How to: Aiming FZ-07 Headlight

[rick]

Just came across this myself. Hadn't even l looked to see if that was possible.
 
My Aprilia has big knobs back there to do this. Not all that easy to get at, but no tools required. Oh, and yes, I'd bet there's a different part number for the countries that drive on the wrong side (heh, heh) as the reflector inside and hence the pattern on the road will be different.
 
I had a K1100RS BMW that had a lever that you could throw when carrying a passenger. The lever would compensate for any added sag in back so the headlight didn't point up. Of course, if the preload in back was set up correctly for the extra weight it wasn't an issue.
 
Seems everywhere ya look, this little bike has some nice features found on way more expensive machines.
 
Thanks for the write-up (and wake-up)

[yamahaha]

This should totally be at the top of everyone's checklist once they get home with the bike (along with checking their tire air pressure). I decided to check mine on a whim and it was aimed over a foot low! 
This was going by the standard 25ft measuring test. 25ft from a wall on a flat surface, upper edge of the beam should be 36" from the ground.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks. Was this measurement for low beam? 
This is another reason I refuse to pay PDI because dealers will not adjust headlights before sending a bike out. Fz07 is easy but others can be a real beatch.
 

[fooschnickens]

This should totally be at the top of everyone's checklist once they get home with the bike (along with checking their tire air pressure). I decided to check mine on a whim and it was aimed over a foot low! 
This was going by the standard 25ft measuring test. 25ft from a wall on a flat surface, upper edge of the beam should be 36" from the ground.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks. Was this measurement for low beam? 
This is another reason I refuse to pay PDI because dealers will not adjust headlights before sending a bike out. Fz07 is easy but others can be a real beatch.

Yeah that's the low beam. 

[phicurious86]

Doing this tomorrow.

[rick]

The H4 bulb in our headlight carries both filaments for the low and high beam. Aside from the Low beam filament being 55W and the High being 60 watts, what's different is the built-in reflectors (inside the bulb, not the housing) for those filaments. Iirc, the high beam bulb reflector actually points the light down so that it can reflect off of the bottom of the reflector in the housing and project out and up a bit.
 
This is why the bulb is keyed by it's housing and can only go in in one orientation.
 
When you make the adjustment, you are changing both low and high beam together. No way to get past that with this one bulb set-up. My Aprilia has 3, H7 ) bulbs. All are single 55W filament. The low beam is centered and the high beam lights the 2 on the outside. That system also can be adjusted, but the entire assembly moves left/right, up/down..
 
This might not be acceptable for everyone, but for cars it goes pretty much like this. I've seen similar directions in motorcycle owners's and shop manuals. So it's a really good starting place if ya want to be a bit fussy and repeatable.
 
1) Find a level surface and a vertical wall or garage door. Park the vehicle close to the wall and, using the masking tape, mark the low-beams' horizontal centerlines.
2) Mark the vertical centerlines of each beam and the center of the vehicle with masking tape. Marking the vehicle centerline is helpful to determine side to-side alignment, or lack thereof.
3) Move the vehicle 25 feet straight backwards. Turn the horizontal-vertical adjusting screws to position the low beam hot spots two inches below and to the right of the taped centerlines.
 
 

[mjh937]

Do not forget to be sitting on the bike when you are aiming the light. It will probably shine in a slightly different direction with the riders weight on the bike.

[Beemer]

Thanks for all the info, mine goes out around 10 yards and then the blackness. I don't ride at night because of that, not anything over 35 mph. or I'm over driving my lights. Have you found out for sure whether raising your low beam is simultaneously raising your high beam? Thanks!

[mjh937]

Thanks for all the info, mine goes out around 10 yards and then the blackness. I don't ride at night because of that, not anything over 35 mph. or I'm over driving my lights. Have you found out for sure whether raising your low beam is simultaneously raising your high beam? Thanks!

The adjustments affect both the low and high beams. If the low beam is set correctly the highbeam should be fine though. 

[Beemer]

Yep, that low beam was simply set waaay too low to begin with. Thanks again!

[rick]

I've not even checked mine. Haven't ridden it in the dark yet. lol. That'll change this summer for sure. Guess I'll find a wall to point it at. At least it's way easy to do.
 
Wouldn't surprise me if Yamaha points it down on purpose so it can't be pointed up in people's eyes.
 
What, no warning sticker? - "Headlight might be useless until adjusted properly! "
 
 

[phicurious86]

Adjusted mine last night. Super easy and made a significant difference in road illumination.

[snowdriftless]

I don't know why I didn't do this when I got the FZ. Totally doing this when I get the bike back from the dealer doing the 600 mi service

[gregjet]

Raised the rear and new stiffer shock spring. Forgot to do this. Bad boy. Thanks for reminding me, though I rarley ride at night ( too many roos on the way to town).

