New brakes?

My rear wheel brake lever pulls way in when engaged. I figured I needed new pads so I called up a few shops in hopes to get quotes. SF Moto was the nicest. Eric picked up the phone and after I asked for the quote (he gave me $110), he asked me how many miles I have b/c rear brakes rarely need replacing on the Vino 125.

"Uh, 4,000. No probably 4,200 by now," I reply.

"It probably just needs a brake adjustment. Roll in and we'll do it for free," he offered.

Wow, okay. I'm there. I take off after work and head straight there. They helped me immediately. What a great place. Everyone is very professional. Don't let the haircuts and tattoos throw you off. The staff provides lots of hospitality and looks at you in the eyes when they talk - a rarity these days.

The tech makes an adjustment and hops on taking it up and down the alleyway. He tweeks it more and is done in less than 4 minutes.

After the guy made the adjustment, boy what a change! It feels like brand new! It's so good that my front brake lever now feels insufficient. I tried figuring out how to adjust that one, but the manual only talks about the rear brake - no front brake info. Hmmm, time to hit the forums.

Looking at the scooter, the guy did mention that I need a new rear tire. I'll schedule something for next week and pop one on - $110 was the quote. I trust them.

Hit by a bus?

Good thing I'm paying attention b/c as I was in Downtown on my way to dinner after work, a bus comes veering into my lane! Hello bus driver!!!! Wake up! It amazes me how crazy drivers are. Scootering around can be a chore. Definitely got to keep my head up and continue paying very close attention since I need to make up for those who lack the ability, strength or heart to.

This is another example of how life would be so much better if people would just do what they're supposed to do. People know what's expected of them. It's not that hard. Rarely are accidents truly accidents. Unfortunately the minority group needs to work hard enough to make up for the lazy and/or uncaring majority.

Scootering in the rain

Don't do it - ever. I did it once yesterday b/c I was too dumb to look at the weather report before taking the scoot out to work. By the time I got off and was ready to ride back home, it was drenched and still raining. Super dangerous.

The cold didn't bother me and my soaked pants didn't bother me either. It's the fact that I know drivers out there aren't paying attention that scares me. Also if I do happen to fall, I'd go sliding and be even more vulnerable to other cars. Lesson learned. No riding in the rain.

No fun in the rain

I've been having trouble passing smog with the car, so I have basically been driving that to help clear the codes to pass. The rain hasn't helped with any scooter riding opportunities either. I hope it gets better soon.

Watch out for that tennis ball!

I got hit by a tennis ball this morning riding home from breakfast with your mom. On Geary Blvd next to the school, I saw a tennis ball bouncing on the floor and didn't really do much to swerve out of the way. Luckily it bounced and hit the fender rather than in one of the two worst other possible places like,

1. My head or
2. Under the wheel.


It wasn't coming too fast, but did surprise me. I'm not sure if I ignored the ball and failed to swerve intentionally or if I just froze when it happened. Either case, I'm glad nothing happened. It just bounced on the ground, hit the fender and ended up along side of the road somewhere else. It came on a big uphill slope, so I'm sure it kept sliding down the street behind me as I passed.

Another scooter close call?

HID issues

Originally I didn't care for HID's since there was so much trouble hooking them up to work on the Vino. People have been able to successfully ignite the HID at startup but have had trouble keeping the bulb lit. They suspect it's due to the Vino not being able to put enough electricity to keep the bulb running.

I've opened up some threads from the people at HID Planet.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?37218-Not-enough-power-to-maintain-HID-s-lit&p=372574#post372574

Someone with the same issue?
http://www.zumaforums.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4048&sid=819ac6398e3aa7325460c64f2026b484

After hours or research, I think I've figured out how this is going to work. I just need to be sure to hook up a relay directly to the battery and the HID's should be fine. If it still doesn't work, there's one other option. Replace the relay with a 10-15 second time delay relay. This will prevent the HID's from heating up while the battery is already working its hardest to turn the engine over.

Is the risk of this not working worth the money to do this? I remember back in the day when I bought my first HID kit for the Rav4, the used bi-xenon kit was $299! The has dropped significantly in the past 8 years. Nowadays a kit can be bought for $36 shipped! I recently sold $153 worth of extra scooter parts I had laying around when I bought the scooter originally. That pays for a higher end HID kit two times over, but I'm still hesitant to spend the money right now. $150 is 5 months worth of scooter gas!

The two kits I'm considering are made by the Retrofit Resource and DDM Tuning. Both have great reputations, have resaonable prices and also sell some of the harnesses and relays needed for my application.

Custom angel eye projector retrofit

I've always loved projector headlights ever since the early Lexus RX300 SUV came out. Yup, that was years ago. I never had the money nor the know-how to install something like this on my Rav4, but there have been many more resources since then and the competition for projectors has gone up making these sell for much cheaper than they did before. It's hard to believe that HID kits used to cost $300 and now they're literally $37 shipped on Ebay.

I'm still doing my research and gathering the funds for this project. For the time being,


Inspiration:
I've gotten tons of inspiration for this project from seeing all the motorcycle headlights people have fabricated.

These things look amazing! The color rendering is perfect. It definitely stands out from the crowd. Exactly what I need to be seen in the dark amongst cagers. In my research I've found a few ways the color is achieved. The most simple way is to swap bulbs. Something in the 10,000 Kelvin range I believe would create this color. Others have painted the rear bracket of the projector to reflect a hint of color. I've also seen smaller dimmer lights behind the projector separate from the main bulb that creates the color.

This isn't from a scooter, but boy does that look good! There isn't enough room for me to have two lights, but this is still some good inspiration. I'm loving the angel eyes.





