Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => Accessories and modifications - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: copdocpvd on December 11, 2017, 12:03:33 PM
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Looks like Santa (well, my wife) is getting me a radar detector for the C14. I'm looking for suggestions on how to mount it. I'd prefer not to have it on the handlebars themselves (have gotten the suggestion of "use velcro and attach it to the brake reservoir" but I'd rather keep it off the bars).
How do you have yours mounted and what mount are you using? Pics would be immensely appreciated.
Thanks!
Pete
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See the following threads which might contain useful info:
http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=11641 (http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=11641)
http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=11770 (http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=11770)
http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=12872 (http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=12872)
(I wish people would upload photos to the forum instead of using off-site hosting!!!!)
I am a fan of anything RAM...
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C-10 here, Escort Passport (older model), I almost always run (pun *is* intended) with a tank bag.
Detector is plumbed into the tank bag via a RJ-11 (phone) connector to my aux fuse block. Audio output from the detector is piped into my helmet speakers via a real short cable from the Passport to the outside of the tank bag, thence via a cable/plug/socket to my helmet.
Works peachy, except for LIDAR (laser). Laser is optical; old style radar is radio waves... And radio waves pass through a fairing (and tank bag) without much trouble.
Advantage is if I ever get pulled over, "Officer Friendly" has narry a clue I have a detector. He can't see the unit, and the audible alarm is in my helmet, and that is dead when I turn the key off and remove my helmet.
Rick
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My interest in a detector is renewed. I want to use a Uniden DFR6. Not sure if the visual alert will work with it. Need to call. What is the gizmo that you can hook several audio components to and one will override the music to the earphones? Seen it before but dont know where. Thought it was here.
Wayne
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http://www.mixitproducts.com/ (http://www.mixitproducts.com/)
there is another .... I'll post when if I remember
I did ... http://electric-avenues.com/amplirider/ (http://electric-avenues.com/amplirider/)
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THANK YOU! Mix it is the one I was thinking of I believe. Will check it out.
Wayne
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Don't discount the Ampli-rider...good product for the price.
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Still illegal in VA.... yeesh
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Just don't speed.
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yeah....dump the connie and buy injun
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Just looked it over a little better.Should do the job and about a $100 less than the mixit.
Thanks.
Wayne
Don't discount the Ampli-rider...good product for the price.
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works well enough for me :thumbs:
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Still illegal in VA.... yeesh
?? So is having public sex with a trio of Unicorns... In public view.
If you 'hide' your detector in your tank bag per my post, Officer Friendly will have narry a clue. The cable to your helmet is just audio from your iTunes thingy, only *IF* you decide to tell him/her that is what it's for. I highly advise you don't though. Especially since most every modern detector can *not* be found via whatever EMF/EMI/Super-hetrodyne tool the Federalies have. Commonly called a "radar detector detector".
If they ask to inspect the contents of your tank bag, they need a warrant. If they do get one, not likely for a trivial traffic stop, they'll also find 103 pounds of crack, a bottle of Quaalude's, and a tin of condoms (see Unicorns above). Note that the latter is not illegal, though it may be questionable.
Rick
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yeah....dump the connie and buy injun
I didn't speed on the C14 either when anyone was looking. My Indian is one fast bike...on the straights...not as good on the corners. Again, it's the life style. More laid back and that's what I'm looking for.....and for you older guys, I don't hurt anymore.
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?? So is having public sex with a trio of Unicorns... In public view.
Eeeeew :)
If you 'hide' your detector in your tank bag per my post, Officer Friendly will have narry a clue.
I believe here they use "radar detector detectors" to find people using radar detectors. At least, they used to do that... not sure if they are still in use or how frequently, or how effective they are.
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But a radar detector is passive. It emits nothing, per FCC rules and all that.
What is to detect??
My Ham Radio General License at work...
datsaxman
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The Valentine One goes on the RH side mounted on a Techmount I got here in the classifieds a couple of years ago. Small plate mounts to the C14 on the black horizontal panel. Has a 5" riser and another plate on top. Valentine mounts with XL Industrial Velcro. RJ11 from the V1 spliced into an sAE connector. Auxiliary power box under there too.
I have run the thing for 160,000 miles or so on three different bikes. C10, C14, newer C14. Not exactly conspicuous, but it has a great view of the road. So there is that. Not a lot of unpleasant surprises.
