Having ridden a few evenings now with my two week old Tenere and having fiddled with the hieght adjuster, can I confirm with other riders that the headlight unit just looks better than it works.

On dip the spread is excellent and certainly works well enough for a single bulb. On main beam there suddenly appears a huge whole of blackness imediately infront of the bike, the beam narrows to a single spot and the main beam seems not to penetrate any further than the dip.

If I raise the lamps so the main beam works well ahead on the road (black hole even bigger) that leaves the dip setting so high that I just get flashed by all and sundry.

I am assuming that this is just poor design on an otherwise excellent bike and that there is basically nothing that I can do about it. If I am wrong . . .

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DickyC

Gun Metal Grey 2014 XT660Z
'Advice is sought by someone who knows the answer but doesn't like it'

'The adsence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously'

Only having ridden my bike once in the dark a few days ago I effectively tried the lights performance. The dip is very good but unlike you when I had it on main beam I felt it lit the unlit roads fine. Yes I agree there is a big black hole immediatly infront of the bike (on main beam) but you dont look there when riding, your focus is far into the distance so it really should not be an issue. If you are going slow and require lighting closer it usually means you are in traffic and the main beam would not be on.

For me the lighting is good and perfectly fine. I have been following all threads and there is a very smart mod you can do by adding additional lighing on. It's not for me but there is as excellent solution out there and made my G.U.L.G.O. on this forum. Have a look, see if its for you.

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Yes you are correct the lights on the Ten are poop i have fitted HID dipped beam and aux lights on main. paid 90 quid for the HID from HIDS4U.com and bought the aux lights from halfords. Now i have a bike that sees well and can be seen.

Cheers

Jim

Not sure there was a problem with being seen as loads of people have been flashing me. And when parked in traffic behind someone you can see that your blinding them in their rear view mirror but thats just the height of the lens.

Think I will have to wait until after next week when I have taken the bike 'off island' to Wales and back away from our 35mph speed limits and narrow roads to make an informed decision. No doubt there will be a little more fiddling yet as well.

Cheers

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DickyC

Gun Metal Grey 2014 XT660Z
'Advice is sought by someone who knows the answer but doesn't like it'

'The adsence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously'

yep they are ****e, as above fitted HID and spots

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Derbi Senda DRD Sm "04 (black) => BMW F650GS "04 (yellow) => Yamaha xt660z T�n�r� "09 (blue)

Here's one solution, much much cheaper than the TT offering.

http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=11683

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

They're not terrible, you just have to change the way you ride at night. I found that the worst part of the beam spread occurred when dropping the bike into tight bends. It turned out that the best place to look was right on the outside edge of the beam pattern as that lit the road up the clearest round the bend. It's really hard to describe, but they aren't terrible.
The lights on my g/f's Bandit 600 are terrible, the lights on my Hayabusa were shocking; trying to hustle at 3 figures down unlit roads at night was a nightmare.
As for being seen, if I could turn them off in the day I would. Makes very little difference to whether someone has seen you or not because it comes down to if they've looked.
The height of the headlamp on the bike means that, as mentioned, the beam really catches car driver's mirrors in the same way a 4x4 or van headlamps do. I always try and keep back from drivers in traffic as it's no fun being blinded through your mirrors.

Looks nice, but you'll still have to buy lights and then try to get the electrics to work.

I'm not so technical when it comes to the electrical part.
As TT has all the instructions, wiring and protection stuff included, i'm going for that.

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Derbi Senda DRD Sm "04 (black) => BMW F650GS "04 (yellow) => Yamaha xt660z T�n�r� "09 (blue)

I can supply you with the electrics also (switch, relay), all made up, sealed and of the right lenght with all the connectors fitted and instructions.

You then get to choose your own lights, here in the UK we can get them for as little as �30 for the set, so that would be a total (lights, brackets and wiring) for �63.99 + Postage !

It is your choice, this is just an alternative.

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.