New Bike Time - KTM 1290 Superduke R Special Edition
- Thread starter AndyCr15
- Start date
So I pick the bike up tomorrow. I've had them put on heated grips and a SatNav mount. Over the weekend I've been stressing that the mount will stick out and look silly... so I called today and the guy sent me over a couple of picks (I really recommend these guys, very helpful - The KTM Centre, Hemel)
Now I realise almost everyone will say 'yep, looks silly', but I'm trying to balance practicality (I'm really bad at directions without a SatNav) and not ruining the look of a gorgeous bike.
Obviously tomorrow I can get some better pictures of the look of the whole bike but, what do you think?
Now I realise almost everyone will say 'yep, looks silly', but I'm trying to balance practicality (I'm really bad at directions without a SatNav) and not ruining the look of a gorgeous bike.
Obviously tomorrow I can get some better pictures of the look of the whole bike but, what do you think?
I had mine mounted off the riser clamp using a RAM mount adapter kept it low profile and out of the way. I personally don't like where they've mounted the TomTom, it does encroach on the looks of the front of the bike. But horses for courses and all that! 
Yeah, that's how I had it on my CB1R. There's a very good chance I'll have them do that for me when I go back for my 500 mile service. We'll see. Certainly it will be more visible where they've put it, not sure I need it that visible though tbh.
Associate
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I have my tomtom right out of sight. I put a sena 10u in my helmet, synced it via blutooth to the tomtom, and find it much nicer to just use the audio instructions. When visable, I find I keep glancing at the screen to see how severe the corners are, rather than reading the road.
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Yeah, I do that quite a lot with SatNav in the car (almost always have Google Maps on, for traffic as well as checking bend severity) which makes me think I could use it more on the bike in a decent visible position.
So are you taking it to Switzerland next year? 
It's incredibly dangerous to use a SatNav like that. That's why misterjingo said he makes it so it's less visible and he won't try to kill himself by over relying on it for bend information.
Soldato
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I'd want that a bit lower myself, it's ok up there if there's a screen to tuck it behind.
As for using the satnav to know what is up ahead, I see no issue at all with this - I do it regularly - I did it on my Europe trip in Belgium in the ****ing rain, glancing every so often to see what bends were coming up. Last thing you want is to be surprised by a hairpin bend in heavy rain on roads you don't know...
Obviously you don't use it for the bend you're currently on, just to see the road ahead. It's also handy when you're stuck behind a slow car, if you can see there's a straight not far away you know you don't need to make a risky overtake to get past, and can wait.
Would you prefer to not know there's a 180 degree hairpin bend just over that blind crest, with no signs to tell you (as is normal in Europe)? The more information, the better - unless you rely on it of course, which is bad.
As for using the satnav to know what is up ahead, I see no issue at all with this - I do it regularly - I did it on my Europe trip in Belgium in the ****ing rain, glancing every so often to see what bends were coming up. Last thing you want is to be surprised by a hairpin bend in heavy rain on roads you don't know...
Obviously you don't use it for the bend you're currently on, just to see the road ahead. It's also handy when you're stuck behind a slow car, if you can see there's a straight not far away you know you don't need to make a risky overtake to get past, and can wait.
Would you prefer to not know there's a 180 degree hairpin bend just over that blind crest, with no signs to tell you (as is normal in Europe)? The more information, the better - unless you rely on it of course, which is bad.
The perfect balance of practicality and looks is this:
RAM Tough Claw, clamps on to your handlebars: http://www.rammount.com/products/tough-claw
If your satnav has a 1" ball, that'll work fine. I guess the only thing you need to figure out is how to route the power while the satnav isn't on the bike. With mine, I have a USB port under my battery cover, which is at the front of my tank, so it's easy for me. Might be awkward if the battery is at the back of the bike.
Yup, this also works nicely. You could get Google Maps, Waze or TomTom on your phone. TomTom may be best if it's stuck in your pocket with little signal. Google Maps and Waze both generally need data connections for routing.
I even used to just have earphones running from my phone in my pocket before I had my Sena.
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Never ever use a satnav to judge the upcoming corners.
Please be careful using it here. There are a few points I know of where the GPS gets confused and says the hairpin up ahead is a left not a right.
Soldato
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Well that's rubbish!
But at least you'd know there's a hairpin ahead, which ever direction it goes.There's judging corners (i.e. thinking: that's not very tight, can go fast through that!) based on GPS, and using it to know roughly what's coming up (i.e. there's a tight right hand bend after that blind left hand bend) - which are 2 very different things. The former, agreed - dangerous and silly, you should be reading the road to know how fast you can go, not relying on vague GPS indications - the latter: safer than riding a road you don't know 'blind', the more information you have when riding a road (hidden junctions/hidden bends/etc. etc.) the safer you'll be.
It's no surprise when you have spaghetti for road maps and GPS being affected by the mountains and valleys.
Edit: I've seen far to many accidents caused by people's overconfidence by using GPS to see the road conditions ahead.
Edit: I've seen far to many accidents caused by people's overconfidence by using GPS to see the road conditions ahead.
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