In fact, this is the exact same signal as on Sandy's bike. Mine are similar, but there's a crucial difference. Note that on this signal, it is mounted to a plastic baseplate, which is then screwed to the fairing with a grommet. Well, as you can see, these stick out a few inches from the bodywork. So you can, you know, walk into them, open car doors into them and so on. And, if you're lucky you'll just crack the lens and you can superglue it back together (I did this about a month ago pulling into the parking lot at work – the sensor doesn't "detect" bikes, so you have to weave around the "arm", and the arm hit the lens, breaking it into five pieces). If you're not lucky, you'll break the stalk, and the whole thing has to be replaced. Only, you can't just replace the "stalk" part. The lens, bulb, stock, and base are all one part, including the connector (and by connector, I don't mean anything you 4-wheel people are familiar with – it's literally a wire you slide inside another wire).
Yesterday, when I was parking the bike – her bike – I whacked the turn signal. I got really lucky this time. Instead of breaking the lens, bulb, or stalk, all of them cheerfully held, and the baseplate held too! Terrific, right? Robust engineering!! Unfortunately, the fairing gave. So because the stupid turn signal was robust enough to actually not break when it got whacked, it pulled the fairing hard enough to crack. Now, an entire new turn signal assembly is $35. The fairing on her bike is $335.
But wait, it gets better. The fairing's cracked, and so I'm unscrewing the baseplate from the turn signal to see if I can epoxy it back together (I earned about a 6-8" crack in the fairing), and it breaks, meaning I need a new turn signal, too. Oh, and look! That's a strange color.... Why, underneath the black and red paint on the fairing is.... Kawi green!
Somebody has apparently dropped this bike before, purchased a new fairing off ebay or whichever, and repainted it the black/red color she has (which I didn't know wasn't a factory color at all), without even having the decency to take the green and clear off the plastic beforehand. So, yeah, the fairing is epoxied back together. But now there are little green "marks" where the red and black have flecked off. And I'm short a front turn signal, which means I'm pull-over-able, and not to mention, you know, more easily killed by cagers.
BUT WAIT THERE'S EVEN MORE!!
When I bought my bike, the 750, it had a broken turn signal, too. It turns out that Daddy was into bikes, Mommy was into SUV's, and she ran a stroller into the turn signal on the 750. The difference between the 750 and the 250's turn signal is the one on the 750 has a rubber stalk which itself is the grommet into the fairing. Which is to say, if you whack it, it's supposed to just pop out of the fairing, and you can stuff it back in (special note: my bike is five years older than hers). So mommy had to hit that thing pretty hard, because the stalk was broken. I replaced the whole thing, for $35. The connector for that signal is in approximately the hardest place to reach on the bike (underneath the headlamps, behind a bracket that makes it hard to reach, which I suppose serves to keep the cables all in one place, but remember, these aren't connectors, they're "sleeve-type" splices).
Two weeks later, as Sandy was getting on her bike and I was getting on mine, she throws a leg over and, yup, whacks my damn turn signal. This time, it popped out properly, but we were sitting there like idiots with both our bikes idling, trying to get the stupid grommet back in as cagers fought over our parking spot and wonder what in the hell we were doing with our obviously inferior vehicles.
I happen to think that having them out on those stalks makes em real visible. And, really, they're bright, and they stick out, and cagers can SEE THEM because they LIGHT UP THE BIKE. That's the whole idea, really. But I am hereby removing all my "stalk-type" turn signals and replacing them with flush-mounts, which are dimmer, harder to see (because they're smaller), and possibly look cool (but I don't agree here). Because, dammit, I've spent $100 on turn signals, and I'm not sure whether I'm going to buy her a new fairing or not because it's clear it's going to be the right color, and I'd have to get it painted.
And, naturally, since I've been riding her bike (my clutch is being worked on), and it's been pouring, it's filthy, and I told her I'd wash and wax it this weekend. Instead, I cracked her godamn fairing, broke her turn signal, and revealed that a previous owner did evil evil things to the bike and lied to us (seriously, you painted merlot and black over kawi green? wtf?).
But before you start laughing, ask how much it costs to replace a single HID headlamp assembly on an STI. :p
