Well, turns out that I'm not the first person to try hooking this cruise control to a KLR after all. This guy did it before me.
Darn, now I'm not the pioneer here! Although my installation is mechanically different from his because I have luggage racks on my bike and because it is a California KLR I have a bracket on the left rear for the evap canister, thus mounted my servo back there, plus I attached to the throttle a different way (a way that will result in less binding and cable wear than his way, because I have the cable coming straight down at the throttle rather than at an angle).
So my current status is that I'm building a wire harness as I go with black electrical tape (the self-sticking type) and thus far have made it from under the back fender to the engine side of the front seat bracket, where I need to hook to the rear brake light connectors for the disconnect. The ground wire comes out of the harness about halfway down the seat area, and hooks up to the bolt that holds the cable clamp that holds the wire harness for the tail light, brake light, license plate light, and turn signals. Once I get that done, I then wind up with the rest of the wiring harness going to the coil area, where I hook the tach wire to the appropriate coil terminal. From thence I go to the fairing area, and then up the handlebar with the rest of the (many) wires going up there (why many wires? Heated grips and a GPS plug, that's why).
I'm almost disappointed I found someone who'd done it before. Now it's going to be easy! Darn, where's the challenge in that?!
-- Badtux the Mechanic Penguin
Update as of 9:40pm: Now have all the wires where they need to go. Now all I need to do is fabricate a bracket for the control panel and do the final hookup of the control panel... probably going to use a small tupperware container with a couple of fender washers for a dashboard mount for the control panel and heated grips toggle that won't kill me if I go flying over the handlebars. Yeah, I'm gonna go down the road with tupperware bolted to my handlebars!
This is cute in case you would like to play with it.
ReplyDeleteResume - George W. Bush
6-21-06
Resume
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington , DC 20520
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
* LAW ENFORCEMENT
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine , in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.
* MILITARY
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam
* COLLEGE
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.
* PAST WORK EXPERIENCE
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland , Texas , in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas . The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry, including Enron CEO Ken Lay, I was elected governor of Texas .
* ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union .
During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America
I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida , and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.
* ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.
In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, had a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President. I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.
My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution.
More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip- offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.
I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.
I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S . "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.
I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families-in-wartime.
In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD. I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden [sic] to justice.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I am a member of the Republican Party.
PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN THE 2006 MIDTERM ELECTIONS.
Tupperware on the handlebars. What'll that Penguin think up next?
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty cool you're putting cruise control on your bike. After having made several long distance trips on my 81 Virago, I can appreciate cruise control. I just had one of those throttle-lock devices that didn't seem to work too wel. Good luck with this installation and don't forget to post pictures! I gotta see the tupperware control panel.
I might use an Otter box instead, Dawg. I just remembered that there's a brand new REI store down the street from the office that has Otter boxes, which are nicely waterproof and easily modified for this application. The small "cell phone" sized one may be just the ticket.
ReplyDeleteBiggest problem is going to be wire routing. The heated grips switch lived in a plastic Radio Shack project box that was sealed up with silicon caulk after being bolted to the handgrips bolt, but that box wasn't big enough for both switches not to mention being broken due to an encounter with a wall when I managed to push the bike off its sidestand while re-arranging my garage. (The only thing that broke, BTW -- KLR's are *rugged*, especially mine, which has been significantly ruggedized). Anyhow, I now have a wire bundle going up to that left grip area that is the size of my index finger, consisting of: a) the original wiring for the horn, lights, and clutch safety switch, b) the heated grips switch bundle (and left grip wires), c) the GPS power cord bundle, and now d) the cruise control bundle, which is six wires (four for the cruise control switches, two to a switched power source for the backlight for the cruise control). Making sure these wires don't hit anything when I turn full left lock is going to be a PITA!
-BT
stuff like this reminds me that when i was in my motorcycle phase sex was fun and motorcycles were dangerous ah well, have fun tuxie
ReplyDeleteWell? Does it work?
ReplyDeleteHey, Gordon, I got a day job, y'know? And this has been a busy week for me there, been fixing smbus problems and poking at hardware trying to make it jump without crashing.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I got off work at 7pm and headed off looking for something to use as a "control panel" 'cause a bike don't have a dashboard. Finally, around 8:30pm, I found a nice little box that was the exact same size as the cruise control button unit and had enough room to mount the switch for my heated grips too. It's a little brushed aluminum box, and I really wanted a plastic one for weather-tightness, but this'll work, just means a little silicon caulk gets applied to seams :-). Tonight I mounted the switches and mounted this box onto my handlebars using the bolt for the OEM handguards. Looks rather nifty perched up there, now all I gotta do is waterproof it a bit, but first I want to make sure it all works and that I didn't hook up the heated grips backwards or anything!
Still left to do is the final wire hookup under the cowling. I have way too much electrical shit on this bike, and part of my problem has been to undo some of the other crap in order to make room for the new crap, like I had to get rid of my old control panel box 'cause it wasn't big enough for the cruise control button panel to mount on it, which meant I had to re-do my heated grips circuitry too. I need to re-do the circuitry under the cowling a bit now to siphon some power off to the cruise control box. Which is a PITA 'cause there ain't much room under a KLR's cowling, and I already got too much crap under there. Remember, a KLR doesn't have a fuse box like a car, I had to run a new circuit straight to the battery for the shit under the cowling, and then there's a relay there to switch the new circuit off of the ignition switch so that I don't, say, accidentally hit the heated grips switch and run the battery down, then there's the rather odd distribution chain mess that I need to clean up...
Anyhow, that's my status, I've only had an hour or two per night to work on it and have spent a lot of that figuring out how the hell to hook things up or drilling holes in sheetmetal or things like that. I wish I had more time to play with the thing, but that's how it goes. I should have it finished sometime this weekend...
- Badtux the Electrical Penguin
I was just yankin' yer chain, dude.
ReplyDeleteA motorcyclist with a day job! What a concept!
BTW, the guy you linked to did a heckuva job (no pun intended) laying it out.