Aftermarket turn signal suggestions

[RustyTank]

Hi folks. I have a stock 79 GS850G. I'd like to replace the stock turn signals with something a bit smaller. I'm interested to hear from those who've changed over to aftermarket signals. I'd love to get suggestions on brand/style preferences. I'm not afraid to go LED but I'm also not convinced I need to.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

If you're looking for OEM, try posting in the wanted forum. If you're looking to replace just the bulbs with something brighter than stock, like LED, I'm sure someone here has done that, don't remember who. If you're looking for something else, pinterest is full of lots of funky ideas for chops, bobbers, cafe racers, if that's what you're going for. I'll follow along because I'd be interested in brighter bulbs for the stock fixtures, if that's a possibility without getting into a lot of money re-wiring things or installing resistors, etc.

 

[RustyTank]

If you're looking for OEM, try posting in the wanted forum. If you're looking to replace just the bulbs with something brighter than stock, like LED, I'm sure someone here has done that, don't remember who. If you're looking for something else, Pinterest is full of lots of funky ideas for chops, bobbers, cafe racers, if that's what you're going for. I'll follow along because I'd be interested in brighter bulbs for the stock fixtures, if that's a possibility without getting into a lot of money re-wiring things or installing resistors, etc.

Thanks for asking me to be more specific Rich. I'm interested in completely removing the stock hardware and replacing them with modern turn signals. I'm not sure yet which style I prefer, something very modern looking or something a bit retro looking. At the end of the day my goal is for lower profile turn signals. I was hoping to hear from folks who've done that mod, if they like/don't like the brand they use, what style they're using, ect. If the conversation is a nonstarter that's ok too

I attached a pic of the turn signal mod I'm referring to. Although they looks nice on THAT bike, I'm not necessarily convinced that style of signal is what I want.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

No disrespect, but meh, they look like old style Christmas bulbs to me, but I guess some people like them. To each their own. Don't recall seeing anything like that here amoung the usual posters. Most folks here seem to try to keep their bikes looking more or less original. Don't give up. Someone else may chime in.

 

[Guest]

I like the K&S 25-7700 series of LED turn signals. Fairly small & still DOT approved. Available in black & chrome.
http://www.kandstech.com/productreleases/newprod199.pdf



I have them on several bikes, including this GT380:
GT380_0664 by jabcb, on Flickr

 

[RustyTank]

No disrespect, but meh, they look like old style Christmas bulbs to me, but I guess some people like them. To each their own. Don't recall seeing anything like that here among the usual posters. Most folks here seem to try to keep their bikes looking more or less original. Don't give up. Someone else may chime in.

No offense taken Rich. Regarding the folks on this forum keeping their bikes more or less original, I'm starting the get that impression. All good. I used to own a 78 Honda CB550 and for years was a member, still am, of the Single Overhead Cam forum. That forum is FULL of people doin different mods, from minor to extreme. Seems like such a common thing among the CB culture. Ok then, no sweat! Like I always say, know your audience

 

[RustyTank]

I like the K&S 25-7700 series of LED turn signals. Fairly small & still DOT approved. Available in black & chrome.
http://www.kandstech.com/productreleases/newprod199.pdf

I have them on several bikes, including this GT380:

Thanks for chiming in jabcb. I checked out your Flickr stream. That GT380 is stunning! Those turn signals look really nice to. Do the rear pair double as brake lights as well? Also, that headlight on the GT380 looks like it's LED as well. Super nice.

 

[Steve]

One of the functions of turn signals is to be seen and noticed that you are intending a change in direction. Maybe just a lane change, maybe a move to another roadway, but the key point is that they need to be noticed and SEEN. There is a Federal standard that says the turn signals have to be a certain distance away from a major souce of light, like a headlight, that might prevent them from being seen. Using smaller lights on shorter stalks pretty much defeats the purpose of having signals in the first place.

Yes, many of us here tend to keep things stock(-ish), leaning more toward restoration than to custom, but there are different degrees of "custom", too. Some of us do things to customize, but keep it looking stock. My '80 850 is a good example of that. Besides the obvious biggies like fairing, saddlebags and trunk, I would have a hard time listing all the 'custom' touches that have been applied, but only the most die-hard GS aficionado would notice.

You should also know that your 850 has self-cancelling turn signals. Using LED turn signals will need some modification to the system. A different flasher will be necessary, and that will disable the self-cancel system. If you don't mind turning your signals off manually, that is not a problem.

