Modern Vespa

Greetings:

I just bought my first Vespa (2006 GTS 250) for my wife and I'm trying to figure out why the turn signals don't make an audible click. My Yamaha Vino 125's and my new Kymco Yager 200i all make a nice loud and tacky clicking sound making them impossible to leave on. Not so the Vespa. It's obviously not a cost consideration. I see from your excellent web-site all kinds of home made modifications to make noise but why don't the folks at Piaggio build it in standard? Do dealers offer a dealer installed modification?

Power to the turn signals is pulsed electronically in the instrument cluster, then fed to the lamps through the thumb switch.
No noise-making dealer mod available.

I know. I also struggle with the turn signals not having an audible to them. This is definitely an area where Vespa could improve.

But it is very simple to put a meeper speaker in, and it will save an awful lot of near misses!
fay

I used the home-brew buzzer for a while, but recently did this mod:

LX-150 Audicator Installation - With Pictures

The Audicator is nice, because it doesn't start beeping until after a certain number of flashes (default is 10.) And it doesn't start counting until after the brake is released and resets when the brake is applied.

Great tutorial, Danny! I have a flyscreen installed. Will I have to remove it first?

Thank you! Yes, I have the (cut down) Vespa tall windscreen. I had already removed it before I started taking the Audicator installation pictures, partly because I figured most people would already know how to take it off and many wouldn't have one to remove.

the right amount of photos, very well done.

the right amount of photos, very well done.

Can't live without my audible beeper mod. Covered this in the Earbuds while riding thread.

Great write up!

There is also a write up on installing in GT200 using Radio Shack beeper.

Check Wiki Library for Search function.

Found the link...you'll see my install in my GT200...relatively inexpensive and easy to install.

Make sure to check out what these buzzers sound like before you install.

Good Luck!

turn signal indicator?highlight=

Why is it so hard to push a button after turning without the aid of an auidable reminder to do so? I don't get it.

I'm with you, analog10! I couldn't stand an extra noise not supposed to be there. Vespa wouldn't be the cool and chic thing if there was a horrible ticking or beeper noise reminding me to turn off the switch.

I've heard that Harleys have an automatic turn-off of the turn signal, similar to cars. Is that true, does anyone know? That is a feature I could live with, but not with audible clicks.

My Dads sportie has auto canceling indicaters but he says they must work of a gyroscope or something as they only work if you lean a fair bit. In Australia the post bikes (Honda 100?) have a realy loud buzzing idicater that sounds awful. Maybe people that drive often need the reminder when on the scoot?

There are a lot of distractions at intersections. At a long light, in a line of vehicles, it may have been many minutes since you turned on the blinker. Then there are potholes and wet manhole covers to avoid. And cagers to dodge. With my head up and a full face helmet on, I don't see the blinking light. I'm trying to get in the habit, but sometimes I forget. An audible signal would be welcome.

Well put. And with the Audicator you don't have to hear anything unless you forget to turn off the blinker. It just sits there quietly counting the blinks before it sounds off. It doesn't even start counting until you release the brake and resets the count when the brake is reapplied. So, if you are at a long light with your brakes on no sound is made unless you move on and forget to turn it off. Mine rarely makes a sound, but I'm glad to have it on the occasion when I get distracted and forget to cancel.

The Audicater actualy sounds like a well thought out product and I can understand the benifit of such a device. I was thinking more of the dumber version of 'idiot blinkers' that obnoxiously sound off until the Rider ('idiot') turns them off.

Prior to the GTV,I had a Honda and Yamaha and both had audible clicking sounds that you could hear at speed and I NEVER forgot to turn off the turn indicators. When I got the Vespa, I'd forget about 50% of the time and discover it on a mile down the road. I considered it a safety issue and installed a beeper. I don't like the beeping but I don't forget to turn it off.

I'd much prefer a clicking sound but haven't been able to find a relay or flasher that's loud enough.
Best
Miguel

I'm an idiot who often forgets to cancel the indicator. Actually I don't think I am an idiot, just a fallible human being with a life to lead and many things to do and think about. If I had the time, the cash, and access to an 'audicator' I would probably have one. In the meantime.........

I ride constantly in London traffic, and before fitting an audible warning I have had more close shaves with a car thinking I am turning into a turning, or off a roundabout, when my intention is to go straight on than I care to count; they pull out, quite understandably, and I feel a complete idiot, also quite undersandably. Since fitting a meeper, the incidence of me feeling an idiot, (for this at least) has dropped to nearly zero.

If having a meeper saves an accident, or even me shouting at a driver in error because I had forgotten to cancel an indicator, then I will carry on with my idiot behavior; more, I will encourage anybody else who is less than perfect to have one too, and I will let those who feel so damn superior because they are clearly more perfect than I am do whatever it is they wish to do!

