Running lights

Where do you want to put them (mirrors, forks, elsewhere), and for what purpose? (conspicuity, fog, driving)

ST1100, ST1300?

To be seen, get a pair and mount them on the forks. You want to make a triangle of light so you don't appear to be a car off in the distance.
Amber or yellow stand out best, if allowed in your area.

Here's my 13.

The yellow fork lights are very visible (they also do white light), and not expensive.

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Obo said:
Where do you want to put them (mirrors, forks, elsewhere), and for what purpose? (conspicuity, fog, driving)

ST1100, ST1300?

To be seen, get a pair and mount them on the forks. You want to make a triangle of light so you don't appear to be a car off in the distance.
Amber or yellow stand out best, if allowed in your area.

Here's my 13.

The yellow fork lights are very visible (they also do white light), and not expensive.

View attachment 326797

View attachment 326794
View attachment 326795
Click to expand...
Could you post some photos from the side or back showing how you mounted the Zmoons please? I like your set up. Also what are the driving lights mounted to the side of the OEM headlights?
 
Bright Rider said:
Could you post some photos from the side or back showing how you mounted the Zmoons please? I like your set up. Also what are the driving lights mounted to the side of the OEM headlights?
Click to expand...

This thread shows the way I installed them. I removed the fender reflector, bolted in the existing hole, moved the reflector to the outside of the LED.

Inexpensive led yellow running lights | Lighting / Visibility

Thats what im looking for. Riding in boston can be tricky! How are yours mounted?
www.st-owners.com www.st-owners.com


The under mirror lights are just your run of the mill LED lights. Good for conspicuity but not all that great for extra lighting - at least with the upgraded headlights when I;m in the seat. They do make a difference though, just not as much as I'd like. These are what I used as I had them on hand. https://truxaccessories.com/product...-combination-spot-flood-beam-900-lumens-each/

If I wasn't so cheap I'd have bought the driving lights @spiderman302 suggest in the lighting thread. If I had my way I'd do rally-car-night-to-day kind of lights.
 
I think those zMoons are a huge bang for the buck. That yellow really stands out for conspicuity.

I wonder if mounting them wire up is really necessary to be seen down range. The sooner you're picked up on the other guy's radar is great for fighter jocks. But how far away do you need to be seen as an oncoming vehicle? In other words is there any benefit to being seen when you can't possibly a "threat" to someone else.

Might not the wire down orientation be sufficient to be seen in plenty of time? Naturally knots closure makes a difference. This would let the white light illuminate the road a little farther ahead. Would this be at the expense of filling in the area in front of the bike. Anyway the zMoons are really appealing.
 
Wire up on the zmoons (like how I have mine) results in a shorter throw for the yellow and a longer throw for the white.

Wire down would make the yellow throw father and the white less.

I wanted my whites to go farther for night time use and fill in where the high beam didn't.

The yellows are more than bright enough throwing "shorter" this way.
 
I stopped at a sign shop right after buying my 04 and the owner put Scotch Brite reflective on the back of the panniers and I was told it was very bright when followed at night, no wiring, no plugs but it is very useful for being seen at night. Plus the blue color matched the bike too.
 
motornut said:
I stopped at a sign shop right after buying my 04 and the owner put Scotch Brite reflective on the back of the panniers and I was told it was very bright when followed at night, no wiring, no plugs but it is very useful for being seen at night. Plus the blue color matched the bike too.
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Reflective material is a great passive option but needs a light source directed at it in order to reflect. Not great for a scenario where someone is pulling out in front of you from a side road.
I'd say do both! Again, the goal here is to give as much opportunity to be seen as you can.
 
I use the zmoons just like Obo. Easy mounting on the lower forks, and very visible, especially the yellow.
 
I worry more about a late night enemas because I worked swing shift, have had few problems with anyone pulling in front of me that I didn't see coming. Had more aggravation at the vehicles that had auxiliary lights at night with those damn blinding yellow lights, always loved coming over a hill in the rain. I treat them as high beams because I am seeing four headlights coming at me. My only regret is I don't have enough to do the same to them.
 
+1 for the zmoons. I also mounted them on the forks. I had one fail shortly after I installed them so I bought another pair and kept one as a spare. Not a big deal since they are so cheap. No issues since.

I also installed a Skeen Intelligent Dimmer module so I can dim them at night and not blind oncoming traffic:
skenelights.com

Skene IQ-275 intelligent dimmer for LED lights-IQ-275

skenelights.com

You can use a switch and/or tap the high beam.
 
I almost bought the zMoon lights. A couple questions...

First, if you set them as yellow and have them on when you turn off your bike, will they be on and yellow the next time you start the bike? The lights I ended up buying need to be turned on each time I start the bike.

Second, does the Skene controller do more than consolidate where you power the lights and act as a switch?

Chris
 
aniwack said:
Your bike already has running lights standard. Are you wanting bulb recommendations?
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I'm assuming the question is directed at me. Yes, the F900XR has running lights. However, they are directly under the headlights themselves. All are LED, and there are no bulbs to change. (I sure hope they never fail!)

