Here's a question for anyone who has installed an aftermarket headlight and gauges:

What did you do with the ensuing mess of dangling wires? The wiring harness was rolled up nicely behind the stock light, and now that I have a Trailtech X2 there is way too much wiring in the way. I can always just sort of roll it all together, zip tie it, and stuff it behind the headlight, but I worry about interference and rubbing (plus it just looks like a mess). Has anyone done something like pulling the harness a bit further back under the gas tank to get this stuff out of the way?

 

As part of relacing my headlight with an Acerbis unit and removing all the stock dials, lights and ignition switch and replacing them with a GPS and a few lamps, I removed all excess wiring etc. Got rid of anything I felt was not needed.

Here you can see the GPS cradle, toggle switch, none load dependent flasher and 4 pin plug to power the headlight and indicators.



Headlight and indicators.



Mounted from above. (very clean heh?)



With GPS mounted.



The 2 warning lamps are for over temp (red) and fan on (amber).
I have no need for a neutral lamp, indicator lamp or high beam lamp.

That was as minimalist as I could manage, but still give me what I needed.

 

Hey Neil...can you show a front shot of that headlight/number plate setup?

 

Let them eat cake.





Top view with GPS fitted.

 

Nice Work Neil

 

Albany...is there not enough room behind the aftermarket light you now have to situate the wiring? One problem with pulling back the harness to try and stash it under the tank is that the harness is designed to bend at a certain point for the front fork radius, and since you probably won't be able to get all the behind-the-headlight stuff back under the tank, you'll be bending the harness at points that will most likely accelerate wear and possible shorts. Neil's setup looks quite clean, but I see some stuff missing that I'd want to keep. Is the ignition switch and fork lock gone?

I have the Trailtech on my '06 and really like it, but I'm using the stock headlight, so hiding the wires isn't difficult. I think the wiring is safer behind a headlight/number plate as far as rubbing or shorting is concerned.

 

Yep, gone.
The bike never leaves the shed unless I'm on it so it works for me.

If you leave on the stock headlight there is no worries really.
Plenty of room.
When I put on the Arerbis and removed all the dials it was a bit tight.
Hand me the scalpel please nurse.

I really like the trailtech option but I wanted a GPS set up as well.

 

Neil:
Your setup looks great, and thanks for posting all the pics. Did you actually cut some of the main wires shorter on the harness to make it more compact (in addition to removing uneeded ones), or have you just rolled it up really well?

TNC:
the Trailtech is actually my headlight. I have an Acewell unit for speedo/tach and have also removed the ignition barrel/lock.
My problem is that this headlight fits REALLY close to the forks (the reason I decided to remove the ignition barrel in the first place), so there is very little room to stuff anything behind it. I see what you mean about under the tank being precarious. Will have to see what I can do...

 

I un-wound the wiring and removed as much as possible but still leaving plenty of free play. I also left enough so if I needed to put it back to stock, I could.

 

Neil, that's the first Acerbis unit I've seen...looks good. You went to a lot of work on the harness surgery, but if one is that commited to changing the headlight and wiring to the max, completely cleaning up the harness is probably the best way. I kind of like my ignition switch and fork lock, however. It's not going to stop the hardcore theif by any means, but it keeps most knuckleheads at bay for many situations.