Stable at ... legal speeds. I ditch it when in known radar-unfriendly territory. Otherwise, it is out there most of the time. No tickets, but lots of warnings.
datsaxman
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Want to mention the HARD sold by legalspeeding.dot com. (Helmet Assisted Radar Detection) Was never a big fan of the concept but want a discount certificate at last rally I attended so bought one and trying it out. It works very well to get you attention but the detector itself needs to be in sight to see the details as the signal is just a flashing red light.
My preferred method id the Mixit2 which I can plug my phone into for music and notifications and calls plus the RD plus the GPS.
John Brown, owner of Mixit Products is a great guy to work with, awesome customer service.
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But a radar detector is passive. It emits nothing, per FCC rules and all that. What is to detect??
This is my understanding- radar detects are not completely passive. They emit a small amount of radio energy in the process of their detection circuitry and radar-detector-detectors can zero in on that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector)
https://www.vortexradar.com/2017/11/radar-detector-detectors-everything-you-need-to-know/ (https://www.vortexradar.com/2017/11/radar-detector-detectors-everything-you-need-to-know/)
Again, I don't know how effective they are, how much they are in use, from what range they are effective, if modern radar detectors have gotten around this issue, etc. But I am curious (but not because I would ever buy a radar detector, that would be illegal most everywhere I drive! ;) )
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Most do emit some RF, and FCC rules do not prevent that, only that the emissions be lower than a certain value.
It is the 'beat' oscillator inside them that creates the RF.
Apparently they (radar detector detectors) are used successfully in Canada where radar detectors seem to be outright illegal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector
Brian
But a radar detector is passive. It emits nothing, per FCC rules and all that.
What is to detect??
My Ham Radio General License at work...
datsaxman
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in Canada where radar detectors seem to be outright illegal.
And VA/DC. How did I get so lucky. I didn't realize we were the ONLY state left.
Oh, I see you liked my link :)
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You really ought to put an Easy Boys! after suggesting someone like your link..... it is just decent etiquette. :-) And just for the record, I have never had any opinion or even though about your link at any time, past or present; put simply, I just do not care. ;D
Actually, I did not look at your links but now see that I did duplicate one; hey, better too many links to the same place than none, right?
I though there were one or two other states that 'forbade' radar detectors in addition to VA..... WA perhaps? Also, they used to be illegal everywhere in the US in trucks over 9 ton if memory serves, though of course that does not really matter on a motorcycle forum.
Just as an aside, I would think that if someone or some organization were willing to pursue it, any and all of those laws could be struck down; radar detectors are passive devices and we (those of us in the US) can 'listen' to any frequency we care to to the best of my knowledge. Just as TX was stopped from ticketing persons flashing their headlights at other motorists as <perhaps> a method of communication was stopped as unconstitutional. But again, it would take some fairly deep pockets to get to the end of that string of legal steps.
But there are undetectable radar detectors if one really wanted to use one in a prohibited location, and as long as it was well covered, there would be no probably cause to take the bike apart to look for one in the first place. Though some places, Canada specifically, does seem to have some rather nasty penalties to merely possessing a radar detector so caveat emptor, squared I think.
Brian
And VA/DC. How did I get so lucky. I didn't realize we were the ONLY state left.
Oh, I see you liked my link :)
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I though there were one or two other states that 'forbade' radar detectors in addition to VA.....
I thought so too, which is why I researched it and was surprised. I suppose with laser and such, all the remaining states just gave up... except VA.
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Laser falls in a very different category because light is not regulated (at least not yet) by the Federal Gummit (FCC). That said, I do believe some states have made it illegal to use laser jammers, which of course are most certainly not passive devices. That said, in the tests I have read, they are very efficient and there is nothing in place, again perhaps yet, to detect them. Good laser jammers are expensive though and so that alone may keep the problem from becoming large enough for any state to actually do much about them. And BTW, that is all that fixed LEO's seem to be using these days, radar is reserved for when the LEO vehicle is moving, so laser jammers really are effective, at least in this area.
I just feel I have to mention though that the combination of hard saddlebags and gray hair seems to ward off tickets anyway. There is no doubt in my mind that now, in my old age and with an old man's motorcycle (C-14, OldWing, etc.) I am not going nearly as fast doing 80 MPH as when I was young and riding sport bikes at 80 MPH. Just part of the way the world seems to work.
