Aftermarket turn signal suggestions

[RustyTank]

Just my personal preference but, I took the large paddle turn signals off of my bike and replaced them with the smaller rabbit ear signals. There are many here who will tell you all the reasons why you should not change the signals and they have some good points however, the lights that I used are actually brighter than the original ones but to some that doesn't mean anything because they are smaller. Yes, when you make the conversion, you will lose your auto cancellation turn signals but if you're like me, you automatically turn the signals off immediately after making the turn anyway so, do you really need the bike to do that for you?
As for the flasher, you can purchase one that will be a drop in replacement that will give you everything that you need except the auto-cancel and your marker lights in the front.
For the better to be seen part, YES, by all means! You definitely want to be seen! My personal opinion is that the turn signals do not contribute that much to this category because they are not always lit and when they are used on lane change, it's only for a few quick seconds and I always not only look using my mirrors but I also swivel my head and get a good look before changing lanes so in my opinion, it becomes a personal preference issue.

To improve my visibility, I upgraded my brake lights. I used police hideaway take down lights that are programmable. When the brake pedal is pressed, the original light still lights but is nowhere near as bright as the upgrade. The two lights on either side illuminate steady and the single lower light oscillates from side to side flashing to get peoples attention and they're extremely bright.

In closing, I upgraded my signals and brake lights because that is what I wanted and I thought it out prior to actually doing it. People here are warning you of what the dangers are of changing your signals by pointing out the fact that visibility becomes an issue, you really need to take this into consideration before you decide what you really want to do and how you're going to do it.

Wacky, first of all thanks so much for sharing what you've done. Your bike is georgous. Well done.
Second, I reeeaaally like those rabbit ear signals you've got there. Do you recall what company makes them? Or from which company you bought them? From what I read in your post it sounds like you're running incandescent turn signals and an LED brake light. Funny, I found an LED brake light online the other day that I really liked and thought about doing the same incandescent/LED combo. I dunno, now that I've thought more about it, at the end of the day if I make the switch to smaller signals, whether they're incandescent or LED, I'll lose the auto canceling feature anyway, so either way it doesn't matter.

[RustyTank]

Also, don't overlook later design OEM lights. Mid 90s Suzukis - GSXR as an exaple - used smaller signals.
My bike currently has Yamaha signals on the rear - they were free and I liked the teardrop shape.

That's a damn good idea and one worth keeping in mind. Thanks man!

[RustyTank]

One thing that drives me batty with aftermarket turn signals is that so many of them use weird low-wattage bulbs. I have a whole bag of turn signals I can't find bulbs for, and/or it's not worth it because they're so %$#@!ing dim anyway.

As noted above, the best option if you want to preserve any function is often to scare up some OEM signals from a later model. There are some LED signals that are as bright or brighter than OEM, but not many and they're expensive; LED signals that are reasonably priced are usually NOT very bright. And to preserve the functions of your GS auto-cancel with LEDs, you'd need to add resistors.

You can also just go without auto-cancel and use a standard two-prong LED flasher. The stock flasher is a nonstandard unit with three prongs. You can actually plug in a two-prong flasher, but you'll need to switch two of the wires in the housing; just experiment for 30 seconds with jumper wires and you'll figure out which ones, then you can use a teensy screwdriver to release the locking prongs on the terminals and swap them in the housing.

I've seen people use OEM signals from Buell, Aprilia, and Triumph; not cheap but they're quite nice. Obviously Buell stuff isn't available any more, but once in a while it pops up on fleaBay.

On my KLR650, I use small LED turn signals with rubber stems. The stock brittle plastic lollipops are nice and bright, but inevitably get destroyed the first time you drop the bike off-road. It took a while to find a set that are actually bright enough to see, and I had to install diodes on the dash indicator so that only two at a time would flash.

bwringer, thanks very much for your two cents. All of you guys bring some good perspective and it's appreciated.

