Motorcycle headlights are one of the most important safety features of a motorcycle. They work in both giving you visibility at low light conditions or at night, and they also let people know that you’re there. Motorcycles nowadays have more than one type of headlight technology to give you visibility and make yourself visible at the same time.
In any case, they all do one important job when you’re riding down a dark road — lighting the way. Here are the different types of motorcycle headlights most manufacturers commonly use on their motorcycles.
Halogen
Royal Enfield Continental GT 650
Pros:
They’re inexpensive, have that old-school retro feel, and are easy to replace
Cons:
Halogen bulbs have a short lifespan as compared to other types of headlights
Halogen headlights are among the most common types of headlights found in motorcycles ranging from the entry-level to the retro-styled models like the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650. They have been used since the very beginning. A halogen bulb uses a tungsten filament with a small amount of halogen gas that mounts in the center of a housing which heats up and emits light as electric current flows through it. The housing itself can be more basic with the use of a reflector, which – true to its name, reflects light emitted from the bulb onto the road. A more advanced housing that a bulb can find itself in is a projector lens, which focuses the light from the bulb onto the road ahead.
Xenon or High-Intensity Discharge (HID)
Kawasaki Z900
Pros:
Brighter, less heat generation, and longer life span
Cons:
More expensive, and might require an electrician to replace and fix
Like halogen headlights, a tungsten filament is also used in Xenon or HID bulbs, however, if Halogen bulbs are filled with Halogen gas, HIDs are filled with Xenon. The light emitted from these kinds of lights is much bluer in their color temperature, rather than the incandescent hues of the more standard halogens. I
