REAR LIGHT ON BAGHIRA - IS IT ME OR ARE THEY HAVING A LAUGH?

[simon duval smith]

Riding home from 60 miles round trip in freezing cold the other night, I kept getting flashed by drivers behind me (flashing their lights that is, I am not that good looking) and after nearly being ridden off the road by some Honda/Subaru-driving young twat, I looked round and realised my back light was out - also the brake light was dead. Stopping for petrol, I took out the toolkit and found the screwdriver does not really fit the screws holding the rear light lens. Can't see any other Philips screws on the bike aside from the 'bar switches so what WAS the screwdriver size chosen for. Finally got one of the screws out - crumby woodscrews that have no place on a motorcycle, the other one I had to pull through the lens, breaking a bit of the plastic. I now found the bulb seized solid - the bike is nearly new but the corrosion looked old... After ten minutes swearing and wangling, got the bulb out. Turns out the running light (5 watt) filament had failed and dropped onto the brake light filament, shorting it out - so no brake light either...Delighted with the bike generally but I guess this is where they saved the money to make it so cheap. Anyone got a spare rear lense?
Cheers
Simon

[cat]

... took out the toolkit and found the screwdriver does not really fit the screws holding the rear light lens. Can't see any other Philips screws on the bike aside from the 'bar switches so what WAS the screwdriver size chosen for. Finally got one of the screws out - crumby woodscrews that have no place on a motorcycle,
Simon

Yes. I..took mine out, to see, and ...well, someone sort of lost them for me. So I sh...struggled to find something that would fit. I tried everything, every thin, long self-tapping screw I could find. Nothing long enough that would fit. Eventually I used ...must be M4/20 Allen / cap screws, that sort of tapped their way in / jammed in.

[cat]

Put silicone spray on things like that - on the metal part of the bulb, so it's less likely to be corroded in next time.

And the spark plug: a friend of mine said "Do yourself a favour - take the spark plug out and put anti-seize - preferably the aluminium kind, otherwise the ordinary kind like Copperslip - on the threads. They're those small spark plugs and they get corroded in and they can snap off when you try to take them out." So I said oh, ok, I've got a DENSO Iridium plug coming, I'll do it then.

But I'm still waiting for the DENSO plug so I thought I'd do it anyway, see what it was like to get the spark plug out. Well, I was glad I did. All the water I hosed in there, that I thought had drained out... first I found that neither of my spark plug sockets would fit the small one (18mm) was too small and the big one wouldn't fit down the hole - although it was too big anyway. Oh well, what the hell, I don't really need to torque spark plugs, I'll have to use the toolkit one. Well, it was too tight.

First I found that there wasn't much space to work in. (What's new - I've found that with just about everything on the Baghira.) And if I wasn't careful, it was going to come loose and my hand would smack into the radiator. On the left side the rod/bar thing was scraping the head. So I tried with both hands at once and found that it was not going to come loose easily. So I sprayed some Q-10 (rusty nut release / penetrating oil) down the side and left it overnight. Then I got lucky the next day.

About a third of the circumference of the plug was corroded. So I brushed it clean and carefully smeared Loctite aluminium anti-seize over the threads and the washer and between the washer and the plug body. No way is that thing going to seize again.
whewh!

[keithcross]

After replacing 4 or 5 rear almp bulbs in about 3 months I fitted an LED one. The standard one is a typical cheap one from an early '90s Yamaha.

Keith

[cat]

After replacing 4 or 5 rear almp bulbs in about 3 months I fitted an LED one. The standard one is a typical cheap one from an early '90s Yamaha.
Keith

You replaced the bulb or the entire tail light?

The tail light looks well made compared to the pos on the 1988 R100GS.

[keithcross]

Cat

I replaced the entire light fitting with an aftermarket unit, purchased off of Ebay Its now been on the bike for 2 years and still working well,

Keith

[cat]

Cat

I replaced the entire light fitting with an aftermarket unit, purchased off of Ebay Its now been on the bike for 2 years and still working well,

Is it one of those oval/elliptical ones, with the - apparently - weak LEDs?

