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Good headlights are vital for your safety when driving at night or in the dark. This light is more critical for those on a motorcycle, as it becomes the best way for others to know you’re there. To help protect yourself when driving at night, it’s crucial that you have a good set of headlights. That’s why many people upgrade to new lights that are more powerful and easy to see on the road. If you want to make the switch yourself, here’s what you should know about mounting the headlights and pointing them where you need them for your bike.
Mounting Your Headlights
Mounting new headlights on your bike is the best place to start. That’s because it’s essential that you know how to change your headlights in case you want to upgrade to a better light, like these daymaker headlights. You’ll unlikely need to aim your headlights without first mounting some to your bike.
Choosing the Right Method
There are plenty of different options when mounting your headlights, and you’ll need to pick the right one for your vehicle. Each comes with various benefits and deficits, such as pricing and complicated installation. You’ll need to weigh these factors to find the one that best fits your needs, as there is no one right choice when mounting your headlights.
How Mounting Works
To understand your choices, you must first understand what it takes to mount a headlight to your motorcycle. The most common method and easiest one to replace is to use a mounting plate or brackets on your bike. This is a small area on the front of your bike where you can attach your headlight and house your light safely. The significant difference between your mounting options comes from the different mounting plates and brackets you can get for your vehicle.
Factory Brackets
The simplest method to switch out your LED headlights is to use the standard brackets that come with most base designs. These brackets are ordinarily useable with the standard 7-inch LED headlights popular among motorcycle users. Be careful and measure the distance between the headlight mounts to ensure you’ve got the space you need, but you’ll likely be fine with most standard models. All it takes is some careful unplugging and a quick switch to get the new headlights in place.
Multiple Clamp Mount Ranges
These mounting systems use one mounting plate with several different points where you can attach your headlight depending on what you need and want for your bike. This is very convenient as you’ve got a few options you can switch between whenever you need, depending on what you want.
Fork Mounted Headlights
You can use a fork-mounted system if you have a multi-clamp mount range. This is an additional part that you’ll need to measure your mount for first to ensure you have the proper spacing. However, you can get one for relatively little money if you want to create a unique and useful part for your bike that can house your headlights and other additional components.
Integrated Dash and Headlight Mounts
These systems use one bracket assembly to house the various lights your vehicle will need. From the headlights to the turn signals, this mounting system is excellent for keeping lights extremely close to each other, saving you a lot of room so you can house more in your system. This system is highly customizable for what you need if you’re good at welding, as you can attach lights as necessary.
Front Fairing-Mounted Headlights
Depending on your wants and needs, this type of headlight mounting can be easy or very difficult as you need to change up a lot for it to fit your bike. Your best bet is to choose the standard seven-inch LED lights, which are more likely to fit with this light mounting method. However, this design can work with various lights if you want to put in the effort for this mounting style.
Aiming Your Headlights
Once you have your headlights mounted onto your bike, you need to know how to adjust the lights so you can see. If you don’t adjust your lights, they’ll point off-center, cause confusion, and limit your vision at night. You want your headlights facing dead center, and here’s how you can do that with your bike.
Before You Start
First, you’ll need to prepare a flat area with a wall where you can shine your lights from 25 feet away. This will help you calibrate your lights using sight alone and is necessary for getting the best alignment for your headlights. You’ll also want to offload any weight on your vehicle and fill up your tank to full. Your tire pressure should be full, and you’ll need something to hold the bike upright while you aim, like another rider.
Beginning Measurements
You’ll need some tape to mark the wall temporarily so you can perform the rest of the steps accurately. To start, put a horizontal piece of tape two inches lower than the centerline of the light lens, then put a vertical piece of tape at the centerline of your vehicle against the wall. This will help you find the center of your lights.
Adjusting the Lights
To adjust your lights, slightly loosen the mounting bolts so you can make minor adjustments without the lights moving too much. Then adjust the light against the wall so the edges are an equal distance from the overlapping tape on the wall. This will align your light to be centered with the bike and maximize how much you can see driving in the dark. Once things are in place, retighten your mounting bolts, and everything should be in order for your lights.
This is everything you need to know about mounting and aiming motorcycle headlights. While all of this is possible to do yourself, you can bring your bike to a professional to have them make any changes or adjustments for you. This can spare you many headaches and ensure the job gets done correctly.
