[abhishek46]

A new Fad has taken the 2 wheeler riders by storm. Yes, you guessed it right. It's the Headlamp Grill.

After custom grills for cars, grills have now appeared in the scene, for 2 wheeler Headlamps. Call them Kebab Machines/Barbeques or devices to 'reduce' light, but there is no denying the popularity it has gained. This is popular especially with RE bikes and Avenger etc, where the Headlamps supplied by the Manufacturer is too bright. Hence, our Riders are choosing to kindly reduce the lumens by using these contraptions, for the benefit of other road users.

These 'grills' are available in many different designs, starting from simple ones to 'skeleton' or 'sunflame gas chulha' types. Similar inventions are available for indicators as well. Some pictures below for cooling our eyes.

Would like to know what the community thinks about these new trends. Pardon my views above if some users/potential users are offended. No offence intended. Image credits to respective owners.





The Lion:


The Skeleton Face:


The Sunflame Gas chulha burner:

[Soumyajit9]

I believe the people who put these contraptions, think of only two things:

- Looks Cool (ala Bull Bars in cars)
- Won't break the lights if they had a fall

I don't think they have any consideration to the glare from the lights.
Saying so, because with the blocking grills, there would be 5 rays of bright lights coming out now, which is equally annoying for oncoming vehicles
But indeed this is now a fad among big bikers whose bikes still have the old school round headlights.

[Omkar]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

After custom grills for cars, grills have now appeared in the scene, for 2 wheeler Headlamps. Call them Kebab Machines/Barbeques or devices to 'reduce' light, but there is no denying the popularity it has gained. This is popular especially with RE bikes and Avenger etc, where the Headlamps supplied by the Manufacturer is too bright. Hence, our Riders are choosing to kindly reduce the lumens by using these contraptions, for the benefit of other road users.

Somehow I feel that the addition of these headlight grilles is more inclined towards the aesthetics of the bike rather than the 'reduction of lumens'.

A friend of mine bought a Harley Dyna Street Bob. He had gotten the straight slat grilles for the headlamp. The only reason that he gave me was that it looked cool. And also to differentiate his bike from the other street bob from the rider group .

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I don't think they have any consideration to the glare from the lights.
Saying so, because with the blocking grills, there would be 5 rays of bright lights coming out now, which is equally annoying for oncoming vehicles

Agree with your point. It's not like the design is somehow reducing the intensity of light. Probably a tint would be more useful than the grille for that matter.


Source : ebay.in

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Omkar

Somehow I feel that the addition of these headlight grilles is more inclined towards the aesthetics of the bike rather than the 'reduction of lumens'.

A friend of mine bought a Harley Dyna Street Bob. He had gotten the straight slat grilles for the headlamp. The only reason that he gave me was that it looked cool. And also to differentiate his bike from the other street bob from the rider group .

Thanks,
Just to clarify, my statement above was written in jest (mild sarcasm).

[ashwinprakas]

Too many resources and very little clue on what to do with them.

The RE’s are known to vibrate like crazy at highways speeds and I’ve ridden with a rider who shared horror stories of parts falling off while cruising the highways. Hence I don’t get the logic of adding more parts at the cost of adding more weight to something that is overweight by all standards and has a wild temperament.

[aghate]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

A new Fad has taken the 2 wheeler riders by storm. Yes, you guessed it right. It's the Headlamp Grill.

Hence, our Riders are choosing to kindly reduce the lumens by using these contraptions, for the benefit of other road users.

The deficit of reduced luminosity is fulfilled by those Blinding Bright White China LED Lights. In Pune I have seen the riders turning off the main grilled headlamp and opting to only ride with these auxiliary lights. The grill is also attached to turn indicators and the tail lamp.

I don't see any usability in these but I guess most of the RE guys do it because some other RE guy has done it, followed by the Avengers.

[k88k]

I was always curious to know the purpose of these grills. While at a petrol pump, I saw this new bullet and asked the owner, why the grills? He had them installed over the headlamp, tail lamp & indicators. He said, "for style (sic)".

One more reason for them finding a good market is sales push by aftermarket vendors.

IMO they are bad and only bring down the looks of the otherwise looker RE! Well, as they say: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

P.S.: Please add those pouncing from front mud-guard tiger/lion/cheetah/leopard motifs to the list.

[marcussantiago]

Ah, the standard Bulltt-walah logic of ishtyle and form over function :P

Still, I'd prefer they do this silly stuff rather than those massive exhausts that wake up the entire neighborhood. I have a neighbor that insists on opening up the throttle to the max and tearing down our small alley between the hours of 2 am to 6 am with the loudest open-flow exhaust I've ever heard, complete with explosive backfires.

My only solace is imagining that the damage to his hearing is easily far greater than that of my neighborhood, therefore, perhaps karma exists after all.

[sukiwa]

This trend is similar to chrome mesh grills on cars.
While those grills may look good on certain cars, this one doesn't on RE bikes or avenger.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

A new Fad has taken the 2 wheeler riders by storm. Yes, you guessed it right. It's the Headlamp Grill.
The Sunflame Gas chulha burner:
Attachment 1676367

Though am not a biker but I can definitely find many uses for this one during camping or touring.

Regards-Sonu

[Captain Slow]

This is just for looks nothing else! If they wanted something to protect the lens then why not make it from clear plastic?

[PapaBravo]

I have been seeing this fad a little too much now. Every second RE has this. Some cheap headlight grills are quite thick & total defeat the purpose of a headlight. Having a non-functional mod is still ok, but a mod which reduces the performance of the vehicle, in this case the headlight is simply unbelievable.

But as with all fads, this would die soon.

Regards,

Pawan

[tharian]

If anything, I am glad people have taken a liking to this. It is effectively half the intensity of the light that is being thrown on the other road users.

Most of the riders on the road think that the blue high beam light on the dash means the headlight is on and working. They don't understand the functionality of high beam and low.
At the end, this is not affecting anyone else on the road apart from the rider.
If not the headlamp grill, there are so many other un-wanted accessories available for different vehicles.
There was a time when two wheeler's had musical tone connected to their brakes and everytime they braked, although the brake light didn't work, the speaker used to without fail. Those were annoying.

The thread should have rather been on the annoying kinds of the exhaust pipes for Enfield's.

PS: I do have a headlamp grill on my Enfield for more than two years now. It is not the thick one and doesn't affect the headlamp throw at all.
Reason I fitted it- something different on my 15 year old motorcycle.

[navin_v8]

It is really funny and amusing to see the different designs of these headlight grill contraptions.

This new fad is something similar to those brake light flashers that everyone was using last year. Those brake light flashers are nowhere to be seen now. Similarly this new fad too will die its own death.

Fact is RE motorcycles have a huge aftermarket accessories list, most of which are useless and makes the bike look ugly. The one accessory I hate the most are those loud free flow exhausts. It is really annoying and there is a commonality with the guys riding them.