R1200RTBlog

PIAA 1100x Driving lights - R1200RT

I finally got round to installing the PIAA 1100x driving lights this weekend and I have to say they look good. I used the EZ-Mount kit from Cyclgadgets which locates the lights under the fairing on small brackets that attach to the side panels. This means, however, that if you take the lower side panels off you have to deal with the lights which may be a little difficult - I will let you know.

For now I have run the wires down the right hand side of the bike and fastened them to the frame - running the cables from the lights back to meet them where the auxiliarry horn socket is. I have bought the Autoswitch but haven't got round to installing that yet so for now I have connected the lights to the battery direct and am using the supplied switch rather than the Autoswitch - maybe a project for a Sunday morning tinker in the garage!

There are a couple of potential problems with this installation. Firstly the lights can, apparently, interfere with the suspension and if you hit a pothole or curb too hard the lights will make contact with the front fender. Secondly once installed it is nearly impossible to adjyst them as one ofthe adjusting screws is behind the light up against the plastic side panel.

They do give a good light and hopefully will make the bike a little more visible which was the idea of installing them!

Update on the problems with Autocom and the J&M Elite headset

Well I don't seem to be any closer to a resolution to this problem. I have emailed both J&M and Autocom and they both blame the other. I rode in to the office this morning and at exactly 50 miles per hour I get an incessant hissing through the headset - obviously the vox cuts in and I am getting road noise through the headset.

So I am going to take the J&M Headset out of the helmet tonight and install the Autocom unit with the axillary mic and see if that makes a difference - according to Autocom that should solve all my problems. I have also been reading a few blog entries about using different ear pieces with the Autocom headset as the supplied ones appear to be less than great - I have used them before and was disappointed. So if the Autocom headset does take the problem away I am considering using the J&M earpieces with and just wire them in instead of the Autocom units.

I will let you know how I get on.

An update on the PIAA driving lamps - I am just waiting for some PosiLock connectors so I can wire the lights in and make the wiring look tidy. Hopefully they should be here in the next few days so I will post about the installation and put some pictures on the Blog.

Update on Autocom and J&M Elite Headsets - WARNING

A coupel of weeks ago I posted on the installation of an Autocom unit and the J&M Elite Headsets which I said gave a superb sound - much better than the Autocom units - which was tru. However I have now changed my mind. After doing a couple of hundered miles yesterday with my wife on the back of the bike the noise above 50mph was unbearable - from the headset not my wife!

The noise concelling corcuitry in the Autocom isn't properly enabled with the J&M headset and you get a very loud hissing once your speed gets up.

I contacted Autocom to see if there was something I could do with the set-up and there response was to install the Autocom units as they had a noise filtering microphone that fitted in the side cheeks of the helmet and monitored the ambient noise. The J&M headset shuold be OK for my wife on the back but I am now relegated to the Autocom unit for my helmet.

I am going to investigate using the better ear speakers from the J&M headset and see if they will work with the Autocom helmet kit. I have contacted J&M to see if they can come up with an answer.

I will keep you posted.

Hypelites and R1200RT

Well I got back on Saturday from two weeks of conference and vacation in California and Utah to a box from CycleGadgets with some new toys for my R1200RT - so Sunday afternoon saw me in the garage starting to install them

Firstly was 16 LED Hyperlites which are specifically for the BMW Canbus system. I was concerned that with the 49 litre top box installed the brake light was not visible to traffic and I 'needed' some more visibility - especially on the US Interstates.

Installation was pretty simple as I had already a power source available from the Canbus fuse panel I installed a couple of weeks ago. The lights themselves stick with double sided tape onto the red reflectors on the sides of the rear number plate and two small holes are then drilled in the real light mounting for the wires to pass through to connect to the flasher unit which mounts under the rear seat.

The kit comes with some amazing connectors called PosiTap and PosiTwist which made tapping into the existing wiring a dream. Basically you tap into two wires on the rear brake light using the posiTap connectors and then a single wire feeds into your switched power supply from the flaser unit and then it is just a matter of connecting the Hyper-lite units themselves to the flasher unit. the whole install took less than 30 minutes and the impact is great.

UPDATE: I have posted some pictures the Hyper-Lites installed on my bike in the Photo Album on this blog.

Highly recommended units!

Next up is installation of PIAA 1100x lights and an Autoswitch - I will post later this week when I get round to doing the install