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WITW Member Questions - Scout's Answers
I'm looking to be brighter at night. What is the difference in halogen and led bulbs? Is there something you recommend?
Halogen bulbs are your standard traditional type light bulb. They are the cheapest and easiest to replace. They are usually a standard type “plug in” type bulb that produces light by heating up a tungsten filament between two wire posts. They produce a consistent warm yellowish white light that can be dimmed by controlling how much electricity is applied to the filament. They typically last between 450 and 1000 hours. The disadvantages of Halogen bulbs are that they consume a lot of energy and produce a lot of heat.
Xenon or HID (High Intensity Discharge) are similar to halogen for replacement ease, however you do have to install an HID conversion kit. They are more durable, but also more expensive than standard Halogen bulbs. HID bulbs can emit around twice the lumens or light energy of a Halogen bulb by producing an arc between two electrons in the Xenon gas filled bulb. They are more expensive and produce an obnoxious amount of bright bluish white light that can quite possibly be used to give X-Rays to oncoming drivers. While this may sound great for motorcycle visibility and can in fact have the opposite effect and cause drivers to be blinded and drive into you. HID bulbs use a lot of power to get to operational temperature and then the power usage tapers off to maintain the same level of brightness.
LED or Light Emitting Diode bulbs are more expensive and a bit trickier to replace, as you usually have to replace the entire headlight unit as opposed to just the bulb. They can produce as much light as the HID Bulb without the bluish tint. The LED bulb doesn’t flicker , will warm up instantly, and provides a broad illumination of dark roads. They consume far less power and have a longer life than both Halogen and HID bulbs. LED lights do produce a fair of heat but not as much as Halogen or HID bulbs.
My personal preference is the LED Daymaker bulb. It lives up to its name and provides an incredible amount of light. It is also not so bright as to blind oncoming traffic
What causes a backfire? Is it something I should be worried about?
The short answer is that when you have uncombusted fuel that has gotten through the engine cylinder and into the exhaust pipe and get mixed with hot, turbulent exhaust gasses and fresh air it causes an explosion of that fuel mixture. This can be caused by several factors such as your fuel/ air mixture is incorrect causing an incomplete burn of the fuel through the combustion chamber.
If your bike is carbureted, a gummed up or improperly adjusted carburetor jet will definitely cause a backfire . An air leak somewhere along the exhaust system, i.e. a loose exhaust pipe or hole in the exhaust system, again this throws off the fuel air mix. A short exhaust pipe that has no baffle can cause a backfire. The baffle “smoothes” the turbulent (think thunder clouds) exhaust flow out of the pipe.
An intermittent spark that doesn’t allow the fuel to completely or properly burn in the combustion chamber of the engine can cause a backfire. This can be caused by bad or fouled spark plugs, bad spark plug wires, or the ignition coil itself could be failing. Sometimes bad (or old) gas or gas that has water contamination can cause a backfire as well.
A backfire does not directly cause worse gas mileage, but is a sign that your fuel is not getting converted into mechanical energy like it should be. So you will get worse gas mileage when you have a backfire, but it’s not caused by the backfire itself. The backfire is a symptom, depending on how often or severe it is , and can be of concern. It can be similar to hearing a shotgun blast without hearing protection and at times it can produce a flame out of the exhaust pipe. So if it is something that has recently developed and is happening consistently you need to find out why.
How does altitude effect my performance? I heard terms richer and leaner, what does that mean? Is it something I can adjust myself?
Richer/Leaner refers to the gas/ air mixture in the combustion chamber. An engine that is running lean has more air than is required to burn the fuel. An engine that is running rich doesn’t have enough air to completely burn the fuel in the chamber.
Engines tend to run richer at higher elevations; this will cause a drop in power and throttle response. Running rich will not only drastically decreases your miles per gallon, but can cause severe backfires in the exhaust pipe.
As a general rule a carbureted bike will lose approximately 3% power for every 1000 feet of elevation gain, however on fuel injected bikes this will be less due to the fuel map in the computer adjusting the mixture.
For someone just travelling through higher elevation areas you really don’t need to do anything, just know that your performance may change but should return once you get back to the lower elevations. If you are planning on moving to a higher elevation area or are going to spend a significant ( months) amount of time there you may want to consider getting the fuel injection remapped or if you are carbureted switching to leaner jets. I would only do this though if your performance was drastically impacted and unacceptable or unsafe. If you do this, however, remember to switch back once you are back to your normal area of operation.
A bike that runs too lean runs hotter and could cause damage to the pistons and cylinders, and will in the long term cause engine failure.