Riding a bike with no indicators?

[Markgenesis]

Will hopefully be getting an old school Hardtail Chopper over the weekend, it's (loosely) based on a 1982 Z650, looks like a good build using an off the shelf custom frame, not a cobbled together death trap, it's been together for years but had a recent re-fresh, i absolutely love it and cant wait to get it, trouble is it has no indicators, i'm a fairly new rider (passed in Feb 2020 aged 49), past couple of years i've done a few thousand miles on a K4 GSXR600 and a K5 Hayabusa.

Any tips on riding a bike with no indicators ?, i'm imagining left turns will be easy (just stick left arm out), what about turning right at a roundabout ? or turning right into a side road where letting go of the throttle to indicate would kill too much speed, am i overthinking things ?, bearing in mind it will be a 3rd bike used for dry weather runs to the coast and back (60 miles), a mate said it should be obvious what you are going to do by your road position and if a car is going to pull out they will do so whether you are indicating or not.

I'm prepared to be excited, shocked, scared in equal measures when i ride this thing

[Wacky Racer]

[Pica-Pica]

The right turn at a roundabout is reasonably simple. Close throttle as you approach in the right lane, and indicate with the right arm on the overrun. Take up the throttle as you enter, and indicate left with left arm on exit. Same on a right turn into a side road. Your speed, positioning and use of brake lights at the appropriate time will be crucial here.

[spoodler]

Don't overthink things and unduly worry yourself. Most situations you'll have plenty of time to signal, change gear and adjust your speed to the traffic conditions. You'll soon get used to correct road positioning etc. Once commited on a roundabout, signalling your intent is a bit late and you can always go round again... I'm sure you'll cope okay. Can be a little tricky in heavy traffic and remember to get any left signalling done before you stop and need the clutch!!! I find the most difficult situations are where you need to move over several lanes to the left, when there is only a short distance between lights - we have a few motorway roundabouts like that. Doesn't give a lot of time to indicate, pull away and move over, I find it's often better to forget indicating and use the power and abilities of the bike instead.
My current fun bike is an early seventies Laverda, mirrors, indicators and brakes are for girls! Joking apart, I'd ride it anywhere, but heavy, stop-start traffic can be taxing.
I ran an old hardtailed Z650 - loads of fun and covered a huge amount of miles on it including popping over to France and a weekend trip to Bonn. Only sold it as the girly of the time wasn't comfy... replaced it with a 1400 Suzuki and we split up.

Edited by spoodler on Friday 15th July 21:44

[I am alright Jack]

If you're that concerned you could always put some indicators on it. You may find that some or all of the wiring will already be there and being a chopper you can use any indicators you like with out them looking out of place.

[CypSIdders]

Never had a problem with my classic traillie.
A good idea to have rear view mirrors that give a good view of what's actually going on behind you!

[tvrolet]

Don't sweat it - only 1 of my bikes has indicators, the other 4 are too old to have had them fitted. I actually find it strangely satisfying to ride with just hand signals (and not just the one and two fingered ones). Sure you've sometimes got to stick your hand out once in advance as a heads-up, then get it back on the bars to do something, and then hand out again...but it really isn't an issue.

Also, there's a lot of times folks use indicators where it isn't really necessary - even the IAM are (or were) preaching if the signal doesn't benefit anyone why do it? So for example if there's no-one at a junction then probably muscle-memory would just hit the indicator anyway, but you wouldn't bother with a hand signal, so I'd suggest you'd make hand signals far less often than every auto-pilot indicator use.

Only issue is if you're doing a fair rate of knots and you stick your hand out with a flat palm there can be a fair bit of wind resistance; at speeds I favour just a pointed index finger and a semi-bent arm.

If a bike doesn't have indicators I'd never dream of fitting them unless it had them originally and I was restoring it back to factory spec. All adds to the fun of biking

[Markgenesis]

That's a cracking pic Spoodler, bike is quite similar to that actually.

Cheers for the help guys, i think i am overthinking it, never even thought about the flat palm at speed though i think anytime i've been riding a bicycle i've pointed a finger.

Bike has a custom wiring loom, it has never had indicators so would be starting from scratch fitting them, not worth the hassle really, i told the guy i wouldn't change the bike much, it's needing painted though (just the tanks and guards) so will probably change the colour, maybe from black to metalflake red.

Bike should get here on Monday, will post pics up when i get it.