[Raccoon]

Whats the best option for improving the headlight illumination of my Suzuki Shogun?

Its been running on a normal tungsten filament bulb (Ravi) till now.

I thought any halogen bulb would be better than this, so installed a Halonix M5. And surprise or surprises, the illumination got worse... in fact almost half of what the ordinary Ravi bulb gave me!!

Got really pissed, went back to the dealer/garage and he readily agreed to change it. But he only had a Phillips and Osram halogen bulbs for the Shogun's bulb holder. Tried the Phillips (made in 2006) and then the Osram. The Osram (made in 2007) seemed SIGNIFICANTLY brighter than both Phillips and Halonix; so I'v kept that one for now.

The Halonix, I discovered later is manufactured in 2004. Do they make better bulbs now or are they still so crappy?

Frankly, I'm not satisfied when compared to the ordinary bulb! How come an ordinary tungsten filament bulb be better than a halogen bulb??

Can anyone advice me on the best bulb I can install on my gun? Don't wanna go in for coil rewinding or anything... I absolutely dont trust anybody to do the job right. Less my bikes are touched, the better.

The dealer told me he will try to get new Halonix bulbs in couple days. Would they be worth trying out... or are all their bulbs so crappy?

[akshay4587]

Shogun's stock reflector is pretty bad,no halogens can help.
if you can live with a round headlamp,go in for HH ambition's beam and plonk in a H4 halogen bulb.

[muneemmk]

And while you are at it , get a Bajaj caliber headlight bulb it's rated at 45/55 if I remember correctly.

[dinar]

The reflector on shogun is of bad quality, it looses reflectivity within 1.5 years, so you need to tackle the problem from there first. Try finding some seal beam of same size to keep the looks stock.
I had a Mico halogen on my bike, had used metal tape [the one used by telephone linemen to cover underround cables]to make the seal beam brighter, it lasts for around 2 years and than starts to fade.
Than experimented with small 2.5 inch diameter round seal beams [don't out of what] imports from some Asian country, with the outer square dimensions kept same as the original, they were placed in a custom rectangular case made ot thin sheet plastic sheets and used 25 watt 2 bulbs[total 50 watt] it worked well but did not like the looks much. SO removed it.
By the way you can use upto 50 watt bulb with any mods.

[Raccoon]

Thanks so much guys!

Visually the reflector inside the headlamp seems quite intact. I opened the assy. after many years... to plonk in the halogen bulb... and noticed some peeling on the glass at the back (where the reflector is). The mech told me that the reflective coating is on the inside of the glass, so the peeling on the outer side dosen't really matter. And visually, the reflector appears quite intact when viewed thru the headlight lens.

Actually, I haven't used the headlight much. I usaully use the city/parking lights whenever possible, so that the battery gets charged with the limited driving that I do. This could be the reason why the reflector still seems ok.

But its quite true that the overall quality is definitely not upto the mark... and thats true about a lot of the Shoguns parts and finish. :(

By the way you can use upto 50 watt bulb with any mods.

And while you are at it , get a Bajaj caliber headlight bulb it's rated at 45/55 if I remember correctly

.

Are you saying I can just plonk in a higher wattage (50 / 55 watts ) bulb without any modifications at all??? And it will positively be supplied 50 watts and burn brighter? That means the Shogun's stock alternator can support bulbs of higher wattage? The manual states that the Flywheel Magneto is of 60 W. Plus their is the tail lamp, speedo & tacho lights, indicator, etc. to take care of!! I'll be really surprised if higher wattage bulb will be supported. And btw, will there be any ill effects of this? Like maybe the reflector fading out real fast?

Shogun's stock reflector is pretty bad,no halogens can help.
if you can live with a round headlamp,go in for HH ambition's beam and plonk in a H4 halogen bulb.

Round headlamp? But that means the fairing will have to go... and I don't want that to happen. :( Isn't there a headlight assy. which I can use which has the same dimensions of the stock setup... so that I can fix the fairing too? Any indication about the price would also be very helpful.

