Recovered from the HDD
Riding conditions in Australia have some unique issues that we have to deal with, one of which is wildlife crossing the road without warning. Kangaroos are the biggest offender especially at dusk and dawn, but wombats, possums, echidnas, and all manner of other critters, not least of which are farmers' cows or sheep, any of which can cause a brown trouser moment for the unwary motorcyclist.
It doesn't even have to be a country area - I live 45 minutes form the centre of Brisbane which is the third largest city in Aus and I regularly see road kill on the commute to work in town. Young drivers in country areas are taught form an early age how to avoid hitting animals as a matter of course during their driver/rider training, but City folk miss out on this sometimes to their extreme disadvantage.
In rural areas you just don't plan to ride at dusk, good trip planning puts you at the bar with a coldie by about 4:30pm especially in Summer. But of course that is in an ideal world and Oh if it were so! The only defence is a sharp eye, quick reflexes and good lights. Failure of any one of these can lead to catastrophic consequences - hitting a big roo which may be 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb) will do a lot of damage very quickly.
The only part of the equation that is hardware is the lights, which on the Breva just don't have the penetration or power to light up enough of the road ahead to allow for a large enough stopping distance should one pop into view.... SO I decided on a two pronged approach - Moto Lights giving spot power and the added benefit of daylight safety, and a complete HID system on both High and Low beam.
Moto Lights are old hat, but my switching system might be of interest. In Aus it is a mandatory requirement that any auxilliary driving lights installed must be connected to the high/low beam switch. I chose to design a system that complied but also allowed me to have the motolights on with the low beam for safety reasons during the day, and also an all off option that allows me to run only the OEM lights. Although technically illegal because of the low beam on option, I recon the daylight safety is more important and I'll dazzle the copper with BS just before I roost him as I take off into the sunset - seriously though country coppers are generally reasonable in my experience and as long as I can demonstrate that I can turn them off with the high/low beam switch, it's good enough for me. I also opted for the larger 50watt bulbs to give maximum lighting power.
I installed a double throw single pole miniature switch on the dashboard where the ABS switch would be if I had one. :evil: The common runs back to a relay beside the battery that powers the lights, then other two connections are connected in parallel with the high and low beam at the headlight. So it works like this: switch Up - Motolights work only with Hgh beam, switch Centre - Motolights always off, switch Down - Motolights on at all times.
An important consideration on the Breva is the available voltage when cranking the engine on startup, hence Guzzi have designed the electrical system to only turn on the headlights after the engine has started. This necessitated taking the relay signal power from the wires directly at the headlight so that the Motolights would work in the same way.
The switch was mounted in the dashboard like this
The Lights mount like this
There you have it - Moto lights installed. My impressions are that they are well made but in fact if you are looking for increased night lighting it might be better to investigate other alternatives, they are just not designed as driving lights. Oh and another thing, don't drop the bike - they will break!!!! However I am very happy with the increased daylight visibility and in fact I have since installed a set on the Ministers' Nevada.
The HID system was not quite so easy, and in fact turned into a bit of a marathon and was probably the most difficult electrical install I have ever done, on any vehicle - and given my propensity for crazy projects that's saying something - watch for the part 2 of the Breva Light Fest - posting tomorrow.
Riding conditions in Australia have some unique issues that we have to deal with, one of which is wildlife crossing the road without warning. Kangaroos are the biggest offender especially at dusk and dawn, but wombats, possums, echidnas, and all manner of other critters, not least of which are farmers' cows or sheep, any of which can cause a brown trouser moment for the unwary motorcyclist.
It doesn't even have to be a country area - I live 45 minutes form the centre of Brisbane which is the third largest city in Aus and I regularly see road kill on the commute to work in town. Young drivers in country areas are taught form an early age how to avoid hitting animals as a matter of course during their driver/rider training, but City folk miss out on this sometimes to their extreme disadvantage.
In rural areas you just don't plan to ride at dusk, good trip planning puts you at the bar with a coldie by about 4:30pm especially in Summer. But of course that is in an ideal world and Oh if it were so! The only defence is a sharp eye, quick reflexes and good lights. Failure of any one of these can lead to catastrophic consequences - hitting a big roo which may be 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb) will do a lot of damage very quickly.
The only part of the equation that is hardware is the lights, which on the Breva just don't have the penetration or power to light up enough of the road ahead to allow for a large enough stopping distance should one pop into view.... SO I decided on a two pronged approach - Moto Lights giving spot power and the added benefit of daylight safety, and a complete HID system on both High and Low beam.
Moto Lights are old hat, but my switching system might be of interest. In Aus it is a mandatory requirement that any auxilliary driving lights installed must be connected to the high/low beam switch. I chose to design a system that complied but also allowed me to have the motolights on with the low beam for safety reasons during the day, and also an all off option that allows me to run only the OEM lights. Although technically illegal because of the low beam on option, I recon the daylight safety is more important and I'll dazzle the copper with BS just before I roost him as I take off into the sunset - seriously though country coppers are generally reasonable in my experience and as long as I can demonstrate that I can turn them off with the high/low beam switch, it's good enough for me. I also opted for the larger 50watt bulbs to give maximum lighting power.
I installed a double throw single pole miniature switch on the dashboard where the ABS switch would be if I had one. :evil: The common runs back to a relay beside the battery that powers the lights, then other two connections are connected in parallel with the high and low beam at the headlight. So it works like this: switch Up - Motolights work only with Hgh beam, switch Centre - Motolights always off, switch Down - Motolights on at all times.
An important consideration on the Breva is the available voltage when cranking the engine on startup, hence Guzzi have designed the electrical system to only turn on the headlights after the engine has started. This necessitated taking the relay signal power from the wires directly at the headlight so that the Motolights would work in the same way.
The switch was mounted in the dashboard like this
The Lights mount like this
There you have it - Moto lights installed. My impressions are that they are well made but in fact if you are looking for increased night lighting it might be better to investigate other alternatives, they are just not designed as driving lights. Oh and another thing, don't drop the bike - they will break!!!! However I am very happy with the increased daylight visibility and in fact I have since installed a set on the Ministers' Nevada.
The HID system was not quite so easy, and in fact turned into a bit of a marathon and was probably the most difficult electrical install I have ever done, on any vehicle - and given my propensity for crazy projects that's saying something - watch for the part 2 of the Breva Light Fest - posting tomorrow.