MotorCycle Mania

The McCruise Cruise Control Review by Guest Reviewer: Evan Rubenstein

Evan says:

“Since I started riding 30 years ago, I have been bothered with a sharp pain in my right shoulder blade after about 30 minutes of riding and so on all the bikes I’ve owned over the years, I have always had a throttle lock. These are inexpensive and quite effective but are not at all precise. They are good for relieving the pressure needed to keep cruising but not much good at maintaining a set speed. A slight downhill will easily result in you speeding up by 10-15 kph and conversely, an uphill will slow you down significantly.  With speed enforcement in Victoria so strict – you are constantly fiddling with the throttle lock to maintain a steady (legal) speed. It’s a real pain.

After being caught 4 k’s over the limit while returning from Sydney in 2005 wile using my throttle lock, I decided it was time for a proper electronic cruise control. For a short while I contemplated adapting an automotive cruise control as they are cheap, but reading through the forums I concluded that they were tricky to get working properly and I would waste too much time stuffing around with it. So I decided to get an MCCruise Unit – the only aftermarket cruise control that I came across.  At first I struggled to justify the investment, but considering that I had spent over $20k on the bike and that bikes with this facility as standard are many thousands of dollars more, I felt it would be worth it. It was a good decision!

Fortunately the device is made in my home town (Melbourne) and so I called round to the guys at McCruise to make my purchase in person.  The guys were super helpful and configured the unit specifically the way I wanted it for fitting to my then brand new 2006 Yamaha FJR 1300. (see below)

I undertook the installation myself, which if you are mechanically orientated is not too difficult, but takes a good few hours (9 in my case, but I was also installing a couple of other bits and pieces while the bike was disassembled). The instructions are magnificent in that they are bike specific, very clear and fully detailed. At no time during the installation was there any confusion nor any need for telephonic assistance, which was available. The kit itself is superbly made with minute attention to detail.  Every single screw, washer, nut, hose, connector, cable tie etc. was in the box along with a few spares too. They even supply the special cable-end grabbing tool you need for the installation. 

The four main components are:

1:The electronic control unit into which the wiring harness connects, with connections to the front and rear brake light switches, clutch, wheel speed sensor, handlebar control and power. I located this out of the way in the taillight enclosure.
2:The vacuum actuator which connects to the inlet manifold of the EFI. The standard FJR configuration is to locate this in the storage compartment under the seat, but in my case I located it under the right hand side fairing, which is where it is normally located for the electric gearshift version of the FJR.  In this way I kept  all the storage space under the seat available for the bits and pieces that I like to keep on the bike.

The Vacuum Actuator mounted under the fairing.

The Actuator seen through the fairing once mounted.

3:The handlebar control; a neat, three button piece that can be factory configured to fit on either the left or right, top or bottom of the handlebar. In my case I wanted it below the left hand handlebar.

The neat controls on the handlebar!

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4:The cable interface unit which links the vacuum actuator to the throttle control so that the cruise control can adjust the throttle opening.

The control unit mounted under the seat.

There are quite a few cables that you have to route back to the electronic control unit but these are quite long enough and easily dealt with. The final result was neat and professional and frankly looks and performs like original equipment.

The best part is how good the unit is to use. The three control buttons are On/Off, Set/Accel, Resume/Decel – very much the same as a car. Careful attention has been put on the safety aspect of the device both in terms of design and function.  The cable interfaces unit is unique and is designed to ensure reliable and smooth consistent operation. Once the cruise control is on, you press the Set/Accel button when you reach the desired speed and you can let go of the throttle grip. You can adjust your speed to within 2 kph by pressing the Accel or Decel buttons once the unit is engaged. I use this in conjunction with my GPS to set my speed quite accurately. If you grab either brake or the clutch the cruise control is disabled. If you accelerate quickly with the cruise control engaged, it will also disengage. In 15,000 km of use, I have never not had full control when I expected it.

The bike holds it speed well even when fully loaded with a pillion passenger and luggage going uphill. The FJR has plenty of torque available in fifth to maintain speed without changing down, this may not be the case with some lower powered bikes. The only thing you have to be careful of is going down steep hills where gravity is stronger than your engine braking. Obviously the cruise control does not apply your brakes for you to keep your speed constant. I use it all the time even around town. It’s much easier to set it to 60 and relax than to constantly have to keep your eye on the speedo.

