One of the things I normally do on any bike that I ride is to adjust the vertical aiming of the headlight.

Just position your bike 25 feet away from a vertical surface and while sitting on the bike, have someone measure from the ground to the center of your headlight. Now put a piece of tape on the vertical surface at the same height as the center of your headlight. While sitting on the bike, turn on the headlight and see where it is aimed at. It should be 1 inch below the center measurement.

You can find the adjustment procedure on page 137 of the owner's manual that came with your bike. That should make it a whole lot better.

 

Thanks Marty. I don't really ride at night but now with the shorter daylight, I am riding home from work in the dark for the first time since I bought the bike in April. So I am noticing that the headlight is pointing down for the first time now.

 

The reason I have not done the HID conversion to the KLX is I just don't ride it at night enough to warrant the expense. My KLR was a true street bike for me and I did a lot of long trips on it. The KLX is more of a play bike and gets used for day trips right now more than anything else.

Having said that, I have looked at the install options and I do think the HID kit would be easy to install on the KLX and should have no clearance problems. Getting that extra 20w of power back would be great on this bike too.

I've converted 3 bikes to HID (and my Tahoe) and never had a single issue with "the man". It's all in proper aiming.

 

Below are a couple of places I've found that sell the Bi-Xenon. Seems like the 4300K would be about right.

http://www.hidplaza.com/cart/index.p...d&productId=19

http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?...PROD&ProdID=22

 

Another great source for the Bi-Xenon H4 kit: http://www.cqlight.ca/index.php

This site is well liked by the BMW crowd for both price and quality. At $149 for the single HID H4 Bi-Xenon kit, it's the least expensive I've seen. If you ride your KLX at night and/or want to save 20w of power for something else, this is the ticket.

 

On a related topic, what is the stock power consumption of our headlights? I am sure that this is found in this thread or another post somewhere, but I have looked and can't find it.

I am asking because (as described in another thread), I may be in the market soon for an aftermarket headlight assembly. Deej pointed one out with the following specs:
[*]Meets all necessary CE and DOT standards[*]This headlight has a hgih/low bulb and a third light, which is the European running light[*]High-impact plastic lens[*]12V 35W/35W headlamp bulb[*]12V 4W running light[*]Will fit virtually any motorcycle

Am I correct thatthis setup will use 74W when running with high beams on? If so, will our bikes handle the load?

Thanks,
Chris

 

I believe high beam is 60W while low beam is 55W. Ooooh, 5W savings by running on low beam!

 

I purchased a 4 headlight setup each halogen bulb consuming 20w each. On low beam with just 2 lights lit they are nice and bright, with all 4 lit they are dull as. Seems dragging 80w is just too much for the bike to supply. [:@]

 

Yes, the stock headlight is an H4 lamp with two filaments. The low beam draws 55w and the high beam draws 60w.

With the low beam on, the engine running at speed, and the tail lamp illuminated, out bikes have a bountiful 50w of spare juice above what is necessary to charge the battery. Adding a Gerbing electric jacket (without a digital heat-troller) draws 77w. Ride with that on for an hour or two and you'll have a dead battery. Ditto a pair of 35w driving lights.

Our KLX like most dirt bikes doesn't need the battery to run so you may get a "shock" when you try to start it again after a long run with too many accessories going.

The HID capsules all typically draw 35w steady state. Plus the Bi-Xenon design uses the same capsule to be both the low beam and the high beam by physically moving it within your headlight housing so it has the proper focus in either case. That means with either low or high beam selected you are saving 20w for something else.

And while we all can see the benefit of more charging power, the real win for the HID lamp in my mind is safety both day and night when riding on the street. Day time conspiquity goes WAY up with a true HID lamp. Cars really notice the blue light. That alone is worth the $149 in my book.