Chet's Spyder Page

EZ SPLICE-IN PIGGY BACK METHOD
Minimum bulk - EZ to install - EZ to reverse
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*Click here for an audio reading of this section.

Since this method will be used throughout and there will be more additions to this page as time goes on, the description of the method used to connect the wires is right here up front! I don't like Scotch locks for wire splice in. Even LeverLocks , which are very large (often too large for tight spaces), require you cut a wire or two. BOTH are bulky, often

loosen over time and corrode. Soldering is best, but that is sometimes very difficult if not impossible. I often use the "tuck and roll" method (shown at right) which works good on smaller connectors with light gauge wires, but that's sometimes not practical with these tight mini connectors. Using, in the order of ease of use and durability: best is a safety pin leg (good for waterproof connectors like these), a leg from a diode/resistor, 1 inch length of 20-22 gauge bell wire (solid copper not strands) or a ceiling tile staple, one can make a "probe" that will slip into a connector from behind on the plug as shown. Grab a proper size gauge diode or safety pin and cut off a leg leaving enough to re-use the diode. Solder your lead onto one leg end leaving about 1/2" or more of a leg free. Put on some heat shrink and lube it good with bulb grease and insert tightly into the back of the plug so that it makes good contact with the connector of the needed wire. After "smoke" testing, zip tie

or tape it to the existing wire and zip tie to the harness too for good strain relief. (if doing a waterproof connector, you can add a dollop of hot glue or bulb grease before tying off). This way, if you ever need to disconnect that which you have connected, simply cut the zip ties and "unplug" your piggy back EZ Splice. Works great and it's easy. One helpful thing here is to use a "Helping Hand" soldering stand available at Radio Shack to help make a neat solder of the wire to the leg/pin. I've been using this method for 20 years in inclement weather of all sorts including snow, salt and mud (on my quads) and have never lost a connection. To the purist. A connector is a device which slides one metal "blade" over another metal "blade" to make a connection. We are merely doing exactly the same thing. There are commercial versions of this here: *click me*

This outlet/inlet supplies power for my heated gear and doubles as a receiver from my battery maintainer. Pulled the bag and used a 1/4" coaxial connection between the bag and body so that I can unplug it should I ever need to remove the bag again. Drilled one hole and hid all the wiring under the seat coming from the battery directly using the BuRP supplied fused SAE plug in the frunk. I merely changed to a 15 amp fuse in the factory pigtail. This is Warm n Safe's outlet module.

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After trying many combinations of controllers, I finally settled on using the DUAL REMOTE from warm&safe. The receiver is about the size of a pack of Dentine and hides well inside your jacket and there is only one wire from me to the bike for power. When in use, the knob unit gets attached with Velcro to the meter panel on my wing or mounted on the tank cap key hole cover with a simple rubber band which makes for easy to tethering to the key so it won't ever fly off. The receiver is in the inside pocket of my jacket and barely noticeable. When donning my homemade pants, the plug goes into the second power out of the receiver wired through the waistband under the jacket. Click pic for larger view (shown on my 2006 gold wing @ left and my 2016 F3T @ right).

To load new routes (trips) on a 57 Nüvi from the sd, insert the card and reboot the GPS (it takes some time).

I could not afford nor did I want to spend upward of $700 for a zumo. I obtain inexpensive Nüvi off eBay for use on my bikes. For weather proofing, just carry some sandwich bags to cover it. It's still visible and workable. Too, even if it does get ruined wet, you're only out under $50.
RAM stuff is just too bulky. More suited for mounts on a dually truck! I am a minimalist so I went my own route. I bought a Garmin Nüvi 57 LM for $60 on eBay. I did utilize RAM's Garmin Nüvi 57LM cradle

($12 eBay). I drilled and tapped 2 holes in my bar clamp for #10 screws. I bent a hunk of 14 gauge light steel at a 45° angle and mounted it to my cradle and clamp. The screws need to be hex head to both the clamp & cradle so that one can tighten them in the narrow space. Painted black with DupliColor truck bed liner it blends right fine with F3T textured black motif. Power comes up from the OEM GPS System power (which is found behind the left rear lateral body panel near the GPS audio in) using one of these GPS circuit connectors. I extended the GPS OEM power connector (goes live with the key and dies 10 seconds after key off) to up to the front under the service panel where I put a "cigarette lighter" plug there to use the supplied power cable from Garmin threaded up through the button/key shroud. Minimal. The pic to the left shows the rider view and the full compliment of the Spyder dash is unobstructed. The pic to the right shows the mount. Click here to see a garage door opener mounted with magnet.

