Head and tail lights?

GoldenMotor.com
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Catfish

New Member
Jun 2, 2010
15
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Washington State
I'm curious where I should look for a particular kind of light. I love the way vintage lights look, but I don't want one that uses a generator or an expensive light bulb.

Here's an example of the look I'm going for.
http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/3561856/1086292720500_bauer_light.jpg

I'm just after something that looks similar. It would be fine if it was LED, so long as it didn't look like it.

Any ideas where I should start looking?
 
Kevlarr

Kevlarr

New Member
Jul 22, 2009
1,628
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Mi
Buy a teardrop light and put a battery powered LED headlight inside it.

Pretty much what I did, I took an old gen light and put a 3W LED and controller in it and am running it off a small 6v SLA battery.
 
wheelbender6

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2008
4,059
221
63
TX
Kevlarr is right. You can fit a modern LED light pretty easily into a bullet light. Best of both worlds.
There are also some LED lights on EBAY that will run on your white wire from the motor.
 
bairdco

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
you can also find vintage old lights that run off D batteries. Delta and Seiss made plenty. problem is, they have tiny old bulbs in them that don't provide much light, but they too can be converted to LED's.
 
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mykustomcruizer

New Member
May 16, 2010
91
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pa
i just ordered a bullet style light that runs off the motor the guy says to use the white wire witch im using now for a led brake light but the headlight is also led so should be very bright and its a flat black so kinda has a older look to it but im going to have it pinstriped or airbrushed once i get it all mounted up to make sure its good once i get it i will post up picks installed
 
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Beej

New Member
Jun 7, 2010
119
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San Diego, CA
Does running the light off the motor (white wire) cause any damage to the motor parts? Premature wear or anything? That coil is pretty cheesy built.
 
BarelyAWake

BarelyAWake

New Member
Jul 21, 2009
7,194
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Maine
No damage, but an off switch for the light is needful to help w/starting the engine & some have found they need to tighten the spark plug gap a hair (.020) for smoother running with the light on. They are kinda picky tho as the "quality" varies from engine to engine, also not all 6v light bulbs are equal, some will draw jus' a lil too much and act like a kill switch - might hafta experiment a lil w/different 6v bulbs ;)

I have this on my first build: http://motorbicycling.com/f23/lights-run-off-white-wire-no-7306.html and it's still goin' sweet after thousands of miles & I never had a prob or any harm to the electrical system (^)
 
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yodar

yodar

New Member
Jul 26, 2010
147
1
0
Orlando Fl
BarelyAWake said:
No damage, but an off switch for the light is needful to help w/starting the engine & some have found they need to tighten the spark plug gap a hair (.020) for smoother running with the light on. They are kinda picky tho as the "quality" varies from engine to engine, also not all 6v light bulbs are equal, some will draw jus' a lil too much and act like a kill switch - might hafta experiment a lil w/different 6v bulbs ;)

I have this on my first build: http://motorbicycling.com/f23/lights-run-off-white-wire-no-7306.html and it's still goin' sweet after thousands of miles & I never had a prob or any harm to the electrical system (^)
Click to expand...
I wnat every milliamp that engine magnetyo makes to go to my plugs. I taped and sealed the white wire up.

LEDs consume so little power I would rather use rechargeable NiMH cells to take in to recharge at the end of the ride. I have a 9-L.E.D. array running forever off 3 AA NiMH cells in series.. 30 ma drain would take some time to drain AA's. They even run off AAA's

yodat
 
KDB

KDB

New Member
Jun 19, 2011
47
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0
Maryland
At the bicycle shop I paid $15 for a 3 LED flashing light. At the dollar store I paid $1 for a 3 LED flashing light.
Of course there is a difference in quality. Guess which one started acting funny after they got rained on. But the difference is hardly 15 to 1.
My point is that hobby/athletic equipment is always artificially inflated. If you buy a pair of thermal pants with a picture of a guy running on the label they are $20. If the guy in the picture is holding a shovel they are $7. Same pants, different targeted customer base.
 
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