First - the speedo on my wife's Cream Buddy stopped working and I suspected it had just become disconnected. The cable at the wheel end was fine, so I took the front cowling off and unscrewed the light housing. Sure enough, the cable was flapping free inside the "dash" so I screwed it back in.
Maybe everyone else knew this, but I didn't. While taking off the headlight housing, I realized there is an adjustment screw underneath the headlamp. I thought my light beam was fixed very close to the front of the scoot, and it was! A few turns with an 8mm wrench and I brought the beam out farther and I can see 100% better at night.
Next - it was time to install a Givi E30 topcase and brake light kit. There were many panels and pieces to remove to ultimately get to the brake light assembly.
If you haven't taken your seat and storage compartment off, this is what it looks like:
BTW - I also never noticed that at the bottom of the storage compartment there is a small cover that can be opened by removing a screw. Easy access for carb adjustments without having to take anything off!
After removing all of the panels on the left side of the scoot, plus the one below the tail light and the light assembly I finally had access to the brake wiring.
The Givi kit comes with a simple wire connector that crimps onto the existing wiring:
The whole topcase project including the brake light wiring took about 3 hours...longer than I had planned. But the case is very nice and it helps to have the extra brake light.
Finally - I wanted to do the turn signal mod. Using info on this forum, I decided to go with the method of pulling the pins out of the DOT socket and pushing them into the OEM socket. I highly recommend this approach for this mod, as there is no wire cutting and it's pretty easy.
You stick a small pointed thing into the plug and push on each pin to release it. At first I tried something that was actually in my toolbox:
...but then decided that a micro screwdriver worked much better. With the pins out....
....you push them into the back of the OEM female connector
And they stay nice and tight. Word to the wise: wrap each pin with electrical tape as has been suggested. I didn't and learned where the electrical fuse is because I blew it and had to replace it.
It's a 10 AMP fuse by the way. I have some spares now
I was glad it was only a fuse. My wife didn't appreciate my comment of "Oh by the way, I may have just ruined the electrical system on your scooter".I got all the wires taped up and nice and tight and the signals work great. I really like having both the OEM and DOT lights...not sure why they don't just do that for us. I decided to do the turn signal mod on my Black Buddy and it only took about 15 minutes.
Overall, fun mods and learned more about the Buddys. They are pretty easy to take apart....it's all about plastic panels!
They my wife and I went for a great ride. Cheers!
