Buck Sport Touring Dash Shelf
|
Buck Sport Touring Dash Shelf |
The accessories before installation |
The relay |
The bottom of the shelf |
The top of the shelf |
The shelf on the bike, fully loaded |
Prior to taking a ride from Littleton, Colorado, to Hyder, Alaska, on my 1997 Kawasaki Concours I decided to install HotGrips (electrically warmed handlebar grips) and a HeatTroller to control my Widder electric vest. It soon became obvious that a dash shelf would make a very handy place to mount the HeatTroller and would also be a good place to mount a HeatTroller for the HotGrips, a RAM mount for a GPS, a mount for a Chatterbox bike-to-bike radio, a volt meter, and a thermometer. The dash was obtained from Buck Sport Touring (an enterprise of Larry Buck, a COG member in Georgia). The other parts came from various other vendors. (See the parts list, below.)
- For a professional looking wiring job and so the dash could be removed easily, a power block
was bolted under the dash. It is connected to the battery by a hot wire (red) and a ground
wire (black), each wire employing a quick-disconnect connector.
- Two other wires for the HotGrips (twisted purple/white) come from the bike to the dash. The
end result is that the dash can be removed for maintanence or whatever simply by
disconnecting four quick-disconnects and removing the four windshield bolts that fasten the
shelf to the bike.
- The hot wire is switched by
a relay that is "on" only when the tail lights are on. So when the bike is turned off,
everything on the dash is powered off also. The relay is mounted on the frame rail near the
battery. (blue and black to tail light wire, red with yellow to battery, red with fuse to
shelf).
- Each component on the dash is powered through its own fuse on the power block.
Those components are: 1) HotGrips (via HeatTroller), 2) Widder electric vest (via a second
HeatTroller), 3) Garmin GPS, 4) Chatterbox radio, and 5) voltmeter / thermometer. There is
still one fuse left for the future installation of a standard 12-volt outlet (either
cigarette lighter style or BMW power outlet) for a small electric air tire pump.
- When all items are being used, the Garmin GPS is attached to the RAM mount and is connected
with its power cable.
- The Chatterbox is attached to its homemade mount and is connected to
its power cable. An additional wire then connects to my helmet microphone and speakers via
a Chatterbox coil cord.
- The Widder electric vest is connected with a coil cord to the SAE
power plug that is on the front of the dash. (After the photo was taken, I replaced the
SAE power plug with a Powerlet BMW-sytle outlet.
- When riding down the road the HeatTroller
switches are handily available on the left front of the dash. Left is for the Hot Grips,
right for electric vest.
- Also since the photos were taken another Powerlet BMW-style outlet was added to the
top right of the dash to power an electric air pump.
As a note, the BuckSport dash is a very sturdy, well-engineered accessory. Installation was easy and the dash fit right up to the windshield without a problem. The HeatTrollers have performed flawlessly and work much better than either the Widder thermostat or the HotGrip on, half on, off switch. The dash mount for the Chatterbox eliminates the noise and weight problem when the radio is attached to the side of a helmet. The accessories I've been using don't overload the electrical system, but it reassuring to have the voltmeter to indicate that. And it sure is handy to have the GPS V right there in plain sight.
Parts List (prices from 2004)
From Buck Sports Touring Products Div, Surface Conditioning Corp
www.bucksporttouring.com/
- Concours Dash Shelf , $79.00
From Rider Wearhouse (Aerostich)
www.aerostich.com
- Hot Grips, www.hotgrips.com, Hot Grips p/n 475-875, Fits 7/8" (22.22 mm) handlebars, Bored out to accommodate end weights
- SAE standard coil cord (Widder extension), $15.00
From Warm and Safe, Heat-Troller
www.heat-troller.com
- SHG, single heated handgrips Heat-troller (for Hot Grips), $49.95
- SMSAE, single mounted Heat-troller SAE with power harness with fuse (for Widder electric vest), $79.95
- Widder to SAE plug adapter cable 2-inch, $6.95
From California Sports Touring
www.casporttouring.com
- The Electrical Connection, Power Plate, Power Distribution Panel, Universal 6 postion, p/n 02202, $42.70
- Show Chrome Accessories, Digital 5 Function Volt Meter, p/n 4-239, $24.25
- ChatterBox, CBXPREX power filter cord, $22.45
- ChatterBox, CBX HSEX noise reducing headset extension cord, $15.49
From GPS City Garmin (www.gpscity.com)
- Garmin GPS V, $329.95
- RAM marine grade aluminum 2.5" diameter dash base mount for GPS V, p/n RAM-B-138-GA2U, $30.95
- Garmin circular 4 pin bare wire power/data cable, for for GPS V, p/n 010-10082-00, $21.95
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