No Standardization for Handle Bar Switch Location
Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:56 pm
Today I swapped out my PCX for the 'ol Roughhouse to take a leisurely ride around town and discovered something I hadn't realized about the difference between the two scooters. . .don't know how it slipped past me in the first place. . .horn vs turn signals.
Recently I had been trying to get used to the location of the horn switch on the PCX. It's a large button and for the most part sits flush into the switch cover. I found myself to be a klutz the first few times I went to use it in a hurry to alert absent minded "cagers" and had either hit the switch cover surface or the turn signal switch in error.
Well, today when I took out the Roughhouse, the first time I went to use the turn signal I hit the horn button. It surprised me. And then it suddenly occurred to me that the turn signals and horn position on the Roughhouse and PCX are opposite. On the PCX the horn is above the turn signal button and on the Roughhouse the turn signal button is above the horn. So I asked myself why isn't there some kind of universal standardization globally for location of handle bar switches on MOPEDS, Motorcycles, and Scooters in this day and age? Even Harley continues to insist on that left handle bar/right handle bar turn signal thing. When you ride or own multiple machines it would be certainly more convenient, if not safer, to have the switches all in the same general locations, wouldn't you think? So when you go for the horn in a hurry you hit home. At 30 MPH you travel about 44 feet per second right? That's about the length of a medium sized house.
My two motorcycles both have the horn button located below the turn signal button. . .and it's clearly easy to get to with a thumb in a hurry. So when I got the Roughhouse it seemed quite normal.
I won't get into the using the brake vs using the horn and when and how much discussion because there are times when one must go all brake and look for that escape route and there is no time for the horn. And then there's the usual times when you get someone who's just a space shot and were never properly potty trained and continue to crap all over the world and they need to be reminded "NOT HERE!".
And another thing, all turn signals should be self canceling and have an audible sound to let you and anyone within about 50 feet know it's on. Just my two cents. . ..
Oh. . .one more thing. . .it reminds me of the '70s when riding British meant shifting with the right foot and riding Japanese meant shifting with the left foot. I'll never forget the time I rode a Norton 850 Commando with the one up and three down shift pattern. You really had to be on your game switching between different marques to adapt to their peculiar characteristics.
Raining again here. . .feels more like April than June. . .must be all that melted Ice Cap water cooling off the ocean.
Recently I had been trying to get used to the location of the horn switch on the PCX. It's a large button and for the most part sits flush into the switch cover. I found myself to be a klutz the first few times I went to use it in a hurry to alert absent minded "cagers" and had either hit the switch cover surface or the turn signal switch in error.
Well, today when I took out the Roughhouse, the first time I went to use the turn signal I hit the horn button. It surprised me. And then it suddenly occurred to me that the turn signals and horn position on the Roughhouse and PCX are opposite. On the PCX the horn is above the turn signal button and on the Roughhouse the turn signal button is above the horn. So I asked myself why isn't there some kind of universal standardization globally for location of handle bar switches on MOPEDS, Motorcycles, and Scooters in this day and age? Even Harley continues to insist on that left handle bar/right handle bar turn signal thing. When you ride or own multiple machines it would be certainly more convenient, if not safer, to have the switches all in the same general locations, wouldn't you think? So when you go for the horn in a hurry you hit home. At 30 MPH you travel about 44 feet per second right? That's about the length of a medium sized house.
My two motorcycles both have the horn button located below the turn signal button. . .and it's clearly easy to get to with a thumb in a hurry. So when I got the Roughhouse it seemed quite normal.
I won't get into the using the brake vs using the horn and when and how much discussion because there are times when one must go all brake and look for that escape route and there is no time for the horn. And then there's the usual times when you get someone who's just a space shot and were never properly potty trained and continue to crap all over the world and they need to be reminded "NOT HERE!".
And another thing, all turn signals should be self canceling and have an audible sound to let you and anyone within about 50 feet know it's on. Just my two cents. . ..
Oh. . .one more thing. . .it reminds me of the '70s when riding British meant shifting with the right foot and riding Japanese meant shifting with the left foot. I'll never forget the time I rode a Norton 850 Commando with the one up and three down shift pattern. You really had to be on your game switching between different marques to adapt to their peculiar characteristics.
Raining again here. . .feels more like April than June. . .must be all that melted Ice Cap water cooling off the ocean.