GEN 1 Replacement Brake Bulbs - LED or not?

Hey everyone. i have owned my 2003 Gen 1 since 2012/2013 and with 120k miles one of the tail light bulbs just failed.... Pretty dang long life.

I expect the other one is probably close to being done as well so I need to get some new ones. Visibility is very important to me since I daily commute and this time of year much of that commute is in the dark.

Has anyone with a GEN 1 replaced the tail/brake bulbs with LED instead of standard bulbs?

What have you replaced yours with?

I know if you go with turn signals as LED's you need a resistor inline to keep the correct pulse pattern, any mods needed for taillight/brake bulbs?
 
Update.

I just decided to pull the bulbs and stop in my local moto shop yesterday. Regular replacement bulbs, $9 each. LEDs, $60.... NOPE. The incandescents in there lasted from when I bought the bike used in 2013 with 39k miles until now with 119k miles.

When I put them in I did notice they were stuck on as if I was holding the brakes on.

I unplugged the front brake light switch and nothing changed. I checked the spring return that activates the switch for the rear brake and found it was at the loosest it could get, so I tightened it up, really a pain with fat fingers like I have. Once I did that the lights changed to be working like normal and the rears would go brighter with a pull of the front brake lever, but they wont light up when I press the rear brake..... I messed around with it a little bit more and then decided to call it. I always use my fronts to slow down, so I know I will have indication behind me when slowing. I will try messing with the rear switch again later.
 
Update.

I just decided to pull the bulbs and stop in my local moto shop yesterday. Regular replacement bulbs, $9 each. LEDs, $60.... NOPE. The incandescents in there lasted from when I bought the bike used in 2013 with 39k miles until now with 119k miles.

When I put them in I did notice they were stuck on as if I was holding the brakes on.

I unplugged the front brake light switch and nothing changed. I checked the spring return that activates the switch for the rear brake and found it was at the loosest it could get, so I tightened it up, really a pain with fat fingers like I have. Once I did that the lights changed to be working like normal and the rears would go brighter with a pull of the front brake lever, but they wont light up when I press the rear brake..... I messed around with it a little bit more and then decided to call it. I always use my fronts to slow down, so I know I will have indication behind me when slowing. I will try messing with the rear switch again later.


Did you try loosening it back up ? Interested in how this wad resolved
 
I guess I totally forgot to update this thread.

So within a few days they both burnt out. I took them back to the Shop and found out they had sold me the wrong lights. They refunded my purchase against the correct bulbs which were more expensive, don't recall exactly, but once I had the correct ones in everything worked fine.
 
i have found in my life that normal bulbs ver led. does not matter. as the fools that rear-end you are not looking to start with.
but with the low output of the gen on the fz1. led's can not hurt, more than your bank account.
 
I use these:
Break/turn lights

I have used these ones on 5 bikes (last three years) and not had a failure yet. I wire the red into the brake for extra notice that I am stopping, but it can be wired to the tail light as well. On other bikes I use the white ones as running lights too. I have flush mounts on my FZ though.
 
I use these:
Break/turn lights

I have used these ones on 5 bikes (last three years) and not had a failure yet. I wire the red into the brake for extra notice that I am stopping, but it can be wired to the tail light as well. On other bikes I use the white ones as running lights too. I have flush mounts on my FZ though.
Those look pretty cool, did you use them for front and rear indicators? Looks like they can be wired for either location.
 
Old thread but I'll comment that the LED turn signal lights require much less power, the big savings is switching the headlights to Led (I've done both) but if you use heated gear in the cold months is nice to have more juice for heat. Don't forget the front signals have the running lights always on. The Superbright Amber LED bulbs I just bought were $20 for a set of 2.
 
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