Yeah, I do that. And it's dangerous. But coming out of a corner, canceling the signal is not what I'm focussed on. I wear a full-face helmet, so I can't see the speedo/dash lights unless I dip my head, and taking your eyes off the road like that is not a good idea, either.
An audible reminder is out, as it would have to be 140 db to be effective. So, I think about it for a long time. Today I'm walking by a Radio Shack and I buy a pair of 12v LED assemblies ($3.98 total) and head home. First tried to break down the turn signal assembly and snake a wire through the mounting stem, but wouldn't fit. So I re-assembled signal and simply cut through the signal cable wrapper to expose the wires. Stripped off about 1/4" of insulation and spliced on a length of 16 gauge speaker wire. Threaded that up the fork and bars to the mounting bracket of my windshield. Then used my hot-glue gun to tack on a 1" length of black plastic tubing (actually, an olod felt marker that I cut down) to the windshield mounting bracket. Inserted the LEDs in the tubing, tacked in place, connected the LEDs to the wires coming off the turn signal cables, and applied black electrical tape as needed.
Needless to say, at this point I'm rather impressed with myself and am rehearsing my response to NASA's inevitable offer of employment. Hop on the bike, fire it up and...hey! The LEDS blink when I use the turn signal, but when I cancel the signal they stay on. I mean a blinking LED tells me what I wanted to know, but why aren't they off when the signal is off???? Oh so close to perfection! (So sorry, Dr. Oppenheimer, but your bomb only blew up HALF of Hiroshima)
What's up? I'm not big on electronics and circuitry and all, but I checked this out before I went final and I thought it was working. Who's got the answer? (BTW, I purposely omitted one critical piece of info in this narrative and I suspect that whoever zeroes in on this will also lead me to the solution) Thanks, kids.
OK, Sunday morning, 75 and sunny, just did 25 on the bicycle (saw three deer and a red fox) and went back to the LED turn signal.
The LED's are from Radio Shack (part # 272-0272, orange, 12v, $1.99 retail. )
This is how it looks installed -- can't see them well in this photo, but that's OK -- they are up there against the windshield, tacked to the mounts.
The LED assemblies have two wires -- red and black. These need to be conneected to two of the three wires going to the turn signals. On the right side you want the green and the black/white wires. On the left side you want the black and black/white wires. Both sides also have a gray wire; disregard. So, with two wires on the LED and two from the signal, there are two possibilities. Palladin can explain this further to the curious, but for the rest of us it's trial and error - if it doesn't work with one combination it should work with the other. Check this before you start taping.
So, you splice the LEDs to the turn signals and then mount them in a convenient location. Problem with LEDs is that you have to be looking right at them. For those without windshields, I don't think there is a location that would make this a feasible option. I put mine as close to eye level as possible. The wiring is still a little exposed and I could clean it up a little with some black shrink wrap insulation, but that probably isn't going to happen.
I was looking for something that would remind me/allow me to check the turn signals without averting my gaze, and this helps.
Cost: $4, plus 3 feet speaker wire, 250 feet electrical tape, glue gun or silicone adhesive. Time: 1 hour or less. Degree of difficulty is low. Cheers.