Best Headlight Option

[L900TDM]

Hi all.

Have recently got myself a completely standard 09 TDM900A with only 5k on the clock so am slowly pampering it to my liking.

Have taken it out at night but the headlight is pants to the point it is a dull light, and doesnt shine that far ahead.

Which option is best (and easiest) for improving this without breaking the bank - HID, LED or a really good halogen bulb.? Or should I consider spotlights.?



Thanks in advance. 👍

[Trevini]

Niner lights are notoriously bad. I use Osram Night Breaker bulbs in mine, which offer an improvement, but still not great. They've also lasted many years without needing replacement. I think I fitted them around 2006/7 to mine. Led lamps may be brighter, but also may not offer  much more real life improvement on the road. Your best bet would probably be to add a couple of auxiliary lamps.

 

Other guys on here have tried various solutions and will most likely be along in a bit with their personal preferences for upgrades. 

[leehenty]

Led upgrades are now legal as long as the beam pattern is correct.

[dablik]

I found HID much more preferable to LED when i had mine, dunno if their "legal" these days ?

[leehenty]

Not HID unfortunately,

[LIAW]

I don't ride at night any more if I can help it, but my son has fitted led bulbs in all his bikes and he says they are great, even his MT03 660 lights up the road now and I know that had a terrible headlight as it used to be mine

[L900TDM]

Thanks all for the replies - am thinking either the Osram night breaker or Phillips Xtreme, or an LED replacement to improve the immediate brightness, but also to fit auxiliaries for the distance.

Any suggestions on a cost effective choice of spotlights would be appreciated.



Thanks again all.

[steve27bha]

HID &LED are OK for MOT & so presumably legal.



Go see MOT special notice 01-21 here https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...onversionswhich withdraws the failure rule -



and the revised MOT manual here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspecti...-equipmentwhich makes no mention of the light source, only the light pattern.

[steve27bha]

In addition to the above by me, I removed my HID bulb (dip only) when it was a fail reason. When the rule changed I considered re-installing it, but I've been too lazy to do it.



At initial install time I wrote an illustrated report on the work.



Go see this thread from post #21 and later with pix: http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php?s...ntry277468

[steve27bha]

A further addition!



The final post by me linked above says the light aim was OK. However when following a pal he reported not being able to see my indicators because of the glare from the headlight on dip. So I lowered the aim slightly, after a further post asking for advice on how the adjuster works.

[fixitsan]

My second 900 came with a HID in low beam, and it's quite a reasonable upgrade and good beam

[AdamTDM]

I have fitted a pair of these https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/product...0bf0&_ss=r

really great improvements 

Adam.