Bikes are Rubbish

In the car, my commute's about seven miles each way. Today I decided to try
commuting on the bike, and whilst the journey in remained roughly the same,
on the way home it was nearly thirty miles. That pretty much negates any
potential time or fuel economy benefits of travelling on two wheels, and I
wonder why I bothered.

 

In the car, my commute's about seven miles each way. Today I decided to

I find that quite often going to the shops, it's 40 miles to get there, and
1 mile back...

 

I nearly called you a cuntsmothering fuckchip for that, but i read it again
you naughty boy/girl/it

Nige

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Monkey

<G> I have journeys like that.

 

I just went out to buy some of engine oil the other week and it came to
2000 miles and was a bit chilly.

 

Heh, I bet you don't buy that oil again.

 

Home on the ST and back in this morning. First road ride for 20 months.
Outstanding. Few aches but not from the plate in my arm/wrist.

I waited until it was dark to head home. The HID dip beam conversion is
fantastic, similar light to the 911. Beam pattern seems ok, a little
scattered on the edge of the nearside but that's of no import and no
oncoming traffic seemed concerned.

Of course high beam is a barely visible yellow overlay, I shall need to give
some thought to bulb choice. What sort of bulb/system do cages with HID low
beams use?

 

I have a HID high beam in our GS as well as low but it's not a good
idea IMO.

When I flick the switch to 'high' I want instant light but the HID
takes time to warm up. Once it's warm it's excellent but it takes very
little time to cool down again.

Kevin

 

That's exactly why I didn't fit the other half of the (car) kit into the
high beam and if you were to use the flash function it probably wouldn't
even have time to illuminate.

 

That's certainly not the case with either of ours, both with OEM-fit
HID dip and main beams.

 

I'm sure the OEM HID systems must have a different arrangement - some
kind of shield over the main beam bulb at a guess. AFAIK they all take a
finite time (too long) to fire up from cold.

 

Dunno, but there's just a tiny, perhaps 1/5th of a second, delay, so
even a quick flash works fine (and still happens even if you let go of
the stalk in that time).

 

See, I'm thinking the high beam, them being seperate bulbs, may not be HID,
just a conventional bulb of a similar colour

 

Nice theory, but a conventional bulb is _not_ of a similar colour. Nor
brightness, as you can testify from experience.

 

Having googled a bit I'm pretty sure they use some kind of shutter.

 

I see Xenon bulbs advertised in a range of colour temperatures though?

I might talk to that HID50 chap Wessie mentioned and ask about Discharge
kits which warm up in a short enough time.

 

My bike has a HID main, and a couple of H7s for high beam.

 

That's certainly true of our GS which can be rather frustrating at
times.

Kevin

 

Having taken the 9-5 Aero headlamps apart, to modify them for driving on
the mainland, I can confirm that you are correct.

There is a shaped shutter which cuts off part of the beam and a little
solenoid moves it out of the way when main beam is activated.

 

Eh? Main = high beam.

There should be a "dip" in there somewhere, Shirley.