Daves Blog

Lot’s of people have complained about the available features with the bikes built in GPS and while I’m OK with it, I can’t deny there are times I wish it allowed more control. It would be wonderful for example to be able to plan routes on the PC and then load them to the GPS. If I could do this, I’d have no need to even think about adding a second unit.

Then there’s the business of the level of detail the screen displays which for some reason is not switchable and is set at such a low level it doesn’t even display place names on the map. Not to mention the myths that Honda promote about it regarding the maps not being user updateable.

Over the months of ownership so far, I’ve discovered a few things about it and have followed threads on the various Goldwing forums discussing it and even suggesting workarounds for at least one of the frustrations. So, I’ve decided to put together a series of pages detailing everything I know that’s been learnt to date so that as much information as possible is collected in one place.

Click here to visit my Honda Navi Pages.

I’ve updated my own maps (just yesterday I updated them to City Navigator Europe V9) and I’ve found my way into various diagnostics screens and hidden functions.

I’ve tried many different switch combinations in many different patterns. Holding down switches as the system is powered up or navigating to the various menu screens and then trying one or multiple switch combinations to make other menus appear. So far, I have only found the menus and functions detailed here. I keep looking on an off and there is certainly no guarantee that I’ve tried every single permutation. In fact, the permutations are almost endless and so while I do believe there could be more secrets lurking there, I don’t hold out much chance of just stumbling across them.

Well now I’m setting off on a mission to overcome the other frustrations. In particular changing the map level displayed detail and enabling the transfer of routes and waypoints from MapSource. I don’t know if I’ll be successful but I’ll give it a good go.

Anyhow, I hope over the next days and weeks to get as much info as I know already documented and then I’ll add to it as more becomes available.

Click the Honda Navi tab above to start following progress.

What is it with the weather? Or, perhaps that should be why, with all the technology available to us, can’t weather forecasters be more accurate? All week the met office told us the weekend would be calm. Sunny on Saturday, light showers overnight and then sunny again on Sunday. That is, until Friday, when they decided it would be windy on both Saturday and Sunday but wow, no rain at all.

Needless to say, it was very windy on Saturday and so once again I haven’t managed to get out with my trailer. It’s not urgent of course, but I’d really like to try it and it just cheeses me off that we can’t rely on the weather forecasts. I don’t know any other group of people that can get the results of their work so consistently wrong and still keep their jobs. It just seems kind of pointless and maybe that really is the point - I should just stop wanting to believe them.

We planned to go on a ride with some folks from the GWOCGB on Sunday. We met up with other wingers from the Whitehorse mob at The Red Lion in Avebury and then rode down to Salisbury to meet up with more from the Thames Valley group. There were about 12 bikes in all riding to Blandford Forum in Dorset to invade the Wessex Wings monthly meeting. It was a great day out and a fun ride and we ended up going to Poole Harbour for chips before going our seperate ways and riding home. It was great to see everyone, ride with them and spend time talking.

Seeing as no rain was forecast for the day I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that it rained before we set off, rained on us in Avebury while waiting for the others and then rained more on us on the ride down to Salisbury. The picture shows the bikes parked up at Poole Harbour just before, yes, you guessed, it rained again lol.

Anyhow, all in all, even with the weather, it was a good weekend.

When we got home, I started on sorting out the left pocket of the bike again… but more on that later.

I haven’t been doing much on the bike lately, mainly due to work, but I am managing the odd hour on it here and there. Not that there’s really much to do at the moment but I always like to tinker with something.

Trailer

I’m covering the inside lid of the trailer at the moment with black felt and it’s going ok, although not quite as well as I’d like. Just like the trailer body, in fact probably even moreso, it’s a pretty awkward shape to cover with all its curves etc. I’d like to have been able to do it with just a single piece of felt, but because of the complex shape, this just isn’t possible so it’s a bit of a patchwork quilt at the moment. Having said that, it doesn’t look bad and whatever it ends up like, I’m sure it will be better than the bare, or at least painted fibreglass. As usual, once it’s finished, I’ll take some pictures and post them of course.

GPS

I’ve taken my Garmin Quest and bracket I made off the top of the clutch resevoir - I said I’d try it and see if I liked it and after a few weeks and a few rides I don’t like it at all. This is going to give me a problem because quite frankly I don’t like any of the mounts available. Obviously the bike wasn’t designed with a view to adding any after market accessories. Whats more frustrating about this is that if it were possible to transfer routes and waypoints from the PC to the CF card of the built in navigation system, I wouldn’t even want the quest on there. I’m not sure what, if anything, can ever be done about this, but I am considering a few options…

1. Try to find someone who can help me decypher all of the technical mumbo jumbo I’ve managed to find on the Garmin OEM sat nav systems with a view to reporgramming the one on the bike and enabling more functions.

