I keep thinking “What can I add to the
motorcycle that will make the riding experience better?” It seems like I’ve
been doing a lot of that lately.
There are two major things that make a long
ride less enjoyable 1) an uncomfortable saddle and 2) a wrist cramp.
This article focuses on the latter. I’ve played around
over the years
with a few different throttle locks and grip modifications to help hold the
speed on my bike.
These work, after a fashion, but they're not as effective as a real cruise
control.
There are lots of manufacturers of touring-class motorcycles that offer
cruise control. Sadly, my model Honda isn’t one of them.
In the interest of science, and perhaps due to my own
desire to travel as comfortably as possible, I made the decision to research
options for adding an electronic cruise control. I found a few articles on
adapting an automotive-specific Audiovox CCS-100 to my motorcycle -- I even
spent the meager amount on the parts and gave it a whirl.
Sadly, it produced
mixed results. I read plenty of places where folks were able to get the
cruise control working on their motorcycle; but I just decided that kludging something together
wasn’t an option I really wanted to go with. I’d rather not be in the
middle of nowhere when the cruise control decides to give up the ghost, leaving me with few
options.
After a little more research, I located
Motorcycle Cruise Control in Australia. Yep -- the land Down Under.
I know it was a stretch, but their website included detailed articles on their cruise controls and more importantly, their units were made exclusively for
motorcycles. As I was getting ready to leave for a 2,700 mile journey in a
week, I decided to give their unit a try.
I want to start this section with a disclaimer:
the folks at Motorcycle Cruise Control are fantastic. They provided nothing but prompt, friendly
customer service. I can’t say enough about them.
But any time someone starts a
paragraph like that, you probably know what's coming next.
Indeed.
I chose the unit I wanted for my bike and went through the
steps to make the online
purchase. Now it says the retail for my unit is $628.00, but that's
Aussie dollars. Since the exchange rate shifts each day, there’s no
way to price this consistently in Greenbacks. In this case, the US cost
translated to around $543.00.
I entered my VISA Check Card information into the
system and promptly got declined. I thought I must’ve entered the digits
wrong on the card, because there was nearly $7,500.00 available in that
account. So I entered the information again and -- yep, got declined
once more.
Frustrated, I decided to call Australia. I’m sure this
wasn't an inexpensive call -- I haven’t gotten the bill yet, but I bet it’ll
be a surprise when it comes. At 9:00pm U.S. Mountain Time, it’s something like 2:00 pm the next
day in Australia, and Tony Guymer from Motorcycle Cruise Control was happy to take my call.
I
explained what was going on, and he said “'right mate. Sometimes folks from
the states have this happen as part of fraud protection on their card. There’s nothing we can do from our end. You’ll need to contact your card
issuer.”
So I did -- U.S. Bank. When I say they were less than helpful, it’s an
understatement. Apparently, to protect cardholders (you can read that as U.S.
Bank protecting themselves and passing it off as protecting the cardholder)
they subscribe to a service called “Falcon” that determines whether or not
your purchase is legitimate. U.S. Bank has no control over the decisions that
“Falcon” makes and their decision is, apparently, final.
Oh, and by the way -- there’s no
way for the consumer to contact them to tell them this is a legitimate
purchase. So, let's see: If I want to use my VISA card to purchase
something, a third party screener will determine whether or not I can spend my
money? Sounds a little “Big Brother” to me my friends.
So I had to pull out my Bank of America VISA card and give
that a try. This
time, instead of doing it over the Internet, I called Tony back personally
and read the card numbers to him. Guess what? The authorization
went through
immediately. Apparent Bank of America doesn’t use this helpful service,
so there’s a
consumer safety tip for you.
Anyway, Motorcycle Cruise Control told me they’d get everything packaged up
and shipped out via priority worldwide shipping so I can have the unit in time for
an install, a checkout and the big ride. Thank you, Motorcycle Cruise
Control! True to their word, the package from Australia arrived on my doorstep in Colorado three days later;
inside is the kit, cables, instructions and a roll crimper I purchased from
them.
Disassembling and assembling the bike took a lot of time.
Lots of electronics on this Honda!
Motorcycle Cruise Control buttons under left hand grip.
Cruise control unit neatly installed in left bag.
View from the top.
Vacuum throttle control unit.
Throttle control unit, top view.
Motorcycle Cruise Control Installation
Let me say this clearly: this is not a project for the faint of heart!
Installing an electronic cruise control requires reading and then re-reading the
instructions before you turn a screwdriver. Although some models of the
Motorcycle Cruise Control
units come with customized wiring looms, mine wasn’t one of those
models, unfortunately. This meant that I was not only going to install a cruise
control, but that I
would be customizing it to fit my motorcycle.
To be able to access the areas that I needed on
the bike,
such as the vacuum takeoff on the carburetors, I had to virtually disassemble
the entire
bike. Thankfully, taking this step made everything else go much easier, although it added significantly to the time on the overall project.
The
instructions are EXCELLENT -- well thought out, well laid out and with photos
that help you visualize what is required at each step along the way.
I fortunately discovered a convenient place in the trunk
of a saddlebag to mount
the “brain” of the cruise control, and I followed Motorcycle Cruise Control’s directions on how to lay
everything else out to fit.
They even tell you which end of the cables to trim and
how to crimp the connections and get everything reconnected. It’s crucial that you
take your time and follow the instructions step-by-step. If you do, the
final product will be installed in a manner that looks as if it could have
been installed by the manufacturer.
Cruise Control Calibration
I re-assembled the bike and began reading the
sections on calibrating the cruise control for my ride. Again, it is important to
read the instructions carefully and perhaps even take them with you on the
test and tune portion of the ride.