At highway speeds (80 – 110) the unit holds its speed to within about 5 kph. The 2006 FJR’s throttle response is rather abrupt at the best of times, particularly at low speed. This does impact the accuracy of the cruise control at 60 k’s but this is clearly an issue with the bike.

If you tour on your bike, then I cannot think of any accessory I would rather have. You are able to relax your grip and enjoy the ride. This in addition to my Airhawk has increased my comfort immeasurably, with 800-900 km’s a day now a breeze.”

 Note from Andy:

Got a comment about Evan’s article? Simply hit the comment word on the bottom right of this article and leave one!

I have thought about this cruise control for the R1200GS (yes they do make one for that model) for some time. But living in SA has kept me from it. No way would I opt for self install (not as handy as Evan) It sounds VERY good though!

Cheers

Andy

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Kaoko Throttle Look For BMW K1200R

This is a guest review from Vic Fkiaras, Publisher and Editor of Netrider. Vic has done a great job on this and given some great feedback about this product. If you’ve got something to tell Riders about let me know and lets get it posted!

Vic says:

I went from a Honda SP1 (wrist, back, shoulder breaker) to a Honda Firestorm (wrist & collar bone breaker, but that’s another story) to a BMW K1200R.

I opted for the K1200R purely because it was odd looking and not everyone has one. The decision was made a great deal easier thanks to it’s more upright riding position. The fact that it’s a Bavarian helps a great deal too. The wife says “the only thing that’s good about it, is the BMW badge”, then again, what would she know, right??

The bike is brilliant in every possible way, from the amazing brakes to its phenomenal acceleration.

It lacked one thing though. The ability to ride along and relax your right hand. The ability to take your right hand off the throttle to rest it, fiddle around with a zip or for those that are inclined, have a cigarette.

So being the geek that I am, I surfed the web and read and read and read reviews of different throttle locks and cruise controls.

Electronic cruise controls are definitely the way to go if you have a lazy 800 odd dollars. However, having just spent the money I did on the bike, the finance department (aka wife) was not forth coming with an additional $800.

So I ended up deciding to get the “pauper pack” if you like. A friction throttle lock.

I ended up purchasing the Kaoko brand throttle lock due to the amount of positive reviews from those overseas and some locals.

At $130 it’s a pretty cheap investment.

Once the item arrived I took it straight out of the bike and proceeded to fit the throttle lock.

Luckily for me I have one of those 345 million piece socket/bit/drill/torx kits. In that kit was a #45 Torx bit that I needed to get the screw securing the current bar end weight off. No torx bit and the original end weight stays there.
Once I had the old end weight off, I simply threaded the screw through the new end weight/throttle lock and proceeded to secure it to the bar.

All up the process took less than 5 minutes.

The Kaoko throttle lock has a grub screw that is used to adjust the friction wheel as it wears with age.

So what’s it like to use?

The manufacturer claims that it can be operated with your little finger.

Well, that is sort of true.

Whilst you can rotate it with your “little pinkie” it’s not going to happen when, if you are like me, lock it in the off position so it’s nice and tight with no chance of it rolling on accidentally.

I get up to the speed I wish to cruise at, let the throttle go, unlock the throttle lock and wind it on so it makes the grip feel nice and tight. Once unlocked, you can roll it on with your little pinkie till it “engages”.

Once it has engaged, you can release the grip and you don’t shut the throttle off. You can now work on getting it in the right position so that it enables you to release the grip and have a stretch.

This is the first bike that I have fitted one of these to and it’s not an easy thing to get right. The slightest movement of the grip either “rolls the throttle on” or “rolls the throttle off”. It is really hard to get it where you are just cruising. But once you get it right it’s a dream to use.

You can sit very upright, stretch, scratch your bum or do anything that you like knowing full well that your bike will just keep going at a constant speed.

If you need to turn it off, simply roll the throttle off or just unwind the throttle lock to disengage.

Simple, have I mentioned that fact?

I’ve attached some photos to show you the ease at which this item is fitted.

The first shot shows the old end weight.

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Second shot is the old end weight removed showing the screw.

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Third shot is the Kaoko and it’s allen key ready and awaiting fitment.

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Fourth shot is the new throttle lock about to be fitted

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Fifth shot is the throttle lock fitted and the allen key in the grub screw.

Once again (and I can’t say it enough) it’s pretty simple to fit. Pretty cheap to buy and pretty damn good at what it’s intended role is.

The kaoko is available from many and various online stores. I won’t mention who I bought it from.

