OK, who's been creative and has come up with a use for the little light at the bottom of our windscreens? And while we're on the subject, maybe someone wants to enlighten me as to the reason it's there. I've been told that it's required by european regs, but for what? I remember when euro cars had "parking lights" in the headlights (think old vw beetle) so they made just enough light to park when the headlights were off, but first of all, our headlights don't turn off and anyway, there's not enough light to see by anyway with that thing.

So, what's being done? Strobes or colored lights came to mind, but they are both a little too "fast and furious" for my taste. Like those horrible lighted windshield washer nozzles they used to sell at Pep Boys. But with the level of craftmanship I've seen on this board, I just know someone has come up with something.

 

I've always contemplated gutting out the light and figuring out some way to mount a camera behind it.

 

I've heard more than once that it has to do with requiring two forward facing lights on vehicles in Japan. If you go with this reason, it explains alot of the 80's sportbikes, but it does not explain single light naked bikes.. so I'm kinda skeptical

I fit is a reg, it is responsible for alot of styling that has worked into our sportbikes over the years.

Gut it, buy a cheap night vision camera and make it fit!

 

Camera, huh?? Nice one. I was thinking about a death ray for left lane campers, but the flux capacitor kept melting the fairing stays.

 

Thougt about mounting the eludium pu36 explosive space modulator in there...

or maybe a radar detector remote sensor..a camera would be great...like the small helmet cams...Oh, the possiblities,....

 

"The Flux Capacitor is what makes time travel possible"

 

The nightrider light type of thinger would be cooler. Thenyou could name your bike Kit.

 

when I got my sharkskinz fairing I was happy to see that it does not have a hole for that little light. so it got scrapped. I do not miss it.

 

Being a European I can confirm that it is indeed required here... During daytime you are allowed to run with only that ligth on... dunno why thoo... I never bother to flick the ligthswitch... Cuz every time I do I just forget to turn the ligths on again... (that is until I REALLY need them...)

Although I have to admit my bike migth not be completely "road legal" in that respect... As I have a bullet cam there instead of a ligth...

That's the result of the ban on cams on Nürburg Ring... A bullet cam in there and a DV-cam under the saddle and of you go...
Plus the vantage point for that bullet cam is as close to optimum as far as I can see...


And since I allways use the lowbeam in the daytime, nobody will even notice it...

 

Post up pics, and a how to on the installation...Also what type of set up from the camera to the recording device etc....TIA

 

i dunno, i get a lot of compliments on that little light. get a smoked cover for it. looks cool.

 

when i used to have the OEM fairing, i removed it and attempted to redirect the airflow to the air box....turned out really bad. But I have heard that somebody on the forum actually made it work properly.

 

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find my pics from the installation, and my digital camera didn't like the beer my brother offered it... So I won't be taking any new ones until that one has been replaced. It's supposedly water proof (and hence beer proof too...) so I should get a new one on warranty sooner or later...

But it's actually really simple... if you remove the instrument cluster (or look in the service manual if you are to lazy...) you can unplug and then unbolt the ligth... two bolts and the reflector and bulb assembly comes rigth out...

I then took a thin metal strip and bent it into a bracket that fit the two screwholes with a tab bent 90 degrees out and a hose clamp around that and the bulletcam... I naturally had to make the hole in the plastic a bit larger to fit the cam trough, and I added a few rubber grommets to reduce vibration... But all the original stuff is unharmed and it's a 10 minute job to refit the original ligth assembly...

In front I took a piece of clear plexi and cut it to fit the hole, the two bolts holding all of my new stuff go through the plexi and a pair of spacers (plastic pipes) into the plastic of the fairing and my bracket and then a nut on the backside...

The setup looks normal enough unless you start to look at it close up... I sanded down the black anodization on the bulletcam to naked aluminium... The effect is that unless you really look at it you only think I cracked my original lense and used a piece of plexi for a cheap replacement... The bulletcam simulates a bulb good enough for a casual glance... With the original rubber seal and the edges of the plexi nicely sanded it looks rather close to original...

The bulletcam is a "standard" one with a Sony 560 Line CCD and a DV mini cam (only requirement is a analog input for the bulletcam) I use an older Sony cam (can't remember the model rigth now) but it's a rather cheap one (for a Sony that is...) It's strapped down securely under the saddle with a bungy cord and wrapped in an old towel...

The cabling was routed in normal cable channels/clamps most of the way, I added connectors in both ends so the cable stays in there but I can easily remove the bulletcam and the camcorder (I have actually never bothered with the bulletcam since but it's nice to be able to use it somewhere else...)

As far as the microphone goes, at first I only intended a test run and didn't hook up an external one... But to my amazement the sound from the internal mic slighly muffled under there but in close proximity to both the engine and the pipes sounds rather good... You hear the engine howling but without the windnoise and without the sound being so loud it overpowers the mic...

All in all it works well and so far for more than a year and several safety inspections by the marshalls, it hasn't raised any red flags... It's actually stealthy enough that some mates of mine who had seen the movies needed me to point it out before they could find it...

The only downside I have found is the clear flat plexi gives some impressive sunglares on film in some ligthing conditions...

 

That's certainly clever...I was wondering about trying to fab some sort of scoop, so that I could remove the light and cover, and re-direct that air up the inside of the windscreen. In theory at least, it should work like the "laminar lip" type windscreens, by allowing the air behind the windscreen to reduce the low pressure and thereby extend the wind protection. I don't have the fab experience or materials to pull this off, though. Anyone think this would work?

 

I think I'm going to mod a tow hitch to mine.

 

I got the Laminar Lip, but I have a red bulb in my marker light, to match my red paint.