Winter Upgrades: It's that time of year!

[Ed]

lol Yeah, what you said ...or like half the cars you see around here with SC tags.

[007]

Lee has been busy this winter with all these upgrades and now a new bike. I assume you chose to just sell the FJR before the suspension refresh?

Installing the resistors defeats the purpose of getting LEDs with lower power draw to offset the heated gear (unless the combination of the two is still lower). Still worth it to install the LEDs on the tail light and turn signals since they are considerably brighter and last longer, which is the reason I prefer these on my bikes.

The LED headlights (and HIDs for that matter) are generally not DOT approved. New headlight technology (even the DOT approved versions that are more expensive) installed on bikes with older technology systems (reflector vs projector headlights for example) can also cause your installation to be non DOT approved. Essentially, LED or HID installation in reflector systems will probably throw scattered light all over the road and blind oncoming traffic or annoy drivers in front of you any time it is dark. Heck, even maladjustment of headlight aim is illegal.

Unless you are riding in the dark regularly or worried that someone is going to inspect your headlights, none of this matters 99.9% of the time. I don't make a habit of tailgating police after dark with my high beams on, so I doubt an inspection will ever take place. I really enjoy the HID in my K12S low beam because it scatters light. This helps to notify oncoming mountain traffic that something is coming their way, and should vacate my side of the road. Lee's DRZ will benefit from this to help illuminate dark trails, too. YMMV.

[LeeDavis]

I assume you chose to just sell the FJR before the suspension refresh?

Beachy gets a partial. I changed the front fork fluid.

[beachy]

you know what Elvis said thank you very much

[LeeDavis]

I replaced the flasher relay on the DRZ (10 minute job) so it now blinks at the correct rate. It works with any combination of conventional and/or LED lights and from my looking around this relay or similar ones are available for most bikes. It looks like adding resistors to slow down LED flashers isn't often necessary any more.

$8.00 off Ebay

DRZ Flasher Relay.JPG (13.55 KiB) Viewed 27453 times

[007]

Good to know for future upgrades, Lee. May not work for foo-foo Can-Bus, though. All the more reason to trade in the BMW.

[Brick]

Hmmm... I wonder if my old 1999 Suzuki SV650 has the same type of flasher?


I might be out riding my Super Tenere'

[LeeDavis]

Hmmm... I wonder if my old 1999 Suzuki SV650 has the same type of flasher?

According to the chart this relay fits your '99 SV. http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Pin-Turn-Sign ... #vi-ilComp

[Brick]

Crap now I'll need to remove the resisters I put inline! [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND SMILING EYES][THUMBS UP SIGN]


I might be out riding my Super Tenere'

[LeeDavis]

The FJ got LED's to replace the huge stock blinker lights on the fender eliminator modification. Just like most bikes, as previously mentioned, the FJ uses a standard flasher relay. Easy to replace with one that is non-load dependent so it blinks at the correct rate. They're inexpensive, common and simple, so why don't bike manufacturers use this type to start with?

[HaulinAshe]

Guess one calls that a butt lift? :)

[Brick]

That's exactly what it should be called. Looks good... I got to look at it for miles! [THUMBS UP SIGN] those LED's are good but not as bright as I would have thought. ?? Lee says it's what you get for $10 for a pair of them off eBay. Damn, I think I paid like $50/pair a couple of years ago for the ones on my sv650. I still need that relay to fix the flash rate.


I am out riding my Super Teneré'!

[LeeDavis]

The stock tail assembly made me look fat.

[yamadog]

Ya but taller! lol

[Brick]

The stock tail assembly made me look fat.

Well at least you got that going for you... my fat makes me look fat! Just like my old makes me look old!