Hope this helps in making up your mind in purchasing one of these brilliant simple products.

Cheers
Vic Fkiaras

NOTE: This product is similar in action to another throttle lock HERE:

Got a comment about this? Simply hit the comment link at the bottom of the article. Or got a review of your own you’d like me to post? Just contact me and we’ll make it happen.

Cheers
Andy

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Perth to Pinnacles Desert and Back

By Guest W.A. Reviewer:  Bruce Tuffin

The Pinnacles

Much of the area north and south of Perth is scrubby coastal plain. It’s quite flat and generally unspectacular. With one or two exceptions, the roads are pretty boring for motorcycles.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some quite outstanding destinations, however, and the Pinnacles Desert, in the Nambung National Park about 300 kilometres north of Perth, is one of these.

It’s possible to make a day trip out of it, but our decision was to overnight in Jurien Bay, then early the next morning head down the coast to Cervantes, on to the Pinnacles, then back home via Gingin.

The most obvious route would be to race up the Brand Highway and turn left onto the Jurien Road and bingo! The trouble is, the Brand Highway is not a road I feel comfortable on aboard a motorcycle. It carries a lot of traffic, and much of that is heavy haulage. When trucks, cars and motorcycles want to occupy the same patch of tarmac, it’s inevitable that the latter will come off second best. You can’t avoid it altogether (until the new coast road north from Lancelin is completed), but you can keep down the time you need to spend on it.

So it was that we headed north along Wanneroo Road. It gets busy too, but at least it’s mainly cars and other motorcycles … plus the usual grey nomads. The road is in good repair, but has had some horrendous accidents as a result of poor overtaking and speeding. Rather than upgrade the road, the WA government has responded by reducing the speed limit to 90 kim/h until well beyond Yanchep. This aggravates people who tend to put their foot down. As a result, keep your eye on your speedo, because the police love setting up mobile speed traps in the area.

Once into the 110 km/h zone, things are swifter. There’s not a lot to see, unless you turn off into one of the coastal towns like Seabird or Guilderton, just a few minutes off the main road, which now has had a name change and is Lancelin Road, because it goes to … ummm … Lancelin.

However, ten kilometres before Lancelin, you turn right onto the KW Road. There are one or two nice viewing spots along here, where you top a crest and the plain opens up in front  of you. You’ll run into a T-junction some five or six km further on. Take a right-hander into Sappers Road. The road meanders somewhat, but it’s a good road and generally light on traffic. After about 16 km, start watching for a small crossing over a stream. (If you want to stretch, you can pull off the road at the bridge.) Just a short distance on, take a left into Orange Springs Road. While this doesn’t exactly have any twisties, there are, at least, a few bends to keep you amused! Twenty minutes or so should see you at Brand Highway, where you turn left. Unless you need an urgent stop at Reagan’s Ford roadhouse, Cataby, just a few km further up the highway, is a good place to have a break. Well, truthfully, it’s about the only place to stop after Reagan’s Ford. It’s also slightly confusing if you don’t know about it because there’s really nothing there, except for two roadhouses, about three km apart! They’re both typical country roadhouses but I tend to prefer the southernmost one, the Ampol – the one you’ll see first. It has toilets, food, fuel and outdoor shaded seating and tables. The northernmost roadhouse, the BP, has another advantage, however: it has a hotel/motel attached.

Back on the highway, and in about 30 minutes you need to start looking for the turn-off to your left, onto Bibby Road. This is a good sealed road, with only light traffic. Do keep an eye out for the second largest wind farm in WA on your left – not that you could actually miss it!  There are 48 wind towers on the Emu Downs wind farm, and they appear to march over the horizon as you approach, like Martian fighting machines in War of the worlds.

The next turn is only 10 or so minutes down the road; another right-hander into Munbinea Road. This terminates at Jurien Road and you turn left towards the coast. In just a few short minutes, you’re pulling into Jurien (Bay).

Jurien was given its name in 1801 by the French Baudin expedition, which explored the coastline. A fishing town, it has become something of a “seachange” destination, attracting local retirees as well as those looking for a lifestyle change or a holiday resort. Consequently, it has a range of accommodation, from backpackers to camping grounds, from hotel-motel accommodation to B&B, as well as luxury home rental.