Brian
I thought so too, which is why I researched it and was surprised. I suppose with laser and such, all the remaining states just gave up... except VA.
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... I stand corrected. Of course a radar detector has to send out a ping. But yes, fabulously low power.
I tend to ride faster than ever these days ... 80mph on the C14 is not s fast as 60mph was on an RD350 with DG chambers and stingers. Gray hair on counts once you are stopped. Although it *does* seem to help.
Not lookin at no links right here. Easy Boys!
dat
sax
man
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I tend to ride faster than ever these days ... 80mph on the C14 is not s fast as 60mph was on an RD350 with DG chambers and stingers. Gray hair only counts once you are stopped. Although it *does* seem to help.
I can confirm that it does help :)
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Being old and speeding: I have personally been sent on my way after having been caught doing more than enough over the limit to get written up. Both local LEO's and one State Trooper. Two of the local stops occurred at night, in the fall, and both officers were genuinely concerned for our safety, one because there were some ice patches around and the other because the particular road we were on was heavily crossed by 'forest rats' and they may have been in rut, which makes them even stupider than usual. Anyway, I am absolutely, positively sure that every single one of these instances would have resulted in pen put to paper when I was 20 yrs. old.
I would say that I am not sure what causes this but certainly, I am less reckless in my old age than I was as a kid, so perhaps the LEO's know this and compensate. ?? My adult speeding, while less than when I was a kid, I absolutely more controlled and used with a lot more caution and regard for safety. It is one thing to do 80 MPH on the highway but entirely another to do so through a set of green stop lights on a secondary road (regardless of the actual speed limit of the road).
Brian
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Just remember...stoplights timed for 35 are also timed for seventy. 8)
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I am old. Maybe I don't need the detector!
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Yeah but my resistance to flying through intersections is the idiot that blows the red light on one side or the other. Or the idiot that think 'stop on red and go when safe' means 'turn right as fast as you can, whenever you want'. Like the old Honda sticker said 'Stupid hurts', and it hurts a lot sooner and often more on a motorcycle.
We have some secondary roads around here with stoplights but they are 4 lane roads with a speed limit of 50 and traffic often doing 65 or more; I never, ever speed through those intersections and often slow below the speed limit if I cannot see far enough down each side of the road crossing the one I am on. Self preservation is a powerful instinct in some, and I be one 'o dem. :-)
"If I'm curt with you, it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you two guys to act fast if you want to get out of this. So pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the ****ing car."
-Winston Wolf
Brian
Just remember...stoplights timed for 35 are also timed for seventy. 8)
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I read and found Bluetooth transmitters that can be plugged into a radar detector. I wonder how it would work to have it paired with the phone. If I could listen to maps or music on the phone and have the radar buzz in? I guess it works well with a sena but I don't want to go that route.
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The "old" Sena's, like the ones I just bought new a few years ago, can only link to one device at a time. Extremely annoying- I can either talk on the intercom, or change modes manually and listen to the phone/music. Supposedly this is somewhat fixed in newer models, so if you go that route and expect to link to a yet another device (radar detector), do some good research first (and let us know).
Other than that limitation, and the non-replaceable (AKA "built in obsolescence") battery, the Sena stuff is pretty nice. Very good sound quality, very good range, good battery life, reliable. Oh, the battery low indicator gives maybe a 30 second warning- just enough to tell someone "crap, bye"... that could be better.
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Apparently they (radar detector detectors) are used successfully in Canada where radar detectors seem to be outright illegal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector
Brian
Yes they do.
We took a van of guys to go fishing in Canada. Speeds of 50 to 70 kph made one of the guys absolutely bonkers as someone had taught him how to calculate speed. He reaches down under his seat and pulls out the radar detector. Got tagged ....not for speeding but for having a detector. After the OPP officer discussed it with him he gave us the option of emptying the van and the trailer or handing over the detector. Once we got the driver to give it up the Officer had him walk to the front of the van....place the detector in front of the driver's side tire and instructed him to get back in and pull forward. Once we got the ticket and cleaned up the crushed detector (no littering in Ontario) he waved good bye and told us Happy Fishing.
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Mine hides itself so the OPP cant track it.