Good evening, this is Bike Garage Newsletter, August 27th issue, a new publication?
Recently, it seems like fewer motorcycle shops are going for vehicle inspections. We didn’t see many in Shinagawa either, and in Sodegaura, we hardly see any at all.
But in the midst of all this! It’s natural to want to pass the troublesome headlight inspection smoothly by preparing in advance.
However! Installing the latest headlight tester requires considerable cost. Have you ever experienced this? Failed the headlight inspection on the second round, went to the tester shop but it was packed… By the time the adjustment was done, it was past noon and waiting until 1 PM was rough… Even the old model can measure LED bulbs, so let me introduce it.
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By the way, “some bulbs can be measured and some can’t”
Bulbs from the era when LED bulbs first appeared generally can’t be measured. When measuring with this old-type headlight tester, if the headlight brightness is clearly insufficient, you can consider it a fail. I think that’s a safe assumption.
Although it’s said to be unrelated, when I use LED bulbs in H4, I prefer to choose black ones.
Well, the main reason is that it’s easier to confirm the center when I adjust with the headlight tester. The NOVSIGHT LED headlight bulb is truly revolutionary. I used to use headlight relays a lot when I had trouble with vehicle inspections, but nowadays it’s completely obsolete.
Since the power consumption is low, for both bikes and cars, “it’s good manners to use the electricity that’s generated” using it actively is better for the battery and regulator.
The light meter tends to display values about 20% lower
This varies greatly depending on the bike model, but the impression is that the numbers display about 20% lower. Well, if you know that, you can check whether you’re meeting the passing threshold.
By the way, I’ve never had the headlight tester calibrated. I adjust based on the inspection station’s headlight tester.
Interestingly, even if you adjust to zero-zero at the tester shop, sometimes it still fails at the inspection station. The most important thing is passing the inspection station’s tester. After the headlight inspection is done, if you go to the booth, they’ll tell you “up, down, left, right, and brightness” information. I think you should adjust according to this and gradually improve accuracy.
By the way, currently with Sodegaura specs, it’s almost zero-zero.
How do you handle the rail, line, and fixing?
The initial setup is a bit tedious, but I use a laser to create a straight line, and stick line tape on the ground. You can peel it off and install it in a different location, and it’s very simple and efficient.
Since it gets dirty anyway, honestly any road surface line tape works fine.
Use an Ethos chock to keep it upright, and always make sure the rear is straight with a bike lifter.
This way, one person can measure and adjust the headlight. To be more precise, during inspection, I measure while standing up. When adjusting, there’s no rider, so I match that condition.
The tricky part about motorcycle headlights is that the light axis shifts significantly depending on whether you sit in front or back. With older bikes that have really soft seats, this is especially problematic.
This Ethos chock (Ethos doesn’t call it a chock) is an exceptionally excellent item. It has a return lever that you step on to remove it.
If you’ve used a regular chock before, you’ll understand that with this lever, there’s no need to pull hard on the handlebars at all. Once you try it, you can’t go back to the regular ones.
Honestly, it’s a bit cumbersome tool, but having it makes a huge difference. If you’re unlucky, you can buy it for just a few thousand yen as junk, so if you find a nice one, it might be worth considering.
I hope you can get your vehicle inspection smoothly and comfortably. Motorcycle shop owners who are struggling, please try this as a reference.
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