MikeH1A wrote:..... The light is my concern as it is a sealed unit, so needs to be replaced as a single piece obviously. Who designed this???
............... are there any other (cheaper) options that might do the trick to get me back on the road?
While your looking over the options already mentioned and any other replies from others and since the sealed beam unit is toast anyway, you may want to play around with this idea....about $2.00 for the grommet and a few dollars for an inexpensive standard filament headlight bulb.
I've modified a few sealed beam units a few different ways to install new bulbs for use and to have at least one spare on hand over the years. Some modifications neatly made....some not so tidy....but they came in handy in a pinch.
Making the headlight hole in the your existing headlight reflector just big enough to allow for a new bulbous type headlight bulb (or not so big....see below) and then just using a rubber grommet to hold the bulb was an idea that popped in my head awhile back. I did not need another spare at the time but a fellow on another forum liked the idea and that is what he did with the flat bottom rare sealed unit on a bike he was working on. I had suggested that he might try and gently persuade the flange around the bulb base to slip off and he could put the grommet closer in, slip the flange back on, scuff it and just solder his ground wire to it. If I recall correctly he just left it where it was and I never saw any pictures of the final soldering job but he did post that it worked great before he turned the bike back over to his friend but I do remember being able to nudge the flange off of a bulb base but in fairness it was a cheap Eiko bulb. BTW, if possible I suggest you use Stanley brand bulbs...they seem to last a very long time. I recently bought a couple of vintage Stanley headlight bulbs on ebay.
I think the new hole in the reflector was 1 1/8"....go by the outside diameter of the grommet groove of course.....as I said earlier, just big enough for the bulb to slip in and I believe the inside diameter of the rubber grommet was 5/8" (15-16 mm)
Then again, here is another, slimmer type bulb you might want to see what you could with.
http://www.jcrsupplies.co.uk/products/B ... _3625.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"
All in all, this info just another option for you......if nothing else, you would have your original as a spare headlight that only cost a few dollars and a little of your time to make and might come in handy if you needed one in a pinch.........Good Luck on whatever you decide.