Yet more LED. when will it end?!

Yes, more LED's, but first Tyres!

Yesterday was my first wet ride on my new "Sava" "MC7" tyres (above), and the verdict? Simply brilliant. No hint of any slipping and no change in grip from dry conditions, they have totally transformed the bike and for £100 it's money well spent. 

If you ride in wet weather regularly the stock tyres are fine, but an upgrade will transform wet weather handling, so it was a must for me.

But anyway...

As mentioned in a previous post, I like LED's a lot, I like that there is no filament to vibrate loose and break, I also like how they last longer than standard bulbs and that they draw less power per bulb in comparison to traditional bulbs.


I ordered a "T25 BAY15D 1157 White 60 SMD LED Tail Stop Light Bulb" from Hong Kong and just over three weeks later... It arrived, It's important to note that the tail bulb also illuminates the Reg plate via a small clear plastic window at the base of the lens, so It's very important to ensure the bulb has 360 degree diodes to ensure light is thrown down towards the base of the lens. 

It's also very important that the bulb has a two pin connector rather than single pin:

double pin RIGHT

single pin WRONG

SMD (surface mounted diodes) do not look like traditional LED's but they offer a brighter light than "Capped" bulbs, so they're better...

So onto the fitting, It's fairly simple, but then again it wouldn't be a very helpful blog without photo's.

The lens is held on with just two long screws that take a philips head screwdriver:

Once they are removed the interior is a curved reflective plastic with the bulb socket in the middle:

Then it's just a standard bayonet fit for the bulb, so just push the bulb in slightly, turn anticlockwise and it should just pop out. 

Then pop the new bulb into the bulb holder, push in and turn until secure.

At this point I thought it was a good idea to pop the lights on to check that the bulb works as it should.

Also worth checking that the bulb does illuminate further when the brake lever is applied, or the cars wont see you slowing down!

Then screw it all back together and voila!