I recently took my VTR1000F in for its 6-monthly "warrant of fitness" check. This is third-party mandatory requirement for all road vehicles in New Zealand, a basic check that the lights, brakes, tyres, suspension, steering and exhaust etc all function to make the vehicle reasonably safe. A bit of a PITA for older (pre 2000) vehicles as is 6 monthly, out to two years for newer vehicles. You can't register the vehicle for road use with passing this inspection, fortunately only takes 10-20 minutes to do.
I was handed an advisory notice this time around for my headlight. I've had Cyclops LED bulb in there for a couple of years now with no issues (I am a 100% LED convert) but our lighting regulations have been changed this year, and from 1 June it is now illegal to mount an LED bulb in a headlight fitting that was not originally designed for it. That would apply to my VTR, VFR and ST, all of which now have LED bulbs in them. The inspector (who is a helpful and decent guy, and a motorcyclist) was apologetic but apparently there were concerns about the excessive brightness of LEDs causing dazzle. He agreed that bikes need all the visibility help that we can get, but the rules are the rules. (he is however helpfully flexible about exhaust noise).
I know for a fact (because I have looked very carefully) that my lights are not poorly patterned or causing undue glare, so I will continue to use LEDs, but will have to endure the joy of switching back to dull old halogens in time for each inspection.
The latest LED bulbs are actually really well designed to mimic halogen, the most recent that I bought now use a cast heat sink in place of the cooling fan, and use narrow strips of emitters that exactly mimic the position of the filaments in a halogen, and they also have well-designed shrouds for low beam cut-off. I still think they are a sensible upgrade for older bikes.
I was handed an advisory notice this time around for my headlight. I've had Cyclops LED bulb in there for a couple of years now with no issues (I am a 100% LED convert) but our lighting regulations have been changed this year, and from 1 June it is now illegal to mount an LED bulb in a headlight fitting that was not originally designed for it. That would apply to my VTR, VFR and ST, all of which now have LED bulbs in them. The inspector (who is a helpful and decent guy, and a motorcyclist) was apologetic but apparently there were concerns about the excessive brightness of LEDs causing dazzle. He agreed that bikes need all the visibility help that we can get, but the rules are the rules. (he is however helpfully flexible about exhaust noise).
I know for a fact (because I have looked very carefully) that my lights are not poorly patterned or causing undue glare, so I will continue to use LEDs, but will have to endure the joy of switching back to dull old halogens in time for each inspection.
The latest LED bulbs are actually really well designed to mimic halogen, the most recent that I bought now use a cast heat sink in place of the cooling fan, and use narrow strips of emitters that exactly mimic the position of the filaments in a halogen, and they also have well-designed shrouds for low beam cut-off. I still think they are a sensible upgrade for older bikes.
