It’s something you hear from ‘rugged individualists’ or those that want you to think they are when the topic of GPS for motorcycles comes up.
Still, while the rugged individualists are still lost in the dark and the rain while the riders with GPSs have arrived at their destination for the day, sitting at the bar and enjoying dinner and drinks, you have to wonder… which half of the fun is best?
Don’t get me wrong, finding out where that road goes is fun, part of the true spirit of riding. Knowing you can find your way back on your own terms just makes it that much better.
There are lots of GPS models out there these days, from full featured waterproof models designed for riders to simple handhelds. The simple ones will get you there, the high-end ones will get you there in style.
TomTom and Garmin both make GPSs for bikes—the TomTom Rider and the Garmin Zumo. Both machines have maps of USA and Canada, they come with bike mounts and they give spoken turn-by-turn driving instructions. Nice for keeping your eyes on the road instead of on the screen, right? But how can you hear what they say? There are some choices here. Both machines support a wired connection to an earpiece or to an on-board intercom, but the easiest to use is Bluetooth wireless. New models of Bluetooth earpieces will work with a GPS and also let you talk rider-to-passenger and rider-to-rider. More on that later, but for now, back to GPSs.
Probably the best thing about a GPS on a bike is the ability to find things you need. One time, my wife and I were on our way to Colorado. In the middle of Nebraska, we were about a half hour past the last small town and the gas gauge decided to go quickly down to empty. In the days before GPS that called for some soul searching. Do we go back to where we know there’s gas (and lose a bunch of time) or do we take a chance that we can find fuel before we run out? The GPS will tell you. Same thing with accommodations and food. Most GPS units for cars or bikes have about 6 million points of interest like gas stations, restaurants, ATM’s and hotels.
Not everyone wants a dedicated motorcycle GPS. For one thing, the waterproof and vibration proof models carry a premium price tag. They’re not as expensive as a year’s insurance renewal, but they’re getting there! So a lot of riders adapt lower priced car GPS units to their bike. A company called Ram-Mount makes a wide range of mounting products that will let you attach a GPS or other gear to your bars, down the central hole of your bike’s triple tree or even straddle your clutch master cylinder cover. With the Ram-Mount system, you have a huge range of adjustment to get just the right location and angle. They make all sorts of other mounting solutions, but these are the ones you’ll see on other people’s bikes. Check them out on www.Ram-Mount.com. One thing you’ll find about the Ram-Mount product family is that the finish is pretty basic—made for solid function, not as a bike dressup item. Some riders prefer mounts with a more custom look. That usually means clean looking, nicely machined and probably chromed or polished aluminum. Mounts that fit that description are made by companies like E-Caddy, Touratech and Burwell Custom Fabricating to name just a few. There’s quite a range of prices for mounts. A basic Ram-Mount for common GPS models by Garmin, Magellan or TomTom can cost as little as $35. Putting together a nicely machined handlebar power socket by Powerlet along with a custom mount by Burwell can run over $200. For that money, you get a mount that looks at home on a bike who’s owner has put in a lot of time and effort to get ‘the look’.
Wiring up a GPS is not too tough. Dedicated bike units like the TomTom Rider and the Garmin Zumo come with a wiring harness for your bike. The wiring that Garmin and TomTom provide is long enough to connect to your fuse panel or directly to the battery. The battery is the best place to connect because it gives some voltage stabilization. Getting the wire from the handlebars to the battery on most bikes usually involves lifting the gas tank. That’s a job you may want to give to your service shop. If you’re going to use a regular car GPS by just about any maker, there are still ways to power it. If your bike has a cigarette lighter socket, just plug in your GPS using the cord it came with. Do not cut off the plug and wire it direct. Most GPS plugs have a voltage converter inside and they need it! Without the converter, your bike’s power will fry your GPS. For many of their car models, Garmin offers a bike power cord that you can wire right to the battery or fuse panel. The voltage converter is in the cord.
Another great way to power a GPS is to install a handlebar mounted power socket. Powerlet makes a really good one as well as a full line of sockets to mount in various places on a bike. The plugs and sockets they use are vibration resistant, water resistant and they handle 15 amps of load. Along with that, they make cords to connect many common GPS models. The nice thing about Powerlet is that you can mount a power outlet on your bars, run the cable back to your battery and use that outlet year round; cold weather, simply plug in heated gloves or vest. On a riding adventure, plug in a GPS. In the off-season, plug in a battery tender to keep your battery topped up.
So now your GPS is mounted and wired. Time to go for a ride. Depending on what you installed, rain may be a problem. The Zumo and the Rider are waterproof. The manufacturers guarantee you can sink them one metre deep for 30 minutes with no leaks. Bet you or your bike might have a problem with that! The car GPSs are another story. They are not waterproof or vibration proof. A lot of the riders using car GPS units just carry a baggie to cover the GPS if they get caught in an unexpected rain. Some of the riders figure even if their GPS gets trashed by the rain, it’s better to risk losing a $200 car GPS to rain damage than to spend over $800 for a waterproof one. You can kinda’ see their point.
