Anyone know where I can get one? You know, the old round one for an old round bike.
Try a Bedford CF van; ISTR they had cibie lights. If you mean the 7" round ones. -- Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that "The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, The swallow twittering from the strawbuilt shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed." Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
You can still get replacement 7" sealed beams for most older cars, which fit. Unfortunately they're not so good on the brightness stakes. You can buy replacement headlamp kits to convert older cars to halogen. Unfortunately you end up with two. Or look here ... http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/VWPweb2000/lights-1/lights-1.html
You may well find something in the GSF Carparts or Eurospares catalogues as a single replacement. Although I think most cars have a smaller lamp diameter.
That's a devastating insight, Steve. Would you care to define "most cars" - and come to that "smaller lamp diameter"? There are two sizes of round headlight - as far as I am aware. They are referred to by their Imperial approximation in the trade: 7" and 5 1/4". There are some smaller auxiliary lights, like those fitted to the VW Polo as 'driving lights', but every car with which I am familiar and that was factory-fitted with round headlights has one of those two given diameters of headlight. Generally, those cars with single (one each side, OK) lights had 7" items, those with twin (2 each side) were fitted with pairs of 5 1/4" units. Motorcycles have a 7" fitting in general - the 70s Hondas spring to mind. Some, such as the V-Max, do have a smaller unit - which, coincidentally, is of 5 1/4" diameter. There are a variety of fittings on the rear of the lamp units, which can be broken into several groups - old British cars, modern British and European cars, and Japanese cars. The difference revolve around the placement of the adjuster brackets on the rim and their associated bumps on the lens and/or reflector, to suit the 12 o'clock and three o'clock adjuster locations or the diagonally opposed adjuster locations. That's all. This can easily be worked around when making a non-standard fitting. Both sizes of lamp are freely available with and without pilot lamp fittings, in various bulb types and configurations. Any decent motor factor or parts retailer should be able to advise on fitment and supply something suitable either singly or in pairs.
Off the top of my head, and referring to the above suppliers, I couldn't really think of many that would have used the 7" lamp - given that stuff like the BWM 3-series and Golf come with the 5 1/2" variety fitted. In which case (again, referring to the above suppliers), choice may be limited, but certainly should be available (with 7" being fitted to the Beetle and Camper van, ISTR). You're not half getting pedantic in your old age, you know.
Cibie were a common aftermarket upgrade for OE headlamps and I read the OP as he wanted a generic 7" replacement lense and reflector unit rather than specifically Cibie. I'm sure I've seen an advert for Cibies recently, perhaps it was in Classic MC and Mech.
SteveH says... A common mod for Mini owners is to rob an early BMW 3 series of its Bosch halogen headlamps. They are 7 inch units and fit right into a Mini with no modifications needed. MK1 and MK2 golfs came with 7 inch headlamps as well, on single light per side models, didn't they?
FFS, nearly all British cars of the 50s/60s/70s/80s that had round headlamps would have 7" units. The ones you list are the exceptions. This wasn't so much pedantry as correcting a blatantly wrong post.
Aye, good point, forgot that the E23 was a 7-inch unit. If, in fact, the Golf comes with 7-inch units then disregard all the crap about availability of lights.... they don't look like 7-inch to me, though.
That's because you have a 22 1/2" penis, Steve. I stand corrected as, on checking, I find that I had a brainfart and referred to the 5 3/4" lamps as 5 1/4". So there.
ITYMHM E21 Probably only the 316 had the large dual purpose. The 320 and 323 had smaller housings for separate dip/main. Contemporary 5 series all used the larger one though, I think ( and 7 series E23 all the smaller). Regards
Sorry, no. I really do want the aftermarket unit, since I do a lot of night riding and currently have a choice between my Brit (Z750) 45/40W unit or the Yank (KZ750) 60/55 RHD. Although any SOC 7 incher would prob do, bike headlight specs are different, as they're so much higher off the ground. and need to do the work of 2 car lamps. I remember an MCN test from the 70's (when they worried about such pedantic details as whether the brakes worked in the wet) printing a fairly graphic set of photos showing the difference a proper light made. They still make the stuff http://cibie.com/Page/Motorcycle/ , but it's a crap Jap website with no email contacts.
Ta for that. Wipac Quads will do nicely. The Cibie units at Demontweeks were 72 quid, which I thought was pushing it a bit, although I might have ended up with a spare.
It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the Have you tried ebay or the classic car mag small ads? There are still plenty of the 7" halogen lamps around, often for not much money. A decent-sized car breakers would seem to be worth visiting too. Fwiw, one of my GSs sports a large rectangular lamp from a Z1100 - much better than the original Suz one, even with a standard 55/60 in it; the other has a pair of 5 1/4 dip/main and is great until the weedy alternator gives up trying to charge the battery around town, but it's fine out on the open road (I must fit a disable switch on one light). -- Dave GS 850 x2 / SE 6a SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3 FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10 Get rid of your SOC/SOB here http://www.sparesorrepair.co.uk/
