Lights

[markmich]

How is the lighting with the GT. I had a BMW many years ago and found night time driving a little troublesome.

[Ruben]

How is the lighting with the GT. I had a BMW many years ago and found night time driving a little troublesome.Compared to my previous '04 GT, the lighting is GREAT! No comparison, in fact, the new GT is so much better it's like they were designed in a different era. Oh, they were! :D

Low beams have two bulbs, and do a great job of lighting up the roadway and spread a fair amount to cover adjacent lanes or ditches. High beam leaves both low beams on, and adds one one more bulb, but it's awesome! It won't quite start forest fires, but it's very bright, and reaches WAY out. My four lamp high beam on my Goldwing "may" be better, but not by much, if any! :D

If you ride at night at high speed out in the middle of nowhere, you might consider more lights to increase the chance of spotting deer or whatever, but for most of us it will be plenty good enough. :D

[meese]

What bulbs does the GT use for low & high beam?

[®win]

Low beams have two bulbs, and do a great job of lighting up the roadway and spread a fair amount to cover adjacent lanes or ditches. High beam leaves both low beams on, and adds one one more bulb, but it's awesome!

Are you sure? I always understood that the two lower placed lights are high beam and the larger higher placed one is the low beam (this is where the HID bulb sits). :confused:

[Mitch_Rider]

Ken,
All three bulbs are H-7. On my GT, as rwin clarified, the middle one is low beam and the two lower ones are high beam. Decent low beam, but certainly not in the HID category. High beams are very strong.

Jeff "MitchRider"
06 Crystal Grey GT "GEETEE"
IBA 12768

[Frenchy]

How is the lighting with the GT. I had a BMW many years ago and found night time driving a little troublesome.

The new GT has a Xenon bulb light in option.

Magazine comments are incredible about that. Say it came from car technology and it's a great addition to motorcycling :alien:

[Mitch_Rider]

As I understand it, the Xenon bulb is not available on US sold bikes as it has does not meet US standards.

Jeff "MitchRider"
06 Crystal Grey GT "GEETEE"
IBA 12768

[AlaskaFish]

Ken,
All three bulbs are H-7. On my GT, as rwin clarified, the middle one is low beam and the two lower ones are high beam. Decent low beam, but certainly not in the HID category. High beams are very strong.

Jeff "MitchRider"
06 Crystal Grey GT "GEETEE"
IBA 12768
So Jeff, when did you make the transition from LT to GT? I must have been snoozing!

John

[markmich]

Is it possible to install Xenon on a U.S. bike even though it isn't offered as an option?

[meese]

He's been talking about it for months. I'm not surprised. :)

[meese]

Technically it's possible, if you could get the Euro-spec Xenon parts, but it wouldn't be cheap, or DOT-approved.

I'd just go for CQLight.ca (http://www.cqlight.ca/catalog/index.php?cPath=32_45&osCsid=9644b60e39eadcb7c154c29c95c05aae) instead, and get three H7 kits for under $350 delivered.

[Mitch_Rider]

[QUOTE=AlaskaFish]
So Jeff, when did you make the transition from LT to GT? I must have been snoozing!

John et eux,
Yep, did the deed on Tuesday. Second one into PMC. Am busy working on breaking it and me in. Here is a copy of my write up (also posted on the GT forum).
Jeff

WOW! Even after only 300 miles on the Crystal Grey GT that I picked up Tuesday evening I can personally confirm wholeheartedly everything thing that has been written about the GT as far as performance and handling. The engine should be referred to as a "thruster" in every gear...I am not sure what one would need the rpms above 7000 for other than "rocket racing". The bike instantly inspires confidence in its handling. I did my favorite local twisty road last night at speeds that I never would have thought comfortable for me. This bike was designed for those kind of roads!

I absolutely love this bike but I am really struggling with the ergos. A good part of the riding that I enjoy is longer distance touring, with as much freeway as two lane twisties I am experimenting with the bar height and seat height to find a spot where the ergos on this bike will work for me (6'1", 220 lbs, 32" inseam). After my initial hour with the seat up and the bars all the way up my butt had gone numb. The seat, as others have mentioned, concentrates all of your weight on your pelvic bones. The design of the seat keeps you forward against the tank and (I think that this is the critical part) the knee angle of the peg placement makes this the natural riding position. It is, in fact, the perfect position for doing the fun roads, but for me only for an hour at this initial setting. Since then I have lowered the bars midway and that seems to create enough forward lean to better spread the pressure points. I know all about the custom seat route as I have had my 02 LT (135000 miles) seat done three different times and my RT done as well. For me, I think that lowering the pegs ( I have lowered pegs on both my LT and RT) and the custom seat route will be needed to be comfortable for distances. I also realize that getting used to this position versus that of my LT is part of the “finding comfort” process. The other downside to the peg placement and my length of legs is that the knee bend is fairly tight and my bad right knee was starting to remind me after an hour. I was very close to taking the bike back and telling the dealer that it just wasn’t going to work for me…BUT I was so enthralled with the performance that I have decided to perservere.

I experimented with different settings for the windscreen and for my torso height, I was looking over it at full up, had a nice pocket of still air for my helmet, but a fair amount of wind on my shoulders. I am sure that the after market folks can address this..

The other item that has taken away from the full enjoyment is the very sensitive and twitchy throttle that others have mentioned. Hopefully a freeplay adjustment will help some and I have already mentioned this to my dealer to correct on Tuesday when I bring it in for the 600 mile service. As it is, it is way to sensitive for my tastes and riding comfort. You have so much "thrust" available, that hitting the slightest bump can bring it on at the wrong time. I have ridden my step sons CBR1000 and the GT's throttle is very similar...maybe its appropriate for a race bike but not a "touring bike". Hopefully there will be a fix for this.

I just love the bike’s performance and its lighter weight. It feels even lighter than my RT. Working out the ergos will be a bit of a challence, but I feel it is well worth the effort. Due to the low resale value of an 02 LT with 135,000 miles on it, I am planning on keeping mine. Worst case, I can alternate with my old LT and enjoy the GT for a year or two until the new LT comes out and see where we go from there

Sorry to be long winded, but I hope that this is helpful.
Jeff
"MitchRider"
Portland, Oregon
06 K1200GT “GEE TEE”
02 K1200 LT “MCH RDR”
04 R1200RT “RT TIME”

[eljeffe]

The lights are great. No need for a HID retrofit on this one.

[ClearwaterBMW]

Jeff,
would the bike still benefit from MOTOLIGHTS or some other aftermarket add-on?

[eljeffe]

I'm sure the extra lighting would help with visibility, but I haven't noticed a need for extra lighting just for lighting sake.

[eljeffe]

Jeff,

I made the decision to pre-order the GT last November. So I guess this has been in the works for quite a while. I picked up my GT a couple weeks ago. I've got nearly 3000 miles on it so far and love it. The LT heads down to the dealer this weekend to go up for sale on consignment.

[ClearwaterBMW]

Thanks Jeff