And by the way, the statement about "no halogens can help" - what I was really surprised was that the illumination actually declined with halogen bulbs... when compared to an ordinary cheapo Ravi tungsten filament bulb!! Only the Osram halogen bulb is barely tolerable... and even then, I'm not sure if its any better than the ordinary Ravi bulb! And thats really surprising!

Lastly, whats a H4 bulb? Whats the difference? Just the holder or the bulb construction too?

[akshay4587]

@Racoon H4 Is the holder type,the most common halogen bulb usually used in cars and now most of the bikes too

[Fountainheader]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

@Racoon H4 Is the holder type,the most common halogen bulb usually used in cars and now most of the bikes too

And getting H4 bulbs - Philips/Osram should not be an issue. But beware of the fakes!

[Raccoon]

Ok, thanks Akshay.

Fountainheader, any ideas on how to id fakes? Anyways, I guess I can't use a H4 bulb on my stock headlight assy. I just hope the Osram halogen I'v bought isn't fake. It has a label with Importer details, Rupee price and packaging date, etc. Guess its not a fake.

Does anybody know if the latest halogen bulbs are better than those manufactured around 2004 - 2006? The newer/latest Halonix boxes (most likely H4) say they are filled with Xenon etc. The older Halonix (which fits the Shogun's holder) has no such mention.

[SunnyBoi]

Halonix +60 bulbs are filled with Xenon. Best bulbs i've come across so far. There are lots of halonix fakes, the name will be different but the packaging will all be same. check the bulb and packaging throughly before committing to buy it.

[arpandiv]

I would suggest you replace the shogun bulb holder with that of a pulsar, you will need to get a clip to hold it in place in the reflector. Once done, buy a Halonix/ Phillips 35/35W Halogen Bulb, and you are good to go.
Incase you dont want to replace the bulb holder, there is a MICO bulb available, sorry i forgot the model name.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by muneemmk

And while you are at it , get a Bajaj caliber headlight bulb it's rated at 45/55 if I remember correctly.

Earlier the Original Caliber i.e. the 7.7 bhp, with round headlamp was 40/45W. It came with Philips bulb ( not halogen ) as OEM fitment and this was the best headlamp beam I have seen from under Rs. 60K bikes in India.

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Halonix +60 bulbs are filled with Xenon. Best bulbs i've come across so far. There are lots of halonix fakes, the name will be different but the packaging will all be same. check the bulb and packaging throughly before committing to buy it.

Yes, the Halonix +60 come with Xenon filled. They are the best and I had used them in my Spirit and later on Caliber. Getting original will be slightly difficult.

Originally Posted by arpandiv

I would suggest you replace the shogun bulb holder with that of a pulsar, you will need to get a clip to hold it in place in the reflector. Once done, buy a Halonix/ Phillips 35/35W Halogen Bulb, and you are good to go.
Incase you dont want to replace the bulb holder, there is a MICO bulb available, sorry i forgot the model name.

Pulsar's light even with 35/35W is becasue of its good design of reflectors. In case of shogun the relfector will not be good. And the Bajaj Pulsar headlamp bulb will cost around Rs. 110.

Try halonix or get the Pulsar headlmap assembly, fit that in Shogun. I have seen these conversions and they do involve some messing up around to fit that assembly, but its not impossible.

[Fountainheader]

You can get Osram halogen lights 35w H4 for around 85 bucks. Very very good throw of light I'd say. But as AG said it maybe due to the better reflectors in the Pulsar.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Halonix +60 bulbs are filled with Xenon. Best bulbs i've come across so far. There are lots of halonix fakes, the name will be different but the packaging will all be same. check the bulb and packaging throughly before committing to buy it.

What does this +60 signify? Wattage or just model number/name? As for detecting fakes - which name will be different?? Not sure if I can detect fakes accurately, as for that I guess I'd need to see a genuine pack 1st. :( Any tips?

