Bobbers aren’t generally known for being ‘legal’ in all respects. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever owned a bike that was totally in compliance.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania isn’t too bad with its list of requirements. A few things that it does require, besides a front suspension and headlamp, are a stop lamp, tail lamp and registration lamp. That sounds like lots of lamps though.
Besides being required, a tail light and a brake light are plain common sense if riding anywhere around the general population with its cadre of less-than-aware drivers. Ride without a brake light and the chances of being run over by a little old lady, a soccer mom, a woman doing her makeup or whoever is great.
The ZN is now a bit more legal and a lot saner since it sports this brake lamp, tail lamp and registration lamp.
The light is an eBay bargain. It can be configured multiple ways to fit the style of the bike, although minor modification or drilling might be needed. I already knew the setup that I wanted and getting there was easy, with no drilling or mods.
As I think I said before, I don’t mix with electrics very well. This was no exception, to be honest. The bobber light has three wires—red, brown and black. The bike tail harness has five wires—red, blue, black with yellow stripe, grey and green.
Some reading and testing with the old multimeter narrowed down the bike’s wires to black with yellow stripe, blue and red. The grey and green wires are for turn signals, which I’m not using. No need to go overboard with legality.
Anyhow, I blew a couple fuses while testing my electrical skills and intuition. Eventually, I got it right and will put it here so I can never forget.
Bobber Light
Red, Brake Light
Brown, Running or Tail Light
Black, Ground
Bike
Red, Running or Tail Light.
Blue, Brake Light.
Black with Yellow Stripe, Ground
Grey and Green, Turn Signals
Now, here’s the thing. The eBay listing clearly states in the description how the light is wired. I could have saved myself a good bit of time and effort if I’d have carefully read the listing before trying to figure it out on my own. Oh well, maybe I learned something useful about electrics…rather than just read the directions.
Next up is the front end. The bike is getting closer and closer to the finish line. If I weren’t sidelined so often—this time with a 9mm kidney stone—it would have been done by now. On the upside, this is B. Y. O. Boss.
Next: My hiatus