cruise control

[pggg]

Here's a vibebuster/cruise control in one. (for vibe busting only, hone out the twist grip.) Cranked big heavy bolts and nuts into the bar ends with a 5 foot pipe swinging off a wrench. The throttle stays on in any position but operates very smoothly. I find myself travelling on long trips with both hands resting on the tank. Who needs handlebars anyway?

Another position is leant forward, elbows on tank, hands under chin. You get plenty of gawking from cage drivers. Corners are tricky though. Sweepers are cool - you get to pinpoint the XS's balance well. Try it. Beware when blipping down at intersections with a static throttle where a small mistake might be fatal.
http://homepages.inspire.net.nz/~patrick/DSC00129.jpg

[Jerry]

I set the throttle lock and occasionally take both hands off the bars. Gets quite a reaction when you wave with both hands....

[2fast]

For any fellow long distance riders out there, you might find the Audiovox cruise control interesting. I have one on my Kawasaki Concours and it is the best thing since sliced bread! Throttle locks are dandy, but they don't maintain speed. In fact , I left my Vista cruise installed as well, and use it for short term throttle hand relief. The Audiovox was a fairly easy install on the Concours, and should be pretty simple on the XS11 as well. Cost is about $100 and worth every dime! Has anyone put one on an XS/XJ?

[Dragonrider]

Yeah, David Sproul's page has instructions for an XS install. I've put them on Valks (lots of them) and a Goldwing as well.

60,000 miles on my Valk with it and no problems. LOVE it.

[Jerry]

I have all the parts / pieces to put a Rostra unit on my XJ, have not gotten around to it yet. Need to swap the stalk-mount switch for the generic dashboard mount; if anyone has a spare or would like to swap, let me know....

Plan to use a Volvo electic vacuum pump as the vac source instead of building a bottle, plan to stash the pump in the Vetter fairing and power it from the cig lighter circuit.

Throttle lock is not ideal, but you might be surprised how often it is useful. There are long stretches of road where being within a couple mph of the set speed is acceptable, and it sure gives you a chance to relax arms and hands. I wouldn't go long-distance without one. Even use it on my daily 30 mile (1-way) commute which is mostly on interstate I-70.

Guess I'll bave to dig through my storage area and find the box with the cc parts in it and get started!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jerry,

Before my Trailering days, when I had a nice backrest and pad setup on Godzilla that I could lean way back against, my arms weren't long enough(imagine that!) to reach the bars comfortably, and so I got some heavy gauge boot straps and secured them to the handlebars just infront of the grips, and used them like horse reins, and was able to easily steer it that way, with my arms resting on my thighs, countersteering works well in that situation also!!! But I could easily sit up and grab the bars if I needed stronger control!
T.C.

[Pat Kelly]

On my way to "Big Is. Deuce" I rode the long straight stretch of I-5 to Midland, OR with no hands. Got some grins as I did lane changes at 85 MPH with my arms crossed passing cars.