Never blinking eye
Cyclops LED
[ Wednesday - March 29, 2017 ]
So when I decided to downgrade to a single bike, instead of the F8GS
and R12R, I had the option of waiting a bit to get the LED
headlight, or take the early model that uses halogen
headlights. Thinking and debating, I settled for the halogen
headlight with the expectation that it's very expensive to replace
the LED headlight if it ever went out. With that notion, I
chose the halogen.
When the OEM LED headlight finally came out, it was cool but I still
thought it's over priced and over hyped. That is until one day
when I watched a You Tube video when a guy reviewed a 2017 R12GSW
with the LED headlight. It was nice and bright. In the
mean while, I'm replacing my Philips Vision Plus H7 bulbs every 6
months or so. They're bright in the beginning but gradually
dim over the course of months and ultimately, the front "LAMP!"
warning comes on. With the Erica lights always on, I'll never
get a "fix it" ticket from law enforcement. However, I'm
annoyed by the fact that car head lights are washing out my
headlight.
I started looking for LED H7 alternatives. There were a lot of
option out there but I'm never too sure which one will truly work on
the GSW. That is until one day when I was perusing the
Touratech USA website. Ho! Look at that. It's a
LED H7 bulb that suppose to work with the GS. All make and all
year model.
Notice the small electrical box. I was concerned that it had
to be mounted outside of the headlight assembly. When I called
Touratech USA, they said that the entire set goes inside of the
headlight assembly. The box is actually quite small and fits
inside. With that, I ordered two H7 LED bulbs. Hey, $65
a pop is way more economical than $1K for the OEM headlight
assembly. Also, at 4K lumens, that not bad in terms of the
brightness scale. Considering the Ericas are 6K lumens each.
I fidget with the bulb trying to install it. Of course I have
to install it wrong before I get it right. In the end, I
settled for only the low beam. My thinking is that I don't use
the high beam that much and also, the Ericas are now the power house
of a high beam (2 x 6K lumens).
The other thing that tripped me up when the bulb was installed is
that the monster keeps on throwing a fault. Saying that the
front lamp is out. I thought it was the Cyclops causing a
problem. That is until I put the BMW Nav V on map mode instead
of telemetry mode. That's when I see the fault was because the
parking light was burnt out. The bulb from Pep Boys wasn't the
right spec so the bike kept on throwing a fault. Eventually, I
went to the dealer to get the parking light bulb. Sure enough,
the fault went away. Wow! Who would have thought that
the parking light bulb specs has to be so precise.
The Cyclops works beautifully. It's nice and bright. I
had to tilt the headlight down a bit to prevent cars from going
blind. Now I don't even think twice about the low beam light
going out. If it does, I have another one handy.
Written on: July 6, 2017
Last modified: July 6, 2017