[gtmn]

I was leading in a pack of 4 today and the fz I could not see, the headlight was so dim the other 2 bikes were great could see very far back at them but the z was really bad when we pulled over to check it it seemed to work fine if our headlights are this bad we need to do something about it his was really bad in terms of safety and visibility please check your bikes people need to see you coming.   I will test my seven tomorrow I was riding a different bike

[weazsel]

Ok so this adjustment is really important to do. My low-beam cutoff was aimed really low from the factory. Just like the how-to says, I adjusted it from 25 feet away and 36" for the top of the beam. Now it is SO SO SO much better! I can see a lot further in front of me and I feel a LOT safer.
 
The high-beam on the other hand, not so much. I read in this thread the low and high beams are adjusted simultaneously. This is unfortunate because my low beam is perfect but my high beam is way too high! Any ideas or suggestions?

[fooschnickens]

That's how it should be, really. The high beam is made to project out further than the low beam to give you a better idea what's out in front of you at night, when your reaction time is drastically worse.
 
My best suggestion? Get one of the LED lights from Cyclops. It's tons brighter than the whimpy stock bulb and projects way further, even with the low beam. It's $60 well spent.

[weazsel]

That's how it should be, really. The high beam is made to project out further than the low beam to give you a better idea what's out in front of you at night, when your reaction time is drastically worse.  
My best suggestion? Get one of the LED lights from Cyclops. It's tons brighter than the whimpy stock bulb and projects way further, even with the low beam. It's $60 well spent.

 
 
Now that I've ridden a few nights after adjusting my headlight... I think my low beam is TOO high. Hence why my high beam is halfway up the trees. I've gotten flashed by three cars since the adjustment. I have the LED light from Cyclops on the way (Thanks fooschnickens!) so after that install I'll readjust the angle.
 
Does anyone adjust their light to the right a little? Aiming it away from oncoming traffic? The OCD part of me cringes at the thought of my headlight being anything but perfectly straight ahead.

[martyinaustin]

just wanted to bump this thread to thank the OP and all for this info. i thought i was nuts too on my first night ride. i'm finding this bike has all the answers more/less!
 
marty

[Guest ChicagoAJ]

just wanted to bump this thread to thank the OP and all for this info. i thought i was nuts too on my first night ride. i'm finding this bike has all the answers more/less! 
marty

I'm here to do the same, thanks for the write up, OP!

[peteinpa]

Thanks for the thread. Did mine within 2 days of bringing it home. Was set far too low. After setting your rear spring preload do your headlight adjustment.
 
Even if you don't ride at night, your headlight needs to be adjusted correctly to be seen by cages.

[glowsticknic]

Thanks for this! will def need to try it out. riding at night is quite annoying when you can only see 10yds in front of you

[glowsticknic]

SO ME AND MY S.O. BOTH HAVE FZ-07S. I CAME ACROSS THIS THREAD A FEW DAYS AGO AND CONDITIONS WERE RIGHT THE NIGHT BEFORE LAST, TO ATTEMPT THIS DARING ADJUSTMENT. SHE SAT ON THE BIKES, WHILE I ADJUSTED. I FOUND IT EASIEST TO USE A SHORT 10MM SOCKET ON A 6" RATCHET. THIS SETUP ALLOWED ME TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS WHILE THE BIKE WAS POINTING STRAIGHT DOWN THE ROAD. WORKED LIKE A CHAMP. I DON'T THINK I WOULD'VE BEEN BRAVE ENOUGH ON MY OWN TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE SCREWS DID! THANKS AGAIN!

[faffi]

Glad you had success, but it would be nice if you could turn off them capitols for your next message

[glowsticknic]

I apologize. I do not mean to yell. At work we have command prompt programs which only recognize caps. I don't even see it anymore.

[fzar]

This may be obvious to many of you here, but I know there are some of us here who are new to motorcycles and it was not so obvious to me.  There is no need to disassemble the headlight to adjust the aim (I found this out after I had taken the light off several times). 
Note: thanks to MXRider and his handy service manual I have definitive information that the right side screw is for horizontal adjustment and the left is for vertical. I am correcting the how to with this info. 
 
Vertical beam adjustment is from the left side.  There is a brass colored screw that can be seen when you look between the left fork and the tank.  It is just below and left of where the bulb is.  Clockwise will lower the beam.  You can use a Phillips screwdriver or a 10mm nut driver.
 

And here is a close up of the aiming screw.

Horizontal aim is adjusted from the right side with a similar screw that is just above and to the right of the light bulb.  You will have to experiment with which way is left or right as I did not notice (sorry).

And a close up of the horizontal adjustment screw.  Just move the wire out of the way.  I could not get it to stay out of the way for the photo.

As for the actual aiming I measured the distance from the floor to the bulb and put some tape on the garage door at the same height.  I then adjusted the low beam so the top of it was just a bit below this mark while I was sitting on the bike.  This seemed to work well. 
 
Night riding is a lot more fun with the light aimed better.  My low beam was aimed very low from the factory.

I can't see any of the pictures, dang it. Iv'e no idea why!