i want to upgrade and improve my headlight for night itme riding. im looking at the Sol Tek LaPaz HID spot light by baja.designs.com its specs are: 35w HID, 3.8 amp contstant draw, 12-14v, 5000k color temperature. now im now electrical genius, so none of this makes any real sense to me. i like the look of the round light and i was hoping to install 2 of them side by side. i hired a honda 250 in loas a few years ago, and it had a baja kit with the lights mounted side by side in a special dedicacted frame. thats what i want to do. after i install the lights, i want to fit a bikini size clear windscreen. can anyone give me some advice on my decision here please? is it a suitable light etc etc. what mods i would have to do to the bike's electrical system etc? i note in my suzuki workshop manual that the specs state the standard bulb is 55w. im away from home at the moment for work, so i cant check if my bike has this globe or not. will i be able to install a brighter globe in the baja light or not? thanks benradette
The only way I have found to get pics on TT is to copy the pics URL and paste it directly in the browser address box. Don't know if it's just me or if every one has to do that. Any inmates got a better solution?
I can see the need for wind protection on dual sports while on the road. I'm surprised that nobody offers them for sale, but I haven't seen any here. It looks like you have come up with a good alternative. I can't tell if it is large enough, but there aren't a lot of options. Let us know how it works for you.
Thanks for the reply. I previously had the key switch on the left side, mounted off of the top bolt where the guide for the brake line is bolted. It worked until the real estate conflicted with hand guards. I moved the key switch bracket to bolt into one of the two threaded holes on the front of the triple-tree, the two unused holes next to where the instrument bracket mounts. I had to turn the switch around in the bracket and clock the boot to make it look reasonable. The key switch is now tucked tight next to the instrument cluster. I now feed the key through the crossbar brace to get it into the switch, but once it's there it's out of the way. Trying to find real estate for a GPS and roll chart looks to be a challenge. I looked at the HDB bracket & hand guards but my steering stabilizer is in the way. Are there any accessory sub-frames that use the headlight fairing bolts, or other ideas for organizing a dashbar? .
I haven't tried them, but the Kenda 761 and the Shinko 705 both look like good options for the street. I have been running IRC GP-1 which looks like a 50/50 tire with good results on the street and also on some gravel/dirt. IMO, 100% street tires look funny on a dual sport. But I would like to try them sometime too.
I think it looks pretty good too. But the market for such a thing on the DRZ is probably pretty limited - for every DRZ that is seeing big highway miles, twenty are used as playbikes and trail bikes; extensive plastic and dirt riding are not happy partners. - Mark
That's a good point, but folks are always trying to stretch the limits of what dual sports are good at. Besides the DRZ400 comes in the SM version which is more street oriented than dirt. I'm sure more than 1 in 20 DRZ riders wish their bikes were a little better on the street.
Hmm, I do not have a steering stabilizer, but am using the HDB handguards. They are SWEET, & when used with the RAM ball shown here: http://www.ram-mount.com/CatalogRes...d/082065077045066045051054055085/Default.aspx The balls can be used with the stock top clamp too & would work really well for what you are attempting to do. I'm using two of these ball mounts for a GPS & a SPOT device. I keep both tethered to the handlebar with a simple camera strap in case they pop out for some reason (never has happened). The pics below are of my setup, not finished yet, the key switch still needs a custom bracket to clean it up. Just need time to fab one..... <a href="http://s955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/dasvis/?action=view&current=RAMmounts001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/d/dasvis_RAMmounts001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <a href="http://s955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/dasvis/?action=view&current=RAMmounts002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/d/dasvis_RAMmounts002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> I also have a set of heated grips that I plan on installing soon, the HDB top clamp offers a perfect sopt for the switch. Dasvis
TCI products makes one! i'm considering geting it, but I have an acerbis headlight.... I think it will still work though! https://tciproductsusa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=144_166_186&products_id=570
I have a 2008 DR-Z 400SM and a Garmin Zumo 660. The GPS is used and has crap battery life, so Im trying to hardwire the Zumo to use the bikes power. My boyfriend is helping, and were stumped. This seems more like a DR-Z issue than a GPS issue, so we're posting here. Also, we searched and found lots of discussion about GPS wiring, but not the very basics of how to do it. He's a EE, but we're both bike wiring noobs. From him: We already have some 16 gauge stranded wire, a blade-type weatherproof fuse holder, 2A fuses and the Garmin GPS mount. The question is how best to wire it up. Heres the process we were thinking of: Wrap one lead wire of fuse holder around DRZs positive battery screw terminal and screw it down. (Or should we use a crimped lug rather than wrapping the wire directly?) Solder sufficient wire to the other lead to reach the mount (plus a little slack) Use heat shrink to protect the solder connection Wrap heat shrink in electrical tape to keep it sealed Wrap one lead of the negative GPS wire around the negative terminal and screw dow Route wires along the bike somehow this is the biggest challenge Solder, heat shrink & tape at the GPS mount Install fuse What is the best way to route the wires along the bike? How should they be protected? It looks like there are a lot of hot and sharp components along the route. Does the gas tank need to come off to do this? Is there an easier way to do this on the DR-Z than what were thinking? We havent found anything better by searching. We looked at using a t-tap, but were concerned about reliability.
