How long to get used to Indicator switches?

[markbmw]

Picked up my new 10reg GS yesterday.
Had a great 100mie ride home, but just could not get the hang of these Indicators switches, and I keep trying to use a single switch to operate the indicator switches sub conciously.
This is dangerous as there were instances where I thought I had switched 'off' the indicators using the left hand switch.
Any tricks to stop this. To be honest it ruined a great ride. And how long does it take to get used to these switches?
Thx Guys

 

[Fastbike52]

Picked up my new 10reg GS yesterday.
Had a great 100mie ride home, but just could not get the hang of these Indicators switches, and I keep trying to use a single switch to operate the indicator switches sub conciously.
This is dangerous as there were instances where I thought I had switched 'off' the indicators using the left hand switch.
Any tricks to stop this. To be honest it ruined a great ride. And how long does it take to get used to these switches?
Thx Guys

hi mark , yip your right , but bare with it after a day or two it becomes second nature

 

[Wile E Coyote]

I'm still not used to mine 6 months later it is the only down side to the bike, my main gripe is the left indicator is placed where you would normally find the horn button so if I'm approaching a near side junction, car about to exit and I want to give em a hoot to make them aware of my presence I can end up indicating left thereby inviting them to pull out across my path! Why where they ever designed like this?

 

[Loiq]

my 55 plate auto cancels after a while...

 

[AshR1]

I adapted straight away and only hit the horn by mistake once.

I do find the position and direction of the cancel switch quite awkward though. Maybe I've just got small or weird thumbs.

 

[illustratedman]

Indicators

You could use hand signals or try rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time to improve co-ordination.

 

[Aidan1150]

Left when going left and right when going right. What's so difficult to understand?

 

[markbmw]

Its not really a co-ordination issue tho. Having ridden literally 100s of bikes over 35 years as well as piloted hangliders and aircraft for hundreds of hours I am pretty sure my co-ordination is not that suspect. Am just used to having a single Indicator switch on one side.
Funnily enough I can easily 'flip' sides as long as one switch does all- my Norton is on rhs and Laverda on LHS. No problems with this,
The two handed layout on the BMW I have found difficult to use, and is for me a big negative fist impression.I realised I would have to get used to the two handed indicators before I bought the bike, but 100 miles later and still struggling is a bit much- and actually down right dangerous. And to be honest I cant see what BMW have gained by bucking the normal convention. Would be interesting to find out why they have done this in the first place.

 

[markbmw]

Left when going left and right when going right. What's so difficult to understand?

Thanks for that Aidan, but I a making a serious observation here, and contrary to what you might think, I do know..... first time...which shoe to put on which foot in the morning!!!

 

[llotse]

You're right it is dangerous. Those Japanese manufacturers should be punished for teaching people an antiquated indicator system. BMW should be punished for introducing it on their 'lower' range of bikes. Thankfully you will adjust to the correct way very quickly

 

[Engineer]

Picked up my new 10reg GS yesterday.
Had a great 100mie ride home, but just could not get the hang of these Indicators switches, and I keep trying to use a single switch to operate the indicator switches sub conciously.
This is dangerous as there were instances where I thought I had switched 'off' the indicators using the left hand switch.
Any tricks to stop this. To be honest it ruined a great ride. And how long does it take to get used to these switches?
Thx Guys

Depends how easy you learn new stuff - if you have reached the pipe and slippers stage then you may never adapt - but if this is true then you shouldn't be riding a motorcycle!

If however you have retained some minimal ability to learn new things then it takes about 3 hours maximum before it becomes second nature.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

After riding Beemers.............................I now find Jap indicators completely illogical

 

[hatzyian]

After 4 months and 6000 miles, I've got used to the indicator system (still don't like it though), but I still have trouble finding the horn button.
BMW must know its wrong as they have gone to the normal way on most of their other bikes.

