DIY - Relocation of Dyna Indicator Lens and Turn Signals

Ever since I bought my 2008 Dyna Low Rider (FXDL), I have struggled with aftermarket parts because the indicator lens is on the bar clamp. Such an annoying place to have it. I have always wanted to move it, just didn't really know how. The new 2016 FXDL models ditched the indicator lens on the clamps. They moved the indicators into the speedo dash. Genius! Wish they had just done that with prior models and called it a day. Instead, here is what I had to do to move it to my dash, but not in my speedo.

This is the OE location of the indicator lens on my 2008 FXDL, right on the handlebar clamp.

The plan is to move the indicator lens from the clamp and position it between the speedo and tach. Dead center between the two bolts.

Now it's time to take everything apart. You start buy unscrewing the two bolts on the dash and the one just under the seat. You will have to remove the seat, and when you do I suggest disconnecting the battery for safety. Once all the screws are out, the dash then is loose. Just pull up on it and begin disconnecting the wiring harness plugs. For the speedo button, you will have to unscrew it. Keep the rubber outside peace on a safe place and then push the wire part through the dash. That way now everything is disconnected. At that point, you will have a free dash, that you can now move to your work bench or table. 

  

Your next step is to remove your handlebar clamp. Since I am changing my bars and risers, there are more steps to do at this point. First, it is best to start taking off the controls. I usually start on the left side. On the controls there are 4 screws. There are 2 on the outside clamp and 2 on the controls themselves. Begin with unscrew them all slowly. I basically, unscrew each one a little bit at a time, while moving from one to another until they are all so loose I can manage moving the wires out the way and clutch safely. When you work alone it can be challenging. If you have a friend, get a 12 pack a beer and thank him for the extra set of hands after the jobs done. Anyways, once the controls are off, you have to remove the left grip. I had slid mine on with lubricant. I usually take them off by squeezing a zip tie or two in there and then spraying WD40 in the opening that is made. Then you just start twisting the grip back and forth to work the WD40 and boom! the grip slides right off. 

Now for right side you basically do the same thing, only you have the throttle cables you need to watch out for as well as some springs for the poor mans cruise control. So, be very careful when doing the right side. Once the controls are off, you can now proceed to remove the 4 screws on the handlebar clamp. Once those are off, you can then set the bars in the pile you probably have in your garage of all the bars you have tried. I have some for sale if anyone is interested. 

Once the bars and clamp is off, since I am putting in new risers, I have to remove the risers. There is a ground wire attached to them, as well as your brake cable clamp. Be sure you remove that screw and keep an eye on your ground wire. The first time I took the risers off ever, I ended up bending the ground wire so bad that I had to make a new one with new connectors. Nonetheless, now you can start unscrewing the bolts at of the risers that you see on the inside of the triple tree. Once those are off, you might want to inspect your bushings. I had replaced mine year ago, with polyurethane ones, so I know they are good to go. I honestly wish I had replaced them with the OE rubber ones. They helped to dampen the vibration a bit better on my Dyna. The poly ones make the vibration a bit more intense. This might be a project for next winter. Now you will have things hanging off the bike. I basically made bungees my friend during this part of the project. I had one bungee holding up the right side controls so my brake fluid reservoir didn't start leaking. I had another holding the opposite side to the front frame tubes. Then I had painters tape holding the turn signals wires on the forks. The things you have to do when you don't have a friend around. 

Now that everything is out of the way we can continue with working on the dash. I had to take the original clamp and I lined it up over the tapped up area in the photo below. I used it as a template for cutting the proper size hole needed for this to work.  

Set the OE clamp on there and took a pen made a template of the proper diameter needed for the cut out. 

Grab a set of safety glasses and a cutting wheel for your Dremel. 

You can start to make your cuts and of course clean up with files. 

Grab a file ad clean up your work. I could have done it with the Dremel using other bits, but I just didn't have them on hand.

I then mounted the new bars, risers and clamps.

Love it!

Wired everything back up, including plugging the battery back in. Reinstalled the dash, put the controls back on and zip tied any wires for a cleaner look.

Looks so much cleaner without the turn signal lens there. 

These weren't the best clamps, but for 11 bucks on Amazon they worked alright! 

New bars, new risers, new clamps, new relocation kit for the turn signals and a new location for the indicator lens! FINALLY!! Now I just need the snow to melt so I can ride. I should mention that I did test everything prior to making the final reinstall of all parts. I didn't want to put the dash back on if the electrical just didn't work. One thing I did run into was the bolt mounts on the dash that are welded to the tank. Some people cut and re-weld those brackets. I actually bent them the opposite way and it worked fine.

