Bike-in-a-box blog: Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!

I'm about done mucking around with LED bulbs. I like the idea in principle, but they have some serious problems in practice:

The don't give as much light as an equivalent sized incandescent. Yes, more light per watt drawn, perhaps more light in one narrow direction, but less overall light output per mount.
Because the power draw, and thus resistance, is lower, they can't be used as indicator bulbs without adding ballast resistors. I can't be doing with that, since it would complicate retro-fitting incandescents.
They're polarity-dependent, which can be an issue if the light fitting is bass ackwards.

This last is an issue because the small spots that I bought came with... wait for it... 6v bulbs, much as the Pilgrims must have used. I didn't notice this until they burned out, so I bought 12v LEDs to replace them. Mistake. The light from that size (MES) of LED bulb is very dim, plus in a double-whammy, the spots have a weird polarity: -ve/ground is connected to the centre contact, rather than to the bulb body, but the LEDs I got are sanely polarised and thus don't work. I managed to short a connection while testing this and blew my fuse. Credit to our Chinese chums: the Huonaio comes with a spare fuse inside the fuse holder, but I'll have to remember to get a replacement spare.

For reference, the bike and its electrics do actually work just fine without a fuse, with the power coming directly from the generator - it just needs kick started.

So I've got some regular MES 5W bulbs on fleaBay order. While I was there, I've taken another gamble on some 20 year old (but unused) rear crash bars for a Honda CM200 T, which I nabbed at a good price. The seller indicated that the sizing is adjustable (by rotating the mounts) so I'm optimistic that they'll fit. I can't remember the last time - or ever - that I saw a bike with rear bars fitted, so this is getting pretty Custom.

And as if by magic, LLExeter (Chinese Motorcycle Parts Online) called me back a full 2 weeks after I ordered a Pioneer mudguard, to say that they'd sourced one, in black rather than black and silver, complete with a scuff mark and accompanying discount. I'm happy to take it, since it may not fit anyway, and if it does, then I'm seriously considering a paint job for the bike.

I found that I liked the cheapo B-Square open-face helmet so much that I got the wife to gift me a Nitro retro openface helmet, in nice visible white.

It comes with a swappable visor and sun peak, has a medium-sized shell on a medium-sized inner, and I absolutely love it. One thing I've noticed is that wearing an open face makes me feel more vulnerable - like riding a pedal cycle - so I look around more, a task made easier by the lighter weight. I strongly believe that bike safety is more about visibility and accident avoidance than protection. That's not to say that I don't armour up, but not at the expense of feeling over-protected and complacent.

Before going for the retro, I popped into the local bike emporium to try on a Nitro X512 open face first, and really liked that too. To be honest, it's a more practical helmet, since the visor and sun peak can be on at the same time, with the visor fully flippable under the peak, giving the best of both worlds.