[wacky941]

Wacky, first of all thanks so much for sharing what you've done. Your bike is georgous. Well done.
Second, I reeeaaally like those rabbit ear signals you've got there. Do you recall what company makes them? Or from which company you bought them? From what I read in your post it sounds like you're running incandescent turn signals and an LED brake light. Funny, I found an LED brake light online the other day that I really liked and thought about doing the same incandescent/LED combo. I dunno, now that I've thought more about it, at the end of the day if I make the switch to smaller signals, whether they're incandescent or LED, I'll lose the auto canceling feature anyway, so either way it doesn't matter.

I bought an LED brake light bulb that is supposed to be a drop in replacement for the existing incandescent bulb, it fit but, I had no luck with it at all. The Brake light upgrade that I installed has only one thing in common with the OEM brake light system and that is the switch activation. I installed a new fuse protected power feed and included a relay for the lights, the brake light switch latches and releases the relay.

The rabbit ears I installed are pretty much no longer procurable, they were made by EMGO, I bought them at a local shop that sells numerous aftermarket parts. I bought every replacement lens that I could locate online and local, I lost a lens and it was horrible trying to find a replacement. The replacement bulbs are even harder to find, like bwringer says, you can't find bulbs, just as I did with the lenses, I bought all the bulbs I could find.
There is an LED version of this signal that is available that looks much like what I have except it's like 1 1/2 - 2 times the size of mine and it has clear lenses with amber LED's. Eventually I'll have no choice but to either put everything back stock or search for something new.

One more thing, when you start to plan your upgrade, try to do it in such a way that you can easily put it back to original condition/configuration without having to locate new OEM parts.

[bwringer]

I've found that properly bright LED signals are pretty expensive.

One example - $85 a pair. Yeek!

https://www.weisertechnik.com/turn-signals

Depending on whether they fit or not, I've had some good luck with LED replacement bulbs from SuperBrightLEDs in stock housings:

https://www.superbrightleds.com

FWIW, all my bikes and cars are using LED headlight replacement bulbs. It takes some digging and experimentation to uncover bulbs that don't screw up the lighting pattern.

[bwringer]

This is a pretty good turn signal shootout from ADVrider:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-great-turn-signal-shootout.1234983/page-3

Note that the incandescent turn signals were still significantly brighter and more visible than the LEDs, even the very expensive LEDs.

[RustyTank]

Also, don't overlook later design OEM lights. Mid 90s Suzukis - GSXR as an exaple - used smaller signals.
My bike currently has Yamaha signals on the rear - they were free and I liked the teardrop shape.

I know I'm flip floppin here but, damn, the more I think about it the more I really like this idea. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and your experience regarding this topic dorkburger.

I'll let you all know what I decide and how it go's

[jabcb]

We have the K&S LED turn signals installed on several Suzuki two strokes. Out on the road they are better than the stock Suzuki turn signals that those bikes came with.
They are DOT approved. Measured them — the lens area is close to the minimum US DOT requirement.


The CFR for the DOT regulations is:
"S 5.1.1.25 Each turn signal lamp on a motorcycle shall have an effective projected luminous lens area of not less than 2258 square mm. (3 1⁄2 square inches)."

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2004-title49-vol5/pdf/CFR-2004-title49-vol5-sec571-108.pdf

I was thinking about using the tiny Motogadget Pin turn signals on a cafe build. They were plenty bright when I tried one out in my kitchen. They are ECE approved. Am wondering how effective they are for that driver 200 ft behind you.


I searched YouTube for LED turn signal comparisons & didn’t find anything that is really useful. What it looks like to the drive 200 ft behind you is very different than 4 ft away in somebody’s garage.
Please post some links if you know of good on-the-road comparisons.










Also, FYI if anyone is curious…
The CFR S 5.5.10 provides requirements for headlight modulators.

[Steve]

Also, FYI if anyone is curious…
The CFR S 5.5.10 provides requirements for headlight modulators.

Actually, CFR S5.5.10 only mentions that you can not modulate both beams.

Many more details are given in S7.9.4.1.

.

[RustyTank]

Also, don't overlook later design OEM lights. Mid 90s Suzukis - GSXR as an exaple - used smaller signals.

dorkburger, I just PM'd you.