Trust me on this - there's absolutely nothing easy - about the "easy" way. You'll be cussing and swearing for half an hour and then have to get the headlight unit out anyways! It's actually very straightforward to get the headlight unit out. First undo the four screws that hold the front plate. Lift up and out the white cover plate. Then undo 2 screws - one on on either side that holds the unit. Make a mental note of the distance from the screw back to the bottom of the slit it sits in. Then make another mental note (or take a picture) of the amount of thread showing in the front of the single "adjustment" screw, accessed underneath the speedometer unit, unscrew it fully and voila - the whole thing is in your hands. It's all worth it though - the Cyclops unit is very good!
I bought it via their web-site, and had it delivered to my mailbox in LA. PM me if you need a hand getting one - not sure if they ship internationally or not - some US companies are a bit funny about it. Let me know if there's a drama - I'm over there a couple of times a month. Cheers.
Mark your position and drop the housing. Removing the housing makes it a no fuss installation. Trying to change a bulb in this thing with the housing installed is an exercise in anger management.
That's what I did- marked the threads with ink. It was pretty straightforward, although I don't like working on this thing... Husky/BMW need to take some lessons from Beta on how to build a bike. Anyway, the light was crazy bright on low, and like others mentioned, not a big difference on high (which is fine). I haven't ridden yet, but it seems aimed high, like it will blind cars. I turned the adjustment screw quite a bit in both directions, but didn't see much movement (if any) in my garage. I've never had an LED headlight, so maybe the beam isn't as focused as halogen? I need to ride it to see if it actually should be adjusted, though.
No light in a halogen housing will be as focused as a halogen bulb. Housings are designed for a specific type of bulb, and are not fully interchangeable. HID offers horrible dispersion patterns in most halogen housings. The LED is proving to be much better. However, like you, I lose a bit of scatter up high on the high beam. I ride two lanes in the dark almost every day, and I've never had a car flash me yet. That isn't the best metric to judge, but it is the best I have to work with. I did adjust my beam in the dark though. I put it in the driveway to start, got it close, and then dialed it in on a deserted two lane.
For anyone outside the US a good alternative is to purchase directly the OEMs from Aliexpress. I've opted for a M3S 3000lm unit for €18 shipped. I think it's the best compromise between power consumption and brightness. I still wanted to use the stock rubber cap between the "bulb" and transformer/fan unit, so I didn't want to get a 40W unit. After a 20 minute ride in very hot weather (35°C here in Rome), the fan was very warm to the touch, but not hot. The unit I got is really well made, with the proper high bean offset. Not sure how it compares with the 3600lm Cyclops in terms of brightness, but they are certainly much brighter than the stock bulb.
I recently bought and installed the cyclops headlight bulb after realizing that my low beams on the main bulb were not working at all, only the little bulb on top gave off some light, which obviously wasn't enough. It seems like they do not carry the 3000 lumen h4 bulbs anymore, instead they upgraded to 3800 lumen h4 bulbs which I guess should be a little brighter. The rubber waterproof sleeve that was originally fitted on the back of the headlight, now has to be discarded as the fan sticks out.
I strongly suggest not to discard the rubber seal, otherwise in no time you'll end up with plenty of dust, insects and mist in the headlight assembly, and eventually you're going to see some rust too. At the risk of having to buy a new seal cap, I would get a knife and "connect" the edges of the cuts used to let the pins through, and then make a cut long enough so that the led side and the H4 fitting plate are one side and the vent unit on the other, and then use some eletrical tape to seal the cuts. This way you can still have some weatherproofing while thermal dissipation is not compromised. My Chinese OEM unit has interchangeable fitting plates, so all I had to do was to connect the cut edges, creating a small lift passage through which I could slide the led side, and then re-attach the H4 plate.
I was doing some maintenance to headlight assembly (namely, replacing the parking light with a W5W led bulb from OSRAM), so I took the chance to take some pictures of the way I fitted my Chinese OEM. Since I found the H4 plastic plate anchoring mechanism a little too flimsy, I've decided to loctite a washer over the entire assembly to make it a little more "permanent". In any case the M3S is from the same OEM of the previous generation of Cyclops, which used the older M2 model. The current generation of Cyclops (3600lm) is apparently made by a different Chinese OEM manufacturer, and can be easily found by searching "3600lm H4" in aliexpress. They go for just over €40/pair shipped. There is also a 4000lm version of the same model.
I have a similar unit, looks the same and works well, 20W Dipped and 30W on High. Basically it is 3 LEDS and either 2 or 3 illuminate as required. Fitting was pretty simple and I was able to retain the rubber boot to protect the inner parts but still leave the built in fan exposed for cooling. They are Chinese made and very common here in Philippines, all come with adaptors to fit H4, H7 etc. I paid just under $15 for mine, it has been in for 6 months with no issues.
Does it need the rectifier etc? Does the front brake cable touch it? Does the element move?, In for high beam? Out for low beam? (or vica versa)
I've fitted one to my TR, certainly makes a huge difference to the light output & brightness The fan cooling concerns me, as we ride in dusty conditions, will the fan & cooling fins choke with dust? The front brake hose is very close to the fan & cooling fins
I installed the Cyclops 3800 LED bulb today. It looks like they have changed the design quite a bit looking at the previously posted pix. I think they were trying to increase the high beam distinction. I think it's pretty good, similar in distinction to more standard lights, but not the same as say a 55/100 H4 bulb. But that probably make sense. The install was pretty straight forward. I cut the rubber boot. Then installed the bulb pretty much like the old H4 bulb. Then slipped the rubber boot over it. I agree that it comes pretty close to some of the stuff behind the headlight shell. But nothing really strikes it. I decided to change out the silly plastic part on the adjustment screw for a spring arrangement. The way the OEM plastic part works it depends on friction and if the light is pushed back a bit the plastic part will slip on the screw and your adjustment is whacked and becomes sloppy. The spring keeps everything as it should be. Here's a couple shots looking into the headlight with the new bulb installed. Overall it's a huge improvement from the stock bulb. I do wish the reflector wasn't so segmented and more uniform in shape so the light projection was more uniform (it sucked with the old bulb also). I'm not sure who designed that reflector but I think it's goofy as shit. It's easily the worst light uniformity of all my bikes. But at least I can friggen see where I'm going now when it's dark, that's progress. I was going to post some photos taken at night but I found the camera doesn't really capture the true light variation. So while I took the shots I don't think they represent reality. I thought the "color" of the light was pretty good, not too blue, it's pretty close to a pure white. I share everybody else's concerns about the fan, we'll see. I think it will get pretty good cooling hanging out there so maybe the fan isn't so critical.
I ran the cyclops H4 all summer, Got into 100-1006 for a month ....no troubles......cars act like they have seen a ghost after I put the bulb in......the must see me now. I am going to cut the dust deal and put it back on after I get the water spots and dust out of the light ....damn it.......
My bulb is still going strong. I would like to try the new bulb. It seems everyone sees me coming. I ride with the bulb on high beam during the day. It's funny, I never get flashed in California, but a recent Moab trip I got flashed by an on coming car. I was even on low beam.
Dave, I've had mine in for about eight months. I have never been hassled but I live in a smaller city. When riding with a group I always run with lamp on high beam so the lead can see me. They always tell me "looks like the sun back there" (paraphrased).
