Archive for June, 2007
Mirrors Working!
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A soldering iron, some solder, heatshrink tubing and a half hour were all it took – oh I forgot the multimeter I used to confirm which wire was the ground wire in the bike”s system – it was indeed the green wire.
The turn flashers are brighter than they appear here when viewed from the side but I used flash for this photo and it makes the flasher seem less bright than it is. Viewed from the riders position, they are bright enough to remind me that the turn signal is working but not at all distracting.
Muth Mirrors
Posted by: | CommentsThe special amber Muth mirrors I ordered arrived yesterday and as the fitting instructions looked pretty easy I rushed to fit them. Unfortunately, as I discovered, the supplied harness is designed for a USA spec bike with three wires to the mirror housing – one of which I found out after emailing Muth, is for a running light – which my UK spec bike does not have. This is yet another bone I have to pick with Honda or the British government or more likely the egregious EC inasmuch they supply what I regard as a distinctly inferior specced bike to the UK compared to the USA – not to speak of the cost.
The connectors on the left are the Muth connectors and on the right, the connector on my bike. My bike connector plainly won”t fit the white female socket on the left of the first photo and as can be seen in the other two photos, my bike is only equipped with two wires.
After advice gleaned from various parties (thanks to Dave, Riders Rally – actually Dave again(!) Chris Wedge at Muth and PricedRight) it seems the simplest thing is to splice the Muth supplied jumper lead that fits the mirror, into my bike’s harness. I will do this in the mirror housing as there is plenty of room and it will save me from digging around under the mirror boot. Apparently it is important to get the correct leads connected to one another so I shall use a multimeter to check which of the wires in the bike supplies the turn signal and which is ground.
I had planned to do this today but intermittent downpours have prevented me doing the work outside and my garage is too dark to see what I am doing so the job will have to wait. This has allowed me to get up to some very significant mischief!
Completely Bonkers??
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My paper Aerostich catalogue landed on the mat yesterday and for those of you who haven’t yet acquired one of these I suggest you do so without delay – it is a veritable Aladdin”s cave of biking gear porn and guaranteed to be injurious to your financial health.
On the back cover was an ad for something I hadn’t heard of before – Aerostich tours. Intrigued I read the text then went to the tours website to learn more. Oh what have I done? Before I knew it, I had called the States and booked myself provisionally on the “End of the Earth Tour” through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego. Here are a few pics from the Aerostich site.
Today, after earnest conversations with my dear wife – about me going at all, as getting her to go would require at least a major miracle – my provisional booking has turned into a firm booking with deposit paid and my head filled with thoughts about freshening up my off-road riding techniques, the clothes I need to cater for temperatures ranging from freezing to boiling and whether my old motocross boots will do. Now I love my Goldwing but it sure ain’t the machine for this adventure. After thinking about booking one of the optional BMW R1150GS/R1200GS bikes I have decided they are too big and top heavy for my ancient bones and have opted instead to go for the basic BMW F650 GS about which lots of reviewers are very complimentary. It is certainly capable of the job by all accounts.
I may be completely daft but I love adventures and this promises to be a biggie. Logic says it’s for younger folk but also that if I don’t do it soon, I shall definitely be too old to contemplate it.
I have made a start again at the gym and am determined to (a) lose weight and (b) build up muscle so that when I inevitably fall off, I shall be able to pick myself and the bike up and continue riding. Not least because the amount of off-road riding suggests a potentially exhausting trip. I reckon off-road motorcycling is probably closer to the Tour de France in this regard than most people would guess!
Now I have to do all the stuff like book flights etc etc. I may also take myself off for one of the BMW off-road courses to see what I remember and repair any deficiencies in technique (there will be plenty of those to guarantee I get my moneysworth!)
More Autocom research results
Posted by: | CommentsI spoke directly to Autocom this morning who confirmed that their Pro AVI unit can indeed be installed in the manner I wish viz:- integrating all bike audio functions and providing a bike to bike facility although this requires a separate transceiver (walkie-talkie pair). They also do installation work at their place in Warwick including putting the headsets into helmets which might be valuable if the installation in the BMW System 5 is difficult.
