Should be fully back on road wednesday!!!!..

What effect does the metal mesh have on the light spread? Does it cast a shadow?

Yes, they do cast a shadow. It's quite significant and noticeable round the periphery of the beam. They don't actually interfere too much with actual light on the road, but it goes without saying, if you put anything opaque (no matter how small) in front of a light, it will reduce its efficiency.

The biggest drawback of mesh guards I've found, is that when riding in mud, it gets through the mesh and bakes itself on, and the fixed mesh makes it quite fiddly to clean off the lens at the end of a days trail riding for the ride home. You can flush behind it with water, but the only totally effective way is to take the thing off, which unfortunately requires removing screws; the last thing you want to do when it's cold, wet and getting dark. I've since reverted to a clear polycarbonate guard for this reason - quick spit and a rub with your sleeve and the jobs done! Or quickly detach it to reveal a perfectly clean lens underneath.

I think the plastic guards offer better protection too, although it might be sacrificial protection! There's always the chance that a small stone can get through a mesh one.

Mesh guards do look cooler though. ;)

+1 Pleiades

Just dont get the OTR clear perspex one. The Velcro tabs never held the cover well and luckily the few times it fell off while riding, it landed on the front guard and I didn't lose it.
Eventually drilled two small holes in the sides so I could secure it with two zip ties around the headlight frame. ie the velcro align and hold it and the ties just ensure it cant vibrate forward out of the velcro and drop.
Then last week I pulled up and just overbalanced the the bike into a small depression on my LHS (couldn't touch the ground) and a stick hit the cover and it just shattered!

So on the prowl now for a new one with the perspex tabs that protrude off the side and dont rely on velcro for securing!!

Matt.

Has anyone tried the Powerbronze protector?

http://powerbronze.co.uk/StuffForTeneres

I'm not sure how it attaches.

They're also available on eBay.

Fixes with four small Velcro pads.

Best of the plastic protectors IMO are either the Yamaha official accessory or the Touratech one. The Powerbronze, Skidmarx and OTR versions are all Velcro fit jobs and sit very close to the lens, so any big impact on the protector will connect with the lens too. The Yamaha and TT versions, leave a good 10-15mm gap which will cushion any impact. The TT one is also a shatter-proof material too. They are both more expensive of course.

How much is a new lens?

As far as I remember it's about �140-150 and a ball-ache to change over.

Yeah Pleiades is correct. A Pheasant kindly obliged to make me put a new one in. Not too much of a problem but quite expensive!:mad: