DIY electronic cruise control

[I do not care.]

[Ste]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[I do not care.]

[slowasyoulike]

I didn't reply to this when I first saw it because the answer seemed too obvious but, as OP is clearly in need of help in this area, cruise control for a bike is the answer to a question no-one asked.

To put it in context, if you asked me to specify 100 top features for my imaginary ideal bike cruise control would not be mentioned. I suspect I'm not alone in this.

[I do not care.]

[slowasyoulike]

[stinkwheel]

As someone who has had a throttle jam open on a bike which had no kill swith and as it turns out, an ignition key that was unreachable when riding flat out, I can say I wouldn't fancy fitting your device to a bike.

I had two things in my favour. One is I was on a long straight and had just enough time to think about what to do (2 options, pull the clutch and blow the engine or try to stop it on the brakes). The second is it was a sub 50bhp 2-stroke and the brakes did actually stop it, but not until I was DEEP into the bend at the end of the straight and actually halfway into a farmyard at the end of it.

I got very lucky. And that was a failure in the direct and standard mechanical throttle cable which fell down onto the head and melted the outer. I wouldn't be comfortable adding more complexity to said device. The thing about throttle cables is they generally fail safe and close the throttle.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[I do not care.]

So the one to blame was the person who serviced the bike. It really does not matter what device is installed, aftermarket or OEM one if you can not service it properly.
Of course adding devices like mine does come with additional risks. I don’t deny it. But really is it that big of a difference? Driving in the rain or at night or just fooling around on public roads come with grater risks. And for me the advantages far outweigh the negatives.
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Nobody.

[rpsmith79]

[I do not care.]

[rpsmith79]

[Easy-X]

[I do not care.]

[I do not care.]

[Robby]

Well this is all very fighty.

BCF is not representative of all bikers everywhere, it trends towards grumpy British one who don't like change. So cruise control as a concept is unlikely to be popular here.

There may be a market for it - people who do serious distance and want to spend money on toys to make it easier. I would assume that those same people are on fairly expensive bikes, and well insured. I can't speak for the entire world, but UK insurance asks the question "are there any modifications". If you say yes, I have fitted homebrew cruise control, you will not be getting insurance. Well you might, but the price will be stupidly high.

To get around this problem, the product would have to be tested and certified by an organisation that a lot of countries trust. TuV would be a good bet.

On the subject of risk, it is true that people take risks every day. People are not rational about this, but that isn't going to change. To demonstrate how this is irrational, I would ride a bike where I had rebuilt the carb and was unsure if I had got the throttle return setup on there properly. The throttle may jam open, but it's my repair, my bike, my risk. I wouldn't fit someone else's black box that could jam the throttle open. Or I might to try it out, but I would never trust the bike. I would ride like something is about to brake, hand always hovering over the clutch and brake.

Another way of looking at it - and I like pointless toys on my vehicles. If I was looking to buy a brand new bike for £10k, and I could have factory fitted cruise control for an extra £200, I wouldn't choose it.

Taking this to market isn't worth it. You won't get enough sales at the right price to cover the cost of development, certification and manufacture.

[Freddyfruitba...]

[I do not care.]

[I do not care.]

[Freddyfruitba...]

[Bhud]

Reliability and safety, against the claimed additional utility in specific circumstances (long highway rides) offered by a cruise control system.

I had a look at MCCruise. I note that they have installation instructions in a Google Drive folder, but I was unable to look at them because permissions are not set to public. Are these instructions beyond the normal scope of assembly competence of a normal person who can put together a gaming chair? Probably.

If you buy a set of drawers from IKEA, it will come with installation instructions that anyone can follow. If something goes wrong and the drawers collapse, IKEA probably won't argue the toss because the liability would be just for the set of drawers.

A system on a motorcycle is unlike a piece of self-assembly furniture. If something goes wrong it can be catastrophic, and cause permanent injury or death. Therefore, if it has a big, compliant company behind it, such as BMW, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, etc. it will be more widely trusted. If something goes wrong and the customer loses control over the throttle where MCCruise has been fitted, who is responsible? BMW, Kawasaki, etc. will say no, it's not us because you fucked with the bike's throttle. If you got a local garage to fit the MCCruise, they will deny liability as well, and point at MCCruise. It's then their insurer vs MCCruise. A world of hassle, and the main obstacle would be proving that the CC system or incorrect installation was to blame in the first place.

OK, you say you're willing to run this risk because riding a motorcycle is risky. But you've just added 3rd party risk and made fault an even more complicated problem than it would have been without the device.

I would say, for most people, if they plan to take a 2-week tour by motorcycle, they would buy a motorcycle suitable for the task. Something different from what they ride for a blast around the local chimney and back home again. It might have cruise control on it. A bike that does it all is a bit of a unicorn, and unicorns don't exist, right? I like project bikes, but I would never dream of taking a project bike on such a journey. Reliability is an issue with project bikes, and if you're putting this on a 2014 bike then you've taken a bike that's practically new and unsullied, and turned it into a project bike. This introduces uncertainty as to reliability.

[Easy-X]

[Robby]

In the UK insurance is required to ride at the road at all. The lowest level only covers damage/injury to others, comprehensive cover includes damage/injury to the rider as well.

Regardless of the type of insurance chosen, modifications will be asked about. Even on an expensive policy if I modify my bike, don't tell the insurance company, then have a crash because of that modification, I'm going to have a bad day.

On the certification point and liability - if you sell this and it causes someone to have a crash, you are still liable and they (or their insurance company) are likely to come after you. Certification would be a requirement for you to hold business insurance to protect yourself against these claims.

[I do not care.]

[Ste]