Motorcycle headlight and horn care

A headlight is one of the most critical parts of a motorcycle though its maintenance is often overlooked, mostly because of the minimal care it requires. A properly functioning headlamp offering decent throw goes a long way in ensuring safety during nighttime riding. Regularly inspecting its brightness and effectiveness can help improve your ridability at nights by a huge margin. Of course, headlights aren’t the only lamps on our bikes that need to be in proper working order. Check the taillights, turn indicators, and any other points of illumination on your two-wheeler to make sure everything’s nice and bright.

Clean:

Give the headlight, indicators and taillights a quick wipe before you start your bike. It only takes a few minutes and helps improve the effectiveness of the lights. Clean headlights can help you see better while clean indicators and tail lights greatly enhance your visiblity to fellow motorists. 

Check Your Lenses:

The first thing to do when checking headlights is to inspect the lenses: Are they crystal clear, or do you see some fogginess and yellowing? Headlight lenses tend to become cloudy over prolonged usage and diffuse the beams of your headlights, which not only impairs your visibility, but makes you harder to see too! The above is applicable for turn indicators and brake lights, too.

Check for Focus:

When you’re checking for brightness, you’ll also want to consider if the beam is aimed well. If one finds the brightness of the lights inadequate, replace the bulbs with more powerful ones. Ensure the beam spread on low beam is as far as possible, so that the range of your visibility gets increased. Potholes are a common cause of misaligned headlights: ask your mechanic to adjust them during the servicing of your bike. If your indicators are cracked, replace them rather than taping them.

Horn:

A horn is one of the most vital parts of our daily commute considering the heavy traffic we face. Check whether it’s sounding properly or not; see if the wires connecting to the horn are in proper condition. Check the fuse because a faulty fuse is one of the most common reasons for defective horns. A weak horn is as good as a defective horn; replace it the moment it loses its loudness. Wipe the horn with a dry cloth regularly because dust and rust tend to reduce its life considerably.