Have you been working on a winter project? If so, I'd love to hear what you have been working on. It's always fun to changes, heck even sometimes we put things back they way their were. How many of you have done that? ha! Until next time, keep the rubber side down!

Finding Pure Zen

Have you ever found yourself missing a place you once lived in or visited? Then you find yourself there again, only to realize that you missed it more than you thought you did. Well, this happened to me while I was in Milwaukee over the weekend. I know what you're thinking, it's cold as hell there, how do you even love that place. Fair question, let me explain.

Back in 2013 I did a motorcycle ride to the 110th Harley Anniversary party. When I left Milwaukee to head back home to Pennsylvania, I went by way of Canada. Prior to crossing into Canada, I had stopped for gas. A lady pumping gas into her car kept looking at me. She eventually got the guts to walk over and start a conversation. She had noticed my bike fully loaded with gear and dirty. She asked me where I had been, and where I was headed. We talked about the places I had been and all the people I had met. She asked me where my favorite places where and why. At the end of the conversation, she said she lived where she felt relaxed. Where she felt like part of a community. I told her I didn't feel that in Pennsylvania, and that was probably why I always ended up back there and then left again.

After that conversation, I drove across the Canadian/American boarder and was cruising along. Then it hit me. A thought hit me so hard, I about lost control of my bike. It was like a movie scene, when all of a sudden you are holding your arms out and rotating 360 degrees and there is a light that shines down on you and the scenery behind you is just all white or blurred. It was a total ah huh moment, to say the least.

While I was riding, I was looking around at this new country. Which did not feel new. It looked like America, I mean there were stores, shopping malls, gas stations with different names. All in all, it is the same shit. This had me thinking of all the places I had traveled to in the USA. It was really all the same. The landscape changes, and so do the faces....that's it! That's all that changes! So, that brought me to question, where do I love the landscape and the faces! Ha, I know it sounds silly, but this was the ah huh moment.

So, what does all of this have to do with Milwaukee? Well, I love the landscape! I'm in love with the people, the food, the city, the community feel and the cultures. It seemed to be such a perfect blend of all of these things. There are no mountains, but Lake Michigan has a magical feel to it. It is hard to not be attracted to the purity of water. I feel like I have found Zen being around the water. Out of all the bodies of water these eyes have seen in my 39 years of living, its these waters I crave. It was hard to leave, it's been hard adjusting back to PA life.

Pennsylvania just has nothing zen about it. I feel like I am suffocating each and every single day. Sure I have plenty of family and friends here. I mean, this is where life began. This just doesn't seem to be a place that inspires, or cultivates creativity. It masks happiness and creates struggle. I see it everyday in peoples eyes that I pass walking in the street, or seeing their faces while driving their cars, or just people watching at the gas station. You just feel the anxiety, pressure, routine, all of these things that breed the "keeping up with the Joneses" type of mentality. It is in the air, and seems to be suffocating everyone.

Once you cross PA state boarders, and I don't care who you are, it is as if you dropped all the boulders off of your shoulders. People change, you sense happiness again in folks. I don't know what it is, but something must change!

Live Life! Don't put all your eggs in one basket!

This summer has been nuts. I feel like I got robbed of a lot of riding time. However, I remember telling myself when the summer started that I wanted to be sure to give myself time to do other things in life besides motorcycling. I know that sounds nuts! I'm not ill, nor have a I become insane. However, I have craved other adventures and the summer turned out to be just that. From unexpected motorcycle to car repair, to falling in love, to loosing a dear friend, to seeing and doing new things. It's been a life changing year.

Back around Labor day, I had gone on a parade run in honor of Memorial Day. After that ride, my bike really hasn't been the same. Inspected the valves, changed the plugs, updated the exhaust gaskets and cam gasket. Gosh, it was a pain in the ass trying to put the exhaust back on. Here's a few pictures from that fiasco.

Chain Tensioner looks good!

Learned about plugs.

These gaskets are horrible engineering.

That same weekend I ended going on a date with a fella named Luke. Thanks to mutual friends for setting us up, he changed my summer. I guess when you wish for something it almost happens when you least expect it. Not that I was wishing for a boyfriend, but for doing other things on the weekends besides motorcycling. Although, I did manage to take him MotoGP, so not all hope was lost for motorcycling. He did repay me by taking me on my first helicopter ride ever! I have to say it was amazing! Just as amazing as he is! Truly a fella with a big heart, I'm still trying to figure out why he's still dating me. Oh wait, cause I'm the shit! lol

MotoGP Indy. Such an amazing experience. He loved it!

Co-Pilot! Who knew! 

