One thing I really hated about the Hawk and the Superhawk, was the floppy Honda turn signals, the same ones that have been mounted on almost every Honda motorcycle for the last 20 years. Even when we visited the Guggenheim, Art of the Motorcycle, I was amazed to find the same stupid Honda turn signals on many of the Hondas there!
Buell offers a fantastic alternative to the cheap Emgo signals or the overpriced LP signals. At only $6.00 a signal (no kidding less than $6.00 for one complete signal) replacing the signals on a bike with something more attractive very easy. In fact so easy, that I have done this to every one of my motorcycles now. Go into any Buell dealership and ask for four rear signals from the new XB9R. The rear signals have shorter stalks. You will need two lefts and two rights to facilitate drainage. You'll be able to identify the difference with small drainage holes that need to go towards the bottom. Also, the signals come without the backing nut. Which may or may not be a problem depending on your situation, but if you are expecting nuts and washers to be included it can be frustrating to not realize their absence until you are ready to bolt them up. So if you need the backing nuts, plan a trip to Lowes to get some.
The front turn signals on the little Hawk were cake. I simply built two small flat brackets out of some car stereo strapping that I had kicking around the garage. The smaller turn signals did not have a running light. So the third lead from the wiring harness would not be utilized. I simply taped the ends to avoid any shorting and moved forward. On the SuperHawk, they bolted right up to the existing mouting points.
Once this was all done and together I noticed that the turn signals were blinking super, super fast. The same way they blink when a bulb has burned out. This happens because the bulbs are smaller, their are fewer bulbs or a bad connection that results in less of a electrical load on the circuit.
Their are basically two types of flasher units. Constant Load flasher units that only blink at a good rate when the load is constant and within a very specific load amount. This is what comes stock on almost all vehicles. The purpose of the constant load is to alert vehicle operators of a burned out bulb with a really fast blink rate. The problem with the really fast blink rate on a motorcycle is that it makes the blinking virtually impossible to notice, particularly for cell-phone-lobotomized drivers. A variable load flasher unit will blink at the same rate regardless of the load that is on the circuit. The disadvantage is that the flasher unit will continue to blink normally even if only one bulb is still functioning, so operators need to be more aware of the condition of their bulbs.
I returned to my trusty auto-parts store, Checker this time, and perused the flasher units. Their were about 20 different versions to choose from. Everything from super-heavy duty to ultra-cheap. Because I was unsure if the flasher would survive an accidental mis-wire I purchased two three-prong variable load flashers at about $2.00 each. Be sure to get three prong variable load flashers. I also purchased a small packet of female wire connectors that matched the size of the prongs on the flasher unit.
Back to the bike, I found the flasher unit, located on the left side of the bike, on the subframe. its a small black box and easy to miss. If you have trouble finding it, you can turn on your turn signals and listen for the relay clicking on and off. I unplugged the relay, then cut off the proprietary wiring plug, leaving as much wire as possible to attach the female connectors I bought from Checker. By the way, their should be three wires, if their are more or less, you may have the wrong relay.
On the Hawk the three wires were:
- White with a Green Stripe
- Green
- Gray
I then attached the plugs to the wires. Now for the hard part -- that I'm going to make really easy for you. I had to find out which wire needed to go to which prong on the relay. Fortunately, most relays have the prongs labeled. "L", "P" and "X". After blowing several main fuses I learned the correct wiring diagram.
- White with Green Stripe goes to "L"
- Green goes to "P"
- Gray goes to "X"
In case the flasher unit should fail, I marked the plugs with a sharpie as to which prong they needed to be attached.
I then wrapped the entire unit with black tape to prevent moisture or accidental disconnect of the wires. then used a zip tie to secure the flasher unit to the same location the OEM flasher lived.
With all the tape in the way, things should stay together nicely. Be careful when securing the flasher relay that it will not foul the placement of the body work.
Apparently some of the folks who have tried this modification have noted that the more expensive, $12.00, heavy duty, variable load flashers will not work. They blow fuses, blow flashers and wont flash at all. However, the cheaper, $2.00 variable load flasher [TRIDON F550 - pictured above] seems to work fine.
I mounted them below the triangle headlight bracket for clearance, on the VTR, they slipped right into the stock location.
The rear was much easier, and I still left the turn signal eliminator in place for cool factor.
See! They still look good.
As a result, I get more visability while still looking cool. And as a matter of fact, the few folks that have seen the Buell signals mounted comment on how sharp they look. In fact I liked them so much I even put a set on my Triumph Speed Triple.
Several months later, when installing the same signals onto the VTR, I learned that the signals could be made to flash at a regular rate by installing differnt bulbs of proper wattage. Apparenlty 1156A (for amber) bulbs work great. Here's how to do the task:
Here is what the package will look like if you select the Sylvania brand 1156a replacement bulb.
First, remove the one screw in the back of the turn signal, and gently slide the smoke colored lense forward. The smoke lens has a tab on the inside that locks it into place. Be gentle as you slide things forward and out and the tab should release as the entire internal assembly shifts around.
With the lense removed, you will be left with the amber shield in place, some jiggling will release this as well and leave you with the exposed bulb. Simply twist out the old smaller bulb and reinsert the new, larger bulb.
You can see the amber shield in the image on the left. To replace the bulbs simply twist out the old smaller bulb and reinsert the new, larger bulb.
Once you have made it this far, its just a simple matter of putting everything back together. Once together, the signals look identical to what they looked like stock. Another advantage to replacing the bulbs instead of replacing the flasher relay, is that the replacement bulbs are substantially brighter than the original. While replacing the bulbs was more expensive than replacing the flasher, it makes up for the difference by being a much less labor intesive process. Incedentially, the Triumph did not require the bulb replacement, they worked great without any modification beyond adapting the differenty plug style.