We stayed at the Jurien Bay hotel Motel in Padbury Street (behind the shopping centre off the main road). It’s a typical country pub with separate motel units clustered around a pool. Built, I would guess, in the 60s or 70s, the units were basic but clean and comfortable. When the manageress booked us in and saw we were on motorbikes, she gave us inside rooms and let us ride the bikes down the veranda and park them outside our room – literally – rather than have them visible from the road. That was much appreciated.

Jurien Bay Hotel

The dining room was a bit of a surprise. It featured good solid pub fare, plus a “set” menu which was, in effect, a tiny buffet from a bain marie. No-one had any complaints about the food. The pub had a live band that night which intruded on our sleep patterns only briefly.

Breakfast was included in the tariff and cooked to order and served in a bright, sunny room alongside the dining room. The food all up was reasonably priced and filling and well recommended – as is the hotel/motel itself.

Inside The Room

There’s plenty of petrol stations and as many shops as you could possibly need, including a brand new supermarket. Repairs are also available if, heaven forbid, you need them. While fuel was, obviously, more expensive than Perth, it wasn’t horrendous – and the people at the service station were lovely.

From there, it was an early morning ride, back out to the main road, continuing through town, and south to Cervantes. This is a fun piece of road to ride, especially early morning as we did it. Most maps show it as broken, not going through to Cervantes, but that’s not true. It’s new and sealed all the way. Cervantes itself is no different from most small coastal towns. It has sufficient amenities but not many of each! The roadhouse at the edge of town does a nice line in fast food and has a small “dining room” annexe to one side, where you can enjoy your meal and a coffee, as well as fuel and basic groceries.

The well-signposted road to the Pinnacles is just out of town. It’s a great road, with some good curves and twisty bits but, sadly, CALM has seen fit to keep speed levels down to the ridiculous.

Once at the Pinnacles, you’ll need to pay to get in, but it’s only a few dollars for a motorcycle. There is a desert loop road you can take, which guides you through the most accessible areas. There are lay-bys where you can pull over to take photos. The road is sand, but mostly hard-packed. My Yamaha Diversion on road tyres had no trouble negotiating it.

The pinnacles themselves (and there are thousands) range up to four metres high. They are limestone formations and look not unlike giant white ant mounds. The best time to photograph them is early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is long and the light warm. They are well worth seeing.

The Famous Pinnacles

Once back on Cervantes Road, follow it up to Munbinea Road (turn right), then to Bibby Road (turn left) and retrace your steps past the wind farm to the Brand Highway. This time, stay on the highway for an hour, which will bring you within striking distance of the Gingin turn-off to your left (Dewar Road). It’s well signposted.

Gingin is a delightful little town. As you roll through the main street, there’s a large park on the right, with picnic facilities and shade. But at its far edge is a white building with a car park out the front. This is Eliza’s on Granville – a heritage building with a café/restaurant well worth the stop for a pleasant meal. The food is wholesome, not expensive, and well presented. There are public toilets as well, not 50 metres away.

Eliza’s Of Course

Outside Eliza’s

Or, if you prefer, take the next turn right to the Gingin pub, which has been extensively renovated inside and features an interesting and reasonable menu.

The Gin Gin Pub

Retrace your steps to the Brand Highway (it’s only four km!), turn left and then immediately right onto the Gingin Brook Road. Not much to see, but it’s only about 16 km to the turn-off – left onto Military Road. (A quick aside: On this corner, on the right, is Willowbrook Farm Tearooms. This is well worth the day trip from Perth!)

On your left, about halfway down Military Road or a bit more, is  the Gravity Discovery Centre. For anyone with even a passing interest in the stars, the cosmos and the big questions of life, this is a must-see. It has telescopes, galleries, guides and is situated right next to a major observatory.

Just a few minutes later, you’re at Wanneroo Road. Turn left and you’re in Perth not much more than half an hour later.

There you have it. Total distance for two days is somewhere around 600 kilometres, which is just about right, especially if you’re carrying a pillion. It’s all tar and all good tar. You can find the route easily on Google maps and print yourself out a map and written route directions. It’s a weekend well spent.

Publishers Note: I reckon Bruce did a fantastic job of describing this great ride. If you’d like to see your favourite ride on the site, no problems! I can interview you over the phone and publish in audio podcast form, or you can write one, just like Bruce. I will do whatever I can to make it easy for you.

Cheers
Andy Ireland

Got a comment? Please leave one at the link below. Cheers!

This Ventura Estoril Seat Bag Looks and Works A Treat!

