I wondered if anyone else has come up against this issue: I have an '89 1000F, the low beam on one of the headlamp globes died the other day, and, because it looks like a regular H4 globe, I went down to a car parts store and bought a couple of H4 globes. Low and behold, I found out they didn't fit: there are three metal tags on the globes, two thin and one thick one, but the angle between the thin ones on the globes I bought was less than the angle on the old ones so they didn't fit. Sigh. I then went to my local friendly Honda dealer, the parts guy looked up the part number and sold me the correct (aftermarket) globes according to the Fiche but, sadly, I didn't check myself (taking the guy's word for it). Low and behold again, when I got home, they also didn't fit for exactly the same reason. So, now the globes are on order from Honda at 3 times the price of the non-OEM part, but the parts guy isn't convinced that the Honda globe will be different from the aftermarket part.

Has anyone else had this problem before? The parts guy assures me they have sold plenty of these globes and so they must be the correct ones. My headlamp housing seems to be the original (Stanley is the maker) and the old globe is a Stanley 12V 45/45W globe.

Thanks all.

 

Yes, Honda's H4 is not the same as a normal H4 bulb and the Honda parts guy should have known better if he knew his stuff. If you do a search on this site you'll find how others have handled the problem. Meanwhile, here are two suggestions:

Make Real H4 Bulbs Fit Your Honda Motorcycle

H4 Bulb Adapter Rings Honda ST1100 ST1300 St 1100 1300 | eBay

amac

 

Thanks amac, really good information: I thought I'd done a reasonable search for this issue on the forum but, apparently, I didn't...

I like the modification described on the first link you referenced because it will be good to get globes with a higher horse-power to better see and be seen, plus non-OEM globes are much cheaper. Not that I'm broke or anything like that...

Cheers

 

A small follow-on to this story (and, again, sorry to drag out old information if this has been covered before):

It seems that the parts list for the '89 Australian model for the headlamps is not correct: the genuine Honda replacement globe does not fit my bike (it has a regular H4 base and tags). On a hunch, the Honda guy checked the globe that fits certain VFR models, compared it with mine, and it was identical. I fitted the globe on the weekend and it's all good.

It also seems that the headlamp globe parts shown on the CMS site (Honda Cbr1000f 1989 Australia / Db Headlight (1) - schematic partsfiche) don't seem to be correct:

• my bike doesn't have the front parking light globe.
• the part number for the globe which supersedes the original is given as 34901-MC7-602 which has the regular H4 base and doesn't fit.
• the globe which does fit (34901-MS2-672) is shown on the parts list for the 1990 USA model, which also shows the correct headlamp layout (without the parking light globe). Just to be sure I didn't have some weird import or something, I did confirm from the frame and engine number that my bike is an '89 Australian model.

All that just to replace a headlamp globe. Sigh...

 

I did a quick writeup a few years ago with easy instructions. Its in the
HOW TO section. --> LINK

 

Thanks TBT: I really didn't search properly, did I...

 

You are not the only one Oscar, I am useless using this forums search engine.