 

[illustratedman]

Its not really a co-ordination issue tho. Having ridden literally 100s of bikes over 35 years as well as piloted hangliders and aircraft for hundreds of hours I am pretty sure my co-ordination is not that suspect. Am just used to having a single Indicator switch on one side.
Funnily enough I can easily 'flip' sides as long as one switch does all- my Norton is on rhs and Laverda on LHS. No problems with this,
The two handed layout on the BMW I have found difficult to use, and is for me a big negative fist impression.I realised I would have to get used to the two handed indicators before I bought the bike, but 100 miles later and still struggling is a bit much- and actually down right dangerous. And to be honest I cant see what BMW have gained by bucking the normal convention. Would be interesting to find out why they have done this in the first place.

If you think it's dangerous then dont ride it, i assume you test rode one and found it equally dangerous yet still went through with the purchase. No one can tell you how long it will take you to become accustomed to the indicator layout but their use is not exactly brain surgery is it?. Maybe you should contact B*w and tell them how dangerous the layout is i'm sure they will give your concerns a great deal of thought

 

[Ian M]

After 4 months and 6000 miles, I've got used to the indicator system (still don't like it though), but I still have trouble finding the horn button.

I totally agree - three buttons for the indicators is now second nature, but I can never find the horn button or the headlamp flash when I need them. I've obiosuly not yet had my 3 hours practice on them!

 

[markbmw]

If you think it's dangerous then dont ride it, i assume you test rode one and found it equally dangerous yet still went through with the purchase. No one can tell you how long it will take you to become accustomed to the indicator layout but their use is not exactly brain surgery is it?. Maybe you should contact B*w and tell them how dangerous the layout is i'm sure they will give your concerns a great deal of thought

Yes I did test drive, and believed I would get the hang of this system quickly. It is definitely dangerous even if this is just for me ( although others may/ do feel the same) as this has not happened.
Interestingly posts show that this system takes anything between hours and months to get used to. That is more the information I required in my initial question.
Clearly as I cant operate a set of indicators, brain surgeon I will never become.. ...... but that does not really help answer my original question, and I thank others that have.

 

[alistairl]

I realised I would have to get used to the two handed indicators before I bought the bike, but 100 miles later and still struggling is a bit much- and actually down right dangerous.

An hour on the bike is not enough to get used to the difference - it takes time.

Learning anything new can be unpleasant - depends if you want to learn, that outweighs the effort involved.

 

[Dickieboy]

I adapted straight away and only hit the horn by mistake once.

.

Lucky bugger it took me 5 minutes at least, but in my defence it was quite a long straight road though

Left when going left and right when going right. What's so difficult to understand?

In a nutshell

HTF they can be considered dangerous is beyond me I drive cars some of which have the indicator stalk on the left of the steering column and some have it on the right as well without finding it problematic

 

[bowser]

Its not really a co-ordination issue tho. Having ridden literally 100s of bikes over 35 years as well as piloted hangliders and aircraft for hundreds of hours I am pretty sure my co-ordination is not that suspect. Am just used to having a single Indicator switch on one side.
Funnily enough I can easily 'flip' sides as long as one switch does all- my Norton is on rhs and Laverda on LHS. No problems with this,
The two handed layout on the BMW I have found difficult to use, and is for me a big negative fist impression.I realised I would have to get used to the two handed indicators before I bought the bike, but 100 miles later and still struggling is a bit much- and actually down right dangerous. And to be honest I cant see what BMW have gained by bucking the normal convention. Would be interesting to find out why they have done this in the first place.

to be honest, both bmw and harley have been doing it for years almost since the dawn of time, and I suppose since harley are the oldest motorcycle company still in existance, they set the convention and the Japs have bucked the trend, the fact that they make more bikes does not alter the fact that they are late commers to the market. speaking as a BM and Harley owner I quite like the fact that they both have the same style of indicators and as others have said, right hand button to go right and left hand button to go left how difficult can it be?

 

[Aidan1150]

HTF they can be considered dangerous is beyond me I drive cars some of which have the indicator stalk on the left of the steering column and some have it on the right as well without finding it problematic

A good point well made Dickieboy. Like you I often drive cars with the indicator stalk on opposite sides, and used to drive trucks with the bloody steering wheel on the other side too. However did I manage I wonder?