Is the headlight adjustable?

Since I got my bike back from the shop it seems the headlight is aimed lower than before.

With the distinct cut-off at the top of the beam it's downright scary to right at night with just the low beam lamp shining. Plenty of light just in front of me, where it's too late to mean anything, and I feel like I'm plunging blindly into the darkness. (Which I am, actually.)

Not much better on high beam. It's aimed so low that anything over about 30 mph means I'm over-driving my headlight.

Hi Mickey,

It sure is ajustable. The Honda shop manual shows the ajustment knob location from the inside view. All you need to do is just reach under with your hand and you will feel the small knob.

I'd take it back and tell them to fix it. They did a lot of work for you, and need to get this right also.

Please be careful. You don't want to hurt yourself or more wildlife.

M-

My 2 bits worth is that the globe may not be seated properly. Take it back and get them to find the problem and set it right. Dennis, do you also have the distances for setting headlamps? This may be helpful when it goes back to the shop, as you can tell them how far it is out.

Thanks for the info! It's not worth going back to the shop. I'll adjust it the way I want it.

I like the sharp low-beam cutoff. It reminds me of European-spec car headlights. It just really sucks when it's aimed too low.

I never worry about "distances". I adjust headlights until I like them. If I get "flashed" too often I know I need to move them down a bit.

Emeskay wrote:

I'd take it back and tell them to fix it. They did a lot of work for you, and need to get this right also.

Please be careful. You don't want to hurt yourself or more wildlife.

M-

Nerts to the wildlife. I'm on the warpath. I have an M-4 carbine with a red dot scope for prosecuting my war against jackrabbits. (One of THOSE little rats did over a thousand dollars damage to my New Beetle some years back. I carry a grudge.)

I found the adjuster and adjusted my headlight with the help of this forum. But now it seems my headlight is not staying where I had set it. It seems to be back down where it was before I adjusted it. Is this possible, or is it my imagination? Is there a lock on the adjuster that I missed? Hmm, wait a minute...... I do recall having set the rear shocks up a notch. Could that have made that much difference? Guess I better set the shocks down again and try it. Maybe that's why the original tool kit doesn't have the spanner to adjust the shocks. After spending for the overpriced "real" tool kit I guess I felt compelled to use the spanner. It does work neat though. Can't say as I noticed any difference in the suspension, just the headlight aim. Have ridden to work this week. Just have to watch the ice patches and not get crossed up going over them. Haven't had to test the ABS yet, thank goodness. Pavement nearly all dry. Biggest ice patch is at the end of my drive. Can't wait 'til Spring. Hopefully my mileage will improve then, too.

mickey wrote:

Nerts to the wildlife. I'm on the warpath. I have an M-4 carbine with a red dot scope for prosecuting my war against jackrabbits. (One of THOSE little rats did over a thousand dollars damage to my New Beetle some years back. I carry a grudge.)

I've no mercy for small critters that cross my path either; however, I'm having a hard time understanding how a 4-6 lb. jack could do that much damage to a car.

Once again this forum and DennisB comes through! Wanda & I were riding home after a movie last night (first ride after dark) when I noticed the exact same problem as the OP in this thread. A little fumbling around under the headlamps and I find that little knob. Voila! Lights adjusted.

Since it's daylight, I only had the back wall of my garage to use as a guide. I adjusted the beam until it was about 4-6" higher. I'll try it out tonight, if it's not raining again, to see if it's adjusted where it needs to be.

In my younger years I used to traverse the desert between Southern California and Las Vegas at night...on a motorcycle. The jackrabbits were so thick it was not unusual to hit 10-20 per hour, this is no joke. Two things I learned quickly:

1. If a jackrabbit runs in front of the bike, go straight over it... Do not swerve the front wheel; it can knock you out of sync, not a good thing. But a 200 lb rider on a 400 pound bike goes over a rabbit once, period. Rabbit loses. If unavoidable just hit the thing dead on...

2. If you see the rabbits eyes reflect at side of road, honk your horn. The sound orients them to go the other way. Otherwise, probably due to the headlight they tend to run directly in your path.

Both of these tips help but number 2 actually reduces dramatically the number of flattened bunny rabbits.

Set the S'wing on centerstand, 25 ft. from a wall. Measure heighth from ground to center of headlight bulb. Then put a mark or a piece of masking tape the same heighth on the wall. Adjust the center of that light beam to that mark. This is done in relation to the low beam. Don't think the hi-beam is independently adjustable.

the bottom adjusting screws can be accessed by reaching under the cowling .the lower screw is  the high beam adjustment.The bottom screw adjust the hight and low setting the screw for the horizontal is above to the right side of the assembly