Night riding & my lights

[Stig / Major Tom]

Some here know that every one of my rides, the year around, starts in the dark.
I like to be on the road one to 2.5 hours before sunrise, for a number of reasons.
Riding out through the city is mostly uneventful (unless I've started out in a heavy rain, again ), with adequate street lighting.


But once I'm out in the boonies it is time to be careful to drive within my lights! So, I'm riding at around 23>32MPH (actual)(speedo shows 10% higher)
Although some of these back roads are posted at 45>55mph - anyone driving at anything approaching those speeds is driving not with vision, but "with hope".
One summer I used to have a big sport bike pass me out there in the dark at those speeds. I'd worry for his safety, every time.



No, I don't need or want cobbed-on LEDs. Even in my daylight return rides I'm poking along at under 40MPH. My Liberty's 55/60W headlight proves that a Halogen bulb can be great at night.
Stig

[Neil955i]

I’ve never “upgraded” the headlights on my bikes/scooters preferring instead to ride within their limits. OK I no longer do the dark hours riding you do Stig, but our approaches sound similar 👍

Best bike headlamps I’ve had?  Probably my old 955i, though the Beemer was good too.

[Tromper]

I didn't ever have a huge issue with the H4 halogen in my old SYM as long as it was reasonably "fresh" (Halogens fade with time/use), but when I put an LED in on a lark out of a set that I'd originally bought for my Burgman 650 it was jaw dropping to the point where SWMBO insisted I put the other one in her SYM. 
The energy saved on the light is handy as well.  With that said I still run halogens in the Burger and they do OK even at higher speeds.