Modern Vespa

Ok - I have 7000 miles on my BV350 and I have now replaced the low beam twice (part# H7 55W 12V). Is this common? I had a similar problem with my BV200 (miss that bike) and found in the BV200 the voltage regulator was bad.
Thanks...

10,000 miles on mine, 99.9% on low beam. Still on the original bulb. Are they easy to replace? I think so.
John W.

The tricky part to replace the bulb is to access behind the gauges plastic housing. The the two plastic halves (front/rear) have hidden tab locks - two on each side (four total). You have to use thin screwdrivers or icepick like tool to simultaneously release the front/rear tab locks on each side.

You also have to remove the mirrors. Once the gauge plastic housing is free you can pull open the rubber boot behind lights and access the bulb.

You're doing it the hard way. There are two screws under the front of the headset. If you stand in front of the scooter (staring at the front wheel) and then look underneath you'll see the two screws I'm referring to. They are at a diagonal when you look at them from below. Remove those two screws and the headlight housing will come out, then just unhooknthe wires and the rubber boot to access your headlight bulbs.

My low beam died a few months back, changed it out and its been good ever since.

I swapped my headlights bulbs last week. I followed the picture instruction from the German forum - posted by the excellent Ewald. http://beverlyforum.de/board/thread.php?threadid=323&postid=2393&start=0#PID2393

You remove the screw circled in green - the red one is for beam adjustment only. Then there are two more screws under the headlight housing. The angle is a bit awkward.

Ewald makes the point that the second set of screws marked in green can easily disappear inside the housing and he suggests packing something underneath them in case they slip from the screwdriver.

I swapped the original bulbs for Osram Nightbreakers - about £14 a pair from Amazon. The light is 20% whiter and they do seem to provide better vision.

thanks for that detailed link. It made the job so much easier though I still ended up dropping a spacer.

I also went with osram night breaker (lasers) and am regretting the decision since they have shorter life than the standard Osrams. At the end of the riding season I'm going to swap the hi vs low beam since the high beam is so rarely used and hence should still have a lot life left. Yes, I am THAT CHEAP.

Do you have an LED bulb? If not make the switch. LED bulbs work different than halogen bulbs. Halogen bulbs when vibrating can cause the bulb to break which an LED can last literally a lifetime. Make the switch, you will see so much more on the road and people will see you as well.

I did indeed buy some LED H7 bulbs meant to replace both 2-wheelers, unfortunately the LED socket didn't fit the other bike, so I returned both and went back to regulars bulbs for the scoot.

Searched all over MV and didn't see too many good LED retrofits on the BV350, if anyone wants to "shed some light" -- pun intended -- it's a subject I really want to approach again as LED auto bulbs are getting cheaper and so much better than the CREE bulbs from just a few years ago...

"Normal" life length for a scoot' from my experience.
My TMAX has burned out the low beam twice in 14,000 miles.

My BV350's low beam head light only lasted a year, about 8000 miles. So, I guess that's normal. Carry a spare.

My low beam just burned out at 4,3xx miles. The instructions above in German helped, as did a German video I found via Google search. (Same instructions. Maybe same person.)

Those two screws in the back truly suck. Why do they make it so easy to lose them? I shoved a rag in there. It saved me on the second screw, but I needed needle nose pliers to find the screw and get it back. The rag may stop the screw from falling, but it also gets in the way.

When putting them back in I used some thick grease on the screwdriver to hold the screws.

I used Sylvania Silverstar Ultras. I may regret the run hours, but they should be bright. If anyone has a successful LED conversion, I'm listening for next time.

Buy a magnetic screwdriver and don't replace the screws with stainless.

Silver Stars put out GREAT light, BUT life is half or less of a reg bulb.

Yeah, any of the bulbs that put out more light than a standard bulb aren't going to last as long as a standard bulb.