Knuckleguard LEDs finally fitted - and they work!

[Guest lawrenceofsuburbia]

Finally installed the knuckleguard LEDs today. It was a very fiddly job, not helped in some parts by the somewhat loose instructions.
 
Starting point – templates for drilling the guards to pass the new bolts and the wire leads through are printed ‘left’ and right’. I wrongly assumed this meant as in facing the bike from the front, where of course you’ll mainly be standing when installing. Not so - it meant L and R as seated - so I put a bit of masking tape on each guard as I removed it - (four [4] pieces) – marked L and R as per the templates! The masking tape also came in handy to temporarily hold the guards when reassembling the whole plot.
 
A few tips if I may. DO NOT attempt this task in other than a very well-lit space: doing it at night in a dark and gloomy garage with a torch (flashlight) simply won’t work! But a small torch will help, as you’ll be working inside some pretty tight spaces.   And place a thick towel on the floor under the locations of the guards, to save the small nuts, bolts, washers, etc., as you inevitably drop them many times, as I did!   Otherwise they'll roll away, never to be seen again.
 
Drill the holes (one per side) for the wires a little oversize as it makes threading the wire through so much easier. The plastic is very soft.
 
Once the guards are back in place the LEDs are bolted on, but it’s very tricky getting at the new nuts behind them in the very skinny space between the two-part guard. I ended up using a long thin flat-headed screwdriver pushed down between the two parts to hold the nut while tightening the bolt.
 
The instructions tell you to secure these new nuts with sticky tape to hold them in-place while re-assembling the guards. Use [strong]strong[/strong] tape – I’d submit that the bit of Sellotape shown wouldn’t do it!
 
Also, don’t make the same mistake that I did, forgetting to thread the wire through the new hole in the guard before fitting it with the bolts and nuts – fiddly, this. I had at least two or three goes at this. Best way is to fully fix one side, then you’ll learn from that before moving on to the next.
 
Using a tip from builderbob here [em](thanks again, bb!)[/em] I tapped the wires into the two leads that feed into the bottom of the auxiliary power outlet – that was easier, it seemed, than using the two spare terminals recommended but that are pretty hard to access.
 
Anyway, I got there and am pleased with the result.
 
Only too happy to share the experience with anybody who, like me initially, is maybe a bit daunted by the task. But it was worth it – the LEDs are nicely made and will add immeasurably to my being highly visible on the road!
 
Lawrence of Suburbia [em] (‘39 model)
Brisbane
Queensland
Australia
 
2015 Matte Grey Tracer – now at 1845 km – Grip Puppies; Stebel Magnum audible warning device; Skene P3 rear lights set; Knuckleguard LEDs; Seat Concepts Comfort[/em] seat (coming)