While all this fun was happening in my life with the boyfriend, having my bike together, well part of that fell apart. I ended up being in an accident. I lowsided to avoid hitting a sportbike that my co-worker/roommate was riding. Long story, but my bike was out of commission again. With the bike down for the count, I took off to the Outer Banks of NC in order to get some sunshine. Time to refocus. The beach helps me with that. 

When I got back from messing around, it was time to get to business and put the darn bike back together. Hard to tell from the one photo below, but my forward controls where bent. The metal actually twisted. I couldn't believe it. My exhaust is all scratched up, but hey you have to be laying on the ground to see it. That I didn't replace. The bars were bent too, and my bags were shredded. 

Twisted! The other side was the same. Crazy!

All scratched up! So sad!

Trashed! The other one is worse off.

After waiting for all the parts to finally arrive, I started putting my bike back together again. My new mission was to ride. I missed my bike so much. 

New pegs and forward controls. 

Waiting on the new bars to arrive.

The Zbars look so sexy!

All back together again!

Like I said earlier, it was a life changing summer. While messing around with my bike I got word that one of my dearest friends, Tim Hartsough died in a motorcycle accident. One of my truest, dearest, loving friends I had ever connected with in my life. I was devastated. I'm still shocked. At his memorial we all drank his favorite beer, Torpedo from Sierra Nevada. Family and friends talked about the loss of a great man. It was a day I'll never forget.

Cheers to you Tim!

I hope to see you again, maybe next lifetime!

The moral of the summer turned out to mean, "Live life! Don't put all your eggs in one basket". Meaning, sometimes we get wrapped up in the routine of life. We never seem to step outside of our own box enough. We get wrapped up in ourselves and forget there is a whole other world to enjoy. It can be enjoyed without a motorcycle. However, in my world it seems to do a 360. Guess in the end, it's my motorcycle that helps me to take in the pain and suffering life throws at me. It is also the same thing that inspires me to be a better person, to do positive things in this short life that we have. Well ladies and gentlemen, I hate to end on that note, but that was my summer.

Gone Wireless!

Don't ask why I waited this long to setup a FirstGear Wireless Heat Troller on my 08 FXDL. I'm just glad I did. You still have to have wires in your pocket, but it isn't nearly as bad. Is anyone else using heated gear? I'm currently just running heated sock liners and glove liners from Firstgear. You can find those items being sold by following the link to the heat troller above.

Anyways with this winter not having any end in sight and 5 inches of snow coming tomorrow, this wireless troller will just make things simpler. 

Winter Blues

No matter how much gear you pile on, or even if you have heated gear, winter just gives us all the blues. Us motorcyclists that is. For the few like myself that will ride year around except for when that snow falls, it really isn't a big deal. Nonetheless, who wouldn't prefer to ride on a 70 degree day over a 30 below day and that doesn't include the wind chill.

Icy lakes, icy road ways, and not to mention "the salt, the salt, the God Damn Salt". (Yes I went there and referenced Jimmy Buffet) Anyways you get the point, it's just flat out cold. Company no matter the temps always makes a road trip that much better. I'm fortunate to have folks around me that also ride during the winter months. Perhaps we are just crazy, perhaps we are just stupid but no matter what riding is therapy. It helps to cope with the winter blues. Plus I think being in the cold burns calories, which my waist line doesn't mind at all. ha!

Well friends I sure hope that damn ground hog doesn't see his shadow and cast on us 6 more weeks of this crap come Feb. 2nd. If it turns out to be the case, then we'll just take it for what it's worth and hope we see a 40 degree day filled with sunshine in between the colder more gloomier days. Fingers crossed for an early spring! 

Let's here from you now: How do you feel about the winter months in your neck of the woods as a motorcyclist? Winter Blues? PMS (parked motorcycle syndrome)? 

The Zen of Riding

Today was really an interesting day. My ride in to work was probably one of the best rides. One of those days that the mind was free of clutter and focused. I passed by lawn guys cutting grass, PennDot workers just hanging out by their trucks (do they ever work?), squirrles running around (almost ran one over) and the best part of all, a groundhog sun bathing on rocks between two waterfalls. It was pure zen.

I was thinking to myself all day that the outdoors are calling me. I mean I spend time outdoors already, but not really doing stuff I enjoy. I don't know about you but I've had it with yard work. See there's something called routine and we all get caught up in it. We need to find time to maintenance our own souls. What really got to me today was the patch of rain I rode through on the ride home. I actually saw a full rainbow once through it. I couldn't stop looking at it in my mirrors or even turning my head in disbelief. It truly was a full rainbow. A sight these eyes haven't seen since I left Arizona and another reminder to occupy zen!

So friends remember to take time out for you cause life is too short. Too short to not enjoy daily.