The F3-T has a radio. Included in the OEM wiring is a male 1/8" jack (like earbuds) to place into a 1/8" audio female plug. When the radio gets a

signal from a GPS connected there it will mute the music and play the prompt from it ("Turn left at the traffic light"). Some GPS models have a headfone /audio out female but most do not and if they do, they are way above my pay grade. I use a Garmin 57 Nüvi which has none so I added an audio out to it by soldering on the clearly labeled board the

RED to the speaker + (plus) and

BLACK to the s

peaker -- (minus) from a cut off 1/8" headfone extension female end. To get inside a Nüvi take out the 4 #T5 Star screws then run a spudger or fingernail around the edge until the case pops open. Take care not to damage the ribbon cable. On my Nüvi 57 it was necessary to trim the plastic a little to make room for the pigtail. I hot glued the wire routed through the case so there would be good strain relief and a dollop for dust/water proof where it exits the case. Snap the case back together. It will fully snap shut once you replace the screws. I ran another 1/8" headfone extension cord (6 feet should do) from the bike's male GPS audio input (which is found behind the left rear lateral body panel) up to my Garmin mount and plugged its male into my 57's new female output pigtail. You must adjust the volume on your GPS to match that of the OEM radio so the prompts won't shout too loudly.

To activate it the first time, it may be necessary to switch your input to NAV and cause the GPS to sound. After that, it will work to mute any audio source (USB, line in, FM) for the GPS prompts. Click the pics for larger labeled images. The 57LMTraffic Nüvi sends a click about 2 seconds past prompt, but the 57LM Nüvi does not which is more pleasing.

[hint] the GPS input is a full compliment audio capable of playing a full audio source such as a cell phone or mp3 player*. If you have a cell phone that reads your text messages to you, use this input to mute the stereo and play your message as if it was a GPS prompt. This is an IDEAL way to use a music capable ZUMO! Set the input to NAV for full time audio using this input for the output of the ZUMO. * If you have a model that does not provide an audio in for prompts, Kennedy has an interface that will do it for you.

To load CUSTOM ROUTES into the Nüvi 57, create them (Base Camp etc) then copy them to the Garmin/gpx folder on the SD Card and reboot your unit. It will automatically (but very slowly so have patience) load them and you can find them under the "Trip Planner" app on the GPS! Easy Peasy!

LED 1156 Bulb installed on left.

Or how I beat the CANbus
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The OEM turn signals in the rear are incandescent and hopelessly dim. I wanted to add surface mount Ultra Bright LED lights (T3) in the guise of Feniex T3 Perimeter Mount LED (Amber) to supplement them. However, the CANbus is a pain in the BUS! When I first tried to put these extra T3 lights on, I just (foolishly) hooked them up straight to the signal wires on each side using the EZ-Splice method shown above. The T3s worked. but the bike went into

rapid fire bulb out error. UGH! So now what? The lights draw about .3 AMPs which is likely too much for the CANbus circuit to not error. The idea struck me to insert a relay inline so the BUS would see very little draw ameliorating the difference between installed and not. The relay was small & meant for a computer, but it still drew too much current. I had one Radio Shack reed relay in my collection so I tried that... voilà! It worked! But I only had one. On the other side I tried a smaller computer relay and again voilà! I used the tail circuit (orange) to feed +12v to the extra LED reducing the load on the signal wire. The OEM signal +12v (left is

GRAY/PINK right is

BROWN/YELLOW) is fed to the relay coil and ground is

BLACK ground. I purchased some 4 conductor wire at Lowes which had RED, BLACK, GREEN & WHITE wires. The pic illustrates which wires to where on the reed relay (eBay) and the arrows show it on the computer relay and if you need to know what the relay terminal numbers mean, look

>here<. These relays can be found on eBay and @ Radio Shack. The T3 needs to be set to full bright on mode which times out in about 5 seconds but it works well for a signal. That mode is between strobe once then full (light just strobes as a signal so can't use) and constant on but dim (clearly unsatisfactory). How to for T3 surface program and wire at this video.

