I finally cut that #@%!!! wire

[DaveKamp]

So... after fighting it seven times now, I finally did it... I cut the wire.

Since the day I got this '82 Aspy, the 'self cancelling' turn signal has given me fits. I've cleaned the switch contacts each time, and they work for a while... then fail again, causing the cancelling unit to click away at the solenoid at totally unexpected intervals. I could be driving for an hour on the interstate, and out of the blue, it just starts clicking away... I cycle the switch left right a half dozen times, and sometimes it stops for another hour... or minute... or not.

I'm moving right, into a long off-ramp, and after being in that ramp, it cancels, so I set the signal again... and it cancels again... until I get down below 30 (which on this ramp, is dangerous), it keeps cancelling after just a few seconds. Then I sit at the stop sign, and once I pull away, it may, or may not cancel... sometimes it just starts banging away rapidly.

I finally had enough. I took the switch pod off, fished out one of the wires to the solenoid, and cut it, and now it doesn't cancel.

Some will say that's a stupid move, but not me, and I'm absolutely-positively-certain that Soichiro would have agreed, even if it was only for one reason:

It was negatively impacting my experience.

See... I've been riding motorcycles for over four decades now. I use my turn signals beyond religiously- they're a very primal extension of my body. I've NEVER had problems leaving a turn signal on, or off... my right thumb automatically does it.

I don't need some idiot box trying to figure it out for me, and I don't need it to constantly bang away under my hands, fighting me. I don't need a nanny, or a mother, or a wife, constantly nagging at me for doing something that it has no understanding of. I don't ride a motorcycle with anti-lock brakes, airbags, adaptive cruise control, a roof and roll-bar, weather-alert warnings, or a big, bright LCD screen warning that my windshield washer fluid is below-half-full, or my spare tire pressure is a half-PSI low.

It was disturbing my solitude. I am back in control of the turn signals now.

Now it's done.

 

[desertrefugee]

Sounds like you could use a bourbon old buddy. But, I'm with you on the bare-bones, no frills experience. Except for my Valkyrie...which is actually pretty bare bones. Just big bones.

 

[dan filipi]

The self cancel signals on my ‘83 have always worked well, and every time I use them they entertain me how well they work when they magically turn off as if reading my mind.
I’d certainly miss the feature if I ever had to disable them.

 

[saganaga]

I like my self canceling turn signals on my '82, but I don't miss them on my twin.

 

[DaveKamp]

I suspect the reason why they've been so troublesome for me, is environmental. I don't ride in the rain unless I'm already stuck in it, but I do ride anytime I can get a clear path to the main road. it's a mile-and-a-half of gravel from me to asphalt, and I'm surrounded by corn and beans... so there's loads of dust. If it's a sunny day in February, and at least 15F, I'll go for a ride... and it's not unusual for salt to be on the roads well into late April, and that gets into electrics.

The theory of operation is basically sound, but the reality is, that when some feature malfunctions and demands repeated attention, it detracts from the reason I'm riding... to be free and unfettered by annoyances. I'm not willing to tolerate malfunctions in things that are supposed to be a 'convenience' feature.

My mom grew up on a farm about 100 miles west of me... and as a little girl, she was regularly sent out to check the fences, particularly after storms, to look for places where the fences had been damaged by fallen trees, or breached by scared cattle. She had a mare named Sassy who was regarded by everyone to be one of the best-tempered and gentle horses in the county. One day, she saddled up Sassy and went to patrol a fenceline to the northwest of the property, it was about a six-mile trek up the road to the pasture gate, four miles of barbed-wire west, five miles south, and four miles east. About halfway through the first leg, Sassy jumped around, and dropped her onto the ground. My mom looked all around for signs of what spooked her, saw no rattlesnakes, nothing else... so she climbed back on. A third of the way down the south leg, Sassy threw her again.... again, she looked around, she lifted each of Sassy's hoofs (My mom was about 5'3", mebbie 110lbs of tractor-driving vinegar). It threw her again, so mom took off the saddle and blanket, searched it everywhere for a cockleburr, loose rivet, sharp edge... found nothing. Saddled her back up, and continued on. Not far from the southwest corner, and again at the top of the hill, Sassy knocked her to the ground. It was 3 miles and two gates back to the farmhouse, my mom had enough, pulled the saddle and blanket, dropped them on the ground, she pulled herself up, and rode Sassy bareback the rest of the way home, with no problems. She rode Sally bareback for the next five years, and was never thrown.

I've ridden the route at least 50 times on horseback (I'm a lousy horseman, really) and at least as many times on my mountain bike... and that saddle is still there... in the field, about 40ft off the fenceline path.

It took me a while to understand why it's still there... and nobody has ever touched it. It's my mom's saddle, and that's where she wants it to stay. Sally lived on for many years, carrying my mom's younger siblings, never again to wear a saddle. My mom is still alive and doing just fine... and the lesson we've all taken from this is pretty simple:

If the existence of something is justified for the purpose of comfort, yete fails to provide comfort, or worse yet, is subject of discomfort, then it does not justify itself... it belongs a place in the field, off the path, where it can be admired for what it really is, by passers-by.

Henceforth, the wire is cut. It annoyth me no more...

Kinda down the lines of Matthew 8:19 I guess...

and I return to those things which do: Push the button, twist the throttle... click she shifter, ease out the clutch, feel the breeze, smell the harvest air, and feel the sunshine as the road appears before me.

 

[TheRepoGuy]

As long as it works for you it that’s what matters! Good on ya for handling it your way!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ansimp]

I actually have more problems using the push to cancel feature on the Valkyrie and the CBR after riding the Rats Nest. Don’t really want self cancelling provided I have a bright enough indicator to alert me when I have had brain fade. :hihihi:

 

[Old Fogey]

Love your story! That all makes perfect sense to me, which is why both my bikes are naked 70s Wings.

 

[AApple]

DaveKamp » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:31 pm[/url]":3s2gp1uy]
I've NEVER had problems leaving a turn signal on, or off... my right thumb automatically does it.

I think I see the problem.... :whistling:
:smilie_happy: :BigGrin:

 

[DaveKamp]

AApple » Yesterday, 8:46 am[/url]":3r51mi0e]

DaveKamp » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:31 pm[/url]":3r51mi0e]
I've NEVER had problems leaving a turn signal on, or off... my right thumb automatically does it.

I think I see the problem.... :whistling:
:smilie_happy: :BigGrin:

Yep, not my WRONG thumb!!!! :smilie_happy: