BigShell
-
Posts
202 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by BigShell
-
The heater I used has a peel and stick back. Once stuck to the OEM foam grips, I don't think they are coming off easily. If you are concerned about the increase in grip size, just put on the Grip Puppies (a little hairspray will help set them) and see how you like them. Since they are just stuck on with hair spray, they should come off fairly easy and if the fit was good, put on the heaters. If you didn't like the fit, only a few dollars lost. Shortly after getting the bike, I ran a fairly heavy hot wire from the battery to the fairing. It's connected to a relay activated by the ignition switch. Thats where I get my power. I simply ran the wires along the bars into the front fairing and found a spot on the left side that I was comfortable with to drill a hole and mount the Hi/Off/Low switch. Used 'em again this morning. Glad I did it.
-
It looks like the Grip Puppies add about 1/4 inch to the diameter of the grip or about 3/4 to 7/8 inch to the circumference. The foam compresses pretty easy. The heating elements themselves are very thin and basically add nothing to the bulk. If I had been even a little concerned about the bulk, I would have gotten help or just learned how to pull and replace the stock grips. Everything I've read makes it sound easy enough, I've just never done it myself. I have no clue if they work for other grips. My guess would be yes, but that is only a guess. It hasn't been cold enough to say how warm the tops of my fingers will be on a really cold day. That was a concern but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the heat was distributed. The tops of my fingers were very comfortable at 42 degrees. One thing that helps is having the wide Clearview shield.... keeps some of the air off my hands. That's not such a good thing in the summer though. I've about putting some vents in my stock shield and using it for summer riding. Might do that this year. I had considered heated gloves, but I don't want any more wires tying me to the scoot. The headset cable is one too many. I'll sure be glad when there is a reasonably priced bluetooth option that will work with all my toys at the same time.
-
As long as its above freezing and I have a reasonable expectation of arriving dry, I'll ride to work. Last year, the cold started getting to my hands. I wore pretty good gloves with a separate glove liner. In the low to mid 30's, my fingers still got cold and the combination glove/liner was so thick it was hard to hit switches and the throttle was harder to control. I thought about heated grips, but I wasn't too sure about how to change them out. I didn't want to spend $100+ and find out they didn't fit or just felt wrong. I had seen some heated wraps and I think Goose made a home-made set of wraps but I wanted something a little more permanent. I may have found my solution. I bought a DualStar Heated Grip Kit. http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Rider/heated_grip_kit1.htm I also bought Grip Puppies. http://www.casporttouring.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=GPLARGE&Category_Code=grips I don't have a real problem with the stock grips, but I figured a little more size for these big hands and a little more padding couldn't hurt. I simply stuck the heating elements on top of my stock grips and put the puppies over everything. It was in the low 40's this morning. I rode without the glove liners and with the heaters on low. Once in a while I had to open my grip a little to let some air in to cool things down a bit. Time will tell if the foam holds up to the heat ok, but for now, I love what I've got! My wife's hands get cold real easy. She is a little reluctant to ride in what I consider just cool weather. I think I may get a set and put them on the rear grab bars. Might give us a few more ride days.
-
I had a Back-off brake light modulator (from Signal Dynamics). Doing a walk around one day, I noticed my brake lights weren't working. I had signal going into the modulator, but not out. I cut the modulator out, respliced the wires and all was well. I don't say this to bad mouth SignalDynamics. It think they are a quality company with good products. I'm just saying that this is something else to fail. In my case the failure caused me to have no brake lights at all. I may put one back on someday, but I realize I often climb into the saddle without checking the brake lights. It scares me to think about how long I may have driven without them. Sure, the stock lighting system can fail, but it is one less component to worry about.
-
As others have said, I think that extra second may be a good thing. My experience, so far anyway, has been that when people see it, they stop doing the wrong thing until they can evaluate what they are seeing. Sure, some will be confused and continue doing the wrong thing, but they were doing it anyway! I've not witnessed where someone started doing the wrong thing because they saw the headlight flashing. So it only keeps 3 out of 4 drivers from pulling into my path. I'll take that! That's 3 less evasive actions I have to take.
-
There is no doubt... none... that the modulator on my headlight has stopped folks from pulling out in front of me. They start the roll then hit the brakes hard. I have a toggle switch on mine so I can turn off the modulator when I want too. I try to remember to turn it off when I'm with a group, unless I'm leading. I usually forget, but I don't take offense if someone in the group asks me to turn it off. I figure the group gives us the needed visibility. As far as confusing it with some other kind of signal. That would take quite a leap in judgment. It modulates way to fast to be mistaken for the kind of signals truckers use. It's too big and modulates too fast and is the wrong color for any kind of turn signal. The only thing mine has been mistaken for is an emergency vehicle. Mine has help me avoid trouble more than once. I will continue to use it. If we are riding together in a group and it bothers you, just say something, I'll turn it off.