The seat bag might have a funny name, I mean what’s an “Estoril”, but it works a treat. After picking up the new Monster S4R it didn’t take long to work out there was no room for anything, sunnies, sunscreen, earplugs, whatever.

( You could fit this to almost any bike)

I asked the Ducati guys about options and nada, zilch, no options on this issue. So I did some research and found a bikeshop in Adelaide (Bills Motorcycles) who had what I wanted to look at. How rare is that!

Upon inspection I reckoned it would do just fine, gave it a dry run in the car park and handed over the money. It was only about $110 so pretty good value I thought.

This thing went on like a factory accessory and in fact I went across the road to the Ducati guys and showed them. They were so impressed they ordered some to stock.

In this podcast I talk about:

Fit:

Quality:

Looks:

Ease of Fitment:

Does it Work:

Here’s a few piccy’s

You can see it looks like a bought on and you can clip it off and on. Anyway I’ll tell you all about it in the review.

Please leave a comment, below.

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (237)

You Either Agree Or You Don’t, Which Is It? Tell me, leave a comment.

I’ve ridden this road five or six times now over the last 8 years and I keep coming back to to my enjoyment factor and call it the best road I have ever ridden.

I haven’t ridden every road in Australia and am definitely low on knowledge of the QLD and WA stuff on offer. I have done a lot of touring in NSW, VIC and SA. Ridden such magnificent roads as the Oxley Hwy, Thunderbolts Way, The Putty Road, Reefton Spur, GOR (which I reckon is crap) numerous Alpine roads (both NSW and Vic) and of course many, many Adelaide Hills roads.

This doesn’t make me an expert, however it does give me something to base my vote on. I carefully considered my vote on these factors.

Surface Quality:

Curvery:

Ratio of Corners:

Visibility:

Hazards:

Traffic:

Overtaking Opportunities:

Scenery:

Pullouts:

And of course the ability to have a coffee at the end and rave enthusiastically to anyone who will listen about the riding epiphany I had just experienced.

I have put it all in this video, it’s about 8 minutes.

And the road? You’ll have to watch it to find out.

Did you agree? Please leave me your comment, at the bottom of this article..

Boostaroo Amplifies Helmet Speakers or Any Portable Speakers For That Matter

After fitting speakers into my helmet see REVIEW I found the sound level wasn’t quite loud enough. Part of the problem I later discovered was a dodgy cable and mostly resolved after replacing. However this small amp works a treat. It raises the volume about 12db which in real world is good. Certainly enough to blow your eardrums out with your ipod with speakers inserted in your ears.

I was using through helmet speakers wearing earplugs. Without the boostaroo and a reasonably calm (not windy) day they work fine to hear some music and the GPS directions. Not loud enough to boogy to but serviceable. With the Boostaroo the audio is loud enough for any day. Still not boogy level but loud enough to destroy the speakers over time I reckon.

If you are not using earplugs then amazing sound!

It takes two AA batteries and will power three speaker sets. So ideal to plug the pillion in as well.

I bought it HERE and cost was $48.95 plus shipping. Service and shipping was pretty quick and no gripe about anything with that.

In this podcast: (its short)

Value for money:

Build Quality:

Real World Workings:

Battery Life:

Ease Of Use:

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Vario Screen Solves Buffeting Problem of Standad GS Screen.

Don’t know about you, but the buffeting of the standard GS screen used to send me batty. Yet my mate who is shorter (I’m 180cm) never seems to have a problem with his bike. I’m not even sure if buffeting is the right word? It just used to rattle my helmet. I tried two different helmets and it rattled them both. It sems the standard screen disturbs the air at a particular height above the screen and you either cop it or you don’t, depending on your height in the saddle.

After 30,000+ k’s I decided I’d do something about it.

One of the options was an extension but they looked a bit tacky and the lower mounts needed strengthening also. I also felt it would permanently mark the original screen. I also couldn’t find anyone who would or could categorically state that this fixed the problem anyway.

After searching the bike mags for an ad that instilled me with confidence I gave Mick Owen a call in Canberra. Mick was very helpful and spoke authoritatively about the problem and a remedy.

He suggested the Vario split screen! Its a bit taller and is in two sections which seem to split the air and take the volume out of the disturbed air.

In the pic above you can see the split. Also note the adjustment between the screens. I have mine at full height.

In this pic you can see the difference between Vario and Standard screens on the bikes.

Got some remarks that the screen looked better and tell the truth I reckon it did.

In this podcast I talk about:  About 8 minutes

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