The headlights of a Triumph Tiger 1050 are inefficient and not really fit for a motorbike designed and built in the 21st century. The standard H7 light is feeble and hardly visible to other vehicle drivers and insufficient for proper illumination of the road ahead. The standard headlights are a safety risk for the rider of the bike (and other traffic participants) because these headlights are easily overlooked.
The problem is made worse by the fact that only one of the two headlights is active on low beam, the second headlight being exclusively reserved for high beam operation only.
A further problem is that the entire headlight unit is a sealed plastic box. No option for disassembling the unit exists. This alone wouldn't be much of a problem, but the lenses and reflectors tend to turn dusty over time, because humidity and dust can enter through the four ventilation holes at the rear of the unit. The dust leads to reflector failure, making it necessary to replace the entire unit - and that is a costly item.
After six month of using the bike with the original headlights and a number of close encounters with cage drivers for which the feeble headlight was practically invisible I decided to apply some Swiss engineering to the issue and once and for all resolve it.
- Replace the standard headlights with a different system that provides enough light to properly illuminate the road ahead, that makes use of both existing headlights at low beam but does not put an increased load on the standard 475 Watt alternator of the motorbike.
- Add a handlebar switch that allows the biker to switch the headlights on and off at will (The old 955 Tigers had that as standard...).
- The looks and shape of the bike and its headlamp construction must not be altered at all.
- The entire new light system must be fully backwards compatible, i. e. it must be possible to re-fit the original headlight system in less than 5 minutes.
The following manual will explain how to replace the original headlamps with a High Intensity Gas Discharge system (HID). It will also show how the nearside high beam headlight can be converted to provide proper low beam illumination. This means that both headlights are on simultaneously at low beam. At the same time we will convert the two puny 5 Watt position lights (they are real 19th century technology...) to a high intensity LED system. The conversion will increase the light output of the bikes headlight by approximately five times, compared to the standard headlight. It will not produce any glare or other adverse effect to other road users. The system will be thermally very stable, i. e. all the heat dissipation is properly taken care of and you can use this system in any weather and climate. The additions to the electrical system are as water- and dust proof as the original components. We will also overcome the shortcoming that the bike does no longer have a switch on the handlebars to completely switch the headlights on or off. The old Tigers had that as standard. That switch is essential in case of battery or alternator problems during bike journeys.
Gas discharge lighting systems for vehicles have been introduced in 1991. Since then the price has dropped considerably, but of course due the difficulty in manufacturing these lamps and the added requirement of a ballast they are more expensive then the ancient filament lamps. The higher price is partly offset by the live span of HID lamps; they last more than twice as long as filament lamps. I have included a parts list at the end of the manual with the addresses of all suppliers, the part numbers and the cost for each item.
- Replacing the old filament lamps with a HID system is certainly not legal in the EU and most other civilized countries, though the Tiger 1050 headlights do not produce more glare with HID lamps than OEM HID lamps on other vehicles.
- EU regulations demand an automatic leveling system for HID lamps as well as a washer unit. For motorbikes this regulation is fairly silly, as most bikers tend to adjust the suspension even when loading 10 pounds extra weight on the bike, so headlights are usually perfectly leveled. At any fuels stop the first thing a biker does is to clean the visor of the helmet and the headlights - that's just a matter of saftey for most bikers.
- Check your local legislation - of course I strongly advice any biker against infringement of any laws...
- Due to the optical characteristics of the nearside high beam headlight the conversion to a low and high beam headlight is not possible. This manual shows the conversion of both headlights to permanent low beam. If you need high beam on your bike because you do lots of nighttime-riding, then you may want to do a direct replacement of the high beam H9 lamp with a H9 HID system.
- The electrical system of the Tiger is too weak to reliably provide the high starting power required to fire up twin HID's. This manual will show you how to install a time-delay unit that fires up the second HID three seconds after the first one started.
- Of course this manual (like anything else on my pages) comes with absolutely no warranty at all. Use it at your own risk. If your bike blows up after following my advice or anything else unexpected happens, then you can't hold me responsible.
I have contacted the Rinder company in Spain (who makes these headlights as their model no. 377) to find out why the headlight is working so poorly and if it is possible to purchase internal components for it (for example the reflectors which so often have their coating coming off). I was told that the original design was done by Triumph itself and that Rinder is producing these headlights just as a sublet contractor. For this reason they are not allowed to sell components or whole units outside the regular Triumph network and will not comment on the poor performance. Should you require a complete replacement headlight unit then it should be possible to source a new, original unit in North America for approx $350 and in the European Union for about €250. I can provide contact addresses of suppliers if required. I should also point out that carrying out the conversion as described in this manual will result in a significantly reduced thermal load on the headlight reflectors (in spite of the increased light output). This should ensure a much longer life for the entire unit than with the original lamps. As the headlight unit after the conversion can be completely disassembled (i. e. the front plastic "glass" can be removed) and therefore the lenses and reflectors can be cleaned when necessary a further extension of the useful life of the entire unit is achieved.