I noticed right away that people would look at me coming...and then pull out anyway. That never happened on my F800GT...but that had two aux lights mounted on the forks creating that triangle effect. I decided to add some aux lights.

I bought these initially. Couldn't get them to work at first, so I tried to return them to Amazon. Amazon told me to keep them and gave me a full refund. I tried to get them to let me send them back several times, and finally gave up and took the refund, keeping the lights. Later, I got them to work...it was my fault, not the light. :oops: And they really do have that light pattern. The yellow fog light is a bright broad light pattern with a sharp cutoff. The white light is a tight rectangular beam that if aimed properly could be used in traffic.

1705191329897.png 1705191466475.png

In the meantime, since I thought I had bad lights, I bought these and installed them. Great lights also. They remind me of the Clearwater Darlas I had on the F800GT...except they are about 20X less expensive. The light beam on these is more of a flood light, not a spot light. Useful for conspicuity, but not much else. (The XR does have excellent headlights, but you can never have too much light.)

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The zMoon lights were my other option on my short list. I almost bought them.

In both cases with the lights I bought, you have a handlebar switch to operate. It isn't a pain in the rear, just one more thing to think about after starting the bike. It'd be nice if I could turn the bike on and have the aux lights in the same state as when I turned the bike off earlier.

The F900 forum has an interesting mix of members. When it comes to electrical mods, it reminds me of a Harley group. You have to have the "right" mods. In this case it is either Clearwater or Denali lights and a Hex ezCAN controller. I wasn't impressed with the Clearwater lights on my F800GT and would never spend that kind of money on lighting when there are so many other options out there. And as one of the first people to test the Hex ezCAN when it first came out, I didn't feel comfortable with it either as time went on. So I went with the Amazon lights and a fuseblock. The fuseblock does the same thing as a Hex ezCAN except all the eye-candy of flashing your headlights...all I wanted was something to provide power to my lights and minimize connections at the battery. A Hex ezCAN is @$220 and it seemed like overkill. Hence my question of the Skene controller's functionality.

Chris
 
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Obo said:
@Nexus That Skene controller looks handy!
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Yep, it's pretty slick. I have yet to have oncoming traffic complain about my lights at night unless I forgot to put them in high/low mode (as opposed to always high). I also installed one on a bike with the temporary high beam switch (flash to pass) so added the alert feature. That works pretty well too, but requires 2 quick clicks (on-off) on the switch within 1 second which is difficult without a temporary flash feature. I only wish it "alerted" a bit longer. As it is, it only lasts about 1 second. I think around 2 seconds would be ideal.

I also installed their other 2 products, front signals and brakes and they really increase your conspicuousness. Especially from the rear.
 
Daboo said:
I'm assuming the question is directed at me. Yes, the F900XR has running lights. However, they are directly under the headlights themselves. All are LED, and there are no bulbs to change. (I sure hope they never fail!)

I noticed right away that people would look at me coming...and then pull out anyway. That never happened on my F800GT...but that had two aux lights mounted on the forks creating that triangle effect. I decided to add some aux lights.

I bought these initially. Couldn't get them to work at first, so I tried to return them to Amazon. Amazon told me to keep them and gave me a full refund. I tried to get them to let me send them back several times, and finally gave up and took the refund, keeping the lights. Later, I got them to work...it was my fault, not the light. :oops: And they really do have that light pattern. The yellow fog light is a bright broad light pattern with a sharp cutoff. The white light is a tight rectangular beam that if aimed properly could be used in traffic.

View attachment 326946 View attachment 326947

In the meantime, since I thought I had bad lights, I bought these and installed them. Great lights also. They remind me of the Clearwater Darlas I had on the F800GT...except they are about 20X less expensive. The light beam on these is more of a flood light, not a spot light. Useful for conspicuity, but not much else. (The XR does have excellent headlights, but you can never have too much light.)

View attachment 326948

The zMoon lights were my other option on my short list. I almost bought them.

In both cases with the lights I bought, you have a handlebar switch to operate. It isn't a pain in the rear, just one more thing to think about after starting the bike. It'd be nice if I could turn the bike on and have the aux lights in the same state as when I turned the bike off earlier.

The F900 forum has an interesting mix of members. When it comes to electrical mods, it reminds me of a Harley group. You have to have the "right" mods. In this case it is either Clearwater or Denali lights and a Hex ezCAN controller. I wasn't impressed with the Clearwater lights on my F800GT and would never spend that kind of money on lighting when there are so many other options out there. And as one of the first people to test the Hex ezCAN when it first came out, I didn't feel comfortable with it either as time went on. So I went with the Amazon lights and a fuseblock. The fuseblock does the same thing as a Hex ezCAN except all the eye-candy of flashing your headlights...all I wanted was something to provide power to my lights and minimize connections at the battery. A Hex ezCAN is @$220 and it seemed like overkill. Hence my question of the Skene controller's functionality.

Chris
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Aliexpress has a ezcan knock off if you feel like giving China more money. I have the ezcan and it's pretty slick all the things you can do with it.
 
I've been running a set of "superbright" leds for about 160000 miles on two different bikes. Best quality for the money. For night beams I use Clearwater Erica's.
 
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