Cheap tail light assembly modification 08 WR250R

I was very surprised with how well this mod turned out and cost me near nothing to do. I literally completely disassembled the tail light assembly and used some of the hardware that I had taken off the stock tail unit to piece it back together the way I think it looks and fits the best. I also want to say that I did not permanently modify any of the component for the stock setup, so I could easily put it back to stock if wanted.


(heheh The scraping on the license plate is from my first time going too far back during a wheelie when the plate was still in the stock position.)






Just used some scrap flat aluminum rod I had laying around, which can be bought at most hardware stores for cheap. To bend it I just used a vice, my hands, and to get the twist I used a crescent wrench while the flat rod was in the vice. For the license plate light I use a small piece of scrap aluminum I found and zip-tied it to the light bulb and the receptacle, then zip-tied that to the bottom of the tail light.


Using one of the reflectors off the stock unit I cut a piece of the flat aluminum rod to the right size to reach in to each blinkers rubber mount and I drilled a hole in the middle of the flat aluminum rod to use the reflector to pinch the blinkers rubber mounts. Then to attach the blinkers to the bike I used some scrap thin stainless steel sheet metal and bent it to also attach to that reflector and then to the seat frame. This allows for flexibility in case of a spill. Since the blinkers are just pinch mounted, in a extreme spill they will just pull out and can be pushed back in with out any tools.(I've already tested this and it worked great) The zip-tie you see going between the two blinkers through the tabs for the stock retainers is very loose to allow the blinkers to pop out and dangle in a spill, so the blinkers would not be dangling from just the wiring in a spill.





I'm sure I will be revising this mod, but so far it looks great and is strong enough to handle jumps, spills, and freeway speeds no problem.

Comments and suggestion are welcome

Nicely done! Cheap is always good, and if it holds up to that kind of abuse, you can't beat that.

i am going to try this real soon. I want to keep the stock tail light because it is so bright. I just hate all the other crap. I plan on moving the tail light up and have to figure out a way to move plate and mount some smaller blinkers

DRC makes some nice small blinkers; you can get the stick or flush mount.

I'm really liking the Clear Alternatives integrated blinkers!

clapped_r6 wrote:

i did a similar thing, except using a Clear Alternatives taillight from an 02/03 R1 that has the turn signals built in:



when i took the taillight apart, i noticed two bolts on the top part of the plastic "just about" lined up with where the stock housing mounts.

You should get a hold of Brooks (12 O'Clocker), he makes a neat taillight/signal setup that you can choose different blink rates and stuff. Really cool.

Does the 12 O'clocker Edge2 tail light for the WR come with the DRC Processor already in it? I see on the sight that there are other Edge2 tail lights but the WR's is priced the highest so I was wondering if it already had that board installed or if I had to order that also. Anybody know the answer?

AFAIK it comes ready to go. Plug and play and figure out what sequence you want to run.

The smaller blinkers are certainly more "trim" but speaking as someone who was rear-ended while making a left turn two months ago on a two-lane country road, I want as visible and bright signal indicators as possible.

The way I see it, if you ride on the street, all signal and other lighting should be as visible as possible. Already people sometimes don't see a motorcycle. We need every advantage, IMO.

Just my 2¢

David Haynes wrote:

The smaller blinkers are certainly more "trim" but speaking as someone who was rear-ended while making a left turn two months ago on a two-lane country road, I want as visible and bright signal indicators as possible.

The way I see it, if you ride on the street, all signal and other lighting should be as visible as possible. Already people sometimes don't see a motorcycle. We need every advantage, IMO.

Just my 2¢

I hear you on that! I had some fool turn left in front of me when I had my YZF a few years back. I was able to stop in time & was pissed! Almost dumped it in the process but managed to save it. How can they not see my headlamp coming?

Oldschooler wrote:

Does the 12 O'clocker Edge2 tail light for the WR come with the DRC Processor already in it? I see on the sight that there are other Edge2 tail lights but the WR's is priced the highest so I was wondering if it already had that board installed or if I had to order that also. Anybody know the answer?

If you want the programmable integrated taillight you would need to purchase the
DRC Edge2 Processor Board

http://shop.12oclocklabs.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_28&product_id=49



and
Edge2 Tail Light [WR250X/R]

http://shop.12oclocklabs.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_28&product_id=57

Thx Infra! That's what I was thinking looking at the 12 O'Clock Labs site.

Ok, so I went camping/riding with a couple of friends and was giving my 200 lbs. friend a ride on the back of my bike to get to camp. When I was pulling up to camp my friends decides to jump off while I was parking and ended up landing directly on my rear fender/tail light assembly, cracking my tail light and the blinkers popped off the way I designed them to. The blinks were fine and popped right back in to place but the tail light was done for.

Soooo I purchased 12oclock's DRC Edge2 Processor Board and DRC Edge2 tail light with the wr250r/x license plate mount and all the stock connectors on Monday. Just waiting for it to get here, and I'm extremely excited! Just thought I'd share a little update on my tail section...