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Each wheel must have the spokes wired together. This is a mandatory rule for the Baja 1000.
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Special wrap is used to keep exhaust pipes from overheating bike hoses.
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FTD aftermarket rear brake disc guard protects disc from rocks.
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Spare battery for headlight is mounted on rear fender of race bike.
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Subframe bolt gets extra reinforcement with safety wire.
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Heavy-duty after market skid plate protects the frame, water pump and cases.
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Why Use the Team Caveman Lighting set?
There are many sets of lighting available for street, dual sport and for off road riding and racing. Many work and many work for a while, but the first thing you must ask yourself when choosing a light set is how reliable is the set for the riding I am doing. If you just want a set of lights that is street legal to get a license plate, you probably don’t need a dual HID set.
The lighting set developed for off road riding/racing has evolved over many years of riding dual sport events which include night sections, racing the Baja events and pre-riding the events which regularly include night sections. I ride from my house on the highway with street legal lighting to off road areas for practice and set up also commonly at night. One of the original light sets of the latest design was wired up in 2000 and has run continuously for miles of off road and highway riding without incident. The only failure to the lighting setup was one plug that loosened after a crash. The record of the race light set up includes multiple class wins and even was fitted on Anna Cody’s bike for her successful first woman solo ride in the 1000 in 2006.
In the past there have been only a few sets of this lighting set made available due to the time required to properly wire the set for reliability. Recently the set was produced in larger numbers so multiple back up sets were available for Anna’s bike and for others using the over under design.
The over under design is not a new design and in fact has been run by me since the early 1980s on a Husky 390. The selection of lenses has been a major improvement for both replacement availability and distribution of light. Getting the light where it is needed while driving a motorcycle is of utmost importance. When driving with a car (for which most light sets and lenses are designed) additional lights are added until the entire field of need is filled. On a motorcycle however 2 or at most 3 lights can be powered. The old thinking with Halogen lights was to set a spot to the high side of where the terrain was being read and a second flood light inside the spot to allow the reading of terrain as it comes closer to the light. With the advent of HID to motorcycles in the late 1990s.( I rode with Alan’s team in the 1000 in 1998 and got the 15th place bike just at dusk and was 2nd overall 350 miles later when I passed the bike to Alan) That was with one HID and one Halogen. The advantage was like cheating. With more light the distribution became more important and the lens selection now used in this set is a stock 650L as a lower light and the XR glass lens for the upper. The 650L lens gives a “cat eye” distribution which has the majority of the light in the center with distribution on both sides to illuminate the sides of the course to be able to see turns coming far in advance so setup is easily done. This light is focused on the horizon so the bright spot is far away and tends to avoid the bright spot common to other distributions. (more on that later) The XR light has a fairly uniform distribution of light so the field of view has no bright spots. This light is set so some of the light is above the XL light and the remainder below. There is a lot of dispersed light from this lens which aids in tight sections or in picking lines through rocky sections. In dusty or foggy conditions the top (XR) light is switched off and the XL cat eye is tilted down. Since there is little dispersed light from this lens, it functions like a fog light and actually illuminates under the dust/fog with little glare back in the riders face as is common with most fixed systems.
The glare factor: Stand in front of the mirror in a dark bathroom and you can see a problem not commonly understood by most “newbys” to night riding. With the lights off simply shine a flashlight into your eyes that are accustomed to the dark. The pupil (black part in the center) almost immediately gets smaller. This is natures way of shutting off excess light to the eye. Shine your light away so you can still see the pupil and see how long it takes for the pupil to expand to the full open position. Since the reduction is immediate and the relaxation takes a while, avoiding a bright light or bright spot that will temporarily decrease night vision, is important. Whether the source is a reflection of a road sign, a flash bulb from a photographer, the flash needs to be avoided. The last thing you want in your light set is a bright spot that effectively reduces your ability to see in the dim light. The brighter light as seen on a wall should be high enough that it doesn’t shine near enough to be the bright spot right in front of the bike. Same thing goes for a light that shines up into fog or dust. This can effectively blind a rider.
The XL lens: The lens fitted on the XR650L (1993-2007) is a street legal DOT approved lens. It is fitted on a street legal motorcycle and the dual over/under set can replace the stock set on this street legal and on many other motorcycles. The common dual sport is to use the street legal bulb lens and use the upper XR lens as a driving light for use when not in traffic or when off road. The driving light can be halogen with AC circuits or can be HID with DC systems.
The XR lens has been used for many years for an auxiliary light fitted on XR models. Later years used a plastic lens with a 35 watt bulb which is little more than a survival light to get out if caught in the dark. The earlier XRs were fitted with a glass lens, which is still available. The halogen bulb can be replaced with an HID bulb with adapter available from after market suppliers or can be used as a second light with the halogen.
I have several sets of the AC lights with 2) halogen 100 watt bulbs. This is a usable system and very reliable and easy to install with a 200 watt lighting coil. The racing upgrade requires the use of DC system for the powering of 2 or even 3 HID lights The conversion of AC system to DC requires the use of a regulator/rectifier and a battery. On a system with electric start the DC system is in place. On other bikes it will have to be added.
The base kit to use the stock Honda parts is $69.95. This kit includes the actual light frame, and the 2 side mounts for the lower XL light. It does not include the lights or number plate or the components that are mounted under the carb on a 650R.
The complete race kit included the components above plus the dash, and the under carburetor mounts for the ballast and battery. The 499.99 price tag will need to be supplemented with stock Honda parts and after market HID components.
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