Front Lights Replacement Advice

[Coyote251]

Hi All,

My 2005 RSTD is running all stock bulbs in the front, and I don't find it bright enough when driving at night even with all lights on. I find the older I get the worse this problem seems to get. I am looking for your opinions on replacements. 

- HID or LED?

- Replace Headlight bulb or whole headlight?

I have been doing some research and have found that typically with just a LED bulb replacement it may not improve high beam lighting and pattern because most LED bulbs don't have a high beam reflector built in. What is your experience with this? Are there some bulbs with better than stock performance at both high and low?

Also, I know that the headlight is an H4 bulb, what about the other smaller lights? The bike is in storage right now for the winter or I would just go check.

Looking for real world experience on the same or similar bike, I have a hard time trusting online reviews. Seems like every product I look at is "new technology" and the "best on the market". Any help you can offer is appreciated.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Coyote251

[BlueChips84]

I'm curious to know as well, always nice to have brighter lights without having to change the whole lamp. 

 

I can check the bulbs i have in later today if I remember,  they give pretty good visibility on my 2007 RSTD. Will try to report back. Wish I could help a bit more regarding the LEDs.

[Coyote251]

On 3/6/2021 at 12:18 PM, BlueChips84 said:

I'm curious to know as well, always nice to have brighter lights without having to change the whole lamp. 

 

I can check the bulbs i have in later today if I remember,  they give pretty good visibility on my 2007 RSTD. Will try to report back. Wish I could help a bit more regarding the LEDs.

I will let you know when I figure it out. I put this on the back burner for now and invested my money into getting the seat re-done so I can reach the ground a little better.

[haup9]

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am looking to update my headlight to an LED as well.

[Papabird]

I picked up a set of the LED lights from LED Factory Mart.  Not exactly sure how it will install yet but I will document as I install and figure it out. I also have a 2005 RSTD.  It will be sometime over the next few weeks that I get to it.

Roger

[derek533]

I put a LED H4 style bulb in my last bike (Shadow 1100).  Like you said, high beam is worthless but the regular beam really did make a huge difference.  It was one of the designs where the fan was integrated into the bulb stem itself and not at the base of it making it much easier to install and get the clamp and dust cup over. 

It's only about $23 so it's worth a shot if it improves it IMO even in the absence of a functional high beam.

Here's the specific bulb I bought...https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BTTFN1S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[CaseyJ955]

General experience, not Venture specific;

Often enough an HID or LED element installed into a lamp designed for a halogen bulb will make significantly more light, but the way the bulb emits light is different, (unless tech has addressed this in the last couple years).  When I was playing around with this and I found that a lot of that extra power was partially going toward blinding oncoming traffic and could not be focused or adjusted enough to be considered safe. light splashing out everywhere.  I ended up returning to a halogen, the Osrams in every case except my offroad specific lights, where these results were desired.  I did not try this on a Venture, but a handful of other vehicles with consistent results so far. 

YMMV