Installing HID Lights on a SE Road Glide

I love my CVO Road Glide, but wasn't happy with my headlights.  I was thinking that the two huge headlights on the bike would blast the light in front of me when riding; however, what I quickly found was my bike is faster than the range of the headlights.  It is dangerous to be riding at night and not being able to clearly see what is in front of me, so I installed HID lights on the bike.  

The first step is to find a HID kit that will fit the bike.  I've read many posts about XenonLink .  Most say they have good prices, fast shipping and excellent customer service.  They have been responsive to me and shipped the parts out quickly.  I'm satisfied with my purchase from them. 

The next step is to figure out what type of lights you need.  The Road Glides have a standard H4/9003 hi/low headlight mount. XenonLink sells two kits that will fit our bikes.  The 9003 Hi/Lo HID Kit and the H4 Bi-Xenon Kit.  The difference between the two is that the Hi/Lo kit uses a standard halogen bulb for hi-beam and HID for low.  The bi-xenon light moves a cover when going to hi-beam, which changes the focus point of the beam.  It isn't brighter, just a higher beam.  The downside of using the bi-xenon is that it requires tapping into 12vdc power on the bike and if the bulb is out you don't have hi or low beam.  I chose the 9003 Hi/Low HID kit.  In reality you never need the hi-beam when using xenon, but it's nice to have a backup bulb if the xenon lights fail. 

The final step in the selection process is to figure out what color temp light to buy.  The higher number does not mean brighter.  5000K is the brightest light.  Below that the light gets yellow.  Above that the light gets blue.  In my opinion, the best colors to use are 5000 or 6000K.  I picked 5K because it is the brightest pure white light.

Here's a pic of what you get in the kit.  The silver boxes are the power converters that take the 12vdc input and blast up the voltage to get the HID light to fire.  The nice thing about HID lights is that after they start burning they run cooler and take less power than standard halogen lights.

To install the lights you have to remove the front faring.  It is fairly easy to do, but you have to be careful not to scratch the paint.  The most important step is to cover the fender with a thick towel or fender cover.  It is very, very easy to scratch the paint.  Consider yourself warned.  Do not skip this step!

After the fender is covered, you need to remove the turn signals.  They have two acorn nuts and lock washers on the back.  Remove the nuts and pull them straight out.  They will hang on the power wire no problem.  I loop mine over the back of the engine guard to keep them out of the way.

The next steps is to remove the front faring.  This is easier than it looks, but you need to watch what you are doing.  First off, find the 6 screws that hold it on.  The screws look basically the same, but the two on the bottom are slightly larger than the 4 on top.  You need to keep track of what screw goes where.  The large screw can be forced into the top holes, but it will strip the threads.  The smaller screws will not work in the bottom and are hard to back out if you accidentally insert one into the hole. 

The trick here is to loosen the top screws.  Then remove the middle and bottom.  This will hold things together in case it tries to slip.  then go around front and remove the top screws while holding the faring.  To remove it push up and pull out.  It will slide right off.

NOTE: You can do this without removing the windshield.  You just need to be careful and not to scratch the paint along the top of the inner faring.  If you are concerned about this, the windshield comes off easily by removing 5 screws that are in front.

Here's a pic of what the bike looks like after the front faring is removed.  The black wire hanging down in the center is the headlight wire.  You can see in the center of this wire there are two wires tied back (one has a red cap).  This is for the European daytime running lights.  If you need power for the bi-xenon lights this is where you can get it.  The orange wire is 12vdc and the black is ground.  The 12vdc wire is powered when in the ignition position.

Here's a pic of what the bike looks like after the front faring is removed.  The black wire hanging down in the center is the headlight wire.  You can see in the center of this wire there are two wires tied back (one has a red cap).  This is for the European daytime running lights.  If you need power for the bi-xenon lights this is where you can get it.  The orange wire is 12vdc and the black is ground.  The 12vdc wire is powered when in the ignition position.

You mount the faring back on the bike in the reverse of how it was removed.  The trick here is to stand in front and push slightly up and back from the center.  You will feel it catch and hook in.  There are hooks just in front of the radio that connect to the headlight housing on the faring. 

There are also tabs on the left and right side of the faring that need to clip under the inner faring.  This is what holds the top edge of the outer faring to the inner so there isn't a gap.  Then screw things together with the turn signals going on last.

Here's a pic of my OEM headlights before making the change...

Here's what they look like after.  They put out so much more light my camera was able to make the instrument panel brighter.  These were taken in the exact same location.

Here's a pic of what the lights look like when I'm behind you ;)