Good luck with the signals, let us know how they turn out. :encouragement:

.

 

[RustyTank]

One of the functions of turn signals is to be seen and noticed that you are intending a change in direction. Maybe just a lane change, maybe a move to another roadway, but the key point is that they need to be noticed and SEEN. There is a Federal standard that says the turn signals have to be a certain distance away from a major souce of light, like a headlight, that might prevent them from being seen. Using smaller lights on shorter stalks pretty much defeats the purpose of having signals in the first place.

Yes, many of us here tend to keep things stock(-ish), leaning more toward restoration than to custom, but there are different degrees of "custom", too. Some of us do things to customize, but keep it looking stock. My '80 850 is a good example of that. Besides the obvious biggies like fairing, saddlebags and trunk, I would have a hard time listing all the 'custom' touches that have been applied, but only the most die-hard GS aficionado would notice.

You should also know that your 850 has self-cancelling turn signals. Using LED turn signals will need some modification to the system. A different flasher will be necessary, and that will disable the self-cancel system. If you don't mind turning your signals off manually, that is not a problem.

Good luck with the signals, let us know how they turn out. :encouragement:

.

I thank you for your time and info Steve. In regard to the smaller signals and visibility, I completely take your point and it's something I need to think about.
Thank you for the LED information. I wasn't leaning toward LED anyway but now that you brought up how the self-cancelling feature would be effected, I'm not interested. So replacing them with standard/non LED signals won't affect the self-canceling feature, correct?

 

[Steve]

So replacing them with standard/non LED signals won't affect the self-canceling feature, correct?

There are some aftermarket signals that use smaller bulbs, to be able to use the smaller housings. Those bulbs are not as bright, and won't trigger the flasher unit. The flasher is a thermal-based unit, it needs to see a certain amount of current going through it to trip the flashing device. A smaller bulb will just leave the lights on steady.

The self-cancel feature on the '79 bikes is a strange animal and I don't fully understand how it works, so I can't say what needs to be done to preserve it. I do know that the flasher unit is not something available at the local auto parts store, so do what you can to keep that and you will probably be good. There is a write-up here somewhere about how to use LEDs (and smaller-bulb signals) on an early self-cancelling system, but I don't have a link available at the moment.

.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for chiming in jabcb. I checked out your Flickr stream. That GT380 is stunning! Those turn signals look really nice to. Do the rear pair double as brake lights as well? Also, that headlight on the GT380 looks like it's LED as well. Super nice.

Thanks.

The three wire version of the K&S LED turn signals are intended for the front.


The LED headlight is by Rivera Primo. They went under & BikeMaster has pretty much the same headlight.
Its 5-3/4? and fits in a GS250/GS300/GS450 headlight bucket. We used the headlight & a GS headlight bucket on the GT250 cafe build. I made an adapter to fit the headlight in a stock GT380 flat-bottom headlight bucket.


Some of the guys on the Suzuki 2 stroke forum have done builds where the rear turn signals double as brake lights + tail lights.
They used X-Arc signals by High Tech Speed. http://www.hightechspeed.com/products/xarc/index.html
They are pricey & the mount threads are not metric.

A sweet T500 build with the X-arc turn/brake/tail lights.
Motorcycle 15 by sbaugz, on Flickr

 

[RustyTank]

There are some aftermarket signals that use smaller bulbs, to be able to use the smaller housings. Those bulbs are not as bright, and won't trigger the flasher unit. The flasher is a thermal-based unit, it needs to see a certain amount of current going through it to trip the flashing device. A smaller bulb will just leave the lights on steady.

The self-cancel feature on the '79 bikes is a strange animal and I don't fully understand how it works, so I can't say what needs to be done to preserve it. I do know that the flasher unit is not something available at the local auto parts store, so do what you can to keep that and you will probably be good. There is a write-up here somewhere about how to use LEDs (and smaller-bulb signals) on an early self-cancelling system, but I don't have a link available at the moment.
.

Thanks agian Steve. Great information! I'll look for that thread.

 

[dorkburger]

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.

IMG_2566 by Glen Brenner, on Flickr

My old bike with shortened GSXR signals.
http://attachment by Glen Brenner, on Flickr

 

[wacky941]

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.

 

[bwringer]

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.

 

[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.