650L headlight points to the sky

[Itchykawa]

I am not sure if I have ever seen this topic discussed although I know it is inherent on all 650Ls regardless of the weight of the rider.

My headlight shines upward lighting up trees, putting out streetlights, and shining into windows. It will pretty much light up anything but the road/trail in front of you. Cars give me the finger and hit me with their brights constantly. My '94 did it for 8 years. My '06 may be worse. My buddy has the same problem on his '95. I have seen this with riders weighing from 180 to 240 - average sized people who would want a 650cc dirt bike I would say.

No adjustment screw will correct this. What action have others taken? I do not intend to live with this again for 8 years as I did with my last one. What was Honda thinking?

[tgstoken]

Huh, my '93 XRL adjusted with the screw perfectly. Shines great on low and lights up the road far in the distance on bright.

[Old Dog]

IMO, the stock headlight setup on the L is the biggest pile of crap ever to blight the front end of a dual purpose motorcycle in the history of mankind.

The first time I tried to adjust mine, I bent the headlight mounting bracket just loosening up the bolts, I then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to straighten it out ..... the end result was that it was pointing into the sky worse than ever. :D

My solution was to remove it, bracket, fairing and all and install an Arcerbis Cyclops. Now I can actually see the road and things in front of me.

Although if I did more serious night riding (trails, desert, etc.) I'd get myself a Trail Tech HID setup.

[Beyond The Pale]

Another decent replacement is the Acerbis unit that Baja Designs sells. It's a H4 bulb so you can get a wide range of wattages.

The Cyclops is good too, but you can't really go to high wattage bulbs with it. The best way to go with the Cyclops it to wire the low beam always on and wire it so both come on for high.

[truck6driver]

I had to place star washers on the inside and outside of the mounting bracket (both L+R sides). That kept the adjusting down to a mininum on my 94'. I only had to re-adjust after hard off road runs.

RH

[martinfan30]

i had this problem on mine (05) when new. i just loosened the 2 bolts on either side and forced the whole assy. down while retightening. it has been fine ever since.

[jetfuel]

i had this problem on mine (05) when new. i just loosened the 2 bolts on either side and forced the whole assy. down while retightening. it has been fine ever since.

I did the same for my '95 and haven't had a problem either and use mine almost exclusively off-road.

[Itchykawa]

Thanks for the input.

I tried everything 'ususal' on my '94 and then just learned to live with it. I am not the greatest wrencher. I have spent most of my 37yrs on bikes riding them. When they start to need a bunch of work I sell them cheap to someone who likes working on them and buy something else. I usually end up with a riding buddy. I just got this one though and need to find a remmedy. Forcing it down and retightening helped on my '94 but didn't completely resolve the problem. I might try the star washer idea.

Will let you know if I find a sure fix that retains the stock equipment. I would rather spend that $ on a Clark tank. I totally agree with Old Dog on this one but replacing everything will have to wait.

If anyone else has ideas I am all ears.

Cheers!

[Bibleman]

Hmmm. Mine also pointed skyward, but after taking the front cowling off (two bolts) it was very easy to adjust mine to the proper position.

[martinfan30]

Thanks for the input.

I tried everything 'ususal' on my '94 and then just learned to live with it. I am not the greatest wrencher. I have spent most of my 37yrs on bikes riding them. When they start to need a bunch of work I sell them cheap to someone who likes working on them and buy something else. I usually end up with a riding buddy. I just got this one though and need to find a remmedy. Forcing it down and retightening helped on my '94 but didn't completely resolve the problem. I might try the star washer idea.

Will let you know if I find a sure fix that retains the stock equipment. I would rather spend that $ on a Clark tank. I totally agree with Old Dog on this one but replacing everything will have to wait.

If anyone else has ideas I am all ears.

Cheers!

how heavy are you?LOL!

J/K.

[AtomicGeo]

Just as sir martinfan30....I did this too...worked out fine.

i had this problem on mine (05) when new. i just loosened the 2 bolts on either side and forced the whole assy. down while retightening. it has been fine ever since.

[Itchykawa]

how heavy are you?LOL!

J/K.

I weigh 220 pounds. I was much lighter in '94 though.

No amount of adjusting, pushing, bending, loosening, or tightening would work for me on my '94. It is starting to look the same for my '06.

I think Honda just missed the mark on this one.