Amphibious Beemer

my bad, yeah, H4. H3 is whats in my foglamps.

I tried a $40 PIAA SuperWhite "Xenon" H4 and didn't really think it was
noticably brighter than a standard halogen. Any claims about 300%
brighter were pure and unadulterated BS. OTOH, my generic 90/100 H4
lamps that I get for $9 to $12 each are *WAY* brighter across the entire
range.

Yeah, heavy gauge wiring and relays are a must, especially with BMW's
dimmer switch. And, yeah, you should fuse said heavy gauge wiring with
a 15A or so as close to the battery (or alternator) as possible. Since
its a motorcycle, you should use good oil-resistant automotive wiring, I
like the $$ stuff that has silver plated strands, its very stiff, and has
very tough insulation not likely to fray if it is rubbing up against
something. I got cheezy, and used crimp-on connections, I've had one
fail (causing my lowbeam to flicker, and the generated heat from the bad
connection burned some insulation), I probably should have done it
properly with solder and shrinkwrap, I may still get in there some day and
rewire it all.

 

Hey, I don't want to sound like I am disagreeing with you here, but the
human eye is a very poor "instrument" for measuring light levels.
Ironically, this is because it is such a FABULOUS instrument for
detecting light over a wide range of levels! [Consider this: when you
walk into a theater from noontime sunlight your eye adapts to light
levels perhaps 0.000001 as bright!] Further, the human eye is not
equally sensitive across the visible band of the spectrum. We have
'peak sensivitiy' in Blue, Green and Red (I'll see if I can find that
chart if anyone is interested). Then there is the glare/contrast
problem - even if the area is bright, it can still be difficult to see
things (which is the point of it all). Some wavelengths are harder for
us to see with - which is why target shooting glasses are often Yellow.

Here's an experiment to verify what a four-fold increase in brightness
looks like: turn on your headlight and look at it from a distance of,
say, 20' ... then move up to 10' - the apparent brightness will
quadruple. Then remember that from your seat, the light hits objects
in front of your bike and is reflected back to you. As a result, if you
quadruple the light output of your headlight, you only increase the
distance you can see (at a given illumination) by 41% [assuming that
you're not shinning your headlight at mirrors]. Put all of this
together and it is likely that a bulb which is 300% brighter is barely
noticeable.

If you perceive certain bulbs as giving better illumination it probably
has more to do with how your eyes work than how the bulbs work! So it
is likely that two different riders would choose different bulbs for the
"best visibility".

John Beck

 

There was a CM185T and a CM200T. Mine was 196 cc according to the stamp
on the cylinder head. A four-speed, IIRC, it even did respectable hill
climbs if you didn't mind dinging up the low pipes (which were cheap to
replace, too). EZ everything on that bike; I even repaired flats on the
road with a bicycle fixit kit. Rescued many other riders broke down on
blacktop from freeways to rural backwaters while riding that bike. My
favorite was the United Airlines mechanic on northbound 17 in Milpitas;
his backseat-bungeed sweatshirt had gotten super tangled up in the rear
sprocket of his Yamaha 650 twin. Stopped him cold. He didn't even have a
knife with him. I had my Buck folder and pliers in the little toolkit
that fit under the seat. Got him going in no time.

Over 55,000 miles on the clock when the Twinstar got caught in a fire
(kids smoking around some dry pallets near where it was parked) and
quite literally melted into slag. Don't have it anymore, but for a long
time, I kept the melted speedometer as a souvenir. You could still make
out the mileage on it. Too, too bad.

 

There was a CM185T and a CM200T. Mine was 196 cc according to the stamp
on the cylinder head. A four-speed, IIRC, it even did respectable hill
climbs if you didn't mind dinging up the low pipes (which were cheap to
replace, too). EZ everything on that bike; I even repaired flats on the
road with a bicycle fixit kit. Rescued many other riders broke down on
blacktop from freeways to rural backwaters while riding that bike. My
favorite was the United Airlines mechanic on northbound 17 in Milpitas;
his backseat-bungeed sweatshirt had gotten super tangled up in the rear
sprocket of his Yamaha 650 twin. Stopped him cold. He didn't even have a
knife with him. I had my Buck folder and pliers in the little toolkit
that fit under the seat. Got him going in no time.

Over 55,000 miles on the clock when the Twinstar got caught in a fire
(kids smoking around some dry pallets near where it was parked) and
quite literally melted into slag. Don't have it anymore, but for a long
time, I kept the melted speedometer as a souvenir. You could still make
out the mileage on it. Too, too bad.[/QUOTE]

Heh...they were nice little bikes. Now I remember, mine was a 185
purchased from Monroe Motors the week I decided that messenging was a
good job. It used to tear it up! I'd buzz around the city with Thomas
Bros. strapped to the back. The only thing I didn't like were those
backswept handlebars. My wrists started giving me grief after a few
months of riding 8 hours a day in that position.

And once, a huge woman on a Harley said I looked "cute" on that bike. Up
until then, I thought I looked "cool."

barbz

 

Bwahaha. It's true. Cagers all thought it was a BIG motorcycle when I'd
lane split. I kept my Thomas Guide in a snapon tank bag, though. I
averaged 55-60 MPG, too. It was great when I did my taxes (yeah, I used
that bike for work, too--"courier").

 

Bwahaha. It's true. Cagers all thought it was a BIG motorcycle when I'd
lane split. I kept my Thomas Guide in a snapon tank bag, though. I
averaged 55-60 MPG, too. It was great when I did my taxes (yeah, I used
that bike for work, too--"courier").[/QUOTE]

Heh, another survivor, eh?
Which company did you ride for?

I started w/ Silver Bullet and then went to Lightning Express.

barbz

 

Heh, another survivor, eh?
Which company did you ride for?

I started w/ Silver Bullet and then went to Lightning Express.

barbz
[/QUOTE]

South bay legal firm. Actually worked as an independent contractor,
which is why I got to write off my mileage, which saved my butt at tax
time, although I still had to pay which is why I quit doing it after 6
years (well, that and I got a job with health benefits