I replaced the OEM signal bulbs with an LED 1156 that has a resistor built in so the CANBUS doesn't get mad. It's about 50% brighter, but that is near impossible to photo. Works on my system and did not result in a hyper flash. YMMV of course. See the video at left or below.

NOTE: All the above is BEFORE I discovered that there was a way to "teach" the CANBUS how to tolerate added lights. If you have a pre-2018 model, check the video below in the (PINK) beat the CANBUS another way article. It works and I have eliminated the relays and plugged directly into the T3 surface mounts from the YELLOW wire on the bulb side of the harnesses on each side. The above method is for those who may be able to use it on later models of the F3.

SUPER BRIGHT SIGNAL LIGHTS
EZ Access to the interior of the light on F3-T
To access the signal wiring remove the four body clips under the bag lid AFTER having taped in place the metal tab as shown. Under the bag is a #20 torx which must be removed. You can then pull the tail light bag assembly apart and out (like opening a clam) to reveal the inner wiring. Put a 2x4 block to keep it open. This will give you access to the inner wiring without much work. Click the pics below for a larger view.

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The stock horn is one of those totally inadequate "gee, I'm sorry to bother you but beep ".. pieces of junk. I was always happy with my GL1800 horns and found a set (hi & lo) on eBay for $24! The harmonics produced with the stock horn and the GL horns is BLARING! The strobes fire for 15 seconds after the first BEEP! I've been running horny strobes for many years on all my bikes and never had a problem with any LEO. The horns and wiring are mounted behind the grille with sticky tape in that big cavern under the frunk.

The necessary wiring diagram is shown below for just adding horns or at the left using a standard Bosch auto relay, a time delay relay and an alternating strobe module for strobes. Because the OEM horn wire is always hot, the horn button completes the ground at the horn. We use that

GREEN/GREY GROUND to switch our BOSCH relay at terminal 85. I powered it all directly

from the battery lead supplied with the F3T NOT the horn wire. I replaced the 7.5 amp fuse in it with a 10 amp fuse which the wire gauge will easily handle. The LEDs I used were from an old set of remote programmable strobes but the module it came with didn't remember the setting after being unpowered so I just used the 4 LED lights with another alternating strobe module. I mounted the lights to the grille with the sticky back that comes on them and a zip tie through the screen and around the wire of each light. The end of the video below >CLICK<. shows the action. You can run very many strobe lights off any strobe module by using the same relay I used for my signals or the 10 amp version. You will need two relays for alternating. Circuit here:>click<. Video below or

^^^^^^^^^^
For just adding horns

FENDER MOUNTED
HIGH VISIBILITY WITH ROAD LEVEL BEAMS
USING 2.5" BLUE HALO LED PROJECTOR LIGHTS
Get these LED fogs here from amazon or here from eBay. If you cannot buy at the link, make sure you buy solid white halo lenses, not the mosaic clear. These lights are great for conspicuity meaning they help others see YOU! For the fender, The supplied bracket is curled around the base of the fog lamp then zip tied to stay bent. The supplied Phillips screws with a washer added is used to mount light to the bracket top & bottom use Loctite or hot glue on threads. The assembly is then mounted to the fender using an M6 hex head bolt (not Allen - you need to get an open end wrench in there to tighten) plus washer into the top slot of the bracket into the original fender bolt threaded hole. Switched using an Olinco U19C2 push button switch with a blue halo (just like the lights) + the connector mounted in the OEM heated grips switch hole near the gas cap. The light's blue halo is connected to the GPS circuit so that they come on immediately with the key and turn of after a delay when the key is turned off. The wiring is 22AWG 4 conductor wire from Lowes with red & white twisted together as shown.

Click for printable scale pattern

UPPER STOCK MOUNTING
HIGH VISIBILITY WITH HIGH LEVEL BEAMS
USING 2.5" BLUE HALO LED PROJECTOR LIGHTS

Get these LED fogs here. If you cannot buy at the link, make sure you buy ones that match the solid white halo lenses seen below, not the mosaic clear. These lights are great for conspicuity meaning they help others see YOU! The pattern at the left is for the two plates you must make for mounting.