-
I don't think so. I've seen too many die doing the 'safe' thing and others survive when they made an 'unsafe' move. A man just two hooches down from me was on his last duty night before returning to the world. Sarge told him to take the night off. No sense taking chances this close to boarding the freedom bird. His room took a direct hit from a rocket that night and he died. He took the 'safe' road... but it didn't matter. A good friend in the hooch next door was always playing it safe. Bed up on blocks so he could get under it easier. Surrounded on three sides by sand bags. At the first warning of rockets, he had on helmet, flac vest, and was under the bed until the all clear. One night he was just too tied to move. Rockets starting walking their way toward us. He thought "Screw it! I'm too tired. Let them come." One came through the wall and exploded under the floor right under his bed. His bedding absorbed a lot of the energy. He was pretty bruised and beat up, but if he had been under the bed as usual, he would have been dead. He took a chance with the 'unsafe' move and it saved him. I learned that life ain't fair and doesn't play by our rules. I'll do what I want to do... and when I don't want to do it any more, I'll stop. When God decides He wants me closer to Him, I'm ready. I hope he isn't in a hurry though! The grandkids are just too much fun!
-
I don't have the speedohealer. My speedometer and odometer are both off but by different percentages. My speedometer is reads about 8% high and my odometer about 3.5% more miles. Got the same readings from a Lowrance iWay 500c and a Zumo 550. That would tend to support Leland's observations in the original post.
-
VMAX Rear for RSV ordered
BigShell replied to Freebird's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
I've been giving this some thought and would like some opinions, please. While I would like more response just twisting the throttle, I don't mind down shifting to get that response. I'm thinking overall fuel mileage. 80% of my riding is between 65 and 80 mph (indicated, not actual) with most toward the high end of that. For that, I would guess stock gears to be best. On the other side, I have the wide Clearview shield and lower wind vents so I'm pushing more air. I also weigh as much 1-up as most of you do 2-up (closer to 400 than 300 lbs). At least my wife is small so we still ride 2-up ok. These would seem to benefit from the VMAX gears. Which gears would you recommend? -
Its a digital display, not a mechanical pointer. Look at it when you turn the ignition switch on and all the pointer positions 'light' up. The tick movement is the display moving from one led position to the next.
-
I took a lot kidding along those lines. They told me I better not hit the horn at night.. headlights might dim so much I can't see. As I approached the place where that truck pulled out yesterday, I realized I wasn't really a block away when I hit the horns... more like half a block. I laid on them a good 3 to 5 seconds. No wires burning or fuses blowing.... yet!
-
More like CokeZero30... Beer30 would have been welcome too!
-
Had a good test for the horns today. I was on my way to a PGR staging area doing around 50 down a wide 2 lane. About a block in front of me a 3 axle bobtail dump truck started out of side road on the left and was going to turn in front of me. I laid on the horn button. A confused truck driver locked up his brakes. I think he was looking for another truck and looked puzzled when he saw me. At the staging area, the conversation turned to some of the idiot drivers out there. One guy said he wanted horns that sounded like a train... maybe folks would hear him. I told him about what happen on the way in and asked if he wanted to hear them. About 10 of us walked over to the scooter. I turned the key and hit the horn. Even though they knew it was coming, every one of them flinched. The guy that wanted to sound like a train said I was just about there. They proved themselves today. I like them!
-
Are you talking about the black plastic piece halfway up the antenna? Isn't that the loading coil. I'm certainly no expert, but I don't think you can set the SWR anywhere near correct if you just make a connector to hold the two pieces together. If I'm right, you could damage your CB transmitting with that setup. I hope someone with a little more knowledge will step in here. I hope I'm wrong.
-
Nice price, but I think I'd keep an eye on the weather. That card slot in the top and open holes in the back look like they would let a lot of water in.
-
Brad, why don't you email them and get the RSV on their motorcycle application chart.
-
Polish? The midnight comes with a lot of extra chrome, including the forks, but I don't spend a lot of time with polish. I try to wash it maybe once a month. More often when the butterflies decide to migrate. Maybe wax it two or three times a year. Thats a work bike, not a show bike. They do look pretty good in those pics, but in reality they are pretty dirty. The last two days before those shots, it was foggy, drizzly and nasty on the ride to work each morning. You can kind of see how the whole bike looked in the third picture. The dirt and water spots on the bag lids. Trunk looks good in the photo, but it must just be the angle because its as dirty as the saddlebag top.
-
I don't know how many know it, but it's getting wider use in the Houston and South Texas PGR. Things can change so fast when putting a mission together and even faster during a mission. You've heard that no battle plan survives past the first shot... well the same holds for many missions. I was always hearing "remain flexible" or "we need to be flexible" or some other phrase telling us things were likely to change. After a bit, I started using Semper Gumby every time someone said 'flexible' and it started catching on with a few folks. I see it in more and more posts. I couldn't find any patches, so I had some made. I've been handing them out to ride captains and a few of the Marines I run into. I gave one to a Marine SgtMaj. He said that was exactly what he needed and he was going to have it framed and sitting on his desk. Monsta, I managed a recording. I just used a cheap mp3/radio/recorder. I did a short burst from the right side, then a pause as I walked around to the left side and gave it another quick burst. I pointed the mic away from the scooter, but the horns still pegged the meters on the recording so it really doesn't show the full effect. there is a pause after the second burst and you can begin to here the radio as I turned the mic toward the scooter to turn the recorder off. The radio was turned down to 7 or 8 and you have to listen close to hear it, but that and the sound from the RK pipes do help give an idea as to the loudness of the horns. See if this link will work for the .wav file.
