Royal Enfield weakness: turn signals

One of the first things many Royal Enfield owners in the U.S. do is to remove the Department of Transportation approved turn signals. They are considered large, ugly and too "plaistiky." Classic Motorworks sells nicer replacements.

My dealer offered to sell me replacement turn signals when I picked up my Royal Enfield Bullet in 2001. At the time I was a bit unsure of my motorcycling ability, so I said "Let me knock these off first!"

It took seven years and 40,000 miles, but I have accomplished that "goal." Three of the four turn signals stalks have broken, the latest failing as I motored toward a meeting with other bikers. Nothing looks dumber than a turn signal swinging from its wires; I aborted the trip to the meeting and went home.

All three failures have come inside the same 1,000 miles. It's obvious that there is some natural limit (vibration?) to the life of the turn signal stalk. The rubber like plastic stalks break cleanly. I replaced two of the stalks with slightly used take-offs from another Bullet owner. This third stalk I am trying to fix with JB Weld glue.

I'll let you know how long it hangs in there.