Wow, gatling gun LED on top with an orange headlight accented by a white halo. Looks great. Even the vents are lit up on this one.

Change headlights
In order for all the cool stuff to be seen, the headlight lens needs to be clear. The existing one is not quite frosted, but definitely isn't completely clear.

I've learned that the clear ones are either called crystal or diamond. I've been looking for some. The prices range from $28 and up.







This Rampage brand one seems to be the best. I've looked at all the brands including Cilie, Hella, Autopal, Diaoku, IPCW, AutoLoc Pilot, Kuryakyn, Rugged Ridge and I believe Rampage is the only one with both a glass lens and an aluminum reflector. The rest have plastic reflectors.





This is how the back of the stock headlight looks like. There are a bunch of brackets and little metal things surrounding it, but I've confirmed the shape of the headlight is fairly typical. I think any headlight will do.






How much room is there for the retrofit?
Most projector headlights are quite large. Even the Morimoto Mini is at least 4.5" to the threads. Do I even have that much space?

Here's the photo with the tape measure from the inside of the headlight lens to where the bulb bracket is. Bad news is it doesn't look like there's enough space to add a projector! I'll have to contact Retrofit Resource to find out.






Which projector:
Before doing the measurements, I had researched what was available. I was looking for something small, easy to install and designed for halogen bulbs.

The Morimoto Mini H1 fits the latter criteria and got very good reviews. After doing the measurements however, I'm not sure about the fitment. It definitely won't fit the way it was designed for cars that have a deeper headlamp, but maybe I can still make it work.




After further research, the D2S version is the one I want. It converts the H4 socket to an H7 to fit into the projector if I decide to stick with a halogen setup.






I'm also considering this Universal H3 projector sold on ebay. It goes for $25. Very tempting. The price is less than half that of the Mini Morimoto, but takes a different bulb type and has no product support nor reviews.




I'm told by a guy on one of the Yamaha forums that this thing sells for $60. It's super tiny. Way smaller than the other projectors.








Here's another one I've been eying on ebay. It has an integrated halo, but I'm pretty sure it won't look right once the projectors are turned on. The halo's too close to the projector.







Why custom?
Why bother making a custom projector headlight if there's already ones available on the market?

Even if I didn't mind that the headlight bulges out like a big o' bubble and there's no halo, there's no way I'm paying sticker price for this puppy. Guess.

$500. Yup, half a grand for a single headlight and that doesn't include tax and shipping. That's over 30% the cost of the scooter! Ain't happening.






An ebay seller has CCFL halo rings specifically for the Vino 125. It's actually all generic but just happens to be the same size and she markets it for my particular scooter. Smart idea. It's $28 for either white or blue. I later found another seller who can get it to my house for $13 shipped. Looks like he's the winner. What I don't like about this setup is:


1. The ring is on the outside of the headlamp which just looks cheap. You can tell no thought went into it and it was just slapped on. Definitely doesn't looks stock. I'm always going for the clean stock look on any of my mods.

2. Another reason I don't like it is I can just imagine how bad it will look when the headlight is on. I don't want a blue ring. I'd much prefer white. I suppose the contrast of the clean blue ring over the stock yellowish glaring light would look decent from a head-on view, but there isn't enough of a gap. It would not achieve the look I'm going for.

Notice in this picture there's a ring of nothingness around the projector. The halo clearly contrasts with the projector. Each light is very well defined. Many other setups I've seen aren't able to achieve this. The halo sits adjacent to the projector and there's just a big blur. It looks as if the halo isn't even there. A thick shroud would create the defined look I'm going for.




Mounting Methods:
I'll need to mount the custom projector somehow. It'll be tough with the limited space I have in the OEM style reflective housing, but I've managed to scrounge up some photos of how others have managed to do it. Though their headlamp housings are deeper, I can still borrow some ideas that might be applicable to my project.

Notice how the flange of the projector is on the rear of the headlamp. It's typically installed on the reflective side but this person installed it in the back probably b/c he ran into the same problem that I'm foreseeing - not enough space. He was able to screw it in fairly nicely.




Even if I could cut a hole big enough, I won't be able to install mine like this with the flange on the inside of the reflector. My headlamp simply isn't deep enough. I'd have to cut a hole the same size diameter as the headlight itself!






This is how it would look like from the front with the flange on the back side. The projector needs to recess inside the lamp's reflector.








So that it doesn't wobble around, I may have to use a PVC pipe like this one to secure the projector and prevent it from moving.








UPDATE 12/30/10
I learned a few things this past week, some of which were from HID Planet

1. There are no projectors designed for dual filament bulbs like the H4.
2. Everyone really does love the Morimoto Mini.
3. The GT-522 is $60 (same price as the MMH1/D2S): http://www.e-r.com.tw/product01.htm
4. H1 and H3 bulbs are single filament bulbs
5. H3 bulbs can be used on a H4 harness with an adapter made from a male H4 and female H3.

UPDATE 1/4/11
More new info:

6. The Retrofit Resources Morimoto Mini D2S takes D2S bulbs which will be converted from the H4 through a harness/adapter which I can make $8 or buy $14.99 from autoluminations
7. Their Mini D2S also takes a H7 halogen bulb. My H4 bulb socket will still have to be converted even if I skip the HID's and continue with halogens. A H4 to H7 harness/adapter will be needed.
8. A relay to the battery is a must - $13.
9. I might consider a time delay relay to make the headlights turn on 10-15 seconds after the engine is turned over. This will make it so the battery isn't overwhelmed by having to both start the engine and heat up the HID ballasts at the same time.
10. Alibaba Express sells products by the singles!