FAQ: Should I buy a new headlight bulb for my GS500?

[Turd Ferguson]

I ride a GS500F, and have not been satisfied with the illumination of the factory headlight at night.  I saw the Sylvania Silverstars while at Auto Zone this afternoon and decided to give it a try.  I have experienced good results with these bulbs on other vehicles of mine, so I hoped that it would improve the horrible lighting given by the factory GS500F set up.

For those that have never done it, bulb installation is simple and takes around 2 minutes.  The Sylvania Silverstar H4 bulb fits perfectly into the factory housing and plugs right into the factory harness.

While I have not ridden the bike at night, the light output in my garage is drastically improved with the Silverstar.  The bulb is only 45 watts on the "low beam" setting, which is 10 watts less than the factory bulb but the light output is much greater with the Silverstar.  I have snapped a few photos of the light output and the headlight itself of the factory Philips bulb shown against the Sylvania Silverstar.  The photos are not very good, and do not do the bulb justice.  The stock bulb was very yellow, where the Silverstar has a very white color.  The bulb does not look like one of the cheap blue bulbs, but rather looks very close to HID.  Don't get me wrong, no one is going to mistake the bulb for an HID system, but the color seems to be as close as you will get with a halogen bulb.

Take a look at the light output on my garage wall.  Note the color of the light shining on the bicycles on the left side.  The stock bulb casts a very yellow light, and the bikes show up blurry in the picture.  The Silverstar casts a whiter light and the bicycles are highly visible.


Here is a shot of the headlamp assembly itself.  Compare the light output for both bulbs to the yellow-ish parking light on the bottom of the headlamp.


The results are good, but certainly not drastic.  I believe this will be some of the best $20 I've spent on my GS, as it will make night riding much easier and safer.

The bulb I tried:
Sylvania Silverstar H4 45W/65W Motorcycle Use Only
$19.95 at Auto Zone

Ride safe,
-Turd.

[dweese]

I use the Sylvania Silverstar in my car (05 Dodge SX2.0 sport) doesn't look like much looking at them, but makes a world of diffreance at night on a back road with not other cars around.

[annguyen1981]

I just purchased and installed YELLOW bulbs into my GS500f

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=25338.0

[Wrecent_Wryder]

[t5

[mike_mike]

i did the headlight mod to my GS500F as well. it was really simple. I agree with the thread starter, it isn't a major change, however you do notice that it is a bit whiter and brighter.

[middlem2]

Dude!  Thank you so much for the advice.  I went and bought one and it is brighter and clearer and easy to install.  Great way to improve my defensive safety and an easy fix!

[pantablo]

add a few pictures of the bulb replacement so I can put it in the FAQ section please...