Bar ends and indicators

Apologies for the lack of updates. Have been really busy in work. Haven't even had the chance to give the bike a clean or winter prep yet. Anyway, to fix up some of the damage done from when I dropped the bike I got Carbon bar ends and small oval indicators from Halfords.

Two stumbling blocks arose when I got around to doing the repairs... The indicators were 23w (but still 12v) so I wasn't sure if they would work or not. They also had two wires (one black, one black with a white stripe) which didn't match the colours on the bike. In addition, the bar end on the left hand side was spinning but wouldn't come out. I posted to biker.ie to get a bit of advice about the indicators and the lads put me on the right track.

Honda's in general have:
- Green = Earth
- Orange = Live (LHS)
- Light Blue = Live (RHS)

After talking to one of the lads in Northside Motorcycles I found out it didn't matter which wire went to which on the new ones, the indicator relay would take care of it. In the end I put the black/white wire into earth and the black wire into live on both sides.

Replacing the indicators is easy enough but there are a few bolts which need to be undone. The headlight assembly needs to come off for the front indicators and the saddle, grab rail, rear bars (don't know the name for these, they're highlighted in the photo) and tail unit (seat cowl for ye yanks) will have to come off for the rear indicators to be done. Here are instructions on how to remove the tail unit and also how to dismantle the headlight assembly (both todo for the moment, sorry!)

The bar ends annoyed me somewhat. The one on the right hand side screwed out straight away leaving the handlebar insert in place. Because the left hand one was bent though, it meant that not matter how much I screwed it counterclockwise (lefty loosey, righty tighty!!) the bar end wouldn't budge. Eventually I took a hacksaw to the bar end and it fell away with a satisfying *ping*.

Bar end weights aid in the steering of the bike and vibration in the handlebars. I was worried that they might affect the handling of the bike but so far they don't seem to have changed the feel much and they look a lot better than the old ones. If you want to know the theory behind bar end weights, Manic Salamander has a Bar End FAQ.

The old bar ends:


The new ones:

(Would ya look at the filth of that front caliper... must get that cleaned up and sort out some new brake pads!)

The new indicators are a lot smaller than the old ones (which look like elephants ears when you compare them) but after a while I got used to the look of them and now I think they actually quite suit the bike. Here's a comparison pic for you... (excuse the rubbish lighting in the new pictures, it was twilight when I was taking them...I'll try to take some better pictures during the daytime soon).

Front indicator comparison:


Rear indicator comparison:


Now I'm wondering do I keep the headlight the same or change it for twin "streetfighter" headlights? Ah, where will the spending end!! The other option there is either to get the current headlight rechromed or to have it media blasted and to paint/powdercoat it black...