Fay

Fay, I'm pretty sure analog10's intention was not to offend anyone, just to be sarcastic about technically dumb turn signals and forgetful Vespists! You can have any audible signal you like, and it's probably advisable to encourage others to have one too, but I wouldn't have one on my Vespa. It doesn't make me superior to anyone, it's just my choice.

Thanks for the great input form around the world. I didn't buy my first scooter until I turned 52 so it's tough to teach an old dog new tricks. My Vino has a cheap clicker just loud enough to hear but not so loud as to be annoying. I find that in New York City, dealing with heavy traffic, potholes, and pedestrians, I like having the reminder. It also teaches me to shut them off. Am I correct in assuming that Vespa chooses not to put them on their bikes is the same reason Euopeans don't like cruise control ans cup holders in their cars? I'm wondering whether the Euopean spec asian bikes have audible clickers. I noticed, when in Rome, that the best selling scooter is the 150 Honda. I'm guessing it clicks just like the US spec scooter. Perhaps Vespa needs to change. I was very impressed with the detailed plans to add a device but it seems like an awful lot of trouble to install something that every other manufacturer thinks is mandatory, even on very cheap scoots. Perhaps I'm not fully invested yet in the Vespa mystique but otherwise, I do really like the bike.

The easy solution is to remember what they teach you at the motorcycle course.

In rapid succession, after you have turned each corner:

1. Turn off your indicators.
2. Check your mirrors to see whether vehicles are now following you.
3. Scan every driveway and parking lot entrance ahead for vehicles and pedestrians entering the roadway.

If you do this every time, you will have no problems. These courses are lifesavers.

Cheers and good luck,
Bob

I am sure Vespa leave out these desirable things, (and an extra dipped headlight on the Mp3 Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!) in an effort to save money. Many European cars now have cup holders, and cruise control is not unknown now.

I always thought I had more in common with Noo Yoik than other parts of the states. ( heavy traffic, potholes, and pedestrians) We don't have a monopoly on these things, just a greater concentration than many other places.

They taught me to do all sorts of things when I took my test 45 years ago, but we didn't have indicators, we didn't have mirrors, we didn't actually have to have crash helmets. We did have cobbled streets, cross ply tyres, and quite a lot of horse manure to cope with. Somehow we survived.

You feel you want a meeper, have one. They cost pennies and are easy to fit.
You feel you don't want one, don't have one. How hard is that, but don't get all hoity toity with me because I do. In my very humble opinion it might be better to not discourage others if they feel a meeper might help them avoid an accident.

fondest

Fay

i have found it much cheaper and easier just to develop a form of OCD concerning the indicator switch - i hit it not only when i've completed a turn, but when approaching intersections that i'm going straight through, and when approaching cars about to turn into the road. i also hit it randomly whilst on the motorway to make sure it's not on.... i just like hitting that indicator switch

I am basically the same way - it is not uncommon for me to hit the turn signal cancel switch a dozen times in a block of travel...

Desi B.

I don't get it either, but I still forget. Pisses me off and I usually yell a string of explitives at myself when I realize it. It's SO dangerous to do, but yet I still forget from time to time.

I started out riding two years ago forgetting to turn off indicators, and ended up now with an OCD hitting that switch just in case I had forgotten to turn it off at my last turn. Sometimes when sitting in traffic with nothing to do, I just keep hitting that switch "to cancel" for the fun of it. Once while sitting in traffic, just to make sure I had REALLY cancelled the indicators, I switch it to the left, and then cancel, and then right, and then cancel... and cancel cancel cancel cancel cancel...

Yeah I forget from time to time but it has only happened maybe 3 or 4 times in 3500 K's of city (Melbourne) and country ridding. I certainly don't think I'm perfect Fay and I'm sure your just having a bit of fun with me but I'm just one of those people with an "if I can do it anybody can" attitude.

He'll get it when he reaches his 60s!

We all forget -- even the young'ns -- from time to time. It only takes once to kill you.

+1 on the Audicator and Danny's excellent installation tutorial. Well thought out device and well worth the time and extra $$$ compared to annoying cheapo piezo buzzers. Been using it for nearly a year and love it.

1+ ...it's just for added safety. The amblient noise level combined with wearing full face helmet with the face shield down will reduce what you can hear even with an audible...but it still helps give you a warning that your signal is still engaged. In addition to having a audible signal indicator I periodically depress the signal indicator button just to make sure it's off...just a habit...especially when coming up on an intersection.

Maybe it's just me but I don't like glancing down at the instrument panel unless it's absolutely necessary....hence audible and the habit of depressing the signal indicator button seems to work for me...