They can be any suitable material. I used 1/8" aluminum procured at a scrap yard for about $3. Choose something that is heavy enough to support the lights and is easy to work with. Paint them flat black (duplicolor truck bed liner?). The assemblies are then mounted to the body using 6 30mm M8 hex head bolts, 6 M8 and Nylock nuts and 6 3/8" fender washers through the holes in the frame behind the upper body side panels. Switched using an Olinco U19C2 push button switch with a blue halo (just like the fender lights) & the connector mounted in the OEM switch hole near the gas cap for the fog lights. The light's blue halo is connected to the GPS circuit so that they come on immediately with the key and turn of after a delay when the key is turned off. The wiring is 22AWG 4 conductor wire from Lowes with

red &

white twisted together as shown. You can run the power from the original OEM harness with the proper 3 wire connectors. If done with your own wiring like the lowers above, utilize the "USER" circuit with those wires. Remove the heat shields on the upper side panels to make room for the lights. To really polish the job get a set of LIGHT shrouds. Click here to see details in this picture and at the link.

This ol' trailer, a Pace 7' x 12', modified to fit my wyder Spyder

It was necessary to mod my old Pace 7 x 12 trailer which hauled my GL1800 wings for many years. One mod that I had already made to get my wings up into it on rainy days was to use roofing shingles laid down with truss/lath screws for traction on the slippery when wet wooden ramp. These now serve the drive wheel of the F3 admirably. The old doorway was too narrow to fit the F3 front wheels & fenders.

The next mod then was to remove the 3/4" door jam up to 24" from the bottom with a cut off wheel. I then laid down some paneling batten as a guide that was visible on the floor from the saddle of my F3 to keep the wheels aligned inside and spaced so that they would be centered preventing a scrape of the tires/fenders on the sides.

I have several loops on the floor through which to run belts to tie the old girl down. These combined with the F3 parking brake keep her settled & behaved until we get to our destination.

I have modified my center hi running lights so they work like a high mounted brake light by wiring the LEDs with a resistor and diodes as shown >CLICK<.

