Accessory lighitng is not only a comfort item when riding off road, to many riders it is a safety necessity. Auxiliary lighting not only allows you to see but to be seen by other motorists. Clearwater Lights creates LED lights for motorcycles that can really help in both departments. I happen to have had the opportunity to try out their Krista model LED light. They hold three very bright LED’s in each case.

Compared to the cheap plastic housings the factory decided to equip my BMW R1200GS Adventure with, the Krista’s have a solid aluminum housing. The wiring harness that came with my kit replaces the factory lights, but continues to use the factory switch for a clean installation.

This is a nice feature to keep my handle bars free from clustering. Reading the instructions it was very clear how to install them. The instructions also have pictures to help if you get confused.

Overall it took me about thirty minutes to install the lights. Once the sun went down I took the bike to a dark back road and took another ten minutes to properly aim the Krista’s where I wanted them. This is a necessary step so you don’t blind oncoming traffic but still aim them to get the most visibility out of them.

At the time of this writing I have logged about 20,000 miles using these lights. My favorite part about the Krista’s is the resistor dial that comes with them. This resistor allows you to change the amount of light the Krista’s produce from your daily dim running lights to full blast blinding lights and everything in between.

Even during the day these lights are very bright. Now although they look rather sharp and are very functional, I have also found them to be very durable. On an off-roading trip I fell over on some rocks. The right side Krista took a direct impact.

After assessing the damage and assuming the right Krista was a complete loss, I was shocked to see it was still in full service. There was no major damage to the light and the only damage I could find was a scratch where the front lens hit the rock and a few scratches on the housing, but it did not break.

After a quick re-adjustment you would have never known I just dropped the motorcycle other than a small scratch. With a swipe of a sharpie on the housing the casing looks like new again. I have been very impressed by the Krista’s lights. They have held up extremely well to the elements and off-roading events. If you plan on doing any serious riding after dark I would highly recommend installing them. MSRP: $649.99 ClearwaterLights.com 

Note: These lights were installed on a 2008 BMW R1200 GS Adventure. Depending on which bike you have the wiring will be different.

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