motorcycles, technology, music, business

I now have a complete set for my GPS traveling needs. Thanks goes out to my mother for the birthday money that allowed me to buy the goods (used via craigslist).
Today I received the motorcycle handlebar mount, for my FZ1, and the windshield suction cup mount, for my civic.

It took a bit of work to get the GPS mounted how I like it on the bike, and I did a bit more after I took the above photo. The RAM mount really only pivots on two axis meaning that the base ball must be in a proper place.
I have several routes of varying length loaded into my GPS and I am eager to try it out. I need to test it out before my long trip into New Hampshire.

Wish me luck and happy riding.

Ps. A great thing about the 60CSx is that it can be powered off of my USB charger. This is great for both the bike and the car.

Finally, my installation of two very basic yet important motorcycle accessories has come to completion. As you may remember from Part I and Part II, I have been working on installing a USB charger and grip heaters to my 2006 Yamaha FZ1.

This latest delay was caused by difficulties in acquiring an air compressor in order to remove my existing grips. I had attempted to purchase a certain Bostitch brand pancake compressor from CPO Bostitch via Amazon two separate times and both times CPO Bostitch could not “get the order into [their] system.”

Here are some photos of the finished product. You can see the USB charger in the first two and the wires (lowest) from the grip heaters in the last two.

I used the USB charger today and it was great to have my phone charging while in my pocket.

For Christmas I had asked for the supplies and tools to put an accessory cigarette lighter on my 2006 Yamaha FZ1. I have been using my iPhone with the MotionX GPS app to track where I ride. It’s fun but it eats up the battery. In addition, our Garmin Nuvi 350 is getting on in years and the battery doesn’t hold much of a charge anymore. The cigarette lighter accessory would allow me to plug in an USB charger adapter and charge both my phone and/or my Nuvi at the same time.

The original plan was to simply wire it directly to the battery using a handlebar mounted cigarette lighter socket. These plans changed when I didn’t get that handlebar mounted cigarette lighter socket and I did get a DIY grip heater kit. I didn’t want the grip heaters to accidentally remain on when the key was off, so I needed to include the ignition in the circuit.

As it so happens, my step-father has a 2008 FZ1, and he had wired a radar detector using the ignition wire from the rear fuse box. He was able to show me where this wire is located while I was out in California for Christmas. It’s the brown wire with a blue stripe.

I decided to run a wire for both the positive ignition wire and the negative battery contact. I was able to run the wire under the fairing and along the side of the bike between the tank and the frame, under the frame cross bar just rear of the tank, which gave the wires enough lateral tension to keep it tucked in tight. I now have an available wire to tap for both positive and negative polarity up at the front of the bike.

After thinking about it more and taking apart the cigarette lighter USB adapter I had, I decided to forgo the socket and hard wire the adapter instead.

I do quite a bit a riding in sub 40° weather and my fingers get cold, so I look forward to having these grip heaters.

Stay tuned for part II of this post where there will be further photos and details about the wiring.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.