Do you have the Garmin motorcycle mount that came with the GPS? Don't use the USB port for power, it is an unreliable connection as well as not water proof. http://www.gpscity.com/garmin-zumo-660-and-665-motorcycle-cradle-with-integrated-power-cable.html If so, it already has the fuse holder built in and has more than enough length to route back to the battery, just crimp or solder on some ring terminals and you are good to go. I have the 665 on my other bike and bought another mount linked above to put on the DRZ, so I can move it from one bike to the other. I cut off the mic, audio out, and xm cords off of the harness and sealed them as the harness was too bulky and never plan to use any of those features on the DRZ. I just took the gas tank off, routed the wire along the clutch cable and along the frame, crossed to the left side of the frame above the airbox/underneath the seat and back to the battery. Easy as pie. You just have to remember when you park it to turn the GPS off or take it out of the mount so it doesn't drain the battery. Here is a pic of it mounted: Here is a pic of the harness routed along the clutch cable, underneath the gas tank and along the frame:
I got a Slipstreamer Spitfire windscreen that works pretty good. I may lengthen the mounting arms to raise it up and back but a big improvement as is.
I have one, quality is top notch. What a difference it makes on a long rides @ highway speeds. Glad I bought mine!
I am about to start the dash wiring, mirrors, vapor install, headlight install, ignition relocation on my DRZ. I have no clue where I am gonna start. What makes it worse is that I insist on 7/8 crossbar style handlebars so I am gonna have to be super efficient on my available real estate. Since I dont run turn signals I and will have my fan controlled manually by a handlebar mounted switch I need to ditch the neutral switch, the dash subpanel that houses the turn signal indicators,temp, and hi lo beam . My goal is to eliminate all of the turn signal/ flasher relay, radiator temp sensors, neutral switch and wiring, while retaining temp function on my Vapor and wiring the headlight completely seperate via a relay and controlling that with the switches that are mounted on the headlight housing. The fan will be manually controlled as well. I may try and mount the Trailtech Vapor behind my bars directly in front of my tank since I have risers installed.
Yep, I have to do some research on this some more as I just started thinking about what I need my bike to have. I may try and mimic the "E" wiring harness somewhat with the exception of the fan. I have already bypassed the clutch safety switch, and the kickstand switch. I really want to get rid of the rats nest of wiring behind the headlight.
I made this mount for a roll chart holder and Spot. It's just an angle bracket and some bolts to hold the accessory mounts. For the gps there is just a ball socket attached to the AL handlebar guard. Switiches are from left to right, headlight, heated jacket liner (not used), heated grips, and a yellow indicator light for the grips. Green light on clamp is a voltage idiot light. . Also relocated the ign switch to a better location. This picture shows a voltage gauge but it broke on the 1st crash. Looks crowded but the speedo isn't blocked. With bar risers I had to raise the speedo up about 1 inch as the HDB clamp blocked it a little. ...and to wire all that stuff, instead of taking all the wire to the battery w/ five different fuses. I modified what was there fusing the accessories to a Eastern Beaver fuse block. Wires....... ...and buttoned up.
Rather than directly hard wiring in a GPS connector, I would suggest that you wire in a universal 2-wire power connector, then build adaptors for specific devices. I do this for heated gear, GPS, etc. If you are only running GPS, then you can use a keyed 12V source at the front of the bike. If you will be running heated gear & extra lights, then you will want to run a 12-14ga fused connection from the battery. Route the wires along the frame backbone, following existing connections. A spots where things are likely to rub, either wrap with several layers of electrical tape, or cover with an additional split sheath like this one. Wiring is like plumbing. Things need to flow in, and things need to flow out. To do any wiring job properly will always take about 4x the time you have planned. Careful soldering, shrink wrap, routing, and protection will save you from dealing with a lot of electrical gremlins later.
I see many riders install their Spot unit on their handlebars, it's not the right place to be, just respectefuly suggested. The best place to put ur Spot unit is on or in ur Jacket were it can be reach by either left or right hand in case one is injured. If ur crash is bad it can break away off ur handlebars and cannot be reach if u r seriously injured or can't move, not to mentionned that it can be lost. 15 years ago or so they were installing them inside z jackets of Dakar racers known as emergency Beacon. I keep my Spot unit securely mounted on the upper-center part on my Chest protector.
