[lizrdbrth]

Killing time before our epic ride. Doing ticky, minor little things things I've been putting off doing to our bikes. I had to shorten some signals to clear our luggage anyway, so I decided to increase the glow.



Our signals are on the heavy side, at over a pound apiece. The reason is all that heavy rubber and a huge spring molded into it. Took a pic of it, just in case you ever wondered.

But which of these signals do ya reckon puts out most light? That's right, the white painted one. I do this to the signals on most of my bikes, horse trailer, etc. Every little bit helps.



Pull your signals, take the lense off and pull the two mounting screws from the sockets. Pull the wires through the stalks from the light housing end. Clean, mask and paint the inside of the housing gloss white. No, not silver or imitation wannabe chrome, gloss white.



Put it back together and ditch the reflector. It only weighs a few ounces, but between the four signals it adds up. Might even slow down "signal sag".

 

[TW-Brian]

Cool idea.



I like idea of these signals being shorter. Less likely to break off.



Looks like I have a project for this weekend.



Thanks!



Brian

 

[lizrdbrth]

Cool idea.



I like idea of these signals being shorter. Less likely to break off.



Looks like I have a project for this weekend.



Thanks!



Brian

Brian, give me a buzz. It's little bit trickier than it looks. Look up Hodakaguy's thread on his pannier setup which shows the basic idea. But if you wanna go as short as I have there's another step. I didn't take pics of that part.



My megarack protects mine. Buit shortening them makes them rigid, and if you don't have anything protecting them they'll actually be more likely to break.

 

[TW-Brian]

Thanks for the follow-up, I'll finger it out.



Shorter - less likely to get hit, but more rigid - more likely to break. I understand. I'll still take shorter.



Brian

 

[qwerty]

Great, a thread about fingering, stif, limp, and length.

This forum's gone the hell in a handbasket.

 

[lizrdbrth]

Great, a thread about fingering, stif, limp, and length.

This forum's gone the hell in a handbasket.

I think I'll do a phlacid phender phixing phread next.



DR650 signals are a breakaway rather than a "bendy stalk" design. I have them on one of my KLR's that I put on a major diet. I did it cuz they're about the sam,e size as ours, but only weigh something like 4 ounces. They can be put anywhere but they only breakaway so many times.

 

[lizrdbrth]

Here's the shorties:

 

[BuddyMc]

I took Hodakaguy's ideas a different direction that may prove helpful in preventing breaking the lights if run without the rubber spacers. I too ditched the entire rubber space, so just the plastic signal housing mounts against the bike. Knowing that the plastic would break if rigidly mounted, I used longer than necessary (say 4") piece of lamp rod. I then mounted a compression spring (hardware aisle at Home Depot) about 1 + 1/2 times the excess length under the fender, capped it with a big flat fender washer, and tightened down the retaining nut to put the mounting under tension. Now the plastic light housing is functionally spring mounted and able to flex a surprising amount! Not totally impervious to damage, but much more likely to survive the normal bumps and bangs of riding. It just springs right back into place, pivoting on its base.

 

[ronnydog]

Here's the shorties:

I went with some smaller lights front and back.

Back side of the fender.

 

[jontow]

I, too, did the rear signal short-stalk mod on my bike. My reasons were simple: to keep them protected using the cyclerack mounted above them. They're now flush or slightly under flush with the edge of the rack; so if the bike bounces off the ground or I get too close to a tree, they won't get torn off too easily. I didn't touch the front signals; the bars will hit long before they will!