	*Click here for a background audio reading of this section. *Click here for an audio reading of this section.I have employed a new method to tie her down using an E-track strip and a single 2" heavy ratchet strap. However, what seems easy is knot! For the F3-T, getting a single strap over the rear tire for anchoring with E-track is a challenge. There are two methods. Remove the mud guard (which is a chore in itself*) and reach over the top of the tire to drop the 2" E-track strap down in front of it. Works great just like what the RT guys can do. Then re-install the mudguard once you untie her at your destination (another REAL chore in itself but see *** below). With the mudguard on, it is impossible to get that strap over the tire and keep it centered. At your camping/trailer/hardware store, find the 32" heavy duty "pipe cleaner" Gear Tie shown. Fold it in half then thread it through the wheel spokes inside the belt pulley and bend the ends together in a hook pattern. Loop the 2" E-track strap over it & push it up as far as you can reach on each side of the fender, then roll the bike forward about 28 inches. Reach between the muffler and the rear side cover and flip the strap toward the front where you can grab it with a telescoping magnet and pull it through. Hook it into your E-track and move the bike back to where you need it for weight distribution. Unset that brass then re-set it just in front of the tire. Using another belt's brass, thread the working strap through the slot and then clip that brass just behind the tire. One cannot use an E-track idler because it's too high so we make an idler out of the second strap (which will work well with a plain F3 rear fender). Go through the ratchet as normal and crank it tight. To make a bit more firm, let some air out of the tire and crank it tight. Put a little of the air back. Once you unload, inflate to your normal pressure. We also keep that extra strap for use on another setup if need be. Harbor Freight has all the E-track parts you need and any camping store has the 32' Gear Ties. In addition to the single strap, I have replaced the lower front shock bolts with M10 x 55 stainless eye bolts for tow or tie. They will accept soft ties or hooks for tow to pull up on a flatbed or for tie downs if need be. I got them on eBay for cheep then cut them to size with a cut off wheel and used the OEM M10 nuts for a solid mount. Updated! To secure the bike from rolling forward and aft because braking exerts more force on trailer loads than does acceleration, one must secure the bike from both directions. This bike is heavy and it will move! So I have modified my eye bolt set to work both ways. While still using the replacement eye bolt for the shock bolt with the m10 x 55 (which you may need to cut off 5mm off the end if you get the 60mm linked), I have added m10 x 40mm coupling nuts which replace the OEM locking shock nuts and screwed into them I have added M10 20mm shaft eye bolts to complete the set. One must mount these nuts & eye bolts with the coupling nuts to the front of the bike or the set will strike the caliper upon lock to lock turns. IMPORTANT**! Apply high strength thread locking to the coupling nut both ends. IMPORTANT! To the floor I have added two anchor points to secure with two short belts each side front and rear (4 anchors & 4 belts). One other modification I made for my trailer was shortening the crank strap so my front wheels could make a bit more room at the man-door. I cut the belt from the original e-track hickey and re-sewed it using normal thread and a zig-zag stitch on a regular sewing machine (same machine I used for my heated grips). On the crank part, I removed the bolt so I could sew close to the end of the belt and then returned the bolt like it was attached originally. See the pic below... ******* Having been completely frustrated (another BuRP engineer fuvx up) by trying to re-install the mudguard to its berth, and because in so trying I broke off two of the pins, I re-engineered the set up using some brains and real world experience (unlike the BuRP guys which have neither). I used some dykes and cut off all the pins. I fitted the two body pins in the bags with new black #8 screws from AutoZone and tossed the plastic OEM ones. I then duct taped the mudguard to the fender in place leaving space where my screws were to go. As best I could for alignment, I drilled four holes through both the fender and the mudguard with a 1/8" bit while holding the mudguard firmly in place. With a firm grip on the guard and using a low speed low torque power driver I ran 4 #8 of the AutoZone #45570 screws as shown in the pic. This snugged the assembly nicely. I removed the duct tape. Now to pull it for putting the single belt on, I just remove the 6 screws and once you yank the body pins from the bags, down goes Frazier! Easy peasy. I now can easily remove the mudguard for tie down just like the RT guys can do or to show off my Kumho ECSTA AST 225/50R15 tire at bike night (making sure I don't encounter wet pavement*). And putting it back is painless for riding. This has a bonus for removing the rear wheel for tire mounting as well. Eventually the screws may loosen up so I can switch to #10's or afix the 054030 Jnuts to the mudguard.

	*And if you ask "Why don't you just leave the mudguard off?" Here are two pics of a ride I took with it off and merely encountered a single 3" stream of dirty water coming off a driveway. All the speckles (pic1 Pic2) are from just that single 3" stream. I had some on my jacket back and some on my helmet. Imagine if I had encountered dirty construction water for miles! No thanks. And a side note, there is a gasket in the fender and and drain holes in the mudguard.

First of all, this 11.5 inch (280mm) Moparty extender arrived on Monday in one day from Amazon. I installed it and went

for a ride. I could not believe it worked so well! It was 55° and sunny and dead calm. I thought the fact that it was dead calm is why I was getting no wind AT ALL. So much so that I rode immediately back home and took it off then headed out again. Back was the familiar turbulance around my eyes and my glasses insert was rattling - my sinuses were getting cold again. So, I rode home - put it back on and all that went away! Totaly dead air! I could hear my stereo at freeway speeds! Best part, I could still look "over" my F4 through the gap.

I have an F4 tall with their extra hand wings and Slingshot side extenders from Baker to which I added extensions of my own. I have an old football neck injury that requires me to have good air control without a full coverage helmet which is too heavy for me to wear. I've always wished that the F4 was bigger like on my GL1800*. When it's cold, my eyes, glasses with a rattling insert & my sinuses get cold. The xcreen clone gave me the finishing touch by ending that problem. Would I recommend the xcreen or this $40 Moparty clone 11.5 inch (280mm)? YES! As always, YMMV!

Note that adding protection with a large shield will cause a backdraft from behind as air is sucked into the vacuum behind the shield. Some solutions to that problem can be found on my

page.

@ LEFT: Desperately hating Torx. I am on a mission to eliminate all Torx (star) screws on my F3. I am using m5 x .8 x 20mm stainless black oxide pan head phillips screws. I got them on Amazon but you might be able to find them elsewhere. I bought 50 of them for $13 on Amazon. Considering that each of the OEM Torx are $4 each and just one side needs four it's a bargain. I also use these on my quad as well.

