Easy Super73 Z1 Lighting Mods
We made a simple DIY lighting upgrade for our stock Super73 Z1. These are cheap items you can order from Amazon and requires minimal DIY skills. You don't need to tap into the battery or any electronics and you can even mount it on other bikes. Here's how we did it.
LED XENON BULBS
First up are these extremely bright LED bulbs from JDM ASTAR. Now typically these bulbs are used as back up reverse lights for cars. Reverse lights are interesting because they provide really strong illumination and light beam distance without drawing much power. I've tried traditional car headlight LED bulbs but realized they drew too much power from my battery. These reverse lights put out 1,000 lumens with a color temperature of 6000 Kelvin, Xenon White. The voltage is rated between 9v-30v but the sweet spot is 12 volts. I mounted this bulb inside of an old bike headlight enclosure but you can probably DIY something from parts around your house or even with a piece of Sugru. I also soldered on positive and negative wires using 16 gauge flexible silicone wire which is perfect for creating a solid connection. Be sure to add heat shrink to protect the terminals.
RETRO MOTO HEADLIGHT
From there I mounted it inside of a retro style moto headlight and mounted that onto the Z1 frame using some EVF foam as spacers to make it fit. You've probably seen my DIY retro headlight mod on this channel but if not I'll put a link to it in the description. The brackets and mounting hardware are all heavy duty. As far as lighting goes, it has a very wide and diffused spread of light due to the glass inside of the housing. It's bright but it isn't obnoxiously blinding. And most of all, the retro headlight gives the Z1 that 70's minibike look.
LED STRIP TAIL LIGHT
For the tail light I used this super affordable yet extremely bright flexible LED strip. While it does have 5 wires for the connection, I only use the negative and positive terminals for the highest level of brightness. I also have this mounted on my 48 volt Z1 and it's been amazing. As far as safety goes, I know I can be seen from behind from a great distance because of how bright these are. I also used 16 gauge silicone wire to extend the light towards the handlebars and added heat shrink to protect the wires.
12 VOLT BATTERY
I then soldered the two positive and negative connections into one male DC power cable connector. I again added heatshrink and zip tied everything together. Now all I needed was power. For the battery I used a TalentCell 12v Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery with 11,000 milliamp hours. It's compact at only 3 by 5 1/2 inches and weighs only 17.5 ounces. The pack also features a USB port and is constructed from premium Panasonic cells with a decent BMS. This is a perfect pack for long rides and I have no worries that it will keep up with the Z1's stock battery.
TACTICAL POUCH
To hold the battery I like to use a Tactical Utility pouch that fits perfectly on the handlebars. MOLLE tactical pouches are heavy duty and great for holding small tools, keys or any other items that you may need on your ride.
So that's how we created a simple lighting upgrade for our stock Astro Orange Super73 Z1. If you have any questions about this mod that I didn't cover, feel free to hit me up in the comments.
