Consider the Vmax: it is an over-the-top bike, a V4 musclebike engine on a cruiser chassis, with bold scoops like no other bike. I find it odd that Yamaha gave it such a puny headlight. On top of that, the light just doesn't seem very bright when I'm traveling the country roads around here at night. There is a fix for the dim headlight that involves using a double relay that will allow more current to reach the lamp, and it will allow higher wattage bulbs without frying the wiring. It's on my to-do list, but I also wanted to give the bike a bolder face. I wrote an article on last winter's project, "Giving the Vmax a Facelift", that described a number of the aesthetic changes I've made. Most of those changes were just for looks, and a larger headlight continues those changes.
I debated between two headlights for most of this riding season. The one I really wanted to use was a Headwinds housing (the Mariah smooth rocket), but it was not cheap, and I would need to do some extensive customization even to be able to install the thing. I had considered a 7" headlight from http://www.Vmaxbitz.com/, but I wanted to replace the fork-mount brackets that came with it with something a little showier. Off and on during the spring, summer, and fall, I had kicked around ways to use a Headwinds housing, to the point of contacting people about the possibility of fabricating a replacement for the stock lower headlight mount/brake juncture cover that would support the large headlight. One of them, Mario Aguiar, pointed out that the small bolts that attach the mount to the lower triple may not be able to handle the weight of the large aluminum housing. He also mentioned that Vmaxbitz had a mounting bracket that used the turnsignal mounts.
Last time I looked at the Vmaxbitz headlight, the only option there was for the forktube mounts. I hadn't been to Vmaxbitz for a couple of months, so I browsed back over there to look. Lo and behold, here was a new mount. And it was slick. Instead of clamping the headlight mounts onto the fork tubes, he was using the turnsignal mounts to attach the brackets. Simple, effective, and obvious. Why hadn't I (or anyone else) thought of that already? Now, for about $150, I could have a new, large headlight (for less than 1/4 of what I had been considering spending). I had the headlight ordered within a week.
Jon Pullara
at Vmaxbitz was extremely helpful answering the questions I had before and after
ordering. The mounting brackets include 10mm holes for attaching the brackets
to the turnsignal mounts, but he can open them up to 12mm if you want to
keep the stock turn signals, or you otherwise have larger turnsignals.
Since I don't have stock turn signals, this
was not an issue for me.
I impatiently waited for the headlight to show up. When it did, I gleefully took it out of its box and spread it out on the dining room table, taking care to place bubble wrap under it so the table couldn't mar the light. I then had to wait for the aluminum of the housing to reach room temperature, so the condensation would go away. Did I mention it's been cold around here lately?
First Impression: The kit is pretty well ready-to-go. No instructions came with it, but how hard is it to replace a headlight? Included in the kit is the 7" headlight housing, a choice of lenses (a modern clear lens or a traditional style, like the stock headlight -- I opted for the clear lens), the 55W/60W bulb (same as stock), bolts, the two aluminum brackets, and washers and locknuts. The brackets are polished on one side only, but there is no way to see the other side of the bracket without poking around behind the headlight anyway. There were a couple of small machining marks on one of the brackets, on a polished side, but not bad enough to be noticeable without looking for it. The headlight itself includes a second, smaller bulb near the bottom. This bulb is for a parking light (to wire in to the front running lights) that is required in some countries (I had to ask Jon about this -- I had no clue). Overall, the only thing I dislike about this kit is that the headlight's lens is plastic, not glass. Plastic tends to scratch easier, so I'll have to be careful when cleaning it. Time will tell how well it holds up. At worst case, I can always replace the lens later.
On the 5th of December 2004, I finally
had a chance to change headlights. The first step, of course, is to get rid
of the old headlight. There's two bolts holding the stock headlight
in place. One goes through the block on the bottom of the headlight housing,
attaching it to the tabs on the lower
triple cover. The other goes into a bracket behind and above the headlight.
You have to remove the lamp from the housing to get to it, but you have to
open the housing to disconnect some wires, anyway. Once the wires are
disconnected and the headlight housing was removed, I removed the upper mounting bracket
from the triple. It gets in the way, otherwise. I put the bolts back in place and
snugged them up, just so I wouldn't lose them (I may end up attaching something in
that dead space under the speedo, behind the cast aluminum turnsignal mount).
Once the headlight was out of the way, I had to remove my Radiantz marker LEDs. Once I had my front running LEDs off, I started to attach the upper brackets. Oops. The original turnsignals use a small tab on the mounting surface to align the turnsignals correctly. They weren't a problem with the LEDs I had, but they make the brackets impossible to attach. Those tabs needed to be ground off before the brackets can be attached.
Once the tabs were gone, I put the brackets on, aligning the two brackets so that their top edges were even with the downward sloping edge of the turnsignal mount. Then I tightened the bolts until the brackets would not move easily (I didn't want them completely tight before mounting the headlight housing).
It took me a few minutes to get the headlight housing in place. There were a few details I needed to work out. The biggest problem I had was in routing the front brake and clutch lines. My LEDs have short stems that are about 1/16" of an inch too short for the hoses to route in front of the stem, between the LED housing and the bracket. And there was not enough room to route them between the headlight and the bracket. I had to route them behind the LED markers. It looks really odd, but I'm not really sure what else to do with them until I find some bushings or washjers that can push the LEDs out just a bit farther.
Another quirk is that the turnsignal mounting holes have a wider space between them than the new headlight's mounting holes. If the top bolts of the mounting brackets are tight, there's an inch or so of space between the brackets and the headlight. Fortunately, the brackets have enough flex that they bend enough to get everything tight and flush. I suppose I could have used bushings beween the brackets and headlight, since the lower headlight bolts were plenty long.
I mounted my
LEDs on the middle of the three extra holes drilled on the brackets (this hole
is conviently sized for a lot of aftermarket turn signals). This placement
puts the running lights closer to the middle of the headlight, instead of
being even with the top of it.
I still need to align the headlight (it was cold by the time I finished mounting it, and I wanted to get back inside), and I want to wire the parking light bulb into the running lights, but I'll save those projects for another weekend.
The larger headlight appears to be brighter, but maybe that's because it wasn't aligned yet.
Regardless, the larger housing definitely is an improvement. Now, the Mr. Olympia of motorcycles can have a head that fits him, instead of a buff body and the head of a 120 pound accountant.
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This page was last updated 8 December 2004
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