@ RIGHT: Finding a protected place to mount my GoPro 7 Black, I settled on using the plastic slide mount from the packaging attached to my dash visor using Command Adhesive strips which don't permanently mar the finish and allows me to bridge the peak on the visor top while keeping the camera centered. Applied some flat black PlastiDip to the glossy glove box lid to keep reflections on the shield to a minimum.

For power for my XM in the glove box, my GoPro on the dash and whatever else I may need power for above the dash, I have mounted a set of cigarette lighter sockets under the left service panel. From those I can put the business ends of the power supplies up to the units by snaking under the dash up through the vents on either side of the glove box. If I'm not using them at this time, I merely loop them over the ribs of the vent. Do zip tie the lighter parts together under the service cover or they may vibrate apart.

Bought a 36mm combination wrench for belt adjustments and tensioning from Menard's. I cut it in half with an angle grinder and cut off wheel to use it on both the axle bolt (box end) and the axel nut (open end) without pulling the split pin. Axle nut torque is 160lbs. Got a $9 36mm socket off Amazon for both the axle and oil filter cap which makes getting the oil cap off a breeze! Used a Krikit 2 for checking the belt tension which should be between 160 and 190 by that gauge with the wheel OFF the ground following instructions in this video. If you can't get your dealer to install that Kumho or Toyo tire (they normally won't unless it's a Kenda purchased from them) then you will need to remove your wheel and sprocket taking in your tire with you to an independent power sport shop. I got mine mounted at Cycle Specialties in Taylors SC for $40 in 30 minutes while I waited. Your local shop might be able to remove it and do it all, call them and ask. Rear wheel removal and strip is shown in this video.

Related, if you need to check your rear brake pads for wear on a bagger (F3t or ltd) get a selfie stick and orient your camera just right and you can get a pic of both pads on the rear wheel. Why is this important? Because they often don't wear evenly and getting the outer pad too thin makes getting the screw in piston to engage the cylinder threads can be seriously difficult.

Instead of just adding bar end weights, I tried to make the balance useful by installing a s

et of two bar end mirrors. With the bars rolled all the way forward to the top (best reach for me), it takes some work to look into the OEMs which ends the quick glance procedure. I put these 3" on the end to restore the frequent glance. They are convex wide angle. If I see something in the mirror that needs more attention, I'll just lean forward & look in my stock mirrors (but I rarely need to). They work pretty good as vibration dampeners too. Screws right into the bar ends with an M6 x 30mm long phillips (or whatever you have on hand). I started with a different 3 inch mirror though (pic above). For that one use the supplied bolt through the pipe mount. See pic for more.

Bungee loops for tie downs & RACK

The problem with tie downs across the back seat... Bungees mar the

handles and or the seat vinyl. What to do? You could buy some expensive bungee hooks or such, but I have fixed it for pennies with black paracord. You can choose another color, but all you need to is tie a loop of paracord using the bowline knot as shown at right and capture it behind the big washers. Make sure you melt the paracord to itself at the knot to avoid inadvertent undoing.

I searched SpYder boards for jacking points on my F3T yesterday because I'm doing my 3K inspection and oil change. I found many references to the A arms and rear shock with admonishments to NEVER USE EITHER! One fellow said that he put the front wheels on ramps and jacked the rear with the lower shock eye. He got the same admonishments from many respondents. I have an MC/ATV lift, but for the F3 the balance point requires me to put the pads so that removing the drain plugs would be next to impossible. So, I did my due diligence and searched the F3 service manual and found on pages 473 and 679 the following instructions to use BOTH or either when jacking the bike!

At left see how to restore a scratched finish. Click it.

-----

Click me to see!

My shock loses about 5 pounds a week air. I grew tired of pulling the seat to check the pressure with a tire gauge, plus the fact that the air bag is so small, using a gauge loses pounds by the action itself. . I got a 6"x4"x2" tiny tire pump on eBay ($22) and dropped a female CCTV pigtail into a 5/8" hole that I drilled in the back of the bag for power. I got some tire valve braided 12" extenders for the air ($12 a pair). I then threaded the valve extensions joined end to end through the frame and down into the hole with the power wire and screwed the pump onto it. Note that road grime can enter your bag through the hole unless you use silicone to fill the hole essentially making a "grommet" to seal it. Now all I need to do is open the bag and check the still connected pump's gauge. If it needs air, I plug the pump into the +12v and flip the switch. If I need the pump to actually fill something else, it's easy enough to disconnect it and free it up for the other job. The pump comes with an 8ft power cord with a cig lighter plug and I have made a pigtail with two of those (for fone charging) and another female CCTV for the pump. Win! Win! WIN!

