A few days ago, I turned the my 08 SD-R on to discover that the entire instrument panel had failed. No lights, no speedo panel, no rev counter - nothing. All the functions on the bike still appeared to work, however, but the dash was absolutely dead other than the backlighting that came in with the ignition as one would expect.

The bike was taken to the dealer this morning for them to look at and for a warranty claim to be lodged on my behalf. By the time I got to the dealer, the backlighting on the panel had also failed. The dealer confirmed it was the panel itself and nothing else by plugging in another panel (which had also been replaced under warranty as the LCD had lost a few sections). Other then the backlighting though, all functions on the bike appeared fine.

Until this evening, that is. Pulling away from my mid-commute coffee location, the indicators started playing up. When I indicated, right or left, both sets of indicators flashed - hazard lights style. The flashing is still even and regular, it's just they both fire at once.

Anyone seen anything like this before? I'm beginning to think that the dash failing was not the problem itself, but merely a symptom of something more serious. Thoughts?

the indicators take their signals from the dash, so it could still just be the dash.

That is 100% your regulator/rectifier mate. Get them to change it before your bike dies!
Exactly the same happened to me.

Glad to be of service