Finding it still difficult to believe that the installation in the BMW helmet would be all that difficult, I took myself off this morning to Caterham where a BMW dealer (South London Motorcycles) lives, only to find that their helmet expert is taking his summer holiday.. However, one of the service guys showed me how to remove the visor and the flip up jawpiece, and the cheek pads so I am more confident than before. Plus a bonus, I discovered an Autocom document that deals with the installation in a system 5 helmet. I think people who have been telling me that the BMW helemt is difficult is because they have assumed it was the same as the Scuberth helmets (and Schuberth make the BMW helmet), however, the fit is very different. I wanted to get a Schuberth helmet but none suited me, whereas the BMW one is very comfortable.
OK – It’s going to be the Autocom
Posted by: | CommentsQuestions posted here and there about the Autocom Pro Avi have been answered in a positive vein (notably at Rider’s Rally) where a couple of members have helpfully provided the valuable info that I can wire the unit into the passenger headset lead and get the full bike inputs. One kind person has sent me pictures which will help with the install when I do it. I am now sufficiently encouraged to get this unit and I think, to install it myself – it will be my first exploration under the Goldwing’s plastic so I am feeling as nervous as a kitten (or more aptly, as nervous as the first time I found out what girls wear! 
).
Helmets, Headsets – my head is spinning!
Posted by: | CommentsThanks to Dave’s advice on the problem with high impedance speakers in my old Autocom headset I was reminded of the custom fit earbuds (that I had made for me at a motorcycle show) which have speakers built in. I previously used these with the TomTom on my Pan via a bluetooth thingy that reposed in a pocket of my riding suit. Sooo.. off to Maplins for an adapter to connect my little earbuds plug to the Din plug on the bike. Easy-peasy thought I, except that the plug on the earbuds is 2.5mm and when buying the adapter I had thought it was 3.5mm – so back I go for another adapter – actually the third because initially I was forced to buy a 5 pin Din to quarter inch, a quarter inch to 3.5mm and now with a 3.5mm to 2.5mm I have something half as long as a fishing rod and just as bendy, to connect the 5 pin Din to my earbuds.
The acid test – switch on the radio, switch from bike speaker to headset – nothing! Ah well, perhaps these are high impedance too? But then I thought that the miniscule bluetooth adapter had so little power, surely these earbuds must be low impedance? So it proved when I fiddled about with my national exhibition of adapters and was suddenly deafened by the Kaiser Chiefs (I must get around to programming Radio Three 
).
Trouble is that apart from the bendy connection, the wire to the earbuds is as thin as dental floss and probably not a lot stronger, so I really still need to find a more robust solution. Well, the OEM Honda headset is one possibility at £200! So too is a variety of cheaper headsets that all promise zero noise, quadrophonic sound and “I’ll still love you in the morning”. However, the helmet man at Dobles, tells me that my favoured helmet (a BMW flip-up is – despite having big cut outs for the ears – the worst imaginable for installing a headset as there is nowhere for the wires to go. He demonstrated by taking a new Arai off the shelf and showing me how in about five minutes one could install a set in that versus the 3 hours estimated for my BMW helmet. I really don’t want to buy another helmet. I still own more than most mortals and not just the ones I have crashed in either, however, it’s starting to look inevitable.
I am now looking at the Autocom Pro AVI stuff in the belief that I should be able to integrate it into my Goldwing audio and potentially use it for Bike to Bike communication when I get around to attending Treffens etc.
The man at Dobles is looking into this for me – I hope to hear next week what he finds out. Stay tuned!
