Lights
Twin lamps give out more than an ample amount of light for night riding and the dash
illumination was clear and easy on the eye. There are few things worse than a dash that
has brighter lighting than your headlights! The high beam is a simple switch matter and I
found it easy to flick this off and on quickly without having to look at my hand. Very
important when on the back lanes giving it a bit of stick and you don’t want to blind the
driver coming around the bend as you fumble your thumb around looking for the dip
switch.
Changing the front lamps is a very simple affair. The back covers are easy to get to with
plenty of space to get my whole hand in there for the twist and not shave off a few mill of
knuckle skin in the process.
The rear light is LED, of course. Most modern bikes are LED due to the power drain being
less, the lumens being more for your volts and... they look nice. The Tiger’s is positioned
well and the person behind is left in no doubt that you just applied the brakes. No
problem either with kit on the back of the bike’s rear plate over hangs the light to stop
anything drooping down over the rear light.
I’m not a massive fan of LED I have to say, the reason being is that they are a unit. I was on
an Iron Butt Ride of 1000 miles in under 24 hours with a mate on a Harley! I was on an old
style Varadero and at 2am on the M25 his rear light failed. Now, if it was me (I carry spare
bulbs) I would have pulled in unscrewed the rear guard and replaced the bulb to be on my
way. Taff (I don’t recall where he was from) had LED rear and we had to sit in an Esso
station until the sun came up so we could get to a dealer to change the unit.
Your options are to carry a spare LED rear light unit, have a Givi topbox with built in brake
lights or wait for the sun to come up. I prefer to carry a Philips screwdriver and have a
£1.25 bulb if I’m honest but such is the way of the future.