What else makes a bike GPS better for riding than the ones made for cars? One thing is safety related. GPS models made specifically for bikes speak their turn by turn driving instructions (some including the street name, like ” turn right on Main street”) and they do that into your helmet. They do that either with a wired connection or using Bluetooth. Hearing the turn instructions is much safer than taking your eyes off the road and trying to read the screen. Many car GPS units only have a speaker and hearing that on a bike may be a problem. A wired connection from the GPS to the bike will work great if you have an intercom on board and that intercom has an auxiliary input. Because the Zumo and the Rider GPS models have the ability to play MP3 music files, you can listen to your tunes, and when the GPS needs to say something, it pauses the tunes, says what it needs to and then picks up the music where it left off. A Bluetooth connection will do the same thing but does it without wires. There’s a lot to be said for not having wires whipping around in the wind! Anybody who has used a wired connection to anything on a bike can remember when they walked away from their ride while still plugged in. Funny, once! Bluetooth helmet kits like the Scala Rider, Interphone and models by IMC will give you connectivity without getting tangled up in wire. If you’re using a shorty helmet, you’ll probably have to use a bluetooth kit by IMC to get sound into your lid. So far, they seem to be the only maker that has a wireless setup for shortys.
On the topic of hearing things, I have to mention that the Zumo and the Rider can connect to your cell phone as well. If your phone supports it, you can even get the number or name of a caller on the screen. I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk on the phone when riding, especially if you like to wave your arms around during conversations, but if that caller is important enough you can pull over and take the call safely through your intercom or bluetooth equipped helmet.
Bike GPS units are also designed to be rider friendly. For example, the screen on the Zumo has big enough letters that you can enter an address with your wet gloves on. Please don’t try that when riding! The Zumo also has a gas gauge capability that will start to notify you when the estimated gas remaining is less than a quarter tank. The neat thing is that if you acknowledge it, the GPS will show you a list of the nearest gas stations including the distance and direction. Some GPS models will record a track of where you have been so you can save it to ride again, or to share with friends. Finally, the bike GPS mounts by both manufacturers lock to prevent the GPS from bouncing out if you hit a bump in the road, but they release quickly when you want to stop at the end of the day.
Those Bluetooth earpieces I mentioned earlier also work great as a rider-to-passenger intercom or rider-to-rider. The ones by IMC give about a 100-metre range while the Scala Rider and the Interphone claim to give up to a 500-metre range. To some of us riding two-up, that may not be a benefit. Some bikers prefer the pure riding experience including the uninterrupted sound of a strong engine and a good exhaust and they don’t mind if their passenger gives them a whack on the helmet when it’s time to stop for lunch.
The mapping in most GPS models covers all of Canada and the U.S.A. The makers all seem to claim about six million Points Of Interest (POI) including gas stations, ATMs, restaurants, hotels and shopping. For many POI’s, even the phone number is given so you can look up a hotel in the town where you plan to stop for the night and then call to book a room. If your riding takes you to places like Mexico and Europe, add on maps are available from major manufacturers. Just check with a GPS dealer.
If you really want to get out there and see the sights, a company called Madmaps (www.madmaps.com) has created a series of pre-planned scenic road trips including points of interest, commentary and where to take the best photographs. They are like taking a guided tour with hand picked routes that have been scouted out by locals to give you the best possible experience. So far they are only offering the electronic versions to work on Garmin GPS models, but they do make printed versions as well. If you want to cruise the length of historic Route 66 or tour the Colorado Rockies, Madmaps will help make that ride more memorable.
For their machines, Garmin offers a Fodor’s travel guide on a plug-in card that adds extra info into the GPS including more information on restaurants such as ratings and prices.
If your riding adventures are really off the wall, you may have fun with stuff from the website POI Factory (www.poi-factory.com). Here you can download info that you can install into a GPS including things like state parks, highway rest stops, wi-fi hotspots and even a database of all the Tim Horton’s in Canada.
Finally, you probably wouldn’t feel good if your bike GPS ends up permanently attached to the handlebars. The good news is that they either come with a car mount or the manufacturers offer one as an accessory so that GPS can work for you year round.
If you want to find out more about GPS products for motorcycles, check with a reseller that handles the accessories as well as the GPS. To get the installation just the way you like it, you may need to do a bit of mix and match. It’s so much easier to do if the things you need are under one roof and the store will let you take them out to your bike to see how they look. A couple of examples are GPS Central (www.gpscentral.ca) and Radioworld (www.radioworld.ca).
So by all means, leave your GPS off and enjoy getting lost, but when you really want to get there, turn it back on.
Steve Parsons has been into motorcycling for 40 years, in which time he has traversed the North American continent a number of times. He bought his first GPS in 1989, that set him back $2,000 and it didn’t even have maps. He has been into GPSs ever since. When he isn’t riding or playing with a GPS, he enjoys playing his bass guitar with buddies at local pubs and roadhouses.
