Topic: Interesting idea for lowering the headlight...

[Jo3f1sh]

So, I really don't like any of the current offering for headlight brackets at the moment. Plus, I really like the painted mounts that came with the bike. Since it's not possible to flip these upside down, I had an idea...

Fabricate two small pieces of metal that simply drop the headlight from the original mounts. Playing around in Photoshop, i came up with the this:



Painted black, it should blend pretty well with the headlight bucket. And obviously, I'd work on lowering the gauges as well.

I haven't actually seen this done before, and there's probably a reason for that. Does anyone see any obvious reasons why this wouldn't work? The only thing I can think of is there might be a bit more headlight vibration, and clearance with the brake lines/switch might be close.

[flybox1]

looks good...can you drop the gauges, too? 

[calj737]

It's a clever idea. One thing about the light line of the lamp you need to consider is oyur eyeline angle to it. The greater the angle of your eye to the line of illumination actually decreases the distance of perceived illumination. The closer your eye to the line, the farther you can see at night.

Motorcycles already suffer from single beam as illumination and the potential for over-driving your lights, this would, in my initial impression, exacerbate that issue.

Something to think about or at least "test" before you go too far.

[Garage_guy_chris]

I have often wondered if its possible reconfigure the headlight mounts without destroying them. It would involve carefully remove the mounting triangles from the tubes switching them and flipping them and re-welding them to the tubes. based on pictures it would roughly lower it what your brackets did but look factory. i like the top of the headlight level with the front of the tank.

[strynboen]

there are the tube angel..if you move the light dovn..think it hit the brake line/light kontakt..or can not be angled so the light can be turned to light dovn..in front of the bike...or it must be moved both dovn and forvard at same time

[Lostboy Steve]

Is this strictly for aesthetics?

[bjbuchanan]

You are gonna run in to a couple things potentially. The first thing that comes to mind is the wiring to the bucket, some of it is gonna be a little tighter to reach, like the guage harnesses. They should make it but it will be tighter. You may also have speedo or tach cable interference but probably not.

I think that the biggest thing is that it is gonna be a pain in the @ss to get it to not wiggle around or have your bolts come loose and have everything angle nicely. Those little extensions are gonna be like swivels for that HL bucket, probably gonna be annoying

[Jo3f1sh]

Is this strictly for aesthetics?

Pretty much. Not a huge fan of how high the headlight sits, and I don't usually ride at dark (though I DO sometimes).

It's pretty much me trying to lower the headlight while keeping it looking somewhat factory. I had thought about there now being 2 swivel points. Another option would be to add an anchor point where the turn signals bolt to, basically making it a triangular bracket.

[AbbyRider]

I love a lowered headlight. I wouldn't overthink things too much. You should be able to get your mounting bolts tight enough that there's not much movement.
I don't know much about perceived illumination or sight angles. But I doubt a few inches lower is going to make much difference.

[Don R]

 I like the appearance of the lowered light, Someone here was making a few carbon fiber parts, hmmm, i'm going out to look at the 400F

[bjbuchanan]

It is plenty doable I'm just pointing some ideas out. you aren't radically changing anything.

[WhyNot2]

So, I really don't like any of the current offering for headlight brackets at the moment. Plus, I really like the painted mounts that came with the bike. Since it's not possible to flip these upside down, I had an idea...

Fabricate two small pieces of metal that simply drop the headlight from the original mounts. Playing around in Photoshop, i came up with the this:



Painted black, it should blend pretty well with the headlight bucket. And obviously, I'd work on lowering the gauges as well.

I haven't actually seen this done before, and there's probably a reason for that. Does anyone see any obvious reasons why this wouldn't work? The only thing I can think of is there might be a bit more headlight vibration, and clearance with the brake lines/switch might be close.

Good looking bike, is that factory paint?