Hella FF50 - Amber Covers

[JimLor]

The two most conspicuous bikes I've seen had amber (I assume amber, I'm somewhat color challenged) lights. 1 x HD with the two front outer lights amber and yesterday an ST 1300 with amber Moto Lights. Both stuck out like sore thumbs - highly visible. I installed the Hella FF50s and have searched here and out in ether land with no luck. Anyone know if and where I could get amber covers for these lights? Thanks.

 

[radman]

No amber made that I've ever seen. I have clear, tough to find, but I got them at The Classic Garage.

 

[JimLor]

Thanks Rad - I'm sorry to hear it though.

 

[TheAxeman]

No amber made that I've ever seen. I have clear, tough to find, but I got them at The Classic Garage.

I never saw those before thanks for the link Rad. Amber does seem like an excellent idea and the fact that you could pop these covers off easily enough makes them even more desireable.

EDIT: I just ordered the lenses and shipping with Priority Mail was $5.00. Very nice people over there also.

 

[JimLor]

I wonder if there's any paint or plastic "film" we could apply to the covers (would have to be heat resistant)....I'm with you, I like amber and for use at night just pop the covers off.

 

[radman]

The covers can remain in place while the lights are on, if the bike is not stationary for any real length of time. Depending on the lights position, however, they have a weird fiber-optic effect in that light bleeds off their edges, which can be distracting. I don't get the amber thing-unless it's a fog related issue, and the FF50 is not nor does it pretend to be a fog lamp, it's a driving lamp and would be crap in fog even if ambered to the nth degree.

 

[TheAxeman]

I know what Jim is talking about with the amber lights. The last time I did a Patriot Guard ride one of the guys had a Wing with amber motolights and it definitely was an attention getter. I checked some of the sites where the guys customize Honda's, Neons, and such and they mention useing either Krylon translucent stained glass spray or Testors Translucent. I was thinking to try it on the covers that Rad has and see if it works. That way I can put them on in the day and take them off for night use. I'm not sure if the heat would be to much for the paint though....might be a pricey experiment.

 

[Grumpy]

You might try clothes dye on them and see how yellow they get? Actually if you leave them alone, since they're polycarbonate, LEXAN, they'll eventually get yellow, then brown all by themselves.....probably take 5-8 years depending on exposure to heat and ultraviolet rays.

jim

 

[TheAxeman]

Alright, here are the results of my little experiment:

First, at Radmans suggestion, I bought a set of these clear lexan covers from Classic Garage for $22.00.

Then I went to the local Michaels Craft Store and bought some Krylon translucent stained glass window paint for about $7.00 and sprayed the covers both inside and out 7 or 8 times just to assure that they would be amber enough. The end result looks like this.

Because of the number of coats I put on, the lens looks almost frosted and the amount of light is somewhat tempered which is exactly what I was looking for.

The pics I took of the lights on during the day don't do it justice but it definitely makes the bike considerably more visible because of the yellow light.

With shipping on the lenses I invested $37.00 but achieved what I set out to do which was add some more noticeable light to the bike without the added costs of Motolights or something similar. After all, I'm saving my pennies for the Solteks. Ironically, I only paid $29.00 for the FF-50's on EBAY.

 

[cota95]

Cool!

 

[JimLor]

Axeman - how are the painted lenses holding up - any heat related problems?

 

[TheAxeman]

No problems at all, so far so good. Right now I have the FF-50s switched with my high beams but I think I'm going to wire them so I can run them with low beams also for daytime use. I use them now only when I'm running on twisty back roads where I think it will help me get spotted by people backing out of their driveways. Running on a regular two lane highway I get quite a few people flashing me if I don't dim them.