New way to mount gps with reasonable cost

[droptine1968]

Hey all, I had a thought about mounting a gps to the r1200rt tank bag rack. I don't like tank bags, but was considering one for the gps, then came up with this idea for my nuvi 765. From GPS city, I ordered the ram cradle, and a marine device mount that comes with the diamond plate for the cradle, the regular size arm, and an aluminum rectangular plate. I ordered the short arm just in case I wanted to use that instead and spent around $40.00 plus shippingThe parts I ordered from GPScity.com are the following:

RAM-B-111-238U

RAM-HOL-GA26U

RAP-B-201U-A

Here are the pics. I did use rubber washers for dampening of vibrations along with the metal ones.

Here are the pics from the riding position with both the short and regular size arms

 

[droptine1968]

This is with the regular length arm

 

[droptine1968]

and this is with the short arm

 

[Dave_zoom_zoom]

Thanks droptine.

 

Very interesting! Which arm do you find works best for you? Long or short?

 

Dave

[droptine1968]

Thanks droptine.

 

Very interesting! Which arm do you find works best for you? Long or short?

 

Dave

I'm not quite sure yet as I just got it mounted last night and had to work today so I didn't get a chance to ride. I also will be powering the gps on the left side power socket, so I'm thinking that the long arm will be better to use to wrap the cable around it once or twice then run to the power outlet along the fearing. I do intend on getting the bmw pig tail and putting an outlet in that steering area, I just don't know when I'll get to it.

[Quinn]

You may find glare to be a problem in that position.

 

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[droptine1968]

You may find glare to be a problem in that position.

 

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I didn't think about that until I took the pictures last night. I do plan on getting a sun shade. But I will probablly pay more attention to the audio prompts anyway.

[Kurt B]

This looks like a nice way to mount your GPS. How do you like it? Would you recommend anything different?

[beemerboy]

I popped off the BMW logo cap from the steering stem of my K1200S and, after a short trip to the local Ace Hardware store ended up with this for my XM Radio:

 

I bought a black coated metric cap screw that screwed into the center of the steering assembly, combined it with a lock and flat washer that I painted black using paint I already had, and used some spare RAM mount parts I had on hand.

 

Total cost at Ace was <$6, total cost of RAM parts already on hand was <$20.

 

For what it's worth Verholen wants over $60 for something similar and that doesn't include shipping and tax.

[droptine1968]

This looks like a nice way to mount your GPS. How do you like it? Would you recommend anything different?

I haven't taken pics yet. I bolted a water resistant 12v cigarrette socket to the ram plate. Now, I don't have to run the power cord to the left side power outlet, and I just remove the ram arm with the gps still in the cradle and the power adapter all at once. I bought the bmw repair wire, wired that to the 12v cig plug. I now have to use the standard length arm because of the cigarette power socket. I will get pics up as soon as I can.

[BeemerLover]

Great solutions for those who prefer to ride without a tank bag.

 

If you prefer riding with one, the best and least expensive (<$10) way, IMHO at least, is to velcro GPS, MP3 players, etc. to a thin aluminum plate attached with stainless hardware to the back of a tank bag. I've never had anything fall off that was velcroed on and the connection is not rigid so bike vibration does not affect anything. I also electrified my tank bag and have cigar, USB, Gerbing and polarized SAE connectors inside so I can power/charge just about anything. I personally like having everything on my tank bag as all I need to do is to unplug the powerlet from the left hand fairing outlet, undo the tank bag and take everything with me when I go into a restaurant or hotel.

[DiggerJim]

I've never had anything fall off that was velcroed on and the connection is not rigid so bike vibration does not affect anything.

I lost my EZPass that way. It was Velcroed on and came flying off at speed riding the Minuteman 1K a couple of years ago. Since then nothing gets Velcroed that's not also ziptied. I did find 3M SuperLock on Amazon recently so I'm starting to switch stuff over to that. There's more of a mechanical connection to the two sides than there is to the two sides of Velcro.

[EddyQ]

I did find 3M SuperLock on Amazon recently so I'm starting to switch stuff over to that. There's more of a mechanical connection to the two sides than there is to the two sides of Velcro.

 

I'm a big fan of 3M Dual Lock. Same as SuperLock?

[DiggerJim]

I'm a big fan of 3M Dual Lock. Same as SuperLock?

Yeppers. My bad. Thought sure the package said super lock but it's here if you want some. This is a pretty decent sized package - they have others with smaller quantities or you can get it by the roll. This one is what I got though. Love the stuff!

[biometrics]

3M Dual Lock is what Virginia EZ-Pass issues with its transponders to hold them to the windshield of cars... They work well but the adhesive side can lose it's "stickiness"... when that happens you have to get new strips. EZ-Pass used to give them away if you needed them, but they may be charging for them now.

[George S.]

You can still get them from EZ-Pass free. I just did recently. There's a link on their website to request it.