2. Continue looking for more ‘Easter Egg’ menus and hopefully find one that will enable me to change the functions of the built in unit. They must exists somewhere. I already found the diagnostics screen, quite a few months back, but I want the settings screens. It must exist… Every other Garmin unit I know enables you to change for example the map detail level. My only fear from what I can find out so far is that this might only be possible via the first option.

3. Look to replace the built in nav with a system that can interface with the same wires to give the same functions and still displays though the bikes built in screen.

The built in system, as I’ve said before, isn’t a bad system, it’s just that it could be so much better. The biggest single improvement that Honda could make would be to enable you to load routes and waypoints from MapSource on your PC.

Riding

Weather permitting (and it looks like it will be OK), we’re going on a ride this Sunday with a couple of local regions of GWOCGB. It should be fun as usual and we’re both looking forward to it. The weather tomorrow, on Saturday is also supposed to be good so I’m hoping to get my first experience of riding while towing a trailer. Yikes.

As promised a few pictures showing the finished Pitbull Crusader trailer interior including the rear panel that hides the lights and associated wiring.

I’m pleased with the outcome of this and it really finishes the trailer off nicely I think.

Now all I need is a calm enough day to go out with it and get some experience of towing a trailer with the bike. If yesterday was windy then today was almost gale force judging by the howling I could hear outside the garage. I hope next weekend is better.

Well, I still haven’t ventured out with the trailer attached and tomorrow they’re predicting even stronger winds and even the possibility of some snow. So it looks like it will have to wait at least another week. Perhaps the wind doesn’t matter, but the cross winds were strong enough this morning to blow us off course when we went out on the bike without the trailer, and I can’t imagine a trailer could improve that so I am going to wait for a calmer day for my first trailer towing experience.

Speaking of out on the bike this morning, on the way home I stopped at the side of the road to twiddle with the sat nav and within 2 minutes of stopping another ‘wing - a GL1500, was at our side and the rider asking if we needed help. Wonderful, and thank you.

I bought some tribal pattern decals from an eBay member earlier in the week just to add a little something to the bike. I went for gold colour because I thought if it comes in the right shade, it would add some individuality without standing out like a sore thumb. There were 4 decals in all, two larger ones that I put on the pannier lids and two smaller on the side of the trunk. I’m very pleased with the result. I’ve also bought a Goldwing decal for the trailer lid in the same Gold colour which I hope looks as good when it arrives.

As you’ll know by now the Pitbull trailer I bought was one of the first and really the prototype of the Crusader range. It was just the bare fibreglass on the inside although I think it is painted with some sort of sealant. You could though still see the typical uneveness of a fibreglass construction. For some this would be absolutely perfect of course as it gives a hard, durable finish that can take some abuse. I though like the look of trailers that have a beautiful carpeted interior and so I set about fitting carpet to this…

Earlier in the week I found 6 sq. mtrs. of car carpet on eBay for £28 including shipping and it arrived 2 days after ordering. Also earlier in the week with lots of brown paper and sticky tape I set about making patterns for the carpet. Not easy I can tell you and I was very grateful for Meikes help with her fantastic crafts experience. To make it look good though it would be important for the peices to fit correctly.

Well today, after venturing out on the bike to get the appropriate glues etc. I set about carpeting the interior. It’s not completely finished, I still need to put some piping around the wheel arches and finish off the inside back panel (including boxing in the lights and electrical junction box), but I am really pleased with the result.

The pictures show before and after. The most difficult bit by far was making the pattern for the side peices, but as you can see it’s worked out rather well. I’ll finish it off tomorrow and post some more pics once it’s done.

Here it is. My Pitbull Crusader trailer. Doesn’t it look fantastic? I think so and I am absolutely delighted with it. Considering this is one of the first prototypes built by Pitbull I think the quality is absolutely top notch. The colour match is just incredible, especially as this is a non standard colour for the UK.

Martin, the proprietor of Pitbull is an amazing fella. Despite a few problems sourcing the paint and then getting lost on his way to us, he did everything humanly possible to stick to his word and deliver it yesterday. I tell you, some companies might go the extra mile for their customers but Martin will go to extraordinary lengths. If you’re looking for a top quality trailer for your bike at a good price then you really should be talking to him.

First thing this morning I wired the plug onto the end of the lead and then hitched up and everything worked as it should. I don’t know what make the tail lights are that Pitbull are using but while they take ordinary bulbs, they actually look like LEDs. Very bright and very distinctive.

