Did you change your passing lamps?

[SunCruise]

I just ordered new bulbs for my passing (spot) lamps. After researching this I decided to get Nokya 881 27 watt hyper yellow. I'm hoping this yellow will be noticeable enough to stand out in a crowd of white lights and still offer near stock brightness for back roads at night.
I stayed with stock wattage so there would be no heat/wire concerns there.
Plug like OEM bulbs keeping the stock reflection and beam spread vs a new sealed beam unit. Although that would be plan "B" ...and that opens up more choices... Yellow or Amber, fluted (wider beam) or non-fluted (spot light) with slight wire mods.

Curious what others have done and how they like 'em.
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[btsom]

I tried the clear sealed beams and they bothered on coming drivers unless they were aimed so low that they did me little good. Then I tried the 50 watt bulbs and they were also dazzling, in part because they didn't have the black spot at the tip to cover the filament. Settled on the 35 watt bulbs that are a bit brighter and have the little spot covering the filament. The stock reflectors seem to spread the beam horizontally, but keep it fairly narrow vertically providing usable light without blinding on coming drivers.

Most of the after market bulbs were rated for 300 hours use, not very good in my opinion, found one rated for 1000 hours. I also tried a Silver Star head light bulb after the factory bulb died. The dimmest Silver Star lasted about one year vs three years for the factory bulb. Of course, it died on a trip, on a Sunday. Have a standard Sylvania H4 from Wally World in there now due to the time of failure. The light seems the same as the factory and the Silver Star bulb, for less money.

 

[Breeze3at]

I just ordered new bulbs for my passing (spot) lamps. After researching this I decided to get Nokya 881 27 watt hyper yellow. I'm hoping this yellow will be noticeable enough to stand out in a crowd of white lights and still offer near stock brightness for back roads at night.
I stayed with stock wattage so there would be no heat/wire concerns there.
Plug like OEM bulbs keeping the stock reflection and beam spread vs a new sealed beam unit. Although that would be plan "B" ...and that opens up more choices... Yellow or Amber, fluted (wider beam) or non-fluted (spot light) with slight wire mods.

Curious what others have done and how they like 'em.
SC

Let us know how they look/work for you. Especially if they are a simple 'plug n play', I've heard many bulbs need minor mods to fit the HD passing lamp unit. Amazon has them for $15 a pair, I might get some.

 

[gusotto]

I just changed out the stock Harley 27 watt bulbs for 886 50 watt bulbs. Cost about $6 for two.
No modifications needed.
Buy them from the local auto parts store.

 

[lidflipper]

I replaced mine with 886's also. People kept brighting me at night. Switched to 898's at 37.5 watt. Stopped the brighting from oncoming traffic. Still a vast difference in light from stock

 

[glimmerman]

i changed out my sealed beams for the harley halogen lamps on the rk. i also changed out the headlight for the 2 bulb halogen lamp. i added a set of kuryakyn silver bullets that mount outboard of the turn signals. these 20 watt lamps make the harley 35 watt lamps look very dim. i also ordered the 30 watt bulbs for these but have not used them. i generally run high beam w/modulator and the silver bullets. i get noticed for sure.

 

[SunCruise]

Nokya 881 Hyper Yellow 27w

I got the new bulbs!! Install was "Plug n Play" ...that simple. Took an early afternoon ride but not long enough yet to notice any changes with cagers reactions. When stopped at intersections, behind another vee-hickle lol, I could see my lights reflections and there was an obvious difference between the white center and yellow spots. Not drastic...but noticeable. I will have to set it up where I can photo from a distance. I purposely waited till dark to leave a friends house so I could check that out too....I'm sure the visors have a part in it ...directly under the spots the road was lit up yellow. Straight ahead still looked white. No one flashed me. The iphone photo doesn't really do any justice other than show this is not a Dark Amber if thats what your looking for. Darker yellow/amber may have its "eye appeal" to some, but I think it would shed less light at night. Perhaps more watts would solve that? I'm not looking to compete with all the blinding lights coming at me... just hope others pause for a moment when they notice something different and SEE me.

It's in the 50's here in NY !! need I say more :s
Have a very Happy New Year !! and ride safe.
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[Mavagrand]

Re: Nokya 881 Hyper Yellow 27w

I've thought about doing this to my bike. Seeing how your bike looks has convinced me..I'll be installing the same ones as soon as Discount Auto is open. Thanx for the post!!