I sure there are bikes out there, other than second generation Bandits, that have poor headlights. That said, the second generation Bandit's headlights SUCK. So, a year or so ago (maybe longer) I decided to do something about. Did a bunch of research including looking into an HID conversion. When all was said and done I came to the conclusion (with help from others with the same issue) that it was not the headlight assemblies or the bulbs. It was the tiny arse factory wiring that was the issue.
In a talk with an electrical engineer, he pointed out that a voltage drop of about 15% will result in about a 40% drop in light output. I did not bother testing my bike for voltage drop as all of the Bandit owners that did came out with readings around 10V which is actually more than 15% when you consider a car/bike system operates at 13.5V nominally. I decided that rather than go the HID route (don't like the added parts count or glare they give off) I would simply install a kit from this guy -
http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/wiring_kits.html All I can say is; PROBLEM FIXED!
So, in short, if your bike is lacking in light output I suggest looking into an upgraded light harness. With the lights getting proper voltage, I can see just about as far down road with teh low beam as I could before on high and teh bandit is one of the bikes with seperate low and high bulbs and the low bulb stays on when high is selected.
