Motorcycles have been a passion for many years. My first was a beat up 1980 Yamaha 650 Special II. My favorite to this point is my 1993 Honda ST1100 ABS. I've looked at many more considering upgrades but nothing is overwhelmingly compelling. The new ST1300 looks slick. I've heard plenty of good things about the new Honda GL1800 Goldwing. The owners I've talked to indicate it very sporty for a big bike and has plenty of power. They all tell me to drive one and I'll be hooked. I haven't yet, for exactly that reason.
My last new purchase was a 2000 BMW F650 as a fun smaller bike. My last sale was a 1998 Honda XR650L Dual Sport. I found dirt bike riding and I simply aren't compatible. While crossing a stream, I noticed a log too late and it dumped me in one of the creeks feeding Baker Lake. This was extremely cold, glacier-fed water. After getting out from under it, getting it back to the truck and emptying my boots, I vowed to buy another ATV. The bike was gone and the new ATV was parked at my house within a week.
I've had the opportunity to do a little touring with my ST1100 and plenty of around-town driving. My first changes to the bike were Two Brothers Racing 3" handlebar risers and a Throttlemeister cruise control. The risers let me sit more upright for better long distance riding posture. I now wish I'd installed the 5" risers but I was too lazy to reroute all the cables and hydraulic lines to make that work.
Since the risers pushed me up into the wind and noise above my windshield, I needed a taller one. I bought a simple replacement that was 4" taller. It kept the wind off but was still noisy. I discovered in 1997 Honda had changed the design of the windshield to include vents to keep the negative pressure down behind the shield and a slight venturi along the top and sides to keep the wind well off your head and shoulders. They only sell the stock size but another company had copied the design and made it taller. I ordered one at a motorcycle show and it's been much better. Anyone need some spare windshields?
I decided to put some toys on it. To mount anything requires a location and a while ago I found a dash for it at a motorcycle show. I wasn't sure if I actually wanted the dash but the price was right so I took it home. It was perfect for the rest of my equipment and very well done (strong, low profile, black powdercoat). I started with an Ungo SMS0500 motorcycle alarm system. Then came a Bell Vector LR Remote radar detector, Yaesu FT-90r ham radio, Autocom intercom system and Garmin GPS III+ for real-time maps.
The Ungo SMS0500 alarm was simple enough to install and works quite well. The most difficult part of the installation is finding a location for all the components. The brain has a wiring harness that offers about 3' of cable. I didn't want to have to extend this so I tried to keep everything close. Even with the brain mounted under the shelter (tank thing), it was hard to find space for the siren and motion sensor close by that offered the right orientation. I did manage to squeeze it all under the shelter on either side. This makes it nearly impossible to access to defeat but isn't bad for any access I need (pop the seat and four screws).
The radar detector worked well too. I'm convinced if an officer sees my radar detector when I'm pulled over, I'm guaranteed a ticket. I decided a remote unit was the least visible. I looked at the Passport and the Bell remote models. I liked the Passport remote unit best and it offered the ability to mount it horizontally and vertically (two face plates). Vertical mounting inside the fairing seemed like a very stealthy install. Unfortunately, there simply isn't space as the handlebars and cables rotate inside the opening. The Passport also had a "headphone" jack that would support being wired into the intercom system. The Bell won simply by being the smallest and cheapest unit.
The head is mounted on the right side under the dash. This makes it look like part of the instruments and keeps water off (it's not weathertight). The antenna is mounted under the headlight on a fairing panel. It's low enough it can only be seen if you bend over and look between the headlight and front wheel. The unit also came with two laser detectors. One is mounted with velcro on the front of the dash looking out the windshield, the other fits perfectly between the taillight and license plate.
I looked for a long time at radios. The ideal solution would be a radio that covered FRS (for my friends), ham radio (what I use when I'm traveling alone), CB (for all those Harleys and Goldwings) and AM/FM (for traffic info and music). I did manage to find a couple ham radios that could be easily modified for all those uses, unfortunately they are the size of a real car stereo. I just couldn't justify that space.
The Yaesu FT-90r was the next best fit. It is a ham radio modifiable to handle FRS and it's extremely small. It has a detachable face that mounts perfectly on the dash with the radio in the tail. I attached it to a Comet SBB5 antenna because it's compact, black and is a 1/2 wave on 2 meters (no ground plane required). The antenna is mounted with a Comet PRM-T hatchback-style mount to my backrest and although the load coil is a bit too close to the backrest, I still get a 1.3:1 match on 2 meters. With 50 watts out I can get in to most repeaters while mobile. I just get comments about the strange audio. People think it sounds like aircraft cockpit audio (very narrow frequency response).
The FT-90r offers a number of other benefits. It has a very large display that's easy to read in any lighting, at any angle. It's a full 50 watts on high and 5 watts on low. The power levels are recorded as part of the memories. That means low power can be programmed for the FRS channels. At 5 watts with a gain antenna, it's still overwhelming. The final benefit is that it is currently one of a very few radios that support the super narrow FM that FRS radios use (2.5kHz deviation). I get complaints in a group that my radio is too loud if I don't change to narrow deviation (TX NARROW in the set menu).
Autocom makes the best intercom systems I have seen so far. I looked at several hoping to find a more cost-effective solution. I couldn't. The PRO model offers passenger-driver intercom, a radio interface and an external music input. I have never used the intercom but the radio is wired to the radio interface. The system has no push-to-talk (PTT) option, it is exclusively voice activated (VOX). The VOX is very effective and doesn't clip or false when used properly (the mike has to rest on your lips). The audio doesn't sound "full" but it is undoubtedly clearer as a result.
I chose the Garmin GPS III+ because of the size of the display and map support. It works quite well and is easy to read while driving. The GPS III+ isn't as high resolution as the new eTrex models from Garmin but they have smaller screens that make them harder to read with a bit of road and wind vibration.
I wired the GPS to bike power and brought the data lines back to a stereo mini jack under the seat. This allows me to plug a Kenwood TH-D7G into the data cable and beacon my APRS position as shown on the home page.