cracked headlight
 

okay the other thing that occured at the weekend was to pick up a big crack in the headlight glass of the 4S.

Is the glass available seperately or will I need an entire light unit ?
where is the best/cheapest place to get one of these (glass/unit) ?

Cheers,
John.

You're not having much luck are you John? :o
The light comes as a complete unit.
I know Nelly has some brand new ones in at a good discount off Ducati prices if you give him a bell.
Failing that, ebay is your friend.

Nah I'm not mate. Did I mention the - nah feck it - I'll only depress myself...:barfy:

I'll send nelly a mail, see if he can give me a price and possibly save me one.
Cheers.

Got one as good as new for £50 plus post if you are interested:burn:

Well it looks like that nice man Bolds has saved the day (email sent earlier mate) :burn:

Has anyone ever tried using the HID lights for bikes ?
I don't mean the vision plus bulbs, but proper xenon jobs.

I understand a few bikes are fitted with these from new now, and given how scary the lights on the ST are anyway, I thought I might try one out.
If someone else has already done this though it might save me a bit of time searching about.

Oh, and are both bulbs the same (H1/3/7 ?), or is the projector a different bulb to the other ?

Cheers,
John.
p.s. found a place doing single light hid kits for 230 USD plus shipping so far...

[Edited on 12-7-2005 by John W]

I haven't tried HID, not that I could afford to just now anyway, but the problem will be with the dip beam which is an H3 fitting. H1 like the main beam is readily available but not H3. Even more annoying H3 is available in 30% brighter but not in 50% brighter and it is the dip that needs that extra output.

Hi Derek,

this place claim to do H3 bulbs ==> http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/mothidsinkit.html

I guess when/if I try to order one I'll soon find out if they really do, eh :rolleye:

Cheers,
John.

HID are lovely, expensive and illegal - The chances of a car colliding head on in the dark is greatly increased because no matter what, you've just shoved a floodlight in his face!!! I'd be surprised if they could see the verge, let alone the cats eyes or oncoming vehicle!

Sorry to be the counterpoint but I would never fit one to my vehicles - I have enough trouble with people dazzling me as it is.

halfords stock philips bulbs which are fine - I replaced mine with:
H3 Weathervision
H1 VisionPlus

But to be honest coz I'm not the 12st testing guy, tweaking my headlight angle worked better, just keep it in the regulations and you'll do fine.

[Edited on 13-7-2005 by moozaad]

I find my lights Ok on my ST4 except when loaded with wife and luggage then we are blinding oncoming vehicles. Does anyone know if it is easy to adjust and reset your head lights or is it a case of fiddling and testing. It takes so long to take the fairing off and put it back on that I may fit Dzus fasteners at the same time.:yawn:

coming from a couple of Hondas (blade & VFR) the ducati lights in general, and more specifically the ST lights are shite by comparison.

Moozaad, I accept what your saying but do not agree. I have fitted HID lights to a porsche 993 which also has projector style low beams. As long as the lights are set correctly there should be no dazzling problem. This is the key, being set correctly. If however someone stares straight into the headlight, well, more fool them.

I always make a point of setting my lights a little low on the bike as we generally use the ST to travel with luggage, two up, and this allows for bumps in the road. I rarely ride in the dark at other times. Mine are set correctly but just give out so little light.
By the way, a projector style light unit is less efficient than a standard reflector sized light, so to get the same amount of illuminated area you need to provide a greater light input to compensate for its losses (Have a look here for info ==> http://www.autolamps-online.com/howw...lampcentre.htm ).

Personally I'd much rather have an effective headlight so I can see on-coming hazards.
Just having a scan of the autolamps site (company I've brought my previous car kits from). I noticed on their sister site that they infact sell a kit, and there are pictures of a set on a cutomers 996 :D
==> http://www.hid-online.com/hidonline/...motorcycle.htm

I am about to place my order, so will let you guys know how I get on with it :roll: :cool:

YMFB, your later 04 style headlights are far better than the earlier design.
I'm sure the manual tells you how to adjust the lights.

[Edited on 14-7-2005 by John W]