Scooterotica

I'm back into the scoot scene after 27 years, there's been a lot of technology changes since then, however, I'm after brighter lights than the fairly dull stAndard ive to put up with on my '97 T5 classic. Things are bad when my bicycle lights are brighter than my motorised scooter! I've read about the vespa tronic ignition systems etc but I really dont have £300 odd quid to spend. Is there any other way to get brighter lights? Thanks in advance.

I seem to recall that the lights on my old T5 Classic were reasonably ok...well compared the Lambretta I also ran at the time. It would be worth fitting an LED rear light and put a decent halogen or better still, Xenon lamp in the front. What's the lens/reflector like condition wise?

The lens is fine. It's just when I motd it yesterday the inspector gave me a bit of a look when he checked the lights that said 'f@@k they're dim' . Can you buy xenon or halogen bulbs / lights that are compatible?

If the lights are as poor as you des ribs, I would start looking for a cause of poor lighting. Take some readings with a meter and look for earth leakage.

Yes, it will be poor at tick over, but you really should have bright lights when running. There are ways of improving the lights, but yours just sound faulty.

(Bicycle lights are very, very good these days)

Keeko wrote:The lens is fine. It's just when I motd it yesterday the inspector gave me a bit of a look when he checked the lights that said 'f@@k they're dim' . Can you buy xenon or halogen bulbs / lights that are compatible?

Someone please verify, I seem to recollect that the T5 Classic uses H4 style bulbs in the headlight? That being the case, and H4 55/60 way Xenon from Halfords will do the trick but you WILL need to use LED lamps in the rear light and as Knowledge says, you may well have a poor connection somewhere. Check the connections from the stator in the connection box above the kickstart as a first port of call. Get hold of an electrical test meter and set it to AC volts then put a probe either side of each joint with the engine running and the lights on. Your meter SHOULD read zero, if you get a reading then that indicates a high resistance in the connection. Dismantle connection, clean, reassemble and test again. Do that for all the joints up to and including the lamp itself. Then do the same to check the earths.

i had a t5 classic and it used the old round standard headlamp bulb, i must say the lights were pretty bright so i left it as standard, they do make a newer headlamp with a flatter clearer glass that uses the h4 bulb that colin has just mentioned, this will surely give a better light, although i suspect you have a fault some where that needs fixing, maybe try your voltage regulator, check the connections and earth, check stator output as well,
good luck,

holty

You've got a problem somewhere if your T5 headlight is dim. T5 electrics are as good as it gets. A ba20d halogen bulb is a straight fit and can be picked up in most auto factors. It's even better than the standard bulb that Holty mentioned and that's pretty good!

Many thanks for all the very helpful info and advice guys.