I went riding with a friend and at a stop sign he told me that I had a headlight not working. I seem to remember reading a couple messages about it being very costly at the dealer to have the bulbs replaced, so I was less than happy. The odometer showed 32,500 miles. I stopped at my local Auto Zone and picked up two H7 bulbs, $13.99 each. I had heard that the cowl had to be removed to get to the bulbs for replacement...not so..at least for the low beam. I think the high beam would be much harder, especially if you have big hands. I do, so I hope my high beams last a long time.

   The replacement of the low beam bulbs is about a 15 minute task, less if you are used to working by feel. Just turn the front wheel to the left for the left bulb and reach between the cowl and the fork stem, pull the headlight socket from the two prong connector, remove the rubber dust boot, push the clip down to free the bulb socket. Once the bulb socket is free you can take it outside of the bike and remove the old bulb and install the new bulb. Be very careful that you do not touch the new bulb with your fingers. The oil from your fingers can drastically shorten the life of the new bulb.

   It is a little trickier to put it back together due to not being able to see what you are doing. Assembly is done by feel in the reverse order of disassembly.

   As soon as I have to replace the high beam bulb I will post it here. The book says to pull the cowl pocket to gain access. It looks pretty crowded in there to me.