Brighter lights
 

Im looking to get a brighter headlight for riding in the dark as the one on the bike is usless compared to other bikes i go out with, Someone has suggested using HID bulbs, Has anyone tried them and will the wiring take these bulbs

I've played with using HIDs on bikes and the issue with fitting them to the SS square lamp is its a single bulb headlamp (ignoring the sidelamp obviously) .
With the original lamp you have 2 choices , get a dual filament HID lamp that fits the base or get one that changes its position dependant on whether low or high beam is selected.
I've not tried the latter as it struck me as being something extra electro mechanical to fail . The dual filament hid is not without its issue either it needs two amplifier? packs (one per filament)
And one or both of the filaments arent centre to the original reflector so can compromise beam (may be **** cutoff/scatter /fail MOT etc) .
I found that the beam was a bit cluttered on low and badly distributed on high (on a round monster type headlamp). If the reflector is **** this will be worse and as the SS is a pretty old headlamp design it might just be **** as standard (as its not brilliant with a halogen) .
I've also fitted HID to modern projector style headlamps (separate bulb for lo and high) and they were very impressive on those.
Note MOT failure is also very likely as HID arent approved for vehicles with out auto leveling adjustment but the **** beam shape may make it more likely to fail.

HID and single H4 bulb = good for low beam but quite bad for high beam

If you can take the light body apart, make sure the mirror inside is as clear as possible and use some good H4 bulb (I use the Osram nighbreaker on mine and I'm happy - for a single bulb headlight).

:)

The above is good advice - make sure your lens and internal reflectors are clean first (this is free, just takes some of your time!) and use a good quality bulb (maybe pay a tenner for a high quality bulb?) to see what the difference is. You may also want to play with headlight alignment for optimum effect.

You may find that changing all this gives you enough extra light (better light projection) that you're happy with it and don't need to fork out the loads extra for HID.

Worth a try first, at least!

Two good reads here:

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/showthread.php?t=9951

and

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/showthread.php?t=9758

I went for the Osram Silverstar and was much impressed but then my headlamp was just plain mucky inside as well.

Dereks idea of running seperate power cables direct from the battery is interesting.

Good luck - Frank