UK legal headlights

[Kymsec99]

Hi all, an oldie newbie here. I won an old Kymco Sector 125 on ebay for £185. Seemed a bargain. Engine (9400 miles) is sweet sounding, but having to replace front tyre (ordered, fitting myself) and a new headlight inner or whole unit. Then its MOT time.
Trouble is, I'm finding it hard to get what I imagine to be a legal headlamp. I think E4 marked are ok, but cannot find one with a 160mm mounting width. A couple that seem to fit are CCC marked and looks like they need a blotting sticker to make the dip beam UK legal. OR am I being too tight with my searches and others will pass an MOT too? Gotta be 35W normal or halogen bulb. I don't wanna muck around with electrics/converting etc.
Any help appreciated.
P.S. Will be replacing all working indicators with smaller bullet style ones after an MOT...my old ones have crumbling screws! Don't think law will be an issue with near normal indicators.

[Kymsec99]

Apologies guys, seems I've joined a mainly USA forum? But if anyone from UK stumbles on this, please help! Or anyone with good info...

[Stig / Major Tom]

No worries. ..but can a Kymco dealer help you out?
Good luck.
Nice bike@!
Stig

[Kymsec99]

Seems that any Kymco dealers don't stock anything for my model, just other odd websites have a few bits each. Basic running spares are fairly easy to find, tyres, chain/sprockets.
I bought a museum piece! Found a website by accident that a complete geek is running in the UK by himself!He lists how many of each model of motorbikes are on or off the road in the UK (still registered with UK DVLA). There are 16 of my model on the road and 21 SORN (Off  the road). The guy deserves a gold medal for dedication!
He has sort of done me a favour with that info. There was only 380 of my model sold in the UK to begin with!
Can't see a Taiwanese bike going up much in value because of rarity! But I fully intend riding it.
Spares a hard to find, but still most can be found in odd places. Found on Youtube that early CK125s have the same engine, so no worries there. I have bookmarked dozens of pages for later use!
Nearly clicked BUY on eBay for a 2003 Yamaha XJ600 Diversion 2 years ago, but we had the worst storms in living memory and I opted for 4 wheels! Sort of glad I didn't by it, due to having never ridden a weighty bike before. A 125 is a sensible start after 20 years of 2 wheel absence!

[Stig / Major Tom]

Interesting stuff!

Kymco & Honda were bedfellows for a time - since that time I think Kymco has been doing Honda-like engines, etc. - any chance a Honda housing might be made to fit?
Or ordered from http://japan.webike.net/Moto/KYMCO/51_125/
Again, nice bike!
Stig

[Kymsec99]

Thankyou for the Weblike link Stig.
Forgot to mention reason of hunting a new headlight....previously, water collected inside the lens and the chromed layer has bubbled/lifted, disrupting the lightbeam on bottom third! No chance of passing a UK MOT test.
I viewed the Like 200iLX, nice! Kymco really captured the old style of scooters in a modern way.
Although I love traditional roadster/sport style bikes the most, I would ride anything really.
I did have a Hyosung Hyper 125 scooter, but never put it on the road. I fired it up once a week to keep it healthy, but it suddenly died. Spent hours going through things like the carb etc, but no go! I had to move home quickly and just left the dead beast there. Ridden Honda C50 cubs, so reliable!
Was riding Mobylette 49cc (pic) for a year at age 21 yrs. Didn't do my street cred any good!
 

[Stig / Major Tom]

Any chance part can be re-chromed?
I rode a Honda 90 all over Los  Angeles when I was 18...know what you mean about street creds. Usually barefoot and no shirt..no helmet of course.
Still have some SoCal pavement in my forearms.
Stig

[Kymsec99]

No worth it really. Its the beam reflector thats bubbled. Seems I have a very odd size headlight.
So, I'm buying a new cheap unit once I know what is legal, cash is low!
Have emailed our dear government vehicle agency (DVSA) with a few questions. Apparently they haven't been infected by modern management yet, so I should get some definite answers lol!

