How would you guys rate the effectiveness of the high beam on pre-01 GS? I ask because mine is horrible. I get blinding lighting right near my bike and seemingly nothing further. My low beams give me better visibility.

I haven't looked yet but i'm pretty sure that the bulbs aren't individually adjustable, right?

Thanks for comments, info, or tips.

When I got mine new from the dealer the first time I rode at night my low beam was fine but full beam was lighting up the trees really well. I got them to sort it on the 600 mile first service and the mechanic appologised for not making the adjustment so i have a feeling that individual adjustment may be possible. I will check the manual when I get home and if no answer has appeared I'll come back in 24hrs. You can always try slightly shifting the position of the whole lamp, generally the lighting on the GS is OK no better, no worse than most bikes.

if i remember, there is only ONE bulb in the housing. so unless you can adjust the filaments individually, i dont htink it is possible :dunno:

It sounds like your headlamp is pointed too high.  When using the High beam, were you riding in an area with trees or buildings (which would be illuminated "high overhead" if my guess is right)?  If you were out in the middle of Kansas or Oklahoma you wouldn't get any indication that the beam was pointed too high, because there wouldn't be anything for it to reflect off of.

A number of things can contribute to the beam being pointed too high.  Perhaps the current rear tire is smaller than the previous one, or the preload on the shock has been decreased, or the stock fork springs have been replaced with Progressives, or your rear tire has insufficient air pressure, or ....

I try to adjust my headlight so the Low beam hits JUST BELOW the rear window of a standard passenger car when I'm at a reasonable following distance.  That way drivers in front of me aren't blinded, and once the road opens up the High beam points in just the right direction.

my '96 high beam works considerably better than the high beam on my car...

of course, my car's are terrible and can't be adjusted properly so maybe that's not saying much...

but I've always been pleased with the high beam.  I'd check the adjustment, like Kerry suggests.

Here in Denmark, the low beam should iluminate the road at least 30 meter, and the high beam at least 100 meters. The beam should degrade 1 cm for each meter.


/tralala

if your low beams seem to light up better than your high beams, have a look to see if the bulb is in upside down, that happened on my scooter.  Just put it in the other way and all was well again