Construction of a laser alignment tool is relatively simple and inexpensive. For mine I used bar of aluminum 6" x 3" x 0.25" 6062 aluminum bar off Amazon but you can use a chunk of wood to achieve the same result. I already had the Laser Gun Sight for use on my XD-40 SubCompact but you could easily use a simple cat toy laser pointer so long as you align it perfectly along the center and attach it to your "brick" firmly. Make sure it has a slide switch to keep it on, not a push button that you need to hold. For leveling, any line level can work, but I chose to use the one that sells at Walmart for $3 because it affords two points at which to align your tool with your rim. To attach it to the aluminum, I used Loctite Power Grab construction adhesive which you can use to attach your cat toy as well. I screwed the Picatinny rail piece to the aluminum along the center line to mount the gun sight that I already owned (if you use screws make sure they to not protrude out the back of your "brick"). Center the laser and the level and you are good to go! Check the You Tube video to see how it all works once you make it.

Toyo Proxes T 185/55-15 up front - I'm in love!

These Toyo Proxes T 185/55-15 tires go where you point them. Sounds odd, right? Well, compared to the Krappy Kendas this bike ships with, it isn't odd. The Kendas, with their checkerboard tread pattern, would go everywhere, especially when you needed to brake quickly. If you got on a road that had a little character, they wandered badly. They would follow every dip, patch and hole they could find. Not the Toyo. Rock steady unless you get on a really really bad road. They are fat. I had to shim my fenders toward the bike some (thanks Mike!). On the right side I needed two stacked 3/8" lock washers just putting the shim on the front brace not the back and it moved the fender in about .20". On the left, one 3/8" lock washer for .10" up front did the job. The tread pattern is a good match for my Kumho ECSTA AST 225/50R15 on the back.

These Toyo tires roar in the turns. But while they roar, they stick to the road like glue. Now, I don't want you to think these tires upset the nanny because they DON'T! I have yet to have the nanny interrupt my fun with the Kendas or these Toyo tires. They seriously make this bike more stable and much more fun! For example: On State Park Road there is a 60° left sharp curve and halfway through that turn for some reason there is an off camber dip in the road (off camber meaning the road changes from banking for a left that helps make the turn into an opposite bank that hinders it creating a nightmare). With the Kendas, that change in bank made the road try to pitch me into the right hand ditch. With the Toyos, no problem. They just get a bit louder and navigate the turn just fine and faster than I ever could with the Kendas. I barely notice the hazard.

I've experimented with pressures from 18# to 22#. I run 20# right now and have settled on that being the proper pressure. 20 PSI will do it. No slop and no feeling every pebble in the road. Just sweet sweet traction. Don't hesitate getting these tires.

The guy that mounted them didn't have cones small enough for my new PP wheels to spin balance. I added 2.5 ounces of balancing beads in each tire using EZ Tire Beads from Amazon. Got the MC kit 2&3 ounce bags and took .5 ounces out of the the 3 oz. bag adding it to the 2 oz. bag.
NO BEADS!!
After experimenting with beads, THEY DON'T WORK! With the help of my good friend Denny, we broke the bead and removed all the beads. There was no need to balance the wheels & tires afterwards. They are smoooth as glass with no weights.

The tires were mounted on PPA wheels at a regular tire shop. The PPA wheels shown in the pics are from Slingmods @ this address. https://www.slingmods.com/can-am-spyder-orb-series-front-rims-ppa-wheels

Don't ask me how I know the following... If you have extra fender lights and wiring along the front fender pipe, make damn sure you have the wires pulled all the way toward the bike outside the fender zip tied & taped away from the tire to the max. Those little 3 conductor wires cannot take a joke.

