Fitting turn signal/ indicators to '69 model

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Hi all, I have a 1969 750 Commando and would like to retrofit turn signals / indicators to it to make things easier riding in built up areas and at night. It's new territory for me I've only repaired and replaced broken wiring/connectors on vehicles in the past. If you could run me through what parts are needed (will be getting the lucas stem indicator lights) and a wiring diagram that would be great. Thanks
 
You will need a power feed to the flasher relay (this would be from white or you could take it directly from battery negative; I suggest you add a fuse if you do that and it will be unswitched as the power to the indicators will not go through the ignition switch).
You then need a wire from the flasher relay to the handlebar switch (if your Commando still has the Triconsul switch then you'll need to add a (left-off-right) switch.
If it has an original harness, it may not have the original green/white (right) and green/red (left) wires to the indicators.
How the warning light is wired (if you intend to fit one) depends on the flasher type.
The later headlamp shell had the connection below that connects the shell to the red earth wire (it's not a connection to earth for the harness) this is the earth path for the front indicators so you may have to fit an earth wire from the shell (or each indicator stem) to harness red.
The original rear indicators used the frame (partially) as earth as the frame is not actual earth, the red wiring is earth.
Fitting turn signal/ indicators to '69 model
 
Thanks a lot. Just had a look at the wiring. It was upgraded to disc brake on the front and does not have a front brake switch connected (no place to even connect it on the lever). The white wire for the front brake switch is in the headlamp shell and is not being used, so could connect to a flasher relay and onto the indicator switch? I have purchased a simple indicator switch to go on the left of handlebars. To keep it simple it won't have a warning light.
 
Hello, gentlemen.
Didn’t want to start a new thread as I am in a similar situation as the original poster.
Just got myself a 1970 Roadster. No turn signals.
Was wondering if it made sense/was somewhat doable to purchase a whole wiring harness from a later model that would have the wiring for the signals.
Another option I am looking into is getting Motogadget indicators, a relay and one of their switched, potentially replacing the RH original switch with a Motogadget one, and building a separate “mini harness” for just the indicators and a relay.
Could you, guys, please, share your thoughts and experience? Very new to Nortons here.
Thank you for reading this and sorry for hijacking the thread.
 
Hello, gentlemen.
Didn’t want to start a new thread as I am in a similar situation as the original poster.
Just got myself a 1970 Roadster. No turn signals.
Was wondering if it made sense/was somewhat doable to purchase a whole wiring harness from a later model that would have the wiring for the signals.
Another option I am looking into is getting Motogadget indicators, a relay and one of their switched, potentially replacing the RH original switch with a Motogadget one, and building a separate “mini harness” for just the indicators and a relay.
Could you, guys, please, share your thoughts and experience? Very new to Nortons here.
Thank you for reading this and sorry for hijacking the thread.
I have a 1970 Commando, adding a few wires alongside the existing harness is pretty simple and inexpensive, and looks fine, I ran like this for about 40 years without any problems.

Ripping out the original harness and replacing everything is doable, but replacing every wire on the bike is a much more complex, frustrating and expensive task, just look at where the horn is sited, the rear brake switch, all the charging and ignition components. If you're having problems with wiring gremlins, then replace the lot, but otherwise I wouldn't consider touching it.

I've just redesigned my wiring harness to something that works better for me, so the lights turn off when I turn off the ignition, I have a modern multi-switch so I can reach everything without letting go of the bars, and a CNW electric start. I used motogadget indicators, which are super discreet and the bike doesn't look like it has indicators until I turn them on. Those big orange things never looked right. I looked into the whole Motogadget infrastructure, but it just got too expensive, and was more than I needed, but as an IT geek it did really appeal to me.

The bike now has motogadget indicators wired through a conventional flasher unit and connected to a normal switch. If all you want to do is add indicators, then I'd recommend adding wires alongside your existing loom, using whatever indicators look right for you.
 
I have a 1970 Commando, adding a few wires alongside the existing harness is pretty simple and inexpensive, and looks fine, I ran like this for about 40 years without any problems.

Ripping out the original harness and replacing everything is doable, but replacing every wire on the bike is a much more complex, frustrating and expensive task, just look at where the horn is sited, the rear brake switch, all the charging and ignition components. If you're having problems with wiring gremlins, then replace the lot, but otherwise I wouldn't consider touching it.

