Replacement light, high intensity bulb?

Just had a PM not sure why people PM me all the time to ask questions that should be placed on the site.

The PM asked "how to get a brighter light without paying out a fortune for a converter kit?"

This is not an area that I know much about but would say that a bulb is not just a bulb. You have to look into the amount of light given out by the particular bulb when researching. I did a quick search and found the Philips X-treme Vision H4 was highly rated for increased lighting as a fast replacement bulb.

Does anyone have a better insight into which bulb gives maximum light as a basic replacement?

100w bulb but its not road legal, other than that there are the ice white type but the higher the K rating the more blue it becomes.

Jim.

There was an article in MCN or Ride magazine or something, and they rated the Philips Extreme you mentioned Dave.

As a result, I fitted one to my M800, and I'm pleased with it. It's not that dazzling blue white you see on some cars, but I think it's noticeably better than the bog standard one.

Here's a great tip... They sell "bike specific" but you can bypass these... As far as I know they are no different to the car ones - except for being sold individually at an inflated price.

Instead I found a car website selling a pair for not much more than the single one! So me and a bloke at work with a Gixxer had one each

It's a while ago, so sorry, cant remember supplier I used. But here's some examples:

Single bike version at £12.52: 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-X-treme-12342XVBWH4-Motorcycle-Headlamp/dp/B006LEVQXY/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1386199991&sr=1-2&keywords=philips+x-treme+vision+h4+moto

Twin pack at £17.30:  
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHILIPS-X-TREME-EXTREME-VISION-H4-HEADLIGHT-LOW-DIPPED-BEAM-BULBS-/331006459945

Cheers!

[url=6000K Motorcycle CAR Dual HI/LO BEAM HID Conversion Kit H4 BA20d Xenon Bulb/lamp]6000K Motorcycle CAR Dual HI/LO BEAM HID Conversion Kit H4 BA20d Xenon Bulb/lamp[/url] have just fitted this from ebay £17,there are loads of cheap hid conversions.so easy to fit.using your exsisting bulb holder use the three supplied wires,in my case green (common) to black/white, white (low beam) to white,blue(hight beam) to yellow.This takes approx 15 mins and when you go for your MOT just take the spaded end wires out and put your normal bulb back in for the Mot.I will take some pics later when the weather changes to show what I mean in the relevant section.In my view I find the  conversion excellant and safer.

IDK.... over here HID kits aren't that pricy.... $35-40 USD for a Bi-xenon... I just went with a 55W though... Silverstar.. I drive a lot on back country roads and it lights up nicely....

I think for as I have been a night driver predominantly over the last couple of years the type of headlight must be 100% legal & not on the edges of legality. I have seen so many drivers that have blinding headlights and then responded by giving the everything available on my truck in response. It is great to have the brightest light that you can fit for your own benefit but never at the expense of oncoming vehicles. I will probably fit one of those replacement Philips X-treme Vision H4s as the research I have done means they are as good as any replacement bulb out there because. we must be aware that there is a lot of bulbs that claim to be a straight replacement and make all sorts of claims which are in essence no more than lies because they make false claims based on information that is no real benefit with the actual light intensity rating IGNORED or falsified.

Here is the Sylvania chart... (don't know if you have them over there). These are fully legal...and amazing and not all the expensive...

I'm using the ultra in my bike & the High performance in my car.


Over here we can use HID's within the range of 3000-3500 (Fogs or offroad only) 4000-8000 (8000 is pushing it due to colour hue).  I agree with you Mr. Intruder.. nothing worse then driving along then being blinded from some ones lights... but this isn't due to them having HID's, it's because they didn't aim them right.

HID's burn differently then Halogens and as a result the light dispersment is different.  OEM housings have special reflectors to compensate this.  Now when you retro fit a halogen lamp with HID, sure you have a nice bright light but it's splattered.  To compensate for this it's important to re aim the headlamp using a special procedure (not the standard one for Halogens) using a headlamp aiming unit that measures the intensity of the beams focal point. 95% of the "Cool Kids" don't bother doing this. Hence why so many HID lights are blinding.

I love HID's but the only way I personally would retro fit to a HID would be to do it properly and swap the rear reflector also. Having a nice bright light is safe, but when it blinds the oncoming drivers, safety's lost in my opinion.

I've had the Sylvania's in my car now for 4 years (same bulbs) my wife is the primary and uses the car non-stop.  This longevity and brightness is what turned me onto them.  With only one lamp on the bike I decided to go the next step up.

Good advice 

No Problem.... about time I used some of my auto mechanical knowledge outside of work lol....

Cars come in to the shop all the time..  because they got tickets for improperly aimed lights/blinding oncoming.

Kids would argue that their lights are aimed because they didn't touch the adjustment screws.  Until we hook up the optical aimer and show them..BTW this is what we use at the shop...
 

Cheers for the advise guys,will look into it.