Fitting autocom and GPS to the Sprint

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

Autocom are currently selling kits at half price, can't say no to that. And I bought a new GPS cos I don't like my RoadAngel.

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

So, first thing is to lay it all out on the living room floor and work out what goes where, before starting to fit it to the bike.

GPS comes with a nice mount so I get that fitted and wired up (power and audio) with wiring going round the back of the clocks and into the cubby hole (though a hacksaw-extended slot).

Laying the autocom stuff out to decide where to put everything, it becomes obvious that the radio's gonna have to go in my tankbag - there's just no room anywhere else. So the radio lead comes over the top yoke where it'll slip into the bagster nicely. Rider audio'll come out by my right knee and the passenger lead's left in the cubby - I'll bother with it should I ever have a pillion that wants to use it.

Bought a push to talk button for the radio as I'm prone to talking to myself or singing - it just cable ties onto the grip.

GPS power and the autocom negative lead go back to the battery, sneaking under the edge of the tank. Autocom positive needs to be on a switched wire (so it's off when the bike is) but the Sprint has a convenient connector for the heated grips on the left faring so it can go in there.

Lots of tidying up of wires, thankfully there's plenty of dead space in that right fairing and we're ready to rumble. I wanted the autocom box accessible as I need to do some fiddling with levels and stuff as well as adding my ipod in later.

Speakers and mic don't fit my ageing Raid very well but I've got a Multitec on order so that should be better. Tomorrow I'll take it out and get the noise sensor levels and such fiddled with.

All in all, not as much of a faff as I thought it might be. Thumbs Up

Gazdaman · I did a trackday!!! Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Karma :

Good work! Enjoyed reading that.

The GPS waterproof?

Gaz

Finglonga · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Karma :

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

Yes, the GPS is waterproof.

Took it out for a test run yesterday and the automatic volume levelling stuff is brilliant - that's always been my big annoyance about listening to an ipod while riding, I want it quiet in town and loud on the motorway.

I'm using the GPS to play my mp3s at the moment as it has a built in player with nice big touch screen stop/play/skip buttons (I'm terrible for skipping tracks if I'm not in the mood) - need to investigate how it copes with navigating and playing tunes at the same time but I like it better than faffing with a seperate player. Ordered a big SD card so I can have more tunes.

GPS position needs fiddling with, it's a bit too near me for my tastes but has to be there to clear the fairing on full lock. Might get a top yoke mount instead. Gonna tidy up the wires a bit too, now that I know everything works.

New helmet's just arrived so all I need to do now is fit the speakers and mic.

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

Shouldn't this be in show and tell? Wink

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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

To continue...

Happy with everything working, the main Autocom unit's been velcroed into place in the glove box, mainly so it's easy to get to the remaining jacks if I want to plug anything else in, but also just in case the glovebox isn't very waterproof (don't want it sitting in a puddle at the bottom). Seems fine so far, I suspect Triumph declaring it non-waterproof is just so you don't moan if it does leak.

The little Bagster tankbag's a brilliant thing - I was never keen on magnetic bags cos they always seemed to be a bit of a faff (and are usually quite large). This is more of a girly handbag, just big enough for wallet, phone and other odds and sods. As you can see the radio fits into the pocket nicely with a pen loop holding it firmly by the aerial.

When all zipped up it doesn't get in the way at all. The GPS is quick to release so I'll keep that little pocket free to stick it in when I leave the bike - all I need to do is unplug the radio and unplug myself which takes a matter of seconds. It's certainly a whole lot less faffing than any ipod-based solution I've ever used. The bagster cover makes removing the little bag really easy and it's got a shoulder strap tucked away inside for when you're going further than the till at the petrol station. (I had stuff nicked from my tankbag once when I was getting fuel so you'll have to excuse my paranoia).

GPS has a built in mp3 player so with an 8gb SD card fitted I've got hours of music with the touchscreen goodness of skip and stop buttons.

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

The autocom comes with a pair of velcro-backed speakers and a small boom mic which needs to go in your lid.

First tried the speakers in my Raid and the word was PAIN. It doesn't really have any recesses suitable for fitting the speakers and as it's well and truely worn in to the shape of my head, adding the speakers just pushed against my ears and got really annoying quite quickly.

I'd already been thinking about a new lid and a 20% off ebay voucher sealed the deal - flip up Multitec for the win. The cheek pads are removable so the boom mic fits between them and the shell of the helmet, the metal being flexible so you can bend the remaining bit out of the way for doffing/donning.

The speakers fit into the recesses designed for purpose and with a bit of fiddling (your ears really don't seem to be where you'd imagine they are Laughing

) it's about as comfy as a brand new lid's ever going to be.

There's lots of wiring to get rid of so I folded most of it under one of the 'flappy bits' and threw in a few stitches to keep it in places. After initial experiments with thread and electrical tape, there's now a cable tie securing the end of the cable out the back of the lid and I've stuck on some velcro for keeping it out of the way when connected up or when carrying it around.

Fitting the stuff to the helmet was actually the most annoying part of the whole thing, you have to wear it on the bike with wind pushing on it and head movement to really work out what's comfy, so there's lots of trial and error.

Job jobbed. Thumbs Up

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

That last pic looks exactly like the bottom of a current issue RAF flying helmet... DIN plug and all! Smile

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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

Skudd · Super Spammer Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Karma :

Autocom and Zumo are brilliant. You don't need to get too big an SD card as they unit will only recognise a 999 tunes.

https://www.zumoforums.com/index.php?action=forum

This site is very useful for all your Zumo and Autocom needs.
there are loads of things that the Zumo can do.
I got the 400 when it was going cheap a few months ago and have had the Autocom for about 5 years now. I have just got a new kenwood Protalk radio costing £125 but found that the Motorola at half the price are better, just that the batteries don't last as long.
I'm surprised you got PTT instead of VOX but both are good.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

Mr.Everready · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Mar 2003 Karma :

What was the outlay on everything ?
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

I went for a decent sized card cos it was only 12 quid. Some of the 'songs' are 3+ hour podcasts so I didn't wanna run out of room.

PTT was by choice, I didn't want vox as explained above I've been known to talk or sing to myself

Outlay, that's a good question, haven't actually added it all up to be honest. Autocom was £140 (half price sale), radios were £60, needed a couple of leads so another £30 or so. Zumo cost me £250 of real money, the rest was Amazon vouchers. Lid was £210 with the 20% ebay discount and came with a free dark visor on top of the clear and light tint in the box. Fair old chunk of money but it's well worth it for distance travelling, which is why I bought the bike.

Skudd · Super Spammer Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Karma :

Which Zumo did you get?
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

Skudd · Super Spammer Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Karma :

Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

No, I said it cost me £250 and the rest in Amazon vouchers. It was about £400 but it didn't cost me that because vouchers aren't real money.

Skudd · Super Spammer Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Karma :

I feel better now, Thought I had been fleeced for my 400 there. Thumbs Up

____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

screawm · Borekit Bruiser Joined: 17 Sep 2008 Karma :

If your Sat Nav is too close, I'd suggest looking at https://www.telferizer.co.uk/ , he's based in Stockport, and does mounts for damn near every bike.
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VFR 800 (Yes its the VTec, and its great)