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Making Your NC700 More Visual from the Rear - Mike Mas
In my previous article - we discussed adding LED’s to the front of our NC 700’s since our single “yellow” headlight at night could easily be mistaken for just a porch light on someones home. In this article - we’ll install some readily available LED stick on strip lights to the rear of the NC to make it more visual than the single “Almost Lost” tail light at night. In an upcoming article we’ll work on the brake lights to make them more visual as well.
The LED strip lights - were located at my local Advance Auto store - make sure when you pick these up, they are the Super Bright set since some of these strips the LED’s are half the size and of course half the brightness as well. A real plus of these lights is the fact the body is black which allows then to blend in with almost any color.
Each strip has a removable connector - making it easy to route wires - make sure to line up the arrows when you plug them in to avoid shorting the set. These sets have a cigarette plug which you’ll remove and connect these same wires to your tail light power connector.
To Install the LED’s wiring - I ran the wire on each side up along the fuel tank so the connectors were exposed on each side of the rear fender. Next, I ran the wires through the opening aft of the tank and made my connection to the tail lamp connector.
You’ll need to locate the tail light connector - by removing one screw from inside the rear fender well which releases the panel exposing the connectors. Pull the plug down from the holder. I refrain from cutting and splicing any wires on my bikes. You can use a crimp on connector, I like just pulling the covering back then wrap my wire around the leads and solder the connection. On the connector the blue/purple connector is 12 volts tail lamps and the solid green is ground.
Each LED strip - has a 3M sick compound that really hold good to “smooth” plastic surfaces which is why I choose to stick it to the outer edge of the body panel rather than the more rougher finish of the inside fender.
In conclusion - I tried the bike in both day and night rides with a good results - even with the signals on the LED's show fine as shown in the images. Since the LED’s are sort of protected from direct sunlight they show up very well in the shaded wheel openings. At night they are even more visual since they light the entire tire area. In addition they are also view-able from the rear sides as well. For both safety and visual reasons the $24.95 price for the 2 LED’s strips are a small price to pay for the safety they offer as well as making you bike look a bit more tricked out.
Enjoy - Mike Mas
In my previous article - we discussed adding LED’s to the front of our NC 700’s since our single “yellow” headlight at night could easily be mistaken for just a porch light on someones home. In this article - we’ll install some readily available LED stick on strip lights to the rear of the NC to make it more visual than the single “Almost Lost” tail light at night. In an upcoming article we’ll work on the brake lights to make them more visual as well.
The LED strip lights - were located at my local Advance Auto store - make sure when you pick these up, they are the Super Bright set since some of these strips the LED’s are half the size and of course half the brightness as well. A real plus of these lights is the fact the body is black which allows then to blend in with almost any color.
Each strip has a removable connector - making it easy to route wires - make sure to line up the arrows when you plug them in to avoid shorting the set. These sets have a cigarette plug which you’ll remove and connect these same wires to your tail light power connector.
To Install the LED’s wiring - I ran the wire on each side up along the fuel tank so the connectors were exposed on each side of the rear fender. Next, I ran the wires through the opening aft of the tank and made my connection to the tail lamp connector.
You’ll need to locate the tail light connector - by removing one screw from inside the rear fender well which releases the panel exposing the connectors. Pull the plug down from the holder. I refrain from cutting and splicing any wires on my bikes. You can use a crimp on connector, I like just pulling the covering back then wrap my wire around the leads and solder the connection. On the connector the blue/purple connector is 12 volts tail lamps and the solid green is ground.
Each LED strip - has a 3M sick compound that really hold good to “smooth” plastic surfaces which is why I choose to stick it to the outer edge of the body panel rather than the more rougher finish of the inside fender.
In conclusion - I tried the bike in both day and night rides with a good results - even with the signals on the LED's show fine as shown in the images. Since the LED’s are sort of protected from direct sunlight they show up very well in the shaded wheel openings. At night they are even more visual since they light the entire tire area. In addition they are also view-able from the rear sides as well. For both safety and visual reasons the $24.95 price for the 2 LED’s strips are a small price to pay for the safety they offer as well as making you bike look a bit more tricked out.
Enjoy - Mike Mas
