I want to beef up the headlights on my bike before the daylight starts fading on my morning commute (we have a huge deer population and the top predators here are the motor vehicles) which means trying to save a little electrical power elsewhere to avoid overloading the expensive parts in the electrical system.

So I ordered two pieces of 1157-R30 LED bulbs from Super Bright Leds Inc (www.superbrightleds.com) and they showed up today. I wasn't impressed by the parts.... the base is a little shorter than the old 1157s and they don't seat very tight in the socket. I put one in, on the left, and here's what it looked like:



The picture was taken with the engine turning 2500rpm and the brake lever taped on. At no angle was the LED side even close to the brightness of the bulb on the right. The low wattage taillight performance was similar. The company does sell a wide angle version, but that just takes the same amount of light and spreads it out. It would fill the lens better but be dimmer yet.

So if anyone wants to try them, drop me a line. There's no way I'm going to ride with them.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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I just talked to Bulldog, The LED board is about 1 month away from production.
I am getting the prototype in about a week.
I will post picts and my opinion on how they are.
If they are anything like the one he has in his Nomad I will be happy.

See I would have gone with the circuit board version, siliconed it directly to the lens. There is a board made for the taillight of Nomad from electrical connections. I took that board, ground a small round on both sides in order for it to fit in the 750s housing and used silicone to glue it directly to the lens. Works really well. I'll snap a few pics and post em. By the way I also have an LED rear turn signal conversion that adds SOME extra rear visibility, without adding too much drain.

Did you get the cheap 1157 LED bulbs? I ordered a clear tailight lens that came with those cheap 1157 LED bulbs and I also was not impressed. I think they have something like 14-18 dimples on the bulb. I ordered some more expensive 1157 bulbs with like 24 dimples and it is a lot brighter and am more satisfied with them

The lights I bought were moderately cheap - $8.99. I guess you get what you pay for. The company states that the 'Luxeon' LED bulbs they sell are as bright or brighter than the incandescents, and they sell those for $24.99.

Has anyone tried the Luxeon bulbs?

I like the idea of a pc board to fill the tail lens area that Bulldog is getting made. I'll probably hold off on buying any more sight unseen bulbs until CCspinner gets the units tested and some photos up.