“This is my last headlight/high beam evaluation”!  There have been a number of times I’ve been tempted to make that statement.  Perhaps someday I will, but not right now.

Today was a day for installing LED headlights from ABC, high beams from XYZ and a windshield wiper from ICTYRN*.

In preparation of the tasks awaiting me time was invested yesterday researching how other people have attempted getting to & replacing the high beam bulbs on 2001-2005 GL1800s.  Read a bunch about tiny hands, scrapped knuckles & remove the vents so you can see what you are doing…nothing of use.  One thing doing evaluations has done is to make me proficient at removing the seat and top shelter.  This takes far less time than trying to do all four front lights wasting time fumbling around, dropping things and not being able to reach & see what you need to access at the same time.  Some people mentioned the “metal bar” that obstructs access.  With the shelter removed take out one easy to get to bolt on each side and the bars move out of the way.  On top of all of this you are two push pins away from removing the “air tunnels” making the job even easier.  This would be a great time to service the air filter had I not cleaned it the last time I did the high beams.  A side effect of doing all of this was the ease with which the harness for the wiper motor was routed to the battery.

Looking forward to taking a ride tonight when it is quite dark outside to see how the new lights perform.  While I’m not anticipating headlights as bright as the HID lights they replaced they should be much better than the original Halogen lights.  What they should do is give a much more “stock” lighting pattern.  The new high beams should likewise outperform the lower output LED bulbs now sitting in a box in the garage.

We are anticipating a hot weekend here, I’ll be spending much of it in my air-conditioned living room writing up my next article(s).

*I Can’t Tell You Right Now…(sorry)!

P.S.  Just went out for a ride.  The evening sky had not fully darkened yet the situation was quite illuminating.  Having at one time ridden with HID headlights and high beams I never thought I could say this about LEDs up front…WOW!