PIAA Lights for my XC - Victory Forums

retpd2001 · 01-11-2013, 05:52 PM

Wanted to have PIAA lights installed on my 13 XC (the dealer is offering $$ off since I bought from him). He says they make a kit for the Vision, but not the XC, but if I bought it myself, he would install it (same with a Stebal horn). Any suggestions on which lights and kit (and horn) to get? I am not stuck on PIAA if others have a better choice, want lights that help me be seen). Thanks in advance.

mikiep · 01-11-2013, 06:22 PM

I went with the motolights for my XCT. Very bright with free replacement bulbs.

**CrossRoads** · 01-11-2013, 06:31 PM

In my humble and somewhat biased opinion, for less than what would you pay for the PIAA bulbs, you can get a plug-and-play HID kit, with lifetime warranty, and twice the brightness of the PIAAs (3x the brightness of OEM halogens), less electrical draw, and less heat output - see this thread for more: http://www.victoryforums.com/showthread.php?t=14017.

Ahoutzer · 01-11-2013, 07:05 PM

CrossRoads is right. My 2012 XCT came with HID low beam headlight. I have added other lights to the front (KuryAkyn Silver Bullets with 35 watt halogen bulbs, and also tried LED bulbs). The extra lights do not add any noticeable light on the road. The HID headlight overpowers them. However, adding lights does make the bike more noticed in the daytime, IMHO, just because there are several sources of light. So, consider your goals.

joarzero · 01-11-2013, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retpd2001

Wanted to have PIAA lights installed on my 13 XC (the dealer is offering $$ off since I bought from him). He says they make a kit for the Vision, but not the XC, but if I bought it myself, he would install it (same with a Stebal horn). Any suggestions on which lights and kit (and horn) to get? I am not stuck on PIAA if others have a better choice, want lights that help me be seen). Thanks in advance.

are you talking about your main lights? or installing an extra pair like driving or fog lights?

RedRocker · 01-11-2013, 07:51 PM

Here's a photo of CR's HID low beam and Clearwater LED's. Best combo in my opinion for day and night.

retpd2001 · 01-11-2013, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joarzero

are you talking about your main lights? or installing an extra pair like driving or fog lights?

Looking for extra lights to be seen and more visible to others during the day. The stock lights are very bright as you know, just want more of them up front to be seen. Thanks for the answers so far.

Lostintexas · 01-11-2013, 10:14 PM

I know a lot of folks think the HID is the bomb. BUT some of us don't play well with them. The factory HID is way too cool for my eyes. If there were a cost effective solution to making them standard I would.
All the extra lighting in LED, HID, etc., is too cool for me and some others. Our cars have HID that are white, how come no one can make one for a MC? They are all too blue and soft.
I have talked with Crossroads via email, and I think he is a stand up guy. He answered questions no one else could or would. I'm still in the same spot though. I just don't think I should have to "experiment" with the light colors and HOPE that one of them works.
Oh well, momma won't let me ride at night for now, hit one deer and no since of humor, who woulda thunk.
Good luck on your search.

joarzero · 01-11-2013, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retpd2001

Looking for extra lights to be seen and more visible to others during the day. The stock lights are very bright as you know, just want more of them up front to be seen. Thanks for the answers so far.

well then the PIAAs are good but their bulbs are overrated and overpriced!! their hardware is very good quality! I have the PIAA 005 with KewlMetal mounts but mine is a Kingpin, and I replaced the original PIAA bulbs with Narva's this things are just awesome, the ones that I got are the Range Power 50+, I've tried many different bulbs and this are by far the best of the best, it's halogen but I use them like that because I have Hi/Lo HIDs and I like to have 2 different kinds of light because in my opinion not all lights, colors and temperatures perform the same in different weather/lighting conditions, another good thing about the 005 PIAAs is that they are very versatile, they have many options (with or without mounts) and they come with relay, fuse, cable, etc and all is good quality

wspollack · 01-12-2013, 01:14 PM

Well, the first thing we have to know -- and you have to ask yourself, if you haven't already -- is: why do you want the lights?

[Edit: strike that. You already said, "want lights that help me be seen," which somehow I missed, in the first reading. Sorry.]

- If you're doing a lot of night riding, doing an Iron Butt run, etc., then you want driving lights, to see well down the road, at speed. PIAA and Hela have excellent driving lights.

- Another down-the-road option is CrossRoads' HID kit, which has gotten great reviews. (I'm disappointed in Victory for dropping the low-beam HID on the '13 XCs.)

- If you want conspicuity (and I fall into this category, and ride at night just a couple of times a year), then your best bet is probably a headlight modulator. I used one three bikes ago, and that, I believe, will get you most noticed by cagers. (I stopped using a modulator because I tend to travel above the speed limit, and I didn't want to attract extra attention from LEOs on the side of the road. Modulators will get you hassled on occasion, even though they're 50-state legal.)

- Again on conspicuity, non-modulator: you'll benefit from a "light triangle." This adds visual area to the bike, so cagers can get a better feel for your speed and movement. I use MotoLights on my XCT -- see my gallery for some pictures, including on the road -- because I transferred my current set from the bike I sold to get the XCT. Motolights are high quality, and have a wide focus (which is good for conspicuity and road-side fill-in, bad for down-the-road).

- Along the lines of MotoLights, there are many others. webBikeWorld recently (very favorably) reviewed the Denali Micro Lights. You might want to take a look at that write-up -- http://www.webbikeworld.com/lights/d...cro/review.htm -- along with similar reviews there. This may serve well for both down-the-road and conspicuity purposes.

- If you just want lights to look cool, or as additional turn-signals, that sort of thing, you might want to look at Kuryakyn "bullet" lights and their assorted mounts.

- If you do a lot of mountain passes, etc., and want fog lights, you might want to look at what PIAA, et al., have for that.

Here are a couple of Motolight pics from my gallery, anyway. Note that I replaced the stock halogen bulbs they come with, with 5-watt LEDs.