Rear End Without Assembly

The back end of a V-Star is not a pretty sight; the balky turn signals have been called lollipops among other names. I decided to modify my bike's appearance, hopefully to clean it up. I had discovered a lay down licensee in the J&P Cycle catalog and dual-filament bullet lights, which seem to have a retro look to them. The items would be my present to me for this year's Christmas. I ordered the items on a Saturday night and the following Wednesday the (Harley) parts were at my door. Wonder if Yamaha aftermarket parts will become as available in the marketplace anytime soon? I proceeded to start the mod I had been thinking about for the past two weeks.

The Yamaha rear license and turn signal assembly can be removed relatively easy, three bolts hold the items on the bike. Within the license holder, Yamaha has stuffed the wiring for the rear brake light and the license. You will need to unfold the mass of wires and disconnect the brown, green and black wires. During re-installation you will use the brown (L), green (R) and blue wires, which will be explained later.

Wiring, Neatly Bundled

You must now make some decisions on where to mount the lay down license and what you will accept as far as wires being exposed. With the decisions made, and hopefully, after some practice placements of the pieces, YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK!! The next step is to drill. You're going to drill into that perfectly good fender to mount the new license holder. In my case the mount called for three holes. I used the mount itself as a template on where to drill. Prior to mounting the holder, I used plastic cable ties to tidy up the loose wires, then attached the new license mount.

It was now time to turn my attention to mounting the new turn signals. I ran the wires for the turn signals back through to the inside of the fender. The bullets were to be mounted on the fender stays. I dismounted a stay from one side and choose a spot to drill, loosely remounted the stay so I could mark a spot to drill the small hole for the signal light wires to enter the inside of the fender. After the small hole was made, I installed the bullet light and tightened everything up nice and tight. I replicated this process for the other turn signal for the other side.

The Finished Product

Then came the final wiring and connections. Earlier, I spoke to the various colored wires one needs to use to wire in the new turn signals. On your bike you should find that the brown is for the left side of the bike as you sit on the bike and the green wire is for the right side. This is the wiring pattern for the front and the back end btw, in case you want to install passing lights. From each signal you select a wire to connect to either green or brown depending on which signal you are working to hook up at the time. From each signal, the other left over wire gets connected to the blue wire. I visited my favorite auto shop to procure the connections used, I believe I selected number sixteen size wire connectors. . Also generous amounts of clear silicone was applied to the drilled holes for protection from corrosion and to keep the wires in the curved edge of the fender.

After everything was connected and tight, I stepped back to appreciate the install. I like the results; I achieved what I set out to do - clean up the back end.