An Overview Of LED Lights for Motorcycles

LED motorcycle lights are a really hot trend right now for riders. It used to be that most motorcycle modifications like adding lights, accessories like cell phone holders and crazy things like that were frowned upon. Time causes change. Now it’s hard not to spot someone with some LEDs hooked up to their motorcycle at night. We think LED lights for motorcycles are a great idea for several reasons including safety and improved visibility at night and of course the “cool” factor. So if you’re thinking of getting yourself a set of motorcycle LED lights, read on.

 

Types of LEDs Used for Motorcycle Lights

Hey, we’re not the only company that sells motorcycle led lights but we can go over the different types of lights available from all companies.

Flexible Motorcycle LED Light Strips

Probably the most common type of LED motorcycle light available, flexible LED light strips are also one of your best options. They’re flexible, offer great brightness and stick onto your bike without any drilling or screwing. Most of the companies selling the flexible LED lights claim to be “waterproof” but not all actually live up to that. There’s also a lot of variation when it comes to brightness between companies that sell these types of lights. If you’re looking for a quality set of flexible led lights for your bike, we can help with that.

One last thing. Check to make sure that you are buying full length light strips that are at least 8″ long per light. We offer our customers 12″ strips that they can cut to size depending on their needs, not ours.

LED Light Bars

There’s no doubt that these can a good buy. Some of the manufacturers of these types of lights do quality work and they offer bright lights. Here are the downsides: they cost relatively more money than strip lights and you have to have a Master’s degree to install them on your bike. Lots of drilling to make them fit and they can’t be cut down to size like LED light strips.

Pod Lights

These are a good option if you’re looking for an easy installation with acceptable quality. These pod lights for motorcycles usually include 4-6 individual LEDs, can stick to flat surfaces on your bike and are usually pretty waterproof. Some give you the option to change colors using a separate key fob but some might think that’s a hassle. What we’ve noticed through our own testing is that these types of lights are generally dimmer than other types due to the fact that there aren’t as many LEDs per light.

Colors for LED Motorcycle Lights

You have several options available in terms of colors for motorcycle led lights. Some of the most popular colors include blue, red, green and white.

Here’s the kicker, there’s variation in the actual colors of these lights depending on the manufacturer. This is especially true in red and yellow LED lights for motorcycles. You may have thought that you were buying bright red and then you realize that they shipped you pink! Another example is yellow. There are actually very few motorcycle LED sellers out there that have true yellow LED lights for motorcycles. Many times you’ll instead get orange-ish color out of these lights. Make sure to take a close look at the product pictures before buying these colors.

Motorcycle LED Light Sizes

We’re not talking about the size of the entire strip, pod or bar light. Instead, we’re referring to the size of the actual LED within these housings. There are several sizes out there that are common to LED motorcycle lights.

5050 SMD

The best balance between brightness, size, consistency of quality and ease of installation. Illumimoto uses this size in our motorcycle led light kits and they are a crowd pleaser. We’ve gotten emails and letters from customers saying that the motorcycle lights their buddy bought were much less bright. I guess that’s a good thing!

3528 SMD

In our opinion, these are junk. They’re dim, usually have cheap wiring that breaks during installation and many times the adhesive backing is total junk that peels off by itself within days. They’re also much smaller which may seem like a benefit for installation, but really they’re not any easier to install than the 5050 SMD leds.

 

Summary

If you are looking for LED motorcycle lights or a motorcycle LED light kit to install on your bike, make sure to do your research. Find the LED lights that will suit your needs as a rider and keep you safe with a high quality product. Also note that you don’t have to spend $100+ on LED lights for your bike. We offer a 6pc flexible motorcycle led light kit that sells for $39.99. Compare that to some of the other, inferior lights that can sell for as much as $200 for less lights. Why settle for less?