We decided to get away for 4th of July, and ride up to Virginia to camp and explore some new roads. And boy did we find them. We were out riding Saturday and Sunday. Went back home Monday. Decent weather except for some overnight rain Saturday.
So I decided to get rid of the Navigator 5, which I was using on both bikes. Slow, crashing easy, terrible screen in bright daylight, prone to lead you astray at a minutes notice, and just hard to work with. So I decided to try a Garmin Zumo XT, which is the newest iteration of motorcycle GPS from Garmin.
The XT has a very nice, super-bright screen, which works very good in day / sun light. It looks like the OS has been revamped completely. Evidently it is running an Android OS. Fine with me, as long as it works.
The old Nav 5 was sitting on a OEM Nav mount that came installed on the R1200 GSA as well as the S1000 XR. However, the mount on the XR was not lockable, so re-did the entire mount (basically a new mount including the lock cylinder. I also had to build out the mount enough with spacers behind the mount in order to clear the left side windshield bracket. But I digress.
In order to power the new XT and use it on the original mount as the Nav 5, I went ahead and ordered a conversion plate, 3D printed by a company called Adapter 3D Motorrad, based in Italy. This adapter sits between the original back plate and the XT mounting plate. Since I am using the original mount, the GPS is also locked when in place. They were kind enough to send me an additional lock lever since I was using it on two bikes.
Adapter:
This is the original Nav backplate, with the adapter mounted. The GPS sits on the front square adapter. The GPS will sit a bit off the back plate compared to the original, which is not a big deal.
Fit right in there. I’ll do a better write-up when I have used it for a while.
Went ahead and pushed up stage 1-3 Brentune flash for my S1000 XR. This something I had been wanting to do for a while. Wow, big difference in every way. More torque, horsepower, smoother quick shift, and a lot more. You load down your original ECU flash down to the handheld, send it to Brentune Moto, and they send back a modified file that is pushed to the bike, again, using the handheld. Good stuff.
Stage 1:
That’s a lot of changes and improvements. and you can certainly feel it when riding. Should have done this long time ago.
I few of us hams got together for a 2022 spring get-together, held at the club house at Everetts Lake, south of Rockingham, NC. Great friendship, and great food that was provided by Mark, N4CMD. Absolutely excellent food. I got to meet some old ham friends, as well as a few new ones. Great to put a face to a call sign.
We really had a great time together.
The hams that were present (as far as I could tell), were:
N4ATG – James
KM4HPN – Ed
KK4NCF – Tom
NF4Z – Mike
N4CMD – Mark, Master Of Ceremonies, and Chief Chef
KG4CJN – Terry
W4YDX – Jim
K4TOR – Tor
If I left anyone out, I apologize.
If you don’t want a slide show, just click on “Show Picture List” under the slideshow, and it will separate out the images.
Friday’s supper at Granny’s Kitchen, Rockingham, NC
Oh man……good stuff
Until next time, 73’s de K4TOR
Went up to Concord , NC to visit the Charlotte Hamfest, to meet two ham radio friends, Mike, NF4Z, and Jim, W4YDX, and to see if I could find something ham radio related I could use. Lots of stuff for sale by other hame, but didn’t really find anything interesting. What did Mike do? He proceeded to give me a FRS/GMRS set of two radios, including charger, free of charge. Thanks, Mike, you’re a kind man.
Had a great time, and took a few shots while walking around.
Good times.
