Too Big???

[dirtyoldcrusier]

Awsome light!!!! I might try that look, I would like to see more pics,, I looked on Harbor Freights website, looks to have a heavy dyty mount with a swivel like base, but also a great price!! I hope to see more of your BIG HEADLIGHT coversion on your build,, Have a great day.. Dirtyoldcrusier over & out.

 

[2door]

I think yours looks great.
I'm using a six inch, 12 volt, 55 watt head light with two of the lights that Norm used to sell as auxiliary head lights. This combination lights up the road ahead of me like daylight. I charge a 7.5 AH SLA (sealed lead acid) battery with a small battery maintainer charger when I'm not riding and have good light for at least 90 minutes of night riding. The bike also has a tail and break light that run from a small six volt, 4.5AH battery as well as the two small headlights. Both batterys are carried in a nylon pouch attached to the seat frame.
Tom

 

[meowy84]

Fenders are from Electrabicyles.com

Thanks for the tidbit. Can you tell if these fenders are wider than the onces that come on cruiser style bikes like the Schwinns, etc? I have some fenders that I'm planning to mount on my bike but they came off a commuter style bike and they're just a tad bit shy of covering the tires. Once again, your bike looks great.

 

[meowy84]

I think yours looks great.
I'm using a six inch, 12 volt, 55 watt head light with two of the lights that Norm used to sell as auxiliary head lights. This combination lights up the road ahead of me like daylight. I charge a 7.5 AH SLA (sealed lead acid) battery with a small battery maintainer charger when I'm not riding and have good light for at least 90 minutes of night riding. The bike also has a tail and break light that run from a small six volt, 4.5AH battery as well as the two small headlights. Both batterys are carried in a nylon pouch attached to the seat frame.
Tom

I love the paint scheme on your engine 2door. Looks 'factory' and not like an afterthought. Is it regular paint that you used for the rest of the frame or is it hi-temp paint? The matching chainguard gives the engine those flowing lines and look of continuity. Great!

 

[tvc15]

Thanks for the tidbit. Can you tell if these fenders are wider than the onces that come on cruiser style bikes like the Schwinns, etc? I have some fenders that I'm planning to mount on my bike but they came off a commuter style bike and they're just a tad bit shy of covering the tires. Once again, your bike looks great.

They seem wider than typical fenders and are wider than any of the aftermarket ones I could find, came with really nice stainless hardware as well

 

[2door]

I love the paint scheme on your engine 2door. Looks 'factory' and not like an afterthought. Is it regular paint that you used for the rest of the frame or is it hi-temp paint? The matching chainguard gives the engine those flowing lines and look of continuity. Great!

Meowy,
Sent you a PM. Thanks.
Tom

 

[meowy84]

Thanks for the info guys.

This place is such a good place for inspiration. Just in this thread alone there's two great things I'd like to try on one of my future builds: tvc15's big fenders look great to me and so does Tom's paint scheme on his engine.

 

[Bike Monster]

Man i wished i had a light like that for my chopper...

 

[Theodopolis]

How did you mount it? I'm thinking about the same light for my bike because the one on i right now is pretty pathetic looking.

 

[The_Aleman]

Hey Theo, welcome to the forum. In case, you didn't notice, you are asking someone a question who hasn't logged in since May of last year.
This thread you have revived is dated from 2010.

You might want to make your own thread in the Lighting section.

 

[silverbear]

I've used this light on four different builds and like it very much. I'll find some photos and post later this evening.
SB

 

[silverbear]

I like the Harbor Freight dune buggy light and consider it a real bargain. The quality of construction and chrome is very good, especially considering that it costs around twelve bucks. I've use it on four builds and will probably use it again.

Is it too big? Depends on your taste and the bike, I think.

The first photo is interesting because it shows the same light on the same bike frame (Schwinn Panther), but mounted in different ways. In the foreground is a 49 Panther using a Whizzer front fork. The headlight is mounted with the bolt which protrudes from the bottom of the headlight. In the background is a 50 Panther with a Suzuki fork which has headlight ears. The light has been modified so that it tucks back into the ears and in my opinion looks smaller somehow and much better. To my eye it is just right. If you look through photos of early motorcycles many of them had honker sized headlights, so there is an historical precedent.