I read about genie's OCD turn signal habit MONTHS ago, and was sure I could do it, but so far it hasn't happened. Adding the audicator project to my winter work.

Yes.... and ....no!

The problems with digital communication and shades of meanings, not withstanding those damned emoticons and IMHO's and FYI's!

I ride a Lambretta SX on a Sunday afternoon, (The Mp3 is for real, the SX because I bought it in 1967 and it would be silly to sell it now.) The SX doesn't have indicators and I still check and try to cancel them. I have ridden it rather further than 3500K in 40 years.

I do a little Scuba diving, and there is a school of thought referred to as DIR, Do It Right. I understand the logic and the necessity, especially if pushing the edge of the envelope. Without it, lives can be put at risk. However since the arrival of the PADI system thousands of people have been introduced to the joys and beauty of the sport and many have progressed to DIR later.

However, (there is often a however and here it comes; no; there it went.) there are times when a well intentioned drive for perfection in all things can have an opposite effect on new arrivals in a system. What is appropriate in one place just will not work in others.

Melbourne, and country riding may not equate to the viscous cut and thrust of serious urban riding,and may require different techniques.

I worry that too dogmatic an approach can result in unexpected consequences. Of course we should all remember to cancel our indicators, and maybe in the peace and quiet of the Australian countryside, or the calm surroundings of a Melbourne suburb, (Might be a misconception of the situation, but I have only watched a couple of episodes of Neighbors) a beeping indicator is an irritant. In the Euston Road it can save a life. A new arrival on the scene might be persuaded that to be a 'proper' Vespa rider it is a bit 'Non-U' to have a meeper and so, not wanting to appear a twat they abjure it's use and suffer the consequences. I worry about that.

A long time on this planet has also shown me that there are a few things I can do that some other people will never get the hang of, (I am a magician, and some people should never be left in charge of a pack of cards in public), and there are very many things that other people do, that I will never be able to emulate, especially as joints stiffen and eyesight fails.

There are ways of enabling people to get round their shortcomings in order to function, wheelchairs and prosthetics for instance, but we still need to put ramps and lifts into buildings.

So where does that leave us, in my eternal search for a few Karma points?
By all means search for perfection, by all means try and do it as right as you can, but also try and bear in mind that what works for you might not be the right thing for others doing it right in their own environment.

What you can do might just be the wrong thing for somebody else to do.

Please feel free to add whatever emoticoms and acronyms will make everybody feel better, to add a little gentleness to this post.

Fay

Don't know if this holds tru for the GTS models. but with the GT200 Vespa has pre-installed sockets behind the left knee pad that generate the pulses required for audible sounds for turn signals, that you can plug beepers into very easily! The two beepers and their wires fit very neatly into the spare space behind the left knee pad when this is done too, so there's no visable appearance of any changes once you re-attach the knee pad!
See:
Installing a turn signal beeper in GT200/GTS

I did this mod several years ago... I spent all of $12 at RS for the two beepers (with wires attached) used for this mod. As explained in this mod's very clearly written original description, I just plugged in the beepers' bare wire ends into the appropriate sockets, and then taped around the connections for retention security. It was EXTREMELY easy to do; and it's worked perfectly for several years now..!

The beepers I used from RS are loud enough so that people riding along with me on their scoots can sometimes hear them too, so you know I no longer miss turning off any blinking turn signal lights anymore!

IMO it's absolutely the BEST mod I've done with my GT!! 8)

This website is great! Perhaps the best thing about a Vespa is the large, intense, and loyal group of owners willing, even enthusiastic, about passing on their knowledge. Even a klutz like me should be able to do this last suggested modification. But my original question remains: why won't Piaggio just install a noisemaking directional at the factory like everybody else?

Maybe because it's more fun leaving these hidden Vespa secrets for clever explorers, like the originator of this mod (who was not me), to find out about them?
IMO finding out how to secretly (and VERY simply) plug in your own turn signal beepers is a lOT more fun than if Piaggio had just installed them!

(But maybe that's just me being weird?)

I had posted some pics on the audible (Radio Shack Buzzer) I had installed in my GT200. After you remove the left knee panel you see that connector.

turn signal indicator?highlight=audible+turn+signal

Possible option for you to consider...BTW I chose the beeper that sounds like a reverse beeper...yeah it gets some attention when I'm at a stop...but hey isn't that what I want and I haven't gotten any grief over it.

Good Luck!

Ok, I'll bite....is a "meeper" a muffled beeper or just a colloquilisim?

Just use hand signals during the day. If you forget to turn those off you have bigger problems.

I am guessing it s a Piezo buzzer of sorts? http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062396

Fuzzy did an intall thread over on the MP3 board on hooking up a couple of Piezos to the turn indicator wires.