For the record: this is a time consuming
process as well. You must perform the calibrations step-by-step as
described, and minor adjustments to certain settings may require you to
start over at the beginning.
After running through the speed sensor,
throttle pull and various other tests it was time to make a ride and see how
it performs. For whatever it’s worth, I had nearly seven hours of
labor installing the unit at this point. Most of that is the
disassembly and reassembly time for the fairings and such on my bike, but
the cruise and wiring loom does take a fair amount of time for proper
fitment.
I went on a quick jaunt around the area on varied
road conditions. There were some slight hills but no monsters. The cruise
control performed extremely well on the initial ride -- it held the speed
within 3-4 MPH even on the hills, which is better than some cars I’ve seen.
I was all ready to take the big ride a see how this thing performs on the
long haul.
Remember how I’ve emphasized, if not
over-emphasized, reading the directions VERY carefully? That’s because I
didn’t.
During the initial speed sensor calibration, I set it while going up
a slight hill at 45 MPH. Turns out, this gives you a “softer” throttle pull
when you engage the cruise. I found that at 75MPH and going up a hill
the cruise control would lag significantly.
This is important, because there’s a
built-in safety feature that forces the cruise to automatically shut off if the
speed drops below 80% of the set speed. What this means is that if you are
going up a steep hill on cruise at 75 MPH and the cruise engages LATE and
SOFT, it’s possible for your speed to drop below 60 MPH at which time the
cruise automatically turns off. See the issue?
After re-reading the instructions, I
re-calibrated the system in Idaho Falls, Idaho and tried again. This time,
voila! Everything works like a charm. I can hold a consistent and steady
speed no matter what the terrain.
The cruise works very much like an
automotive cruise with on/off, set/accelerate and resume/decelerate
functions on three buttons that are also illuminated. There’s also an LED on the far
right that provides visual feedback on cruise control operation and
status.
I rode this unit from Idaho Falls through
Yellowstone National Park to Billings, Montana to Rapid City, South Dakota and not only did it
keep a consistent speed, I found that my gas consumption improved as well.
Prior to using the
Motorcycle Cruise Control manufactured cruise, I would average 42.5 MPG on the
highway. When using the cruise, I averaged 46 MPG. That may not seem like
much, but when you consider a savings of 3.5 MPG and gas costs at or above
$3.00 per gallon, you can quickly add up the savings on a long ride.
Conclusion
So here’s my conclusion: Motorcycle Cruise Control makes a terrific
motorcycle-specific aftermarket option for a lot of different makes and
models of motorcycles. Their customer service and manufacturing quality
exceed my expectations substantially.
The unit mated perfectly with my
ride and the performance is fantastic -- as long as you take time to follow the
directions step-by-step. The unit may need to be recalibrated a couple of
times for best performance, but in the end it will be a much better working
product that adds, rather than detracts, to the enjoyment of riding.
The bottom line is that you can have less rider fatigue and it just might even save you
some money in the long
run.
Miles Per Gallon - With and Without Cruise Control
The mean average was brought down significantly because
I did not always use the cruise. Anytime you see MPG go to
46 or above, I’m on it.
|
Product
Review: Motorcycle
Cruise Control |
| Available
From: Motorcycle
Cruise Control |
Suggested
Retail Price: Varies by make and model,
approx. $550.00 USD |
| Colors: N/A |
Made
in: Australia |
| Comments:
Units available for many makes and models, including BMW, Ducati,
Harley Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha.
"Universal" kits also available. |
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►Reader Comments and
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Comments are ordered from most recent to oldest.
Not all comments will be posted. Posted comments may be edited.
From "K.K.": "Glad to see you reviewed the MCCruise
control. I bought one last year and installed it on my FJR1300 with
the help of a friend more knowledgeable about motorcycle electrical systems.
Yes it took awhile, but it was well worth it.
The documentation could have been better organized, but was very thorough.
technical support from the company was excellent. By the way, if your
reviewer had done a bit more research (such as Googling MCCruise) he would
have found that there is an internet vendor in the U.S. selling these
products (Spoiled
Biker). I bought from them. They also provided good support
and I got the product quickly."
Shawn's Reply: The U.S. distributor merely orders the
stuff from the Aussies once the order is placed. They don't keep a
Honda Pacific Coast cruise in stock! Anyway, since I wanted in an
expedited fashion, I ordered it direct from the manufacturer rather than
using a distributor. So, it wasn't that I wasn't aware of US
distributors; it was that I wanted it faster and adding in a "middle man"
for the order would have slowed things down for me.
From "G.K.": "Thanks so much
for your motorcycle cruise control review. Unfortunately I just got
finished rebuilding the engine on my Harley, but as soon as I can justify
the $500 I will be purchasing/installing one of these.
I noticed you didn't mention safety at all.
Do you feel using cruise control on your bike makes it any more or less
safe?
Shawn's Reply: If anything,
it’s made my ride more safe. I say this because I find I’m not as
fatigued thanks to the throttle control on the long rides. The
safeties on the system disengage the cruise anytime you activate either
brake or if you pull in the clutch. It’s very quick to disengage and
I’ve never felt like I wasn't 100% in control of the bike at all times."
From "D.C.": "I have the unit on a 2006 Suzuki Burgman
Executive 650. This is one of the models with an available wiring
harness. It was already installed when I bought the scooter so I can't
attest to the ease / difficulty of installation. I will say that the
installation instructions are good enough that even a klutz like me could
complete the process successfully.
I can categorically state that the system works flawlessly
and it has really enhanced the riding experience on long rides; especially
in freeway riding. It may be an expensive proposition but it's a high
quality product that's well engineered and does what you expect of it.
If you change bikes every season, it may not be cost effective but if you
keep your ride for several years the benefits far outweigh the cost."
