[ST] Re: PIAA fork light

["B Parker" <bparker15@xxxxxxx>]

<  Do you have any pics of the light you mounted on your front forks down
around the front axle?  I need something to light up the road
down low better.
Al>

http://www.members.cox.net/sprinthawk/PIAA%20rt%20fork.jpg

http://www.members.cox.net/sprinthawk/PIAA%20mount.jpg

hmm, looks like i should replace those cap screws with stainless steel
ones. the mount was a scrap chunk of .5x.75 aluminum, milled out by my
[R1100RT riding] bud in the tool and die shop at work. it fits the ears on
the PIAA shell, and has a "V" to keep it from twisting on the fork. it's
counterbored from the fork side for the inner screw. note the seam of JB
Weld; an Oklahoma wind blew the bike over parked on my lawn, splitting the
housing and putting a crack in the right fairing. JB to the rescue - i had
nothing to lose. it worked on both, with fiberglass mat added behind the
fairing. i'm glad it wasn't parked on the driveway.

there are push-on automotive connectors on the wires to make it easier to
dismount the light; that's been handy. the wiring is in a shrink tube [the
second wire in the picture is the pickup for the Echo F1 bicycle computer,
looking at a magnet glued in the brake rotor].


my purpose for the light was to fill in 'near' when i hit the high beams -
since the Triumph 'high' pattern is narrow and wide, and actually leaves
less illumination near the bike [of course, we're not supposed to be
looking near...].

i cooked up a switch circuit* that uses a three way switch: OFF, ON all
the time, ON when the high beams are on, using a little automotive cube
relay, and fused. the long-bat, glove-friendly switch is mounted in the
right side 'port' on the tail section; i can reach it easily, but it's
nearly invisible. yes, it's the throttle/front brake hand; but i almost
never change the switch position, and it's never an emergency.

IIRC, the light is a PIAA 1100 driving light. the key is to match your
light wattage and beam spread to your turf - pencil beam for Interstate,
fog for you Maryland guys, driving light for general duty. power? IIRC,
it's 55W but somehow equivalent to 85W. you can get serious with HID,
etc., and fry roadkill. mine seems adequate and rarely gets a high beam
flash from the oncoming drivers. my headlight bulbs are upgraded to the
Sylvania H4 ST, a nice improvement.

see http://www.piaa.com/Lamps/Lamps-General.html. there are other lamp
choices. i carefully selected mine by point 6 below.

what i discovered:

1) it does indeed fill in the near area.
2) it illuminates way down the road, too.
3) it turns with the forks - super in parking lots, and an improvement in
dark twisties, because it fills in ABOVE the narrow pattern of the tilted
high beams.
4) the one-side, Cyclops, off-center position, makes people out front do a
doubletake. i've seen lots of bikes with symmetrical pairs; they are
somehow satisfactory to the brain image processor. the one-light makes the
little old lady in the Buick look twice, because 'it just ain't right'.
that is probably the best effect of the light.
5) it doesn't drop filaments at every bump in the road as i expected. i've
not replaced a bulb in two years, 20,000+ miles.
6) they can be dirt cheap on ebay. my light would be $170 a pair at
retail. i paid $35 for the single that happened to be listed when i
looked.
7) your buddies will know you're back there. even a half mile back.
8) your MSF coach will ask you to turn it off so he can see your right
hand action in class - the light's too distracting.

this concludes our morning tech session.

bp

*when i gin up a viewable picture of the circuit, i'll put it as "PIAA
circuit.jpg" at the same web address.


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