Replacement Headlight for 1979 XS400 2F

[pleasant]

Hi all,

New to the forum and I've just recently purchased a '79 XS400 2F and the standard headlight is pathetically dim. For any low-light riding I have to use the high beam, whose brightness equates to that of a dimmer modern regular beam.

From my reading of other threads and cursory glance at my headlight, my understanding is that the unit is a sealed beam and that I need to replace the entire thing. I was just wondering what my options are.

Would replacing the whole sealed beam unit with one off Parts N More regain brightness, or is this just how dim the headlights were back in the day?

Otherwise I've seen some talk about retrofitting a reflector housing and adding a halogen or HID beam, but this seems to involve calibrating the beam to not blind other motorists, as well as replacing the turn signals with LEDs to balance the voltage draw.

Pretty much I'm looking for a way to make my bike safer without banging my head against the wall with a complicated ordering process/install.

 

[lemonhead]

I'm pretty sure that's just how dim the old bulbs are...

But, I just played this game and came up with a solution, as seen here:

http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?p=149146#post149146

Took a bit of thinking, but I used the old reflector and old glass lens from my burnt out sealed bulb, and turned it into a reusable housing for a replaceable h4 bi-xenon bulb that is disgustingly bright.

Only runs at 35w, which is the same as the stock bulb and doesn't blind anyone because it uses the old reflector and lens which is designed for a motorcycle and focuses the low beams down where they're supposed to be.

Another, less involved option, would be to buy a candlepower bulb which is pretty much the same thing I made, but at the expense of more wattage.