Originally Posted by arpandiv

I would suggest you replace the shogun bulb holder with that of a pulsar, you will need to get a clip to hold it in place in the reflector. Once done, buy a Halonix/ Phillips 35/35W Halogen Bulb, and you are good to go.
Incase you dont want to replace the bulb holder, there is a MICO bulb available, sorry i forgot the model name.

Whats this clip called / where would I get it / what should I ask for? Any idea of price? Any specific reason why you are recommending MICO? Have you compared with other brands and found it to be the brightest?

Originally Posted by Fountainheader

You can get Osram halogen lights 35w H4 for around 85 bucks. Very very good throw of light I'd say. But as AG said it maybe due to the better reflectors in the Pulsar.

Again, have you compared and found Osram H4 bulbs to be the brightest when compared to other brands?

Pulsar's light even with 35/35W is becasue of its good design of reflectors. In case of shogun the relfector will not be good. And the Bajaj Pulsar headlamp bulb will cost around Rs. 110.

Try halonix or get the Pulsar headlmap assembly, fit that in Shogun. I have seen these conversions and they do involve some messing up around to fit that assembly, but its not impossible

Bulb cost is ok... but any idea about the cost of the headlight assy? Generally speaking, is the Pulsar's assy. better than Hero Honda?

And generally speaking, is a H4 halogen bulb supposed to be brighter than a halogen blub with a holder that is comatible with the Shogun (dunno what its called). This is of course assuming both are of the same Wattage; ie. 35 W.

Thanks a heap for the valuable responses, guys.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

What does this +60 signify? Wattage or just model number/name? As for detecting fakes - which name will be different?? Not sure if I can detect fakes accurately, as for that I guess I'd need to see a genuine pack 1st. :( Any tips?

Bulb cost is ok... but any idea about the cost of the headlight assy? Generally speaking, is the Pulsar's assy. better than Hero Honda?

And generally speaking, is a H4 halogen bulb supposed to be brighter than a halogen blub with a holder that is compatible with the Shogun (dunno what its called). This is of course assuming both are of the same Wattage; ie. 35 W.

H4 was the first Halogen bulb with dual filaments.
As far as my knowledge goes, H4 indicates the filaments.
H1 was the first Halogen bulb.

I dont know about holder. It would be good if you change the holder and also the wires.

+60 signifies that you get extra 60% light than a normal bulb. I dont know if they compare with halogen or standard bulb, but they are damm good. I had one installed in Bajaj Spirit, and I had shifted from a standard bulb, for me the throw was disrupted as the design and location of filaments were different, but overall they were excellent and for me it was over 100% improvement.

I dont have any idea of the assembly cost ( sorry about this ), but pulsars are more effective if the purpose remains to have a nice headlamp. Or else, get a new headlamp assembly of shogun itself ( its very difficult as far as I know ).
I think that people have more experience of fitting in the pulsar units, thats what my observation is in Vadodara.

[Raccoon]

^^^I really doubt if it reffers to the number of filaments. Please see the pic which shows the box of the Osram halogen currently on my Shogun (which I just bought) and the original Ravi tungsten filament bulb. Both clearly have a double filament. The other halogens I tried (as mentioned earlier) also had double filaments, as far as I can recall.

+60 sounds really good. I'm really sceptical about Halonix, because as I mentioned earlier, the light output was really poor. But I guess it might be worth trying out the latest ones (which claim to have Xenon)... if available for the Shogun's holder.

Would a Pulsar's headlight assembly be a direct fit on the Shogun? But I guess the fairing would have to go... :(

I don't think replacing with another Shogun headlight assy. would be a good idea as everyone seems to unanimously agree that it has a poor reflector and is not of good quality. Besides, its not likely to be easily available, even if I want it.

I'm still hoping someone will tell me what exactly I should do to change the holder to H4 type... I mean would it be a direct fit, what should I ask for, etc? And would changing to a H4 bulb offer a definite improvement over the current stock holder/bulb... considering both will be of 35 Watts only?