Noises Off ( or more accurately, noise’s off)
Posted by: | CommentsI have a helmet equipped with an Autcom headset – sadly the Autocom unit is no longer to be found but I figured that all I needed was a 5 pin DIN cable extension and I would be able to connect my helmet to the bike’s 5 pin fly lead. Well, I can but unfortunately it doesn’t really wow me. The volume in the headset is pathetic and the speakers (my lonely pair of front speakers – boohoo) are quite a bit louder. I guess that the missing Autocom unit probably has an amplifier in it but being an electrical nincompoop, I really don’t know if I can do anything short of replacing the headset of buying a new Autocom unit. I really am not keen on the latter option, it seems daft when there is equipment built into the bike for the purpose. All advice gratefully received!
Camping – or where do I pack it?
Posted by: | CommentsHaving bought the bike and having joined the GWOCGB, the next logical step is to equip myself to attend WingDings and Treffens. First step in this process is to get suitable camping gear and considering the number of years since I last undertook this masochistic(?) way of spending time away from home comforts it is understandable that I can”t remember all the stuff one needs. Fortunately, I have discovered a really nifty website that automates the production of a checklist for motorcycle camping – brilliant! Unsurprisingly, a tent is called for so I took myself along to Cotswold, firstly the Orpington branch where I was told of a tent exhibition at their Maidstone branch where they had a load of tents erected in a field and having decided on one (a Jack Wolfskin Tundra 2)
I was told the last available one was at the Orpington branch.. ah well I got it in the end.
Then of course I practiced putting it up in the garden. I discovered that doing it by oneself in a wind is harder than I anticipated and that what one really needs is a bunch of lead weights to hold the various bags the tent comes in, plus the tent itself down, until the proper pegs have been inserted somewhere suitable. At moments, the designers anatomy seemed to offer several interesting options for the sharp pegs but as this was my first attempt I shall defer any GBH until I have had a couple more goes and if I find out it doesn’t get any easier.
I also got a Therma Rest sleeping pad and I dug out an old sleeping bag that has seen better days but a couple of hours in the sun and it didn’t smell too bad!
What I then discover is that Goldwing is really far too small and perhaps there are more wrinkles to this motorcycle camping lark than I appreciated. Travelling solo, I can pile stuff on the back seat but then if it is strapped down, it makes opening the trunk problematic. If I put the tent in the trunk, there is no room for anything else to speak of.. and what am I going to do with the pots and pans, gas stove etc. etc.?
Plainly more packing practice is called for but I take comfort that once I could get all I needed on a humble bicycle – think I still have the panniers somewhere..
Kent Wings
Posted by: | CommentsI made my first trip to a regional wings meeting yesterday. I live just about equidistant in time (there must be a word for that?) from Capital Wings, Kent Wings and Surrey Wings but as I live in Kent (by about 100 yards) and as Aylesford where the Kent Wings meet was the easiest to get to, I went there. It’s a pretty little village despite being very close to the M20. I was lucky enough to meet a fair crowd of Wingers, given that with various WingDings happening, there might well have been none there at all.
I was given an especially warm welcome by Vernon and Ursula who were the first there and took care to introduce me to the rest as they arrived. Chatting with a few folk I learnt more about my bike than I had learnt in a month of owning it – like the fact that it has no rear speakers fitted as standard! I guess I should have known this but didn’t. Anyway it seems a pretty mean way for Honda to save money on such an expensive bike. I also got a good chance to look at the various “bling options” people had opted for. I decided that I should get a front fender extender to keep muck off the lower cowl and I am rather attracted by the chrome bits for the air intake and radiator cowlings that Vernon had on his bike. I also want to get the lower rear lights on the panniers fitted and hooked up – it really improves visibility.
After our session at the Aylesford village club, a few of us went on a ride to Wadhurst along some very pretty country lanes.
Essex Ride
Posted by: | CommentsI had a few hours riding the roads in the Essex/Suffolk border area today. Lots of evidence of heavy rains in the previous day or so with mud and grit on the roads – usually the corners – and a car or two that had found it too slippery and ended up in the ditch. Plenty of council workers out and about sweeping up though. Top marks!
I slipped in a visit to Hideout Leather to have a gander at their stuff and be amazed at the price of Rukka SRO jackets (£999 if you please! Doubtless very good but can they really justify such a price I wonder?)