A while back I wrote about Baja Design’s release of the new ONX LED Light Bar for the Yamaha Super Tenere XT1200 Z. Impressed with the specs and the simplicity of something that would mount straight onto the bike I ordered a light bar (and some SII’s) at the first opportunity from Ride On ADV. I bought them from Ride On ADV rather than direct from Baja Designs because I also wanted a set of long brake and clutch lines to go with fitting 2″ ROX risers. The lights were the same price and I saved on delivery.
Back to the ONX Light Bar. Mounting it couldn’t have been simpler, take out the OEM bolts under the headlight that indicate where the OEM Fog lights should go and use the bolts supplied with the light bar kit to bolt the bar in. I did that part myself and the mounting hardware was a perfect fit.
The light bar is very solid, a little heavier than expected as a result of the large cooling fin area on the rear of the lights. Mounting with just two bolts seems on the face of it a bit light on (no pun intended) but I guess time will tell if it holds up to a pounding. I’m reasonable confident it will, Baja Designs has a great reputation.
The ONX Light Bar has a microprocessor in it that allows for a couple of different wiring harnesses (for strobe, fading, blah blah) supplied by Baja Designs separately that weren’t of interest to me. My need was simple, a switch to turn them on (and off) and when on they fire up full blast with the high beam switch. Neither of Baja Designs harnesses did this simply so I opted for custom wiring.
However, wiring isn’t my fortè so this was another job for the Adventure Motorcycle expert, Clive from Motorcyclebiz.com.au. Sadly there’s not really much space to put switches on the Super Tenere so we’ve come up with a cunning plan. We’ll be replacing the GPS mounting bar that came with my new Madstad Super Tenere Adjustable Screen Bracket with an aluminium strip with three switches mounted into it. One switch for the Light Bar, one for the SII’s and one for the ABS disable switch going in soon too.
Keen to have the ONX light bar operational for an upcoming ride they are currently hard wired in and activate with the high beam switch.
The angle of the lights is adjustable in the bracket and is easy if you have the right sized allen key, easy.
I have to admit I’m really impressed with the light that the light bar throws out. Shining them up the street the headlight on high beam stacks up like an extra candle. This weekend will be the first proper real world test of the light bar, I’ll edit this entry once that’s done. My initial thought though, a great spend!
Update 20/11/2012: Last Friday evening on a ride to Canberra on a dark, showery evening I got the opportunity to see the ONX LED Light bar in action. The light it throws our is circular in shape and the distance it lights up is impressive. Because of the shape of the beam (remember I ordered the combo optics) I would prefer a little more light lower and to the sides (under the curve of the light bar) and I’ve got a couple of S2’s ready to fill that gap. But that’s being a bit picky, if the a ONX LED light bar is all you get you’ll be very happy for the amount of light at the price.