Rode bike for 10 miles and headlight blew :(

[aaron7]

Guy at the shop said it was because the bulb was sold old that all the bumps probably broke the filament.

I'm worried that any original bulb I put in there will find the same fate.

Anyone here try those replacable bulb housings on ebay?

Like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda...item5ad6acec3c

[hahnda]

You could dremel out the bulb that is in your reflector and epoxy in a new one. I assume you are only riding in daylight? No need to worry about beam focus.

What's kind of weird about the one on eBay is that the CA95 is 6 volt and the CA160 is 12 volt, right? It lists it as being usable on either.

[Spokes]

I have one for my rebuild and one on my 160. Can't beat it. I have converted the old headlamps before I found the new replaceable ones. Converting is a pain, but it can be done.

[aaron7]

Would you recommend the replacement ones? They look like they are all plastic.

Anyone make 6v HID's? haha

[Spokes]

Depends on your budget. I used two old headlamps to make one good one. I added a 6 volt antique car headlight bulb (new one) and epoxied in the bulb and frame. Cost? $15.00 + 2hrs. New one, $100.00 with shipping.

I got the replaceable type this time. Plastic is fine.

[aaron7]

Yah I can get one of the Thai ones for around $50 shipped. I'm sure the bulb it comes with is junk though. I really just need to pass inspection but if I get caught after dark it'd be nice to be able to see!

[Smithers]

That's because it's coming from Thailand and they don't care about their items once it's out the door and on the plane over here. The moment you pay for any of their items THEY WIN, game over. We will never pay to ship anything back to them so they have the perfect scam going. Plus they have multiple eBay accounts so they buy things back and forth from each other to boost their ebay seller ratings. I've spent a lot of time tracking how this works and I actually PROVED it to eBay and contacted them a dozen times by phone and email to try and get them to take some kind of action against one seller in particular but they won't do shit.

I have spotted fake parts being sold on Ebay and one thing that I paid for was actually fake and I accidentally paid for it. Moments later I realized I was going to get a fake and the Thai seller gave me a few excuses and refused to respond as he knew I wasn't going to leave him alone. Then he tried to drag out the refund process in order to get past the certain amount of time that you have in order to file a claim to get the review and refund process going. And it was for a really cheap part! They will fight for every single penny. Him fighting for a couple bucks shows how vicious they are, even on such a petty item.

When you think about it Ebay will lose money by any actions they take to throttle back or punish a seller so they don't want to penalize sellers. They MAKE more money the more buyers get screwed. It's a huge problem. Plus there are much bigger fish to fry in the Ebay world than Thai people selling worthless junk for small amounts of money.

$50 is INSANE for that piece of crap and I urge everyone to stop buying reproduced JUNK from Thailand. It will all break just by being exposed to the sunlight for a day anyways. They represent parts as being original Honda and you will notice a lot of parts will be repro parts placed ON TOP of Honda packaging! This makes me mad.

You just have to be able to distinguish real Honda parts and verify this by asking if it is actually a REAL Honda brand part. And watch out for their tricky terms like "original style honda part" "new stock original honda part" and other such fake claims that they use.

aaron7 just hang in there and you will get a REAL headlight enclosure for less money that can be cleaned and polished right up. These things aren't so rare that we have to bend over and buy plastic that looks like the original part. I contacted a seller about buying the glass out of a whole front end assembly he had for sale and he seriously sent me the whole headlight for free without me even asking.

But if I were wanting to make an everyday driver I would do what hahnda said. I've seen a lot of people get ripped on ebay so I have to just warn people about buying things from Thailand. Not to say I never have... I've ordered REAL Honda pistons, rings and gasket sets from over there with good results for sure. I've also ordered repro parts to try them out and they are always of the worst quality. The parts made of plastic is SupeR thin and the rubber will start cracking in one month. People complain about handlebars from there, cables not being the right ones and the list goes on and on. Considering their average income over there ebay is a goldmine for them so you have to realize how much they are asking for those parts in relation to how much it actually costs them to make them over there... near nothing. Honda has been going after repro companies over there for years for all the reasons I have listed above. Their trademark is just destroyed by these Thai guys. Ok I'll step down from my podium now. =] I'm going to repost this in the Ebay scam section.

[Spokes]

Point taken. Both my headlamps were made in Japan. I bought the loose one I have from ebay, from a USA supplier.

[aaron7]

The headlights I have (one now dead, one ok) are both original. I'll take a dremel and cut out the dead one I suppose to mount something in there.

SO many times I've gotten wrong parts, broken parts, shatty parts, etc from Thailand or China. Far as I've read they have NO copyright laws over there and just bootleg EVERYTHING!

[Smithers]

Ok good. I just stress so much that people at least give their money to a US supplier at least. More now than ever we need to be aware of where our money is going. That's why I LOVE buying used parts from people in the U.S. I'm always helping another guy out that needs the money. There are some KILLER deals out there nowadays.

[phoenix216]

Some of the US suppliers are buying their stuff from Thailand though... I noticed early on that there was some serious crap out there. The only new parts I bought for my bike were tires, air pod, tail light and cables. I've spent a lot of time cleaning, painting and polishing to keep old parts alive.

I've seen some ridiculousness with used parts too. Some guy who doesn't live too far from me has been trying to sell some Benly parts for the last month and he's insisting on getting $50 for a battery cover that's completely blistered and battered. Crazy!

[aaron7]

Yah my rubber foot pegs came from Thailand. I had to actually drill one out because they forgot to put a hole in it!! I mean, really???

[Spokes]

I hear you. Although I might chance getting plastic side covers for my CA95 build. My CA160 already has them and they are not too bad. I can't find the tool cover in metal, but I do have the metal battery cover, in pretty good condition.

[aaron7]

Ugh, I bought side covers too. One is already cracked (broke putting the left one on) and the other didn't fit right. Neither hold down screws fit either. Wrong thread pitch!

[Spokes]

Thanks. I will rethink the covers. I have an original side cover screw and plastic cap. The cap has a small piece missing on the edge, minor flaw. I will send it to you if you want it. I plan to build a custom mounting screw with a washer and cap nut for my CA95 build.