[Arby]

Canadian Tire, there may be other sellers, have an LED replacement bulb that can be used to replace a regular brake light bulb. It costs around $11.95. I believe this would make the brake light more visible when activated. Does anyone have this bulb installed already? Does anyone know the brake light bulb number? My bike is in storage and I don't want to dig thru the snow to get the shed door open as that is where my owners manual is right now :roll:

 

[Wes]

I looked up LED brake light bulbs on the internet and the manufacturer's site had a warning that LED bulbs are not as bright as incandescent. Their advantage is longer life and less power draw. Anyone else have information on this?

 

[madonna]

Web bike world is an outstanding resource. I check it often. Rick has done quite a bit of research on lighting, including LEDs. Here is his page on lighting:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/lights/index.htm

Hope you find something helpful.

Madonna

 

[don fuzzy]

One of my buddies who owns a Silver Wing installed an LED bulb from Autoz Zone and brought it back. He said it was not a bright as the stock light.....

 

[Arby]

I went the London ONT. bike show two weeks ago and bought an LED replacement bulb for the Burgman's brake light. They had a display with various tail lights lit with regular bulbs compared to the LED bulbs. Of course the LED's were much brighter :wink: Also had a comparisson of the Canadian Tire bulb vs their's - again their's much brighter ( and $10 more expensive). Ya I know - not to hard to change voltages on displays to rig the results. Don't really want to dig thru 3 feet of snow to get at my bike in the shed so won't be able to report on the 'real' differences until we get our March thaw. Let you know then what I see.

 

[Arby]

Update: Installed the LED brake light bulb This consists of 12 red LED's mounted into an 1157 base.

Two problems:
1) Silly me the Burgman has two separate brake lights - one on the right and one on the left. Before going out and purchasing another one I thought I would install the one and compare it against the stock light.

2) You have to remove the lower back panel to get at the brake lights. I have discovered that the bulbs are inserted into the bottom of the brake/running light casing. This causes the LED lights to shine straight up and not towards the back of the bike. With a regular 1157 bulb this is not a problem as the light shines all around the bulb but LED lights are brightest when viewed straight on. They do light up the lense in running light mode and slighty more light when the brakes are activated but the LED light intensity is worse, much worse than the regular bulb. It would probably perform really well on a brake light assembly that has the bulb mounted so it faces the lense.

Guess I'm out $20 - I'll try and give it someone at a bike meet sometime.

 

[minnmax]

Auxiallary Lighting

Don't know how crazy you want to go with LED tail light bulb replacement, but the highly praised 1.85" 48-LED by Radiantdoes come in a "pigtail version. Essentially this would allow you to use them in the AN650 and face the element directly rearward. Not sure how you'd do it, but it is possible. Of course this bulb does cost a pretty penny at $44.95 each (and you need two). Plus it is not D.O.T. certified. However, based on every review I've seen including Web Bike World, this is without a doubt a brighter tail light than the standard incandescent, uses less energy, and should last considerably longer.

Me, I'm sticking with the standard bulbs and if I want more rear light attention, I'd add seperate LED light bars with running & brake light capabilities. The 6" LED Universal Light Bar by Signal Dynamics has had good reviews. So has the Hyper-Lite Universal LED modules.

 

[burg650]

I am looking for some kind of extra brake light to add to the back rest but have not found a light that look good and not too big to add there, it might be a bright one.

 

[don fuzzy]

I installed Hyper lights on the back mount of the Givi trunk. It flashes 5 times and then goes red for as long as you hold the brake on. If you realease and then grab the brake again, the cycle starts over. Look on website hyperlights.com. The lights are very bright . Can be seen from a long away.............. Don Fuzzy

 

[minnmax]

For those so interested, Hyper-Lite has come out with a kit specifically for the Burgman 650.

• Link: http://www.hyperlites.com/Burgman.html

 

[Arby]

I decieded to replace the red reflector in the rear mud flap section. I removed the reflector and installed an LED clearance marker light I bought from Canadian Tire for $13.00. Had to cut away a bit of the plastic mud flap to get the connections in from the rear. Wired them up the back of the mud flap with cable ties and tapped into the hot side of one of the brake light wires. Drilled a small hole in the metal frame part close to the the brake lights and screwed in a ground wire. I tried tapping the ground wire into the brake light ground wire but the new brake light would light when the brakes were off and go out when the brakes were applied. Grounding the light to the bike frame solved this problem.