and then there was light

[Petrus]

Well my "While cyclist's are unregulated they have no need to be responsible" evoked some response, response that I do not disagree with in the main.
Much of what has been said is if course from the experience of the writer.
I was not born with a steering wheel in my hands and rode a cycle in my teens, only being dismounted once by a car. Our son has road raced in the USA and was dismounted by a pedestrians basket ball jamming under his bike's frame suffering bad gravel rash. He broke ribs and was badly bruised when a car turned off the highway into a petrol station and crossed the cycle lane he was riding.
So, my comment about regulations and responsibility are from some experience.
Whenever I pass a cyclist I imagine I am passing our son, but I do believe that our son would not ride in the way that, for example, dispatch riders in London go about their business.
Unfortunately in recent times a lady pedestrian was killed by a pedal cyclist "riding furiously" on a fixed wheel bike (with no brakes).
The " riding furiously " was an archaic law that was applied at the time because there was no specific applicable regulations concerning cycles.
Concerning lights, I am more " troubled" by the cyclists that choose to ride without lights than those that ride with bright lights and wish those that do so would ride on the correct side of the road.

As is often the case. @Joesson has beaten me to it. I like to get out on a bike myself, so not totally immune to all the very good points made above.
But I do wonder of those that have come to harm, how many were dressed in ninja style stealth clothing with not so much as a reflecter, let alone lights.
How many more would have come to harm if it were not for the due diligence of the motorist.
I would wager a ratio of 10 to 1 of cyclists thet ignore red lights.
Certainly were I live.

Any single one of my friends killed by tinned men had lights on, most even wore reflective clothing. Mind all but the exception killed during daytime.

Same thing my own experiences; lights, reflective bits and stíll clobbered off my motorcycle/bicycle.

The basic problem is vulnerability vs. responsibiltyy for a potentially lethal machine.

As I wrote, people make mistakes, people behave stupidly. This not unexpected but a certainty, the uncertainty is what/when. Pedestrians, cyclists, motorists alike but the former two run a disproportionate risc of lethal consequences.
I knów cyclists can behave near suicidal but I still don´t want to kill one with my car and I am ALWAYS aware of that. Even when the law absolves you of blame, it is something you were instrumental in, a risc you take when getting on the road with your car; the responsibility for a potentially lethal machine.

It is like motorists complaining about farmers leaving mud on the road. Ofcourse the law is that they should not but they dó and regardless you should be able stop within the distance you can oversee anyway.

Again; my experience as a cyclist, horse rider, motorcycle rider in uniform has shocked me to the core.

[Petrus]

Today fitted the HELLA H4 130/90W High Wattage, 12V bulbs.

The pre fl is a doddle; just like any normal older car: pull the connector off, remove the rubber boot, depress and unhook the bent wire sping, remove bulb.
Fitting is reverse.
Well should be.
The first went a treat, the second I managed to .....
PUSH INTO THE LAMP UNIT, past the socket      
My heart raced and my mind flashed into bumper removal panic mode.
Zénnnnnnnn....
Got long nose pliers and a piece of locking wire.
The bulb had not, yet, fallen in and I could carefull to not push and make matter worse grab one tab. Held it and threaded the wire through the eye on another tab. Bent the wire back on itself and secured it with a turn.
Right. Escalation averted.
Manipulating with wire and pliers I got the bulb out again.
Sigh of relief.
Again fitted the bulb, now in the correct place.
Locked it with the spring and nów took the safety wire off.
PHEW!!

Started up. Let the idle settle.
Voltmeter reading 14.2V
Switched on lights. Voltage drops to 14.1 and resettles at 14.2.
Switch on mains dipped. Voltage drops to 13.9 and settles at 14.2.
Now large. Voltage to 13.6, settles at 14.1 then 14.2.

So far so good.
No blown fuses, no drain on the battery.
Rather nice considering I have the underdrive pulley fitted.

Oh, and have not refitted the boots.
My reasoning is that the hotter higher wattage would be a less insulated thus more cooled. And reading the LED/HID experiments on here which also mean boot delete I saw no issue with it.

Those boots btw ´made´ me do it; nearly drop the bulb in.
There is enough space to use the connector as a tool to fit/take out the bulb and the locking spring can be easily unhooked/hooked while you hold the bulb seated by the connector.
Ofcourse this is possible with the boot too but because that means extra connecting/disconnecting of the connector you  just do not.  Having become accustomed to the short cut because of the now customary boots, I forgot how to do it properly.

p.s. I have remembered too that I had the bulb drop into the lamp once before. Late seventies that was and a headlamp that you took out of the chrome rim retaining it with óne screw in the bottom of the rim.
You thus had the lamp unit in your hand anyway, so dropping a bulb in was a non-issue, hence it was deep in the back of my mind.

[Petrus]

Done some kilometers in the dark and the difference is awesome.

The difference is more than twice the light. No doubt because the bulbs I took out were original fitting so rather past their best.

At first I fles a bit of an aso with som much light but the perfect dipped profile takes care of it appearantly; not a single flashing headlight from oncoming traffic.

So far so good.

[Petrus]

By Jove that is ugly!

[barchetta_ms]

Had a lamp pod on a friend's rally car once like that - it was hilarious when we tried the window washers - the airflow from the lamp pod sent the water everywhere but the screen....