Tonight I went for a bit of a late night ride in some (relatively) rural areas nearby. As there are long stretches in the woods with twisty and hilly roads with no lighting, I decided to actually use my high beams for the first time.
It was quite a surprise to me when I flicked the switch on and the lights did not change. Lights were no different and no “your high beams are on” dumby light came on either.*click* *click* *click* *click* Nothing.
Oddly though, my passing/flash switch worked just fine. I.e. it turned on the high beams (and the dumby light) when I pulled in the trigger-like switch. So I figure my high beam switch is just bad and I’ll have it too replaced when I bring the bike in for the 500-mile checkup. I proceed to hold the flash switch in while I go around corners etc. for the next couple miles.
I’m not sure why the idea struck me, but I decided to see what happened if I turned the high beam switch one while finger the flash switch. Et voila, my high beams stay on. Huh? If I flick the switch down to low they go off and if I repeat the flash + high beam they come on. So now I figure, “Oh, duh. That is what I get because I didn’t RTFM my Owner Manual well enough. This is how they are supposed to work.” I complete the remainder of my ride quite well-lit using my newly discovered high beam technique.
Now I have just got home. I park my bike and look back in wonder at my discovery. To amuse myself I flick just the high beam switch on and off to remind myself of my initial surprise that it didn’t work. And it works. Turn the bike off, turn it back on, it still works. Read the fucking manual and it mentions nothing about needing any multi-switch foolery to turn on the high beams.
WTF?
I just found your site. I also have an 05 black S3. Thanks for your observation about the high beams . I never ride at night so I have not checked the operation . I will do so as soon as I get home. Overall, I could not be happier with every aspect of the bike in terms of what I was looking for.