I've just redesigned my wiring harness to something that works better for me, so the lights turn off when I turn off the ignition, I have a modern multi-switch so I can reach everything without letting go of the bars, and a CNW electric start. I used motogadget indicators, which are super discreet and the bike doesn't look like it has indicators until I turn them on. Those big orange things never looked right. I looked into the whole Motogadget infrastructure, but it just got too expensive, and was more than I needed, but as an IT geek it did really appeal to me.

The bike now has motogadget indicators wired through a conventional flasher unit and connected to a normal switch. If all you want to do is add indicators, then I'd recommend adding wires alongside your existing loom, using whatever indicators look right for you.
Thank you so much for such an extensive reply! Yes, after having looked at a diagram - I think I will try to piece together a few additional wires, a relay and a switch, instead of replacing the whole loom. Thank you!!!
 
I have a 70 model myself. I have late model switch clusters though and a late model complete front end. (disc brake, big headlight shell without the halo, etc) Somewhere in the late 80's I added the wiring to put directionals on rear of my bike. Later when I added the fairing, I added the front directionals on the fairing.

I created my own wiring mini harness in all dark green wire, so any green wires on my bike are for the directional system with the exception of the switch wiring which was already in that instrument cluster's wiring harness. The stock lucas flasher unit didn't work, so I used a 12volt flasher out of an old dodge pickup truck and that worked for 20 years, then I replaced it with a "mostop" unit, which is a flasher that can be set to be self canceling. It's works well, and it keeps me from riding around with my blinker on 😏

I just added the wiring for my directionals and left my working harness for everything else alone. The stock directional fixtures are chromed plastic, so the grounding to them is not great. For every directional light, I added a ground wire to the grounding point on each fixture to bring that ground point back to a solid mounting point on the frame. Before I added that extra grounding, occasionally a light wouldn't blink and jiggling it would restore functionality. After I added the extra grounding, that never happened anymore.

Having directional lights is a good thing. Young people driving today never used hand signals or ever saw them regularly used in their lifetime, so you can never be sure they know you are signalling. It's worth adding them for a little added safety...
 
I have a 70 model myself. I have late model switch clusters though and a late model complete front end. (disc brake, big headlight shell without the halo, etc) Somewhere in the late 80's I added the wiring to put directionals on rear of my bike. Later when I added the fairing, I added the front directionals on the fairing.

I created my own wiring mini harness in all dark green wire, so any green wires on my bike are for the directional system with the exception of the switch wiring which was already in that instrument cluster's wiring harness. The stock lucas flasher unit didn't work, so I used a 12volt flasher out of an old dodge pickup truck and that worked for 20 years, then I replaced it with a "mostop" unit, which is a flasher that can be set to be self canceling. It's works well, and it keeps me from riding around with my blinker on 😏

I just added the wiring for my directionals and left my working harness for everything else alone. The stock directional fixtures are chromed plastic, so the grounding to them is not great. For every directional light, I added a ground wire to the grounding point on each fixture to bring that ground point back to a solid mounting point on the frame. Before I added that extra grounding, occasionally a light wouldn't blink and jiggling it would restore functionality. After I added the extra grounding, that never happened anymore.

Having directional lights is a good thing. Young people driving today never used hand signals or ever saw them regularly used in their lifetime, so you can never be sure they know you are signalling. It's worth adding them for a little added safety...
Thank you for responding! I guess, time for me to figure out what components I need to obtain to put together a separate harness!
Thank you!!
 
I used the bar end turn signals, common BMW items from the 60s. The originals were HELLA...but the replicas are just as good and are about $35. Much more compact and the wires run inside the handlebars. Finding a switch I liked was the big problem.
 
This is what’s inside of my headlight. I assume, those two loose connectors are the turn signals - green+ red and green+white.

I need to change my LH switch - the horn button is not working, plus, I need to get one for the turn signals.
I was looking into getting this one:

Figured, it would be somewhat easy to connect the wiring for the turn signals once I come up with the harness for them.
Can anybody advice if they his is a decent option?

I do like the way motogadget things look, but they all seem to be momentary switches unless you buy their M-Unit (maybe I don’t understand something).

