For the time being I have a pair of 55w micro lamps (ebay item  120740067939) fitted under the fairing that throw a really good light low and up close - good for seeing the potholes on unlit country roads and getting 4*4 drivers attention in traffic at night! 

I'm quite tempted to fit a HID in my dip beam to give me a better light further out, but my understanding was they only really work in projector type lenses ? forgive the pun, but anyone care to shed any light on that? 

ah - The earlier comment regarding the H7"R" seems sensible.. I might have to look into those.                                                                                                                                                                              

I`ve now decided to remove my HID system and fit a standard halogen bulb instead. The reason being that I had an awful ride home a couple of weeks ago from my partners, who lives in Denbigh, North Wales. I set off in the dark and had only gone a couple of miles when the headlight decided not to work and so I rode all the way back to Manchester with just a parking light to see my way down unlit country roads.
Turns out that one of the wires to the main control multipin had pulled loose. tried to fix it, but as there`s never enough length of wiring on these systems, coupled with very little space under my Yamaha FJ`s half fairing to mount the ballast and controller, I decided to bin everything, as when the bars were turned, it pulled a little on the wires and it`s only a matter of time until it went again.

On the whole, the light output was brilliant and on a bike with more space under the fairing would work a treat, but sadly not on my FJ                                                                                                                                                                              

GSF, the factory fitted HID dip on my bmw has a hood over it pushing light back into the reflector, after looking at my recently fitted mains it looks like I will have to fashion something for those as well as reflectors are quite shallow and light is spilling out and not being concentrated, very bright but non directional if you get my drift, I'm using the shorter bulbs.

Just be a little careful with HID.  JP asked a very valid question ie do they generate more heat and the answer most definitely is that they do.

I fitted a HID H4 kit to my CB with the little servo system that moves the bulb back and forth under a shroud to mimic low and high beam.

At first everything was fantastic.  Everyone commented on how good my headlight was; extremely bright but not dazzling.  And it was superb for night time riding, especially on main beam which was better than my car.

Then someone did comment that it was very dazzling.  I checked and found the bulb had snagged and was stuck on high beam.  So I contacted the supplier and he sent me a replacement straight away.

Then a few weeks later I was half way through a long motorway trip (coming back from Woking) for work and I noticed I couldn't see my headlight reflecting off the back of other vehicles.  So I pulled into the next services and found the new bulb had snagged also.  But this time it had twisted and was pointing upwards inside the headlight and was actually touching the reflector.

Result; scorched reflector!  With a new headlight costing in the region of £450 I wasn't happy!  Especially not when the supplier of the HID kit refused to have anything to do with it because "You were advised they are not legal and can damage your headlight", which to be fair to him, I had been.

As it happens, the headlight still works ok, so I've put up with it.  Needless to say though, I've gone back to using higher output bulbs and threw the HID kit in the bin.

I think if you have a bike (like many newer models) that use separate H7 bulbs, one for dipped and one for main, then HID is probably great because the bulbs will both be fixed.  But I'd stay clear if you need a H4 system with a moving bulb/servo system.                                                                                                                                                                              

Hi  I used this sight its in Southampton and its been around years!!   Best bet s HIDS4U Its £74 for a slim line ballast fits inside head light Replacement bulbs are £40 good for 2000 hours approx and you want a bulb at 5000 kelvin white light 6000 kelvin 5%less bright with blue tinge or 8000 kelvin 50% reduced light very blue. There are about 300 times brighter. hope this helps. regards. Bontonroulea.                                                                                                                                                                             

Hi all,

I found this website a while ago and have seen it mentioned on other forums with good reviews.

http://www.bikevis.com/

http://www.bikevis.com/motorcycle-hid-xenon-conversions.html

Cheers

James

  http://www.bikevis.com/  http://www.bikevis.com/motorcycle-hid-xenon-conversions.html                                                                                                                                                                               

Hello everyone, People just need to know that only vehicles with self leveling lights are compliant in the UK, If you install HID to your vehicle do not be surprised if it fails its MOT, Go to ODPM site that's the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and look up the legislation before you go to the expense, you can also fall foul of the law on this one, be careful out there.                                                                                                                                                                               

My HID is not in a self leveling rig and is factory fitted BMW, and the HID mains I fitted went straight through MOT a month ago ???                                                                                                                                                                              

I've found this info pdf regarding the new MOT regs, however this seems to only apply to cars.

www.nidirect.gov.uk/customer-information-notice-cars-2010.pdf

It comes into force from 1st May 2012.