I want to try fitting the stock one under the mudguard. Otherwise, it looks like one/other of the Honda CBR ones might fit - I just don't know how I can get the dimensions - they're not the kind of thing dealers keep in stock.

[keithcross]

Cat

It is one of the oval type. as for the LED's being week, I use my bike daily, in varying levels of available light from full sun light on an urban main road, to night time on a dark country lanes.
Up until now I have never had anyone hit the back of my bike, so they cant be that bad.
The light has the added benifit of having light to light up the registration plate as well, so conforms with our contruction and use regulations.
As you may gather I am happy with the units performance and cost.

Keith

[dgunther]

Keith

Do you know the model of the LED fender/taillight you used, or could you provide a picture of it? I'm interested in cleaning up the tail on my bike, but am a little hesitant to use one of the LED units that isn't bright enough, or doesn't provide illumination for the license plate.

[BronxBaghira]

Hey guys: I read your problems with the tail light. I replaced my bulb with a LED light CLUSTER as opposed to a single 1157 led bulb. It's extremely bright!! I also fitted a brake light kit with the license plate (unnecessary) but it looks cool. Check out the site. http://www.customdynamics.com.

[cat]

Hey guys: I read your problems with the tail light. I replaced my bulb with a LED light CLUSTER as opposed to a single 1157 led bulb. It's extremely bright!! I also fitted a brake light kit with the license plate (unnecessary) but it looks cool. Check out the site. http://www.customdynamics.com.

I went through that entire site recently (part of the process of wondering what to do for the Baghira's tail light) - if it's the one I'm thinking of -- lots of Harley/chopper stuff? ...expensive but they use good super-bright / ultra-bright LEDs and they're very confident of their superior quality ....yes, I just checked, that's the one.
I was wondering about the possibility of using 2 of the LED bars for a tail light / brake light.

LEDs, all about the quality / the grade of LED. I look at the '3rd brake lights' LED bars on cars; many of them - new model cars - have LEDs missing/out; they vary, some have better ones than others.

Which LED cluster did you use? / Did the 1.85" fit? How did you mount it?

[cat]

It is one of the oval type. as for the LED's being week, I use my bike daily, in varying levels of available light from full sun light on an urban main road, to night time on a dark country lanes.
Up until now I have never had anyone hit the back of my bike, so they cant be that bad.

touch wood. No, maybe you're just fortunate.

Maybe a different scenario. I've driven in London/Berks/Surrey a few years ago, to work and back between Sunninghill and Camberley and in and out of London. I got lost quite often but it was pretty relaxing most of the time. People seemed to be fairly competent, generally. ok, that was in a car, - I think it's easier on a bike. I did despatch riding in London, many years ago, winter, and that was quite ..rough.

Here...we have lots of ..idiots, maniacs, "road rage", and lots of minibus taxis with heavy sound systems and lurid grafix saying things like... DA BOYS ... HOODLUMZ ... ONLY GOD KNOWS ... QUICKIE 2 MINUTES ... ARABZ FOREVER ...DOWNLOADING VIRUS ...and they're often overloaded - like 20 people in them, not all roadworthy, and they aren't too concerned with stopping ability, they just careen down the highway. So although I get a bit silly about losing a gram or 2 of weight here and there, I think it might be better to have more than just a little red light ahead of them. A lot of people here like to sit on your arse, too. - So you feel you need to tap the brake pedal a couple times so they see you.

[whysub01]

Fitted a 24 LED replacement bulb, as the standard one on my Skorpion broke a couple of times. I fiited it at night and thought it was OK, so bought another for the Baggi and rode all through last winter.

Only when I took the Sport for the MOT did the tester comment on how shite the light was that I saw he was right. In the daylight, you could hardly make out the brake light. Scary, as I ride fast on motorways and through that london daily.

Both now on ordinary bulbs, but with the rear lights mounted on rubber taken from an old inner tube. And Baggi rear lights are the same as thoose on Yamaha DT125's I do believe.

[BronxBaghira]

I used the 1.85" cluster. I had to cut a piece of plastic to support it inside the light housing. The bulb is an 1157 replacement but its at the end of the 1" inch long wires. Works great and is very bright.