Tenere 700: Cyclops Adventure Sports Multifunction 3.0 LED Turn Signal T700 Kit - 12oClockLabs LED TS700 RLA Turn Signals & Mount Adapter Plates

Cyclops Adventure Sports Multifunction 3.0 LED Turn Signal T700 Kit

To quote their website: We have heard you on wanting a brighter setup and have stepped it up with the 3.0 version, all new bodies, lenses Emitters and stems. We are also adding a running and brake light function. Now easily turn your blinkers into additional running lights and or brake lights(rear) for added visibility. Bright white light in the front and red in the rear. . Rear red brake lights will come on sequentially flashing twice then go to solid red! Dazzling bright Amber sequential blinker functions.

All in a Extremely rugged rubber stock to help prevent damage from a tip over or impact with brush, trees etc. Bends back 90 degrees or more. These are durable but not unbreakable.

Previous Generation Cyclops Multifunction Turn Signals

May 2022 Arrival

IMHO the redesign & added features/functionality of the 3.0 version were worth waiting for, in particular, the rear running/brake light option & increased output. Stock finally materialized after the 3.0 product update/revision & my order arrived quickly after shipping & surprisingly got through customs (Kent, WA to Vancouver, BC) without any federal/provincial taxes payable👍. The T7 specific kit comes with oem connectors, plastic plate adapters that were a snug fit on the oem front mount openings & needed some filing to fit the Camel Tail Tidy oem shaped mounts that convert the oem turn signal oblong rubber mount system to a 10 mm bolt attachment, a LED flasher to ensure proper flash speed & dash indicator function. Cyclops provides detailed print installation instructions (see below) that caution not to twist signals to tighten or overtighten the mounting nut to prevent damage to the semi-hard rubber stalks and/or the plastic oblong shaped mounting adapters...initially I tightened the nut hand snug with a wrench, but had to tighten a little more to prevent rotation of the stalks in the mounts

With regards to crash worthiness here is a quote from their website: "All in an Extremely rugged rubber stock to help prevent damage from a tip over or impact with brush, trees etc. They do now have a much harder rubberized stem, they will bend, but are stiff, durable but not unbreakable". There is no mention of water intrusion performance on their website, however, the 3.0 have been made as water resistant as possible incorporating a sealed lens + seal & sealer in the wire pass through...short of full submersion, they should be water resistant under normal use...should there be a issue Cyclops has a stellar reputation of customer service & standing behind their products. The 3.0 have Quality & finish look good (certainly an aesthetic improvement over the oem pumpkins that had a tendency to bounce up/dn & pop out of their mounts on rough terrain) with 2 rows of LED arrays...white for running lights & amber for the front turn signals...the running lights utilize a sequential start up sequence then stay fully lit while the signal functions in sequence from inner to outer direction...both being very bright & brighter than the 12oClockLabs LED signals I returned (see below) + the Cyclops signal material & lens seem higher quality & more durable. The front signals were an easy install requiring removal of the front side panels & plug-n-play connectors.

Front Turn Light Function

The rear signals have a red array for running/brake light option, which sequentially flashes 2x back & forth, then the entire array flashes 1x then stays fully on upon brake activation...if a turn signal is on when brakes are applied, then that signal flashing function is temporarily suspended & returns after the brake light sequence noted above has completed 1 cycle. If the emergency flashers are selected then the running/brake light option is suspended. The turn signal is amber & operates sequentially like the fronts. Installation is more involved, requiring removal of the seats, side panels, rear wrap around body panel, some of the oem fender/tail light/turn signal assembly & depending on if other accessories have been added such as an aftermarket tail tidy like my Camel ADV &/or rear luggage rack like my Yowling rack (Altrider copy) &/or side luggage racks like my DirtRacks the process can become more time consuming. The oem wiring harness is tucked next to the left rear frame rail (see pic below) & utilizes a grey connector for the left signal & a black connector for the right, as noted in the Cyclops instructions (see below)...another grey connector similar to the left signal, but with reversed male/female connectors, is for the licence plate light & there is a larger white connector for the tail/brake light The Cyclops rear signal harnesses ship with positap connectors installed for the red & blue wires for the rear running/brake light option & need to be disconnected then reconnected to mount the signals on the bike & tap into whichever circuit is preferred...I opted for the brake light function for increased conspicuity....red Cyclops wire taps into oem yellow wire for brake function, Cyclops blue wire taps into oem blue wire for running light option. I do like that Cyclops uses red LEDs for the rear running/brake lights...which adheres to the vehicle code for correct colour for rear running or brake lights in BC & most jurisdictions.

Rear Wiring Harness/Connectors

Rear Turn Light Function

Rear Turn + Brake Light Option

As with all Cyclops Adventure Sports products I have used over the years on my 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere ES 1200 & now on my 2021 Tenere 700 I am impressed with the quality, function, design & of course the exemplary level of support & service provided by Darryl, Sandra & their team! Congratulations on 20 years (2002 - 2022) of success, innovation & contribution to performance lighting & power sports products 👍

Cyclops Multifunction 3.0 LED Turn Signal T700 Kit Installation Instructions

UPDATE July 2023: Failure of Left Rear & Left Front Signals

The left rear Multifunction 3.0 signal has completely failed…no turn signal or brake light function…all 3 other 3.0 signals work correctly for signal, running & brake light function.…I checked all wiring, fuses & tried switch the rear signal connectors from left to right & checked the red brake light posi-tap connection, but no change…they were installed May 2022 & used for 7,000 km or 4,300 miles of light use & have seldom seen rain or subjected to any crash or damage.

