Meanmoe's Pizza To Go

In a time before Caller ID, if you wanted to talk to me, you would drop a dime, let the phone ring once ring once, then hang up and call back. If you forgot to use the secret decoder ring, you would be greater by me saying "MeanMoe's Pizza To Go.” I used this technique to ferret out the telemarketers. So, in honor of dear Mean Moby the Cat (my handle on several boards), here's my list of official modifications.

1 - BRP Comfort seat with gel insert. Purchased used but greatly appreciated as my 6ft frame was a bit cramped in the stock seat.

2 - Airhawk R seat pad. I purchased this before the comfort seat and the added height was nice but it did not address the knee bend. Added to the comfort seat, I'm in pretty good shape.

3 - Utopia Products backrest. I've raved about this backrest in other posts. My comfort seat is from a 2013 RT so I required the mounting bracket for that seat. Bob at Utopia responded to my inquiry and provided a solution where the backrest cover matches the 2014 color and stitching but uses the 2013 mount. The seat is covered by the Airhawk so I matched the backrests.

4 - Fuse adjustment to make trunk 12VDC plug active all the time. It will be used with my Battery Tender when the Spyder is not being ridden regularly.

5 - Gerbing's pig tail. Had to add about 3 ft of wiring to the pigtail to reach from the battery to the top of the gas tank. The pigtail had been installed on my BMW R1150GS, which has the battery just under the tank so the 18" pigtail was adequate. Will add a fuse block at a later point in time.

6 - Alternate GPS location. I purchased and installed the 45 degree RAM ball mount on the dash and wired up my Zumo 550 using info from this thread (insert link here). I like the location. It's within arms reach and within my normal scanning field of vision but the mount vibrates too much for my liking. I have it mounted using a Long arm and the 550 is a heavy GPS so there is quite the moment arm there. I'll look for a rubber block to use between the mount arm and the dash to dampen some of the vibration.

7 - SpyderLiter strobes. I paid to have SpyderLiter install two strobes on the back. I paid for the install so that I could watch the process of Tupperware removal. I have other lights that will be installed over the winter but I wanted to see the process before I committed to drilling holes in our spyders.

8 - Roadster Renovations RT Hinge Support Kit. having had problems with the hinges on other bikes, I could see that Doc's kit corrected a problem with the BRP design. My BMW and Kawasaki bags were easier it address (add some drilled and tapped strapping to the underside and superglue or JBWeld to address to cracked ABS). Installed by Doc at the Roadster Renovations booth in Robbinsville, NC during Spyders in the Smokies.

9 - Roadster Renovations spring stiffeners. I'm an aggressive ryder and the stock RT setup gives too much body roll for my liking. The spring stiffeners have removed enough roll that I'm going to delay the purchase of an upgraded anti-sway bar for a while. This is an easy upgrade and inexpensive upgrade.

10 - Lazer Alignment. Not a mod, per se, but it constitutes money spent to make the Spyder ride the way I want it to. My Spyder wasn't showing any signs of a mis-alignment but SWMBO's was. Outlaw Lazer Alignments has their trailer at The Hub in Robbinsville this week so I had both spyders aligned. SWMBO is very pleased. Her left was 1/4" out while the right was dead on. That answered the question of why she has had a problem with turns. Both of my wheels had a bit too much toe in. I would expect that the added toe in would cause uneven tire wear and would contribute to poor handling on wet surfaces. Money well spent.

More to come, as I have a box of take offs from my GS that have yet to be installed.

Had a friend that did the same (answered as a business). In a while he started receiving commercial junk calls.

Real life stuff has had me tied up for quite a while now. Finally got a couple of quiet hours by myself where I could concentrate on motorcycle improvements. I’ve got farkles left over from our BMW two wheelers that were either removed prior to sale or not installed in the first place. Here’s my second round of installations

11. TriCLED Magic Mirrors. SWMBO has difficulty switching focus from long to short distance and she could never get the hang of the small wide angled mirrors that I installed on the corners of her RT mirrors (sorry Doc). These look to fit the bill. The shape doesn’t quite match the RT mirrors but I’m into functional requirements rather than exact fit.

12. LidLox. No brained there. Had a 52 liter Givi top case on my BMW that held both helmets. The Spyder can hold a small Arai in the left case or in the frunk but there isn’t enough useful storage space to hold it just for the helmets.

13. Turn signal indicator enhancement. Bought the $12 amber strips from AutoZone. Drilled a 3/16” hole to feed the wiring to the back side of the mirror. Purchased pigtails to match the ORM wiring and soldered up a insert that can be easily remove should the dealer ever complain about aftermarket LEDs. Not fancy but functional.

14. Magic Mirror Mounts. Watch your fingers on this one. These magnets tested my arthritic thumbs but I prevailed. I chose to use the 2 puck mounts rather than the 3 puck. The fit and function are perfect.

More Res when I get time.

Spyder 42, Welcome back! I take it in your #11 you're referring to the WideVue Mirrors?

TricLED wide angle mirrors. Finally had a chance to check them out on the freeway. I’ve got them adjusted so that the inner 20% show the handlebars. That gives a slight window for a small car to hide over my shoulder. Will retest with them set further out (once the rain stops).

The shape ape isn’t a perfect match for the OEM mirrors but they are close enough. The true test will be if SWMBO can recognize cats in her blind spot.

All Very Good Information, Thank You. :thumbup:

Not the Andrea True Connection but you get the idea... a little music while you read. https://youtu.be/hVZKJt4WzxM

15. I had added a RAM Mount ball to the dash to mount my Zumo 550. I was never satisfied with the mount because the GPS was above the dash and would bounce. Finally spent the money on a JT’s dash mound and the GPS issue is resolved. The JT mount brought the GPS closer to the back edge of the dash such that the long arm RAM arm cleared the edge of the dash. I’ll add a rubber bumper to the dash and adjust the fittings to let the arm rest on the bumper. Simple solution that took all of 5 minutes to install and 3 of those minutes were attempting to find my metric Allen keys (put them in a Very safe place).