-
I'll have to see what I've got that will make a digital recording. With all the cra... I mean stuff I have around here, surely I have something that will do it. Yep... got to test it. On a regular basis to make sure all is ok. Unfortunately, drivers around here give me a fairly frequent opportunity to test them. Speaking of horn blowing, I had a guy honk at me the other day. We were at one of those lights where it takes 3 sometimes 4 cycles to get through it. On the first move-up, he blew his horn at me. I guess he thought I wasn't moving fast enough. Well, when we stopped, I put down the stand and went back to ask him about it. From his seat, he sees a 6'2" 350+ lb bearded guy in full gear getting off a 1/2 ton motorcycle and coming toward him in the middle of traffic stopped at a light. He wouldn't make eye contact. He had his window down a few inches but he just sat there. I asked if he was having problems with his horn and if he would like for me to check it for him. He declined saying he would have it looked at later. I was slow on the next move-up, but he didn't honk that time.
-
Like many here, I wanted more than the stock horns could give me. I decided to install the Stebel. I didn't really like mounting it where the stock horn is. I decided to mount it on the left rear, under the trunk and behind the HD lights. I made a bracket out of some aluminum bar I had and used a 'P' clamp and plastic ties. Not a lot of clearance for the bag lid and fender, but enough. That was the main reason for some plastic ties, to hold it away from things. Definitely louder than stock, but not as loud as I was expecting. While I felt better about being able to make some noise, I still didn't have what I wanted. I was thinking about another Stebel, but I saw some 132 db horns at AutoZone and I decided to give them a try. What I bought were Blazer Horn's Highway Blaster I did some searching but couldn't find much on them. A search on 'Highway Blaster Horn' turned up some Freeway Blaster horns that look just like these and in the same db range (125 - 130) and price ($15-$20 each). I bought a high tone and low tone. They are mirror images so I could mount one on each side of the bike and still have the 'bell' as far forward and out of the way as possible. I mounted them behind the lower fairings. The bell sits on the front crash bar. The included bracket goes from a stud and nut in the center of the horn to the lower bolt that holds the air filter housing. The horn bracket is thin and I placed it between the housing and the housing bracket. I soldered two wires into the wire from my relay to the Stebel and ran them under the tank. You can just see the relay in a shot of the right side. It sits on top of the fluid reservoir under the right side cover. Two wires (white in the pic) are spliced into the stock horn below and activate the relay when the horn button is pressed. One red wire is fused to the battery and the other side of the relay goes to the three horns I installed. I used a plastic tie to hold the relay in place. Now when I hit the horn button, I have 5 horns going off (2 stock, Stebel, 2 Blasters). First time I tapped the button, I flinched. By flinch, I mean I closed my eyes, shook my head, and took a step back. Tapped it again and all the grandkids came out to see what was going on. Even though they knew it was coming, they flinched every time I tapped the button. My wife finally made me stop. She was afraid the neighbors would get mad. I'm loud enough now.
-
Twice now I've used it to find fuel when I got a little lower than I felt comfortable with. More than a few times, I've used it to reroute me because I missed a turn or wanted to try to get around some traffic/construction in an unfamiliar place. Mine will hold 5 gigs of mp3's. No searching for a local station unless I want something different. Sometimes I just go for a ride. I see a road I like and go down it. I don't pay much attention to where I am. When it's time to head back, I just select home/[motel/campsite/friends house/what ever] and it takes me there. I also carry a paper map... just in case!
-
There must be a lot less wind trying to pull things off that trunk rack than I thought there was, at least with a tall & wide body up front. I carry a fairly large, soft-sided satchel to work every day. It won't fit the side bags, so I put it in the trunk. One morning I set it on the trunk rack then went about my usual pre-ride routine. Hopped on the bike and rode 30+ miles to work (mostly highway speeds). Got off the scoot and went back to get my bag out of the trunk. I almost fell over when I saw it still on the rack, unsecured. I don't think it had moved an inch. It scared me into double checking the trunk for a long time afterword and at the same time it made me feel better about running with stuff secured to the rack.
-
I put a floor and tie-downs in my PiggyBacker. Used 1/4" plywood over a 1x4 frame and covered it with indoor-outdoor carpet. Attached the tie downs where the screws would go through the plywood into the 1x4's. Replaced the original bolts holding the tub in place with longer ones through the new floor, tub, and frame. Picture in my gallery. Doug
-
That's the one I finally settled on. Works well for me. I like the whole ram mount system. I use it for my gps, cup holder, and camera.
-
Thanks Goose. Your conclusions confirm what I've experienced with various combinations of dog bones and tire widths. I think your recommendations are right on the mark.