LED Taillights coming for S

[activator]

I was looking through some old links, and came upon this site:

http://www.heavycycles.com/

At the bottom of the home page it has a box with "Upcoming Products" and says an LED tailight conversion for the S will be available in March!

The current BMW "Airhead" kit got a great review at webbikeworld (http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/motorcycle-led-light/led-brake-light.htm).

Those LEDs are BRIGHT! Add a modulator and folks'll be backin' off like you're on fire!

[Chris Fortunato]

I emailed these guys in December. About $200 without turn signals integrated, about $300 with. I've been trolling ebay for a taillight assembly to send him since recieving his response.

Response from Heavycycles:

I'm nearly certain that I already have a board to fit that light and I also have access to the clear lenses if anyone is interested. I would need a "donor" light to see how the fit is and if I would instead need to design a new board profile to fit it. The lighting technology is all there, it's just the shape of the boards that needs to be designed.

If you, or anyone else, would be willing to send me a taillight for fitting purposes (and then returned), I could definitely have one ready in a few weeks.

Please let me know if I can be of any more assistance.

Thank you,

Joe Albe
jalbe@heavycycles.com
415-377-3083

Ultra-Bright LED Lights!
www.heavycycles.com

[Joe]

FYI

Dennis Kirk is handling a clear lens LED kit for the S for $53 part# 21-1026 not sure what it looks like but says plugs into factory harness contains 50 LED's

[Chris Fortunato]

Joe,
Any more detail on the part from Dennis Kirk? I checked their site and couldn't find the part number you listed.
Chris.

[UberXY]

I could not find the part on Kirk either. but here is a place that sells 1156/1157 LED bulbs for about $6 each. Somehow this seems like a simple and cost effective solution.

Automotive LED bulbs

[Chris Fortunato]

What interests me most about the HeavyCycles design is the integration of the turn signals. I would love to get rid of the appendages in the rear. I just broke my first turn signal mount and frankly don't expect it to be the last.

[activator]

Originally posted by UberXY
I could not find the part on Kirk either. but here is a place that sells 1156/1157 LED bulbs for about $6 each. Somehow this seems like a simple and cost effective solution.

Automotive LED bulbs

Something similar (or exactly like) those were reviewed on webbikeworld.com and they didn't think they were so great. In some ways they were LESS visible than the stock bulb due to the angle of the light thrown by the LEDs.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technical-articles/led/index.htm

There was one LED 1156/57 replacement that they thought worked well. It's much bigger and heavier, but works well. The review has some good insight/info about the "quality" of LEDs. Some are better than others.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/led/led.htm

In contrast, the Heavy integrated LED lights got a very favorable review. The "Airhead" model they tested seems to work VERY well. Hopefully the "S" model will too.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/motorcycle-led-light/led-brake-light.htm

[roger albert]

Hey Uber,

Those 1156/7 things stink. They're cheap, but not cost effective. They're enough to keep you legal, but not visible. They have 8-12 LEDs, and are visible through only a narrow angle (directly fore-aft).
Contrast that to 50-100LEDs arrayed to be visible from many angles.
The LED 1156/7 ones are not bad for flat marker lights on old cars where there is not much viewing angle anyway, but they're a poor sub for an incandescent.

hth
roger

[Rapid Dog]

Well said Roger. Most LED's I've "seen" have been piss-poor for the amount of light the give off.
They seem more for decoration than for function.
Maybe it's the type they use as you indicated.

[Steve Carlton]

How effective are the LEDs that Robert Foster is selling? I purchased the clear lens w/LEDs, but haven't installed it yet.

[UberXY]

thanks roger, saved me from ordering them.

[roger albert]

Welcome.

Sorry to be so negative, but they're just not worth much under the best of conditions, off-axis, even worse. I bought some to play with a couple years ago when they were much more expensive. Waaaaaah.
WasteWasteWasteWhineWhine/Whine. The LED dropin 1156/7 deals are good for fulfilling govt light requirements, perhaps on a vintage vehicle with very marginal charging capability. No need to skimp that far on the S. Hope to hear more about Joe's Dennis Kirk based discovery. It sounds like a pretty good price/performance compromise.

No idea about Robert's offering. I'm sure the man himself will answer as he sees fit, being the good egg he is an all.

[JerryTreeXprt]

I think that part of the problem with LEDs is that you completely lose the use of the reflector portion of the light assembly that amplifies and better disperses the light. Since the LED sends light outward only it doesn't expand to fill up the whole lens. They may actually be brighter but since there is no reflection they appear to be less bright.

[Joe]

Originally posted by Chris Fortunato
Joe,
Any more detail on the part from Dennis Kirk? I checked their site and couldn't find the part number you listed.
Chris.

I blew up the LED tail light section on page 452 of the 2004 metric Dennis Kirk catalog.........

[roger albert]

True Jerry, but it goes further, Not only do the LEDs not shine backward, thus negating the reflector, they don't emit sideways, over much of an angle forward either. Properly designed LED setups have a large number of them mounted at physically different angles so good coverage is obtained. The ones in Joes post above still look like a very good price/perf deal. On their 30LED/1157 deal, it's a larger number of elements than I've seen before, so is better than what I babbled about earlier, but hard to say how much. No good way of inferring the dispersion or viewing cone

[EZ-RIDER]

Hey Gang;

Get with boxercup he is selling clear taillight lens and LED for the R11S

[Highlander179]

EZ, boxercup also has the clear taillight lens with a red bulb that in his own words produces more light than the LED. Remember, he tested them before he sold them to us.

[crucial]

and there's more here..................www.boxerparts.com

[EZ-RIDER]

Hey;

I have the Led's from Boxercup and they are brighter then the stock set-up or the red blub.

[Steve Carlton]

Whew!