Motorcycle Self-Canceling Turn Signals
Monday, April 4th, 2016
How nice it would be to have self-canceling turn signals on your bike.
We all know the story. Your buddy riding behind you or in front of you has forgotten to cancel his turn signal and so you ride along mile after mile with that thing flashing. Maybe you hold out your hand and open and close your fingers, trying to give him the signal that his blinkers are on but he’s not paying attention to you, either. Why can’t motorcycle manufacturers come up with self-canceling turn signals?
Actually, they have. Yamaha has had self-canceling signals for years, but they’re only based on riding a certain distance and then they shut off. Which is not bad, all in all, and definitely better than nothing. And there are also after-market producers who offer relays you can wire into your bike that will shut the signal off after a certain amount of time. But nobody has ever come up with a signal that works like those in cars, where it continues blinking until you make your turn and then shuts off.
It’s not hard to understand why–the physics of it all are very, very different with a car vs. a bike. We don’t have steering wheels that rotate one way and then rotate back the other way.
Abcs Sistem Ltd., a company out of Slovenia, has announced that it has cracked this nut and is now offering its Smart Turn System (STS) for use on any bike.
According to the company’s release, “The STS is a device that analyzes more than 300 different types of data to automatically cancel turn signals if a rider has forgotten to turn them off after making a turn or lane change. . . . The Smart Turn System is a small device directly wired into a motorcycle’s existing turn signal system and its internal sensors capture and send data through a complex algorithm to help determine the bike’s lean angle, heading, vibrations, and acceleration to detect if the turn has been completed and if the turn signals need to be canceled. All of this is done automatically, allowing the rider to focus on the road and enjoy the ride.”
The STS is supposed to be available for pre-order right now, at a price of 140 euros. That works out to about $170 at today’s exchange rate. They say installation is easy and you can do it yourself. I don’t know about you but I think this is a very welcome development. That said, am I going to pay $170 times three to put these things on each of my bikes? Not likely. But if it really works I have to believe the manufacturers will soon all either develop their own systems or perhaps license this one and put it on all their bikes. And that element of motorcycling will finally enter the 20th century.
Biker Quote for Today
Just once I would like to wake up, turn on the news, and hear “Monday has been canceled. Get out and ride.”
