The stock turn signals on the SV650 are terrible. They’re not very bright, most likely because someone at Suzuki thought it would be a good idea to leave out the reflectors behind the bulbs. Broad daylight is too much for these signals. And they’re ugly, too, so of course they had to go.
Enter the GSX-R turn signals!
I was told that the swap was plug and play, but in my admittedly brief wrenching career, I’ve found that nothing is easy when it comes to motorcycle modifications that aren’t specifically made for the bike in question. In this case, the wiring connections matched perfectly, but the mounting bolts on the GSX-R signals are significantly shorter and wouldn’t work with the stock mounts on the fender.
Out came the metal bracket, the plastic guides, and the rubber “grommet” inserts in the fender (parts #17, 18, and 19 below).
Here are the signals along with two 3/4″x3″ mending plates I found at Home Depot:
Then I drilled a 5/16″ hole for the turn signal wire to fit through:
After smoothing out the sharp edges with the trusty Dremel tool:
And applying some liquid electrical tape to further smooth the edges:
Mounting the signals was easy:
The wires and connectors are the same between the stock rear signals and the GSX-R rear signals, which made the electrical part of this project nice and easy. What wasn’t nice or easy was threading the wires up through the fender and into the area underneath the passenger seat.
I think they turned out rather nice:
The GSX-R turn signals are definitely brighter than the stock signals. There’s a reflector behind the bulb, and the light seems to “fill” the whole signal lens instead of being a small point of light in a globe of plastic.
Before shot of the stockers:
The GSX-R signals in action:
We’ll see how long this nasty hack holds up!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
They certainly look much brighter! Sometimes we wonder why we got into these projects. When they’re done, though, we feel pretty darn proud of ourselves! Nicely done!
Believe me, I was doing some wondering myself when I realized that the bolt was too short!
I’ve been trying to install a set of side mounting, hard case bags on my SV. After numerous obstacles, I think I’m on the home stretch; everything is in place except for the luggage itself.
My final problem is this: rear turn lights are too long for the luggage to mount properly on each side of the bike. I tried to look up specific size info for the GSX-R lights you used here, but haven’t found measurements. Would it be possible for you to tell me how far they protrude from the body of the bike?
If these would work, I’d love to know the model/year you used; Oneida seems to have a diff type for almost every year of GSX-R.
The signals I used here are from a 2005 GSX-R 750. I’d say they’re about 5 inches long from the base of the mount to the end of the bulb housing. I can take a more accurate measurement after I get home.
If your signals are getting in the way of your bags, you’ll likely need to take a page out of the cruiser playbook and relocate your turn signals. This can be as simple as drilling out some flat bar stock so the signals can be mounted a few inches further back.