There have been reports of the lens not sealing correctly resulting in failure from water ingress, but mine shows no indications of this. I wonder, if in my case, water was able to trace the wiring via gravity feed & enter into the hollow metal mounting stalk…more of an issue with the rear signal because of increased exposure to water & the signal being the lowest point of the harness. Daryl at Cyclops is warranty replacing the rear set, but have now discontinued this product line due to inconstant manufacturing quality allowing moisture to get inside the lights with plans to develop a replacement with improved durability. I will try sealing the stalk hole/wiring harness with silicon.

I later discovered that a few of the LEDs of the left front signal no longer work. It turns out that Cyclops have acquired Extreme Dual Sports (EDS) Tuff Lites & will be incorporating new features of which may be the replacement for the reliability prone 3.0 signals. I will be getting a full set to review when they are available in late 2023 or early 2024.

12oClockLabs LED TS700 RLA Turn Signals & Mount Adapter Plates

(returned Dec 2021 as they did not live up to my expectations)

I have been searching for smaller with better aesthetics than oem, affordable, good quality, bright LED turn signal/running lights, preferably plug-n-play, for the T7 since acquiring the bike in Aug 2020 & wanted to avoid the slew of inexpensive/low quality units populating the web...had hoped that the Cyclops Adventure Sports gen 1 updated copies of the most popular Asian sourced units would provide the desired brightness & quality that Cyclops is famous for...but alas as time went on reports filed in that they were not up to the usual lofty reputation of Cyclops's other lighting offerings...enter 12oClockLabs, another American LED lighting company advertising brighter LED signal/running lights that was getting favourable reviews.

Brooks @ 12oClockLabs provided quick pre-sale customer service & was very helpful with answering questions & assisting with matching the right turn signals for my desired setup/bike & selecting the correct oem connectors for a plug-n-play installation. I decided not to go with their Programable Advanced Animated Turn Signals in part because of cost & because the 44 modes of programmability seem superfluous with most being so similar, opting instead for their TS700-RLA with running light option for the front & for the DRC Type 602 rear signals, all with clear lens (another set of TS700-RLA wired for all 3 rows (15 LEDs) for turn signal function was substituted because of no stock for the 602s). The LEDs illuminate orange which meet the BC/Canadian vehicle code, which mandate white or orange colour for the front & orange or red for the rear turn signals. I opted not to wire the rear turn signals for running or brake light function.

The kit comes complete with all oem connector adapters mating with the 12oClockLabs pre-wired bullet connectors & long leads. They are compact in size being significantly smaller than the oem bulbous/heavy units that can bounce/vibrate their way out of their oem rubber mounts in rough terrain. The TS700-RLA utilizes 3 rows of LEDs with the middle row assigned as running light with the upper & lower rows assigned turn signal, while the DRC Type 602 rear signals utilize all 3 rows.

How do they compare to oem for brightness?

Given the marketing as being "extremely bright & have excellent daylight visibility" I was disappointed that the turn signals were not as bright as the oem signals (which on the T7 are very bright, use a reflector & incandescent bulb that emit 360 degree light, of which LEDs typically do not)...although the running LEDs seem to match the oem running light output, however, the TS700-RLA turn signal LEDs appear to be the same output as the running light (& identical to the DRC Type 602 rear signals) & are not brighter...as anticipated & demonstrated in their video of the Programable Advanced Animated Turn Signals on their website. Brooks did provide a detailed explanation of the differences between their LED output & oem incandescent units upon my email query into my observation. He also confirmed that the Programable Advanced Animated Turn Signals use a different & slightly brighter LED array that also turns off the running light during signal operation for improved recognition...I wish that the TS700-RLA utilized that feature as it dramatically improves recognition to the human eye. It appears that the TS700-RLA is just a modified DRC Type 602 with the middle LEDs used for running lights. All 3 models appear to use the same housing.

Now despite all this, it is fair to say that the 12oClockLabs LED TS700-RLA & DRC Type 602 signal lights appear to be brighter than many of the less expensive web sourced LED units & perhaps brighter than some oem light motorcycle setups, most certainly most dual sport bikes, as claimed by Brooks...but could benefit from turn signal LEDs being recognizably brighter than the existing running light LEDs & the running light being disabled during turn signal operation for models combining turn/running light functionality. 12oClockLabs Programmable Advanced Automated Turn Signal do provide slightly brighter turn signal output, will temporarily cancel running lights during signal operation & offer various sequential patterns to improve conspicuity for a higher cost.

What about construction & durability?

Testing will have to wait until the bike is insured again in the Spring but overall quality/durability looks ok for street riding but not sure yet about the rigors of adventure/off-road riding. The advertised flexible stems are not very flexible being more rigid than flexible & look prone to transmitting vibration & breaking upon impact as do the plastic lens (replaceable with clear or orange colour) & housing. But again to be fair, the housing & lens appear commensurate to most other LED offerings in the market.

They are likely not waterproof as there is no gasket/seal for the lens cover (available in clear or orange) which is attached by 1 small screw + the lens cover incorporates a U shaped plastic flange that holds/secures the semi-rigid rubber/plastic stem (more rigid than flexible with very little deflection capability) to the housing... which seems prone to damaging the entire unit upon impact. The lens mates butt joint style to the housing leading edge & has an extended flange that friction fits into the inside of the housing with reasonably snug fitting tolerances that may provide water resistance...but looks to not be a waterproof design or to withstand submersion when the bike is taking a nap in a puddle/ditch or navigating deep water.