phone, a jacket for my wife, some travel gear and inquire about LED lighting.
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| I'm a big fan of this phone mount for the bike. It feels super secure. |
Finding solid information online is a pain. There really is no other way to say it. Most websites and forums that cater to motorcycle enthusiasts look as though they were designed in 1996. Indeed, the one website that seemed to have all the answers for LED lighting still left me confused after reading the entire FAQ twice. There seems to be an untapped market for quality, easy to access and well organized motorcycle information. Perhaps one day I'll get around to that.
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| An actual website that you can visit right now. No time machine required! |
We wandered around the show floor until we stumbled upon a booth that was draped in LED lighting. I've discussed headlights and running lamps in a previous post but those were easy. In fact if you want to go from halogen or any other to a LED headlight and passing lamp setup, there is nothing to know. Just buy and install.
As with most booths at shows, we were quickly approached and asked if we had any questions. Finally! I had been waiting for a while to get confirmation. The gentleman was happy to help. He informed me that if I wanted to use LEDs on the bike, the only concern would be turn signals. He could also solve that problem with a product they sold.
Essentially, stock HD electrical systems and flashers account for the higher current draw of good old incandescent bulbs. As soon as an LED turn signal is installed, the current draw is far less. This makes the flasher think the bulb is going to die and causes the signal to either not blink at all or blink very rapidly. If you are going to change your turn signals into LEDs you must purchase and mount a load equalizer to the bike. This is a small pack that adds resistors to make your signals think they're drawing that higher current.
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| The equalizer I am currently using on my setup. The connectors make this plug and play. |
Aside from finding out this little tidbit of info, he also informed me that changing the taillight and marking lights to LEDs would not affect anything. In fact no other equalizer would be required, it was simply plug and play. I was ecstatic to say the least. I knew at that point I was going to foolishly spend lots of money.
The gentleman showed off a couple of products to my uncle and I at the booth. One of these was the Haloz turn signals which acted as white running lights on the outside which then became amber turn signals once activated. They looked nifty and I was sold. Aside from the signals, there was also some taillights that, when activated, would strobe for a bit, allowing for greater visibility any time of day.
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| The HALOZ Signals. Looking this awesome comes with a hefty price tag. |
I am not a fan of the amber colored turn signals. All the orange on the bike, in my opinion, makes it look cheap. My goal was to replace all the lights that I could with pure white LED lighting with smoke colored lenses. In order to facilitate this I decided to make some purchases at the show.
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| The amber colored stock turn signals make the bike a bit too Fisher-Pricey for my tastes. |
Before departing the show I went back to the gentleman's booth and bought the rear and front marker lights for the fender along with the smoke lenses. I spent around $80 for the two pieces as an experiment. If I didn't like the looks I could always dump it off on Craigslist or Ebay but if I liked it, it would be time to start spending even more money.
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| Looking great! |
Once I saw how the smoked lenses and pure white light looked, I fell in love. I prepared to have my wallet drained. Little did I know what I was in for.
The trouble begins
LED lights of any type are very expensive. For some reason as soon as LED is attached to the product's name the price increases by around $50. My initial goal was to convert the turn signals, taillight and fender tips to LEDs to increase visibility and to simply enjoy the style. DOT rules state that you cannot run red lights in the front of the bike, so white and amber would have to work. At the show I thought the HALOZ lights were awesome, so I decided to go with those.
As cool as they are, the HALOZ are around $90 a pair, with the whole setup being $180...or so I thought. Here is the first mistake not to make; the front signals are bulb type 1157 and the rear signals are bulb type 1156. The HALOZ are ONLY BULB TYPE 1157. In other words they will ONLY WORK IN THE FRONT and not the back. I did not realize this at the time I bought them.
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| One HALO installed in the front of the bike with the cover off. Despite my best attempts the cheap lenses just did not work |
Even buying them was a pain. I didn't want to buy them from a third party that had a markup, so I went to the manufacturer's website. Radiantz is the name of the company that produces the HALOZ and they make a large variety of lights. I ordered 4 of the signals from their website along with a laydown taillight that I thought looked nifty. They were slow to ship and slow to deliver. It took almost 10 days for my shipment to arrive...only to have it arrive missing the other set of signals. I emailed the company and received no response. I did find in my spam box an email from UPS saying that a package was on my way from that company. Good thing I looked there because I never and to this day have not received a email back from Radiantz.
So far, so bad. I had spent $180 on turn signals which took around 20 days to arrive which then would not even function in the back of the bike. Despite hours of research not once did it say anywhere that these would not work in the back or what bulb type they were. I feel foolish, yes, but there should have been some indication somewhere.
At this point I was stuck with two worthless signals.
At least the load equalizer worked. I was able to score an equalizer on EBay a bit cheaper than the big companies wanted. The equalizer was easy to use. Simply unplug the wire harness that sits on the rear fender and then plug the equalizer in. Done. It worked like a champ.
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| Barely pictured: The load equalizer module plugged into the rear harness. Apologies for the photo quality. |
What made this whole situation a bit worse on my wallet was an additional module. Actually, if it wasn't for my uncle telling me I needed one I might have messed up my rear turn signals because I wasn't aware that I jammed the wrong bulb type into the socket. The module he was talking about converted all my rear lights into always on running and brake lights for super increased visibility. He insisted that I have one. At first I tried his and because I did not have the right bulb in the rear signals, it made a horrible noise. This caused me to think I needed a special load equalizer with that function built in. They do make one, to the tune of another $100. Without realizing that the problem was with the bulbs I was using, I bought another immediately, waited a week for it to arrive before I finally realized I was using an 1157 bulb in an 1156 base. Incredible. I have never felt so stupid.
To top that all off, the smoked color lenses that I had purchased from Amazon from some random seller didn't fit. They were so far off that I could not believe how poorly they were made. I realized that I would need to buy the official lens kit from Harley if I wanted it to work with the LED insert signals. Consider that another $12 wasted.
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| Although it's been difficult, the smoked look adds an extra dimension of style to the lights. |
When it was all said and done I ended up wasting around $170 between the HALOZ I can't use, the second load stabilizer and the lenses that were absolute crap.
So to continue to add insult to injury, I abandoned finding red rear turn signal inserts and ordered some cheaper LED bulbs from JP Cycles. Today, I had to go to the HD dealership and buy the official smoked lenses kit which would cost me an additional $40 and lo and behold, right at the counter they have bulb type 1156 red LED inserts, just like the ones I wanted but couldn't find online. I ended up purchasing these as well to the tune of $90 more.
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| The taillight and rear fender marker light look great! |
It isn't all bad news though. The fender tip lights were easy to install, look great and are bright as can be. The taillight is exactly what I wanted and works great. Both of these upgrades do not require a load equalizer and are always on, so feel free to add these to your bike without spending a mint.
I suppose I can sum up all the things I learned in a handy list;
1. Converting to quality LED inserts for turn signals will run you around $260 in bulbs and a load equalizer.
2. Do not waste money on cheap lenses if you intend to replace them. Buy the official HD ones and save yourself the money in the long run.
3. Badlands makes excellent Equalizers at a reasonable price.
4. Radiantz as a company is not fun to deal with and I cannot recommend them.
5. Changing any other light except for the turn signals is easy and requires nothing extra.
6. Always, ALWAYS make sure you know what BULB SOCKET TYPE you need before ordering expensive lights. It will save your sanity.
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