desert racing dual headlites??

[Bigbill]

Sometimes in the past we did midnight rides just for fun. If one of us in the group had no headline we put him in front of us that did have headlites.

Now I was thinking about those twin desert headlines. What brand were they or were they custom built? I'm thinking one headline for the low beam and the second headline as backup if the low beam went out or use it as a high beam.

Any info on these old desert racing twin head lite setups?

 

[jimspac]

In the day ,They were CIBI also used on trucks and yes you need high stator output to use them

 

[Bigbill]

Yup I had a pair in my '73 k10 4x4 Chevy truck. They had a mile of illumination. Up in Vermont they were lighting up road signs before I could read them on the next mountain. After around 20 years of use the chrome rusted on the reflected lens. I wish I had another set for my 99 jeep.

I need to see what stator I have but at the same time I hate to burn it out.

 

[2premo]

the Cibie is a great light so I sold them back in the 70's still have them on a79 f350 4x4
back in the day this guy had his high beams on and I flashed him,, smartass turned his driving lights on me so 2 Oscars and a Super Oscar all with 100w bulbs later he just turned everything off and dimmed his headlights I was a mile away,, lit him up big time
not sure what bulb would be a good idea, stock was 55w,, a bit of a stretch for early ignitions
the old ones were the Oscar model you saw on the bikes with the round back
sometimes they had a flat back and they were called Oscar + (plus)

 

[suprize]

you need the 140 watt SEM but then there is a small issue that follows them around......

 

[2premo]

new ones pop up
a friend has one for sale

 

[rwgregory]

Sometimes in the past we did midnight rides just for fun. If one of us in the group had no headline we put him in front of us that did have headlites.

Now I was thinking about those twin desert headlines. What brand were they or were they custom built? I'm thinking one headline for the low beam and the second headline as backup if the low beam went out or use it as a high beam.

Any info on these old desert racing twin head lite setups?

Being an old, busted up Baja racer I know a fair bit about dual light set ups. We always made our own light frames,(it was nice having a metal worker as a race partner). We used Cibie Super Oscar lights, 2 of them side by side. One light was a pencil beam and the other one was a driving light. That way the pencil would put the light out there and the driving light would give you a wide spread. You only use the round outer metal frame of the light to hold the glass light and do away with the metal "can" covering the back of the light assembly. That way when you are riding the back of the glass light is exposed and facing you. This not only saves weight but if you have to change a burned out bulb it is much quicker than having to disassemble the light to get to the bulb.
Speaking of bulbs, H1 Super Oscar bulbs come in 55, 100 and 130 watt varieties. Run as much wattage as you can depending on your lighting coil ignition capabilities. On Huskys and KTMs we would run dual 55 watt bulbs using 140 watt output SEM ignitions. On a Rotax powered ATK we had 190 watts available so we ran a 130 watt bulb in the pencil and a 55 watt in the driving light. On Honda XRs the ignitions were rewound to put out over 200 watts so we ran side by side 100 watt bulbs.
If you don't want to build your own frame Baja Designs in San Marcos, CA sells light frame setups,(at least I know they used to...).
Also when on a night ride/race ALWAYS run a battery powered light on your helmet and have it turned on the ENTIRE time you will be riding at night. If your lights get unplugged from the power source or a wire breaks it will get REAL DARK VERY QUICKLY!! Don't ask me how I know this...[/quote]

 

[Tinken]

In the old days, Ty ran two monster halogens with a smaller one on top of that. It looked like a locomotive. They say dual HID's are a thing of the past with the new led setups, but I beg the differ. I still believe it is the best setup if you can afford the weight. If not, a Baja Designs 8" on the bottom and a Onyx combo or dual squadrons on the top is the winning setup these days.

 

[enduro250z]

You can also get HID conversions for the Cibie lights now. There is a good seller on ebay Au that has them specifically for Cibies, so you could get away with a stator much less than 140w. The lowest HID is 35w which piuts out much more than a 100w halogen, but you do need a stator with more than 35 to run them. Firstly you need to rectifiy it to DC so there is some loss there, then you need to be able to charge a battery (sometimes you can get HID to work off a big electrolytic capacitor), but the HID will draw a fair bit more than 35w on start up, then settle down to 35w draw. I am guessing but you may be able to get by with around a 60w stator and a good size battery to run a single 35w HID

 

[ruwfo]

My buddy put a sort of driving light pair on his Triumph Rocket below the headlight , they were LED's an bright as Hell, I'd bet with some research you could find a set they would do the same.

But on a Old Husky, I'd doubt the lighting coil could handle it, without a battery

 

[Bigbill]

I'm thinking down the road to do a tribute to desert racing husqvarna replica bike. So many have forgotten the husqvarna blood line were motocross was started in the USA and desert racing evolved. Plus we love doing midnight rides in the trails. It's our family tradition.

 

[Michel Dufayard]

Yes, let the good time roll !

 

[Team WR]

Mine was a Baja design (single), rode it on the street a few times (1979 390WR) was like a train coming
(will requre lighting coil(s) update)

 

[justintendo]

Yes, let the good time roll !
View attachment 44603

what kind of pipe is on this? its huge

 

[ruwfo]

what kind of pipe is on this? its huge

well that's a 430 , so maybe it's got a 500 pipe , though the bottom loop looks custom...