Thanks for looking!
 

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I have later model switches on my 70 model. The later model switch is what you need (unless you go with some other non-norton switch which some people do) The switches for right and left handlebars on later model bikes are mounted opposite the lever for each side, so the right side switch mounts on the brake lever and fluid reservoir for the front disc brake, and the left side switch mounts on the lever for the clutch. You can put either switch cluster on either lever. One cluster has the Hi/Low beam 2 position switch in the center and the other has the 3 position switch for the directionals

I have my directional switch cluster mounted on the right handlebar. I don't know if that's technically correct or not, but that's how I am set up. The switch clusters look similar externally, but one cluster allows the center switch to have 3 positions for L - OFF - R to control the directionals. The other type of cluster has the center switch with only 2 positions for the high and low beam control of the headlight. Whatever you buy, you might want to make sure that the switch cluster that you are getting has the 3 position middle switch

Obviously you want the switch cluster with the 3 position center switch. I would bet you could mount it on either the right or left. I'm not sure how it mounts on the right side with the drum front brake lever, but the left side mount would work like every other bike that has late model switches mounted opposite the clutch lever. (although the early clutch lever used with the triconsul switch might be different than the late model one. The early models have some subtle differences so when you adapt a late model feature to them, sometimes you have to change the extra odd thing or two to accommodate the late model feature you are adding.... In your case, it might be a clutch lever that has the perch to mount a late model switch cluster opposite the lever...

Where are you located? I have 2 pair of lightly used directionals that I would sell you for half the cost of new. I used them for a few years, then changed to aftermarket low profile fixtures. The one's I have are 2 long stalk fixtures and 2 short stalk fixtures. I think I put the shorter ones on the front and the wider ones on the rear. They've been sitting in my parts bin for a decade. I don't think I'm ever going back to stock directionals... 😏
 
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I have later model switches on my 70 model. The later model switch is what you need (unless you go with some other non-norton switch which some people do) The switches for right and left handlebars on later model bikes are mounted opposite the lever for each side, so the right side switch mounts on the brake lever and fluid reservoir for the front disc brake, and the left side switch mounts on the lever for the clutch. You can put either switch cluster on either lever. One cluster has the Hi/Low beam 2 position switch in the center and the other has the 3 position switch for the directionals

I have my directional switch cluster mounted on the right handlebar. I don't know if that's technically correct or not, but that's how I am set up. The switch clusters look similar externally, but one cluster allows the center switch to have 3 positions for L - OFF - R to control the directionals. The other type of cluster has the center switch with only 2 positions for the high and low beam control of the headlight. Whatever you buy, you might want to make sure that the switch cluster that you are getting has the 3 position middle switch

Obviously you want the switch cluster with the 3 position center switch. I would bet you could mount it on either the right or left. I'm not sure how it mounts on the right side with the drum front brake lever, but the left side mount would work like every other bike that has late model switches mounted opposite the clutch lever. (although the early clutch lever used with the triconsul switch might be different than the late model one. The early models have some subtle differences so when you adapt a late model feature to them, sometimes you have to change the extra odd thing or two to accommodate the late model feature you are adding.... In your case, it might be a clutch lever that has the perch to mount a late model switch cluster opposite the lever...

Where are you located? I have 2 pair of lightly used directionals that I would sell you for half the cost of new. I used them for a few years, then changed to aftermarket low profile fixtures. The one's I have are 2 long stalk fixtures and 2 short stalk fixtures. I think I put the shorter ones on the front and the wider ones on the rear. They've been sitting in my parts bin for a decade. I don't think I'm ever going back to stock directionals... 😏
Ordered the switch I linked above.
Thank you for the response! Going to go with an aftermarket/low profile indicators!
 
I do like the way motogadget things look, but they all seem to be momentary switches unless you buy their M-Unit (maybe I don’t understand something).
The motogadget M-Unit communicates with other motogadget devices such as their buttons, indicators etc. using a LIN bus, so it moves the bike more towards the way a modern car would be wired, using messages through the network to switch relays, rather than everything using directly connected 12v switches.

Its a fascinating bit of kit, but to make it worthwhile you really need to move everything onto the network, effectively replacing your current wiring loom with connections to the M-Unit. And that gets really expensive
 


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