Materials needed:
All PVC shown are 3/4" Schedule 40.
.. 1" x 8" x 2 foot pine board.
.. 2 foot section of 3/4" PVC pipe
.. 4 3/4" elbows
.. 4 3/4" PVC adapters slip-on one side threaded the other side
.. threaded plug (but see optional)
.. 3/8"x 4 four inch bolts &
.. 4 3/8" nuts
.. 8 3/8" washers 1 inch OD
.. 4 (M6 x 65) Phillips screws

When you drill through your 1 x 8 x 2 foot board for the seat bolts, use a big 3/4" drill bit because the screws are hard to line up. For the 4 PVC & plug holes use 1/2" bit. You will need 1 inch longer (size M6 x 65) Phillips screws to replace the screws supplied to add the board. You will need to cut away the vinyl from around the holes in bottom of the seat in any case or good luck getting it lined up & the screws started. I used 3/8" bolts for the handles because that's what I had on hand. If you use smaller bolts you will still need to get 1" OD washers. Finger tighten the supplied bolts then mark the board where you will drill for the seat. Assemble the seat & board to the braces first then do the lower bolts & acorn nuts before tightening anything down. Have fun!

I run a $70 Quansheng TG-UV2 and/or a $25 Baofeng UV-5R both purchased a few years ago. I have two of each. The radio is hung on a homemade panel mounted to my right bar with extended screws and spacers as shown at right. I put a hook Velcro piece on the mount and each radio has under the belt clip on the battery the loop Velcro mate which prevents the radio from rattling and ensures it stays in place. I use just the Rubber Duck seen at left which works well enough for bike to bike communications when the radio is mounted vertically on its bracket.

The wiring diagram for keying the headset is shown at left (just mash the ground of the pins together).

I built my own key method for my special needs boom mic. I used two very thin terminals to insert under the radio's headset pins so they touch the GROUND on each pin. To those I soldered the red and black wires (keeping them isolated) of the cut off MALE end of a 1/8" headphone extension cord. I used silicone molding compound to make them stronger and keep them spaced. I found it necessary to grind down the shoulder of the headset hollow on the Baofeng radio to keep the terminals from breaking. For the key button, under the throttle I mounted a momentary switch which shorts the ground & red wires of the FEMALE end of the extension cord. For that I made another bracket by drilling two holes in the bottom of the right switch housing and put through a pair of #10 screws to mate with the holes in my homemade bracket. The material for that bracket was simply a length of aluminum carpet edging (pic) which is cast bent for strength. I mount the radio on its bracket and plug the male radio 1/8" into the bike's female 1/8". When I press the momentary it mashes together the pin grounds and keys the unit.

For gloved hands, I do have a mounted "stylus" on my bars that serves as a stylus when the pen point is retracted for the Garmin and point extended as a pen for making quick notes on paper if need be. It is attached to the bars with a spring loaded key/ID card reel so it won't get lost and there is a neodymium magnet epoxied to it so it rests handily on my Ham bracket.

		Do one side at a time. Some BMX pegs are recessed like the ones I used seen at left (I had them on hand). Some are not. It may be necessary to drill out the peg's mounting hole to 3/8" (9.5MM) to accommodate the new bolt. You will use the double nuts as spacers like I did or on the inside of a flush hollow peg (as ssen at right) to get the spacing correct. Your goal is to get the protrusion out of the end of the frame cap to be 1" (25mm). Assemble your bolt and peg so that the bolt protrudes 54mm or 2" beyond the end of your peg. Insert your 3/4" (19mm) Hillman spacer into the frame cap so that your bolt protrudes about 1" when mounted (seen at left). Be careful when you screw that bolt into the actual frame. You will need to move the frame member some to line it up. Cross thread is probable unless you are very careful here. If you do cross thread, all is not lost. You can "repair" the threads by rounding and slotting the bolt (click pic). Tighten to about 25 foot pounds. Ryde! CAUTION! RIDING WITH YOUR RIGHT FOOT RESTED ON THE THIRD PEG WILL INCREASE YOUR BRAKING REACTION TIME CONSIDERABLY. WE SUGGEST MOVING YOUR RIGHT FOOT FROM THE THIRD PEG TO THE BRAKE PEDAL WHILE AT A STOP MANY MANY MANY TIMES SO YOU HAVE "MUSCLE MEMORY" OF THE MOTION NEEDED TO BRAKE EFFECTIVELY!