EXAMPLE OF MODERN MANAGEMENT UK STYLE; Gov. agency: 'We know of one man in the south of England who has an eye squint and gets affected by ?///? style of headlight. He is still legal to drive and even though his doctor wants him off the road, we cannot revoke his licence as this may or may not affect his human rights'.
'PLEASE CAN YOU NOW COMPLETE THE ETHNIC DIVSERSITY, RELIGION, SIZE OF YOURE DICK AND HOW DID WE DO SURVEY'

Don't know about the USA, but this country is heavily infected with modern management. The mistakes and vague answers to questions is killing the UK! 

[nushipwright]

Hi Kymsec99,
Welcome to the forum!
I don't know how much of a help this is but here it is anyway:
Google JC Motorcycles (based in Birmingham UK). Best customer support I ever encountered so far. They are Kymco dealer / service. They might be able to help you out with a replacement headlamp. Give them a call.

[Kymsec99]

Hi Nushipwright,
Thanks for the info. I have my eye on a few, eBay, Amazon etc. Just waiting on answers from DVSA.
Always good to have a backup option. If the price is right and its legal, I'll even wait for a man to swim from China with one!

[gn2]

Forget DVSA or any government nonsense, all you'll get is hassle and told stuff you don't want to hear.
My advice would be to get down to a breaker and see what they have to hand.

[Kymsec99]

Hi gn2,
Have had a response from DVSA and they have narrowed down my idea of whats ok and not.
I now have enough info to buy and fit a headlight without fear of getting pulled over by Police.
A phonecall to a motorbike dealer I used to visit, who do MOTs, confirms this as well.
Would love to get old full metal light unit from a scrappy, but they all seem to be online automated here. They ask for reg. number and because my bike is over 14 years old, it always draws a blank!
I know what to order now, thanks guys.
P.S. Just had a Duro front tyre delivered from Poland for £29. Seems ok and reviews were good. Fitting myself, did one in the past.

[Kymsec99]

Fitted a 300 18 front tyre today. Easier than the one I did 25 years ago. Instead of using  a tyre remover tool, I bought 5 knives, forks and a spoon (thick stem old type) costing 50 pennies from a charity shop!

[CROSSBOLT]

That's the spirit!

Karl

[Kymsec99]

Dear God!!!
Have played with headlight before, but this new (Chinese so I found out too late) is the worst £20 I've spent in years.
It looks ok, then try and fit the frickin thing!
Oh, the size isn't what they said, BITS FROM THE HARDWARE STORE
Oh, the 10mm mountings have 7mm nuts supplied for them, NUTS FROM THE HARDWARE STORE.
Oh, the grooved plug is correct BUT the wiring is in reverse???, BITS FROM HARDWARE STORE....I carried on working in the dark and messed that up. Had lens bit sat in a dip on right hand handle bar area. It sat there happlily for an hour, whilst I farted around making connectionsd in poor light.
FINALLY got it all together after 5 frickin hours! Ignition on, fire her up, try the lights.....YESSSSS for 3 seconds....NOOOOOOO, the headlight fell and broke 3 of 4 wires I had sweates over!
So, I decided to go into the main town (long busride) and get bullet connectors instead. Also thought I needed to make up an earth connection wire, as the old body was metal and the new one plastic. NOT SURE ON THIS, but its on there now.
I did all the connections nice n tight. Attached lens to body....IGNITION, fire up, lights....YESSSSS.....NOOOOO!
Lights yes, beam WAY OUT OF LINE!
The glass on lens was supposedly ok, but somehow was not now??? Ok, nasty job....removed lens clips to move lens, so it lines up. Stuck markers on rim and lens and compared it close quarters to the plastic body and mounting screws. Alittle fine tuning and suddenly its way off! After a couple of minutes, I find that the bloody glass is sliping on the lens! Jesus H!
So another trip to the hardware store for superglue next week, (totally out of cash now).
Just one more thing....why is the dip beam only a third the brightness of main beam? 6 feet away from a white wall, main beam nice, dip beam you can barely see it. Bulb is 35/35w