I also used this light with an odd AMF Roadmaster frame with a Tomos engine. It also uses a Suzuki fork and I think it looks good.
(cont.)
SB

 

[silverbear]

I make two modifications to my lights. If it is going to be tucked into ears then I remove the mounting bolt from underneath. Then I mark the spots where holes will be drilled to mount the light to the ears. I use an allen bolt so that it is easy to hold the bolt in place while tightening it down to a nylon lock nut.

The other modification is to remove the bulb the light comes with, much too powerful for a bike and drawing way too much power. I don't have photos showing the unit I put in it's place, but what I do is use a small LED flashlight. I bought it at Harbor Freight for about five bucks, it is very bright and runs on 4.5+ volts, so can be powered with the white wire from a china girl motor or a six volt sidewall generator... or a rechargeable battery, of course.

I remove the bolt, use a black marker for the size I want to make in the reflector and then ream it out to size with either a dremel tool or a drill with a cone shaped grinding stone. The light gets the barrel removed and wires get soldered for positive and negative leads. After cleaning out the lens and reflector of grinding dust, I epoxy the LED light unit into the opening where the original bulb fit and which we have just enlarged to size. Run the leads out the hole where the original wires went and now you're good to go. With everything you're still under twenty bucks for a pretty cool headlight.
(cont.)
SB

 

[The_Aleman]

SB, this is nice info, but you're putting it on someone else's dead thread.

This info would be great in the Lighting section.

 

[silverbear]

Pictured below is a 52 Schwinn Hornet with a Suzuki fork and the HF headlight.
Most moped forks come with headlight mounting ears like the ones on the Suzuki fork. I've been thinking about how to make mounting ears for a more traditional fork, but haven't given it enough thought to come up with anything yet.

I hope this gives you some ideas. The next time I do one I'll take pictures of the LED light portion of the modification. This light isn't for everybody. Some will think it is too big. Now that I'm used to it on my bikes, I see most lights on builds and think they are too small. Ha!
SB

 

[silverbear]

SB, this is nice info, but you're putting it on someone else's dead thread.

This info would be great in the Lighting section.

It is an old thread, but three individuals have posted on it today, including you. Often old posts are picked up again. What's wrong with that? If the moderators want to move it, then that's their business. I'm well aware how old it is as I posted on this thread when it was 'new.' A question was asked and I attempted to answer it, at least from my perspective.

Just yesterday I picked up an old thread of Chainmakers, asking a question about his Panther build which he answered and someone else commented on. I've had a number of my old threads picked up again with a question or comment from someone. A thread is dead only if no one posts on it. Just my opinion anyway. The person who originally started the thread may be gone, but the rest of us are still here.
SB

 

[corgi1]

and I thought they said to look at all the old threads for imformation and ideas , lol

 

[The_Aleman]

It is an old thread, but three individuals have posted on it today, including you. Often old posts are picked up again. What's wrong with that? If the moderators want to move it, then that's their business. I'm well aware how old it is as I posted on this thread when it was 'new.' A question was asked and I attempted to answer it, at least from my perspective.

Just yesterday I picked up an old thread of Chainmakers, asking a question about his Panther build which he answered and someone else commented on. I've had a number of my old threads picked up again with a question or comment from someone. A thread is dead only if no one posts on it. Just my opinion anyway. The person who originally started the thread may be gone, but the rest of us are still here.
SB

It's bad netiquette. If I came back and found someone had derailed my thread, I'd be pretty annoyed, and best believe everything in that thread would disappear.

Put the info in the right place, don't scatter it some more in tagless threads.

 

[tn97kouki]

Hey Silverbear what suzuki do those forks come off of ?

 

[motorhedfred]

I don't mean to speak for SB, but I believe they're these...

7/8" K10 Hydraulic forks mini chopper motorcycle bike | eBay

MHF