Project Husqvarna TE610 Part 3: Dual Sport Adventure Bike Nut and Bolt

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The stock turn signals are rigid, which makes them susceptible to being broken or tweaking their mounts in a crash. I ordered a pair of flexible-stalk, DOT-legal turn signals from Baja Designs. There are more fashionable options, but having DOT-legal signals on the bike may reduce the chance of being taken out by an inattentive driver. The Baja Designs lens markings are identical to the stock Husky signals. Even the molded housings are identical down to the point where the Baja Designs signals meet their flexible parts.
 

The fender brace had to be modified slightly to mount the new signals. The hole for the threaded stud was enlarged and the other hole was notched for an anti-rotation peg. It was all easy to do with a few sizes of round files. The wires mostly matched the Husky's OE harness colors and the kit included the weather-resistant sheaths for the bullet connectors, which the factory signal wires did not. The Baja Designs parts are moderately priced and improve on the function of the factory parts while maintaining their look and quality. Hard to beat.

This 0.032-in stainless steel heat shield should keep the signal from melting again. Stainless has very low thermal conductivity (about one-tenth that of aluminum), so it does a good job of keeping exhaust heat away.

This turn signal heat shield is retained by clamping it between the base of the signal and the fender brace, with no additional fasteners. It was fabricated using a step drill, tin snips and files, plus CAD technology. It took too much time to get it just right, but it looks pretty slick. If you make one of these yourself, don't forget to deburr it thoroughly – any sharp edge is guaranteed to eventually slice something important.

The TE610's  stock license plate mount was big enough for two plates and had already gotten in the way of the tire, which took a bite out of it. Also, it was ugly.
 

I mounted a new reflector below the plate, its foam-tape adhesive backing supplemented with sheet metal screws, and trimmed around it. I used aluminum fasteners trimmed to length to get as many grams as possible out of the assembly. Especially with fasteners clamping plastic, blue Loctite is a good idea to keep these bits from vibrating loose. The whole thing now looks a lot less like galoshes and shouldn't get torn up.

The air filter looked pretty bad when I pulled the cover off, but normal foam air filter cleaning solution brought it right back and I had no reservations about using it. While the filter is out, take some time to check that the rubber boot connecting the air box to the carburetor is seated properly. This one had some “opportunity for improvement” in its installation. Be careful when tightening the air box cover bolts – the thread inserts in the rear part, shown above, are known for spinning in the plastic.