Having got it hitched up and connected I wheeled it out for these photos.

I’m not sure when I’m going to try riding with it yet. I would have done today, but it was pretty windy around here and I’d rather make my first outing on the calm day.

I have no idea how the wind could affect the handling with a trailer attached, maybe not at all, but I figured it wouldn’t be smart to find out just yet. I’ll get my first experience on a calm day I think.

Anyhow, I will of course report when I’ve tried it. In the meantime, I’m delighted. Remember, Pitbull trailers. They’re run by one of the most honest, caring, sincere, fair and decent individuals I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in business.

The weathers been great this weekend and Meike and I went out on both days just for short trips. Yesterday we decided to go and check out a craft village about 20 miles away and today we just went for an aimless ride. We ended up in the car park of the Red Lion at Avebury and spent a while chatting to members of the Guildford Motorcycle Club who’d also decided to take a break there. A little windy on both days, but the Goldwing handles winds so well that while it might throw you off course a little, it’s always easy and non dramatic to correct. A truly great weekend.

My new Pitbull trailer is scheduled to be delivered this coming weekend and I have to say I can’t wait to see it. Martin, the proprietor of Pitbull couldn’t have been more helpful or communicative and has kept me involved all along.

If you read my earlier entries then you’ll know I’m buying the prototype of his Crusader trailer but with a few mods. In fact I was originally talking to him about buying his very first prototype, but having spent a week preparing it for spraying, he was so concerned about imperfections with it that he offered me a great deal on his second prototype. Now, if that doesn’t give you confidence in someone, I don’t know what would. Most businesses nowadays would cover up the imperfections in the interests of profit and a sale. Martin cares so much about his product and his reputation he won’t sell you something imperfect even when you’ve acknowledged it’s a prototype.

So, he’s had the body sprayed to match the bike, with black wheel wells. He’s painted the drawbar and chassis black and fitted a swivel hitch and I can’t wait to see it. I especially can’t wait to see it behind the bike and to see what it’s really like to tow one. Even now, before it’s been delivered, I wish Martin every success for his business venture. He certainly deserves it and I can tell you, from sneak previews, that he has some very exciting designs for future models. Assuming I get on OK with towing, I’m sure I’ll be back to him in the future for my next trailer.

I know lots of people think a trailer behind a bike is ridiculous but if you really think about it, it makes a lot of sense. It enables you to take a lot of luggage, probably a decent sized tent and comforts of camping or travelling for extended times away and yet still enjoy the thrills of being on the bike. OK, I’m sure it’s not the same as being solo on the bike when towing, but you don’t tow the trailer everywhere. You simply use it to get you to a base and home again and in between you have your bike. Makes perfect sense to me and I can understand why they’re so popular in the US.

I don’t know… riding a Goldwing and towing a trailer… whatever next? LOL.

Earlier in the week I got an email from Fatboyz to tell me my trailer socket was in so of course I went to pick it up the next day. I also received all the parts I had on order except of course there was a problem with one of them. The 12V power adapter I ordered for my iRiver Clix. Now, this MP3 player is a model U10 and when I went looking on eBay I was really happy to find one on an ad that clearly stated - This charger is for an iRiver U10, it will not work with an H10… so you can imagine my surprise when it arrived and was labelled for an H10! More surprising though was that the seller didn’t even have one for a U10… go figure. He promised to refund my money, but of course I’m still waiting. Oh well, it was only 4 quid and so I went and ordered one from a site specialising in such adapters and it arrived the following day.

So, I’ve just spend this afternoon adding in my power adapters and fitting the two bar electrics. As you can see in the picture, the trailer plug and socket is really quite small and it proved to be quite fiddly to get good connections from the wires, but with a bit of care, it was finally possible and they seem to be secure.

I added a 12V accessory socket into the front left glove box but then discovered that I can’t listen to my iRiver Clix while it’s charging! Yep, stupid. Unfortunately with the 12V adapter connected it thinks it’s connected to the USB on my PC and so won’t work but will only charge. Having realised this slight flaw in my plans, I then added two 12V sockets in the trunk. One wired to the accessory terminals and one wired direct to the battery. That way I can charge the phone in there when travelling from the accessory socket and the iRiver can charge from the permanent 12V socket when stationery. Fortunately, the iRivers battery lasts about 20 hours normally, so this should work quite well.

I really think that’s about it for now on the accessories and gadgets front. I’ve now got and fitted everything I want to increase our riding pleasure. The only thing I’m waiting for now is my Pitbull trailer which is supposed to be delivered next Saturday. Can’t wait to see how that turns out.