Headlights and Guage Cluster

I'm looking for some guidance/inspiration on what to do with my headlights, guage cluster and potentially tail lights.

I have taken the fairings off of my '94 XJ600 and am leaning towards a street fighter look. Feel free to post pictures of other streetfighter projects and opinions on headlight styling etc.

I am also curious what considerations I need to make when considering LED setups, integrated tail lights and digital all-in-one speedo's. What kind of extra steps are involved in these upgrades?

 

One big consideration:

If your bike has self-cancelling turn signals like the earlier XJs and you like the feature, you'll need to be careful. The stock system needs the current draw from the stock bulbs to flash; and if you change out the flasher (so it will flash LEDs) you'll lose the self-canceller without a lot of electrical re-engineering.

As far as your other question, in regard to styling: I'm an old-school "big round headlight" kinda guy myself. The 650 Seca had an 8" headlight, rather than the standard for the time 7-incher. Love it.

I applaud your removal of the Tupperware. Done right, it can be one sexy bike (the one I like has a big round headlight, go figure.) Use Google to search the forum. Some good ideas on the site.

One last observation in regard to LEDs: I've never been able to see an LED turn signal in bright sunlight. Seen plenty of bikes with them on; have to look REALLY HARD to see if they might be flashing in bright sunlight. Not good. Gimme good ol' 1156's behind amber lenses any day.

 

Don't know anything about how the XJ600 is wired, but I'm guessing you would need a new flasher unit that works with LED type blinkers (there are loads of them on ebay btw). and if you have an flasher-cancelation unit you probably would have to make some modifcation to get that to work with the new flasher unit.

as for the speedo's it all depends on what speedo and tacho you get, there a few options out there and depending on manufacturer it can be dead easy, using the existing sensors etc, if not it can be a little more work setting up new sensors.

but overall if you have some knowledge in wiring it shouldn't be that difficut!
good luck and have fun!

 

Thanks for the opinions/tips! I think I will stay away from LED's, my omage is you can only feel cool so long as you are alive. Luckily I think there are some great alternatives that look good too, although LED's are everywhere on Ebay, have to look harder for others.

Here is the headlight I ordered, I think you would approve Fitz

Round 7"er

I am thinking either this or this for guages but that ebay one I didn't see a tacho for so we'll see.

 

Look up Radare's 1992 Seca II Cafe Conversion 8)

 

That just blew my mind! That sv650 windscreen looks great above a 7" must have! Good call

 

Just to add to the LED discussion...

You can make turn signals work fairly easily if you're handy with a soldering iron.

The key is that the turn signal relay works off current draw. Putting it simply, you'll need to find the resistance of the bulb, and make sure you include a resistor in line with the LED(s) to match it, so that the blinker "thinks" there is still a light bulb there. Google will help you with the specifics.

Food for thought - but Fitz has a good point about seeing LEDs in the sunlight.