It appears that I have been terribly remiss in updating this build! However in my defense, I've been spending countless hours deciding where to take this build. My first thought it that this bike is not intended to be my off-roading machine. And while the previous bike had the focus of building to survive an Electro Magnetic Pulse or maybe Armageddon, this one will focus more on road manners.
Since she will be largely my slabbing machine and daily commuter, I was very concerned with lighting. To that end, one of the first investments was two products from the Skene Product line--The Photon Blaster and the P3s. The Photon Blasters are mounted on the front forks. There a 3 Photon Blaster models (constant on, constant on/blinkers, constant on/blinker/brake flasher. Unless you are mounting them on the rear of the bike, I wasn't sure how the last model make any sense. So, I mounted the constant on/blinkers.
A little more than 1 month worth of use/2000 miles and I am very happy with them. I have found that cars that normally pull right out in front of me from their private drives, are now braking to look.
Since she will be largely my slabbing machine and daily commuter, I was very concerned with lighting. To that end, one of the first investments was two products from the Skene Product line--The Photon Blaster and the P3s. The Photon Blasters are mounted on the front forks. There a 3 Photon Blaster models (constant on, constant on/blinkers, constant on/blinker/brake flasher. Unless you are mounting them on the rear of the bike, I wasn't sure how the last model make any sense. So, I mounted the constant on/blinkers.
A little more than 1 month worth of use/2000 miles and I am very happy with them. I have found that cars that normally pull right out in front of me from their private drives, are now braking to look.
It's not a tricky install, but you do need to noodle through a few ideas. First, where to mount to control module which is the size of credit card and probably 5-6 cards thick. One thing I hate is a bike that appears it has been eaten by the Lockness Monster and is covered in wiring much like someone might thrown tinsel on a Christmas Tree. My other pet peeve is traversing the bike 3 times to for a wire run. With that, I chose under the front windshield. The casual observer would probably never notice it unless I pointed it out ....
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When you buy the Photon Blasters, you need to specify the mounting point. I used the front fender, but you could also use the fork bolts. Run the Skene wires zip tied to the brake line.
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Wiring from Skene
I used the headlight for the power and ground. While I've had great success with using Posi-Taps, a purist may say that only a crimped/soldered/shrink wrapped connection is adequate.
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Next up was the P3 install. For this one, easy peasy...just pop that one under the rear of the seat and posi-tap the brake connector
Well, easy that is if you don't drop a bolt and it falls all the way down the tail....Soon enough victory is mine.
Well, easy that is if you don't drop a bolt and it falls all the way down the tail....Soon enough victory is mine.
I also replaced the incandescent turn signal bulbs with these LEDs version. They are plug and play and require not other modifications to not throw any error codes with the CANbus system. Since they also leave the OEM reflector alone, they are uber bright. I figure I am just about ready to play with the Encounters of the Third Kind!
Next up in the wonderful world of 'E'lectrons is a power distribution module. While I've used the Eastern Beaver Power, I've found it a bit bulky. While a bit more spendy, I've found the solid-state technology of the PDM60 to be a better match for my higher end sleds. I used to try to put them where I could monitor them, but space is such a premium. Now a days, I tuck it whereever, as you never service it and really never need to look at it again. In my case, I secured it to the air filter lid by drilling and tapping two holes. You can still see the lights, but again, those are mearly a function I've never used in 70K miles on the previous bike.
Two of the PDM60 circuits are used on power for the GPS unit, a pigtail to the seat for my winter heated gear. Next up is lighting. I will say that the F700 has a relatively petite sized stator, as compared to the engine. As such, I've never been able to run all heated kit (grips, jacket and PIAA Halogen lights) on the previous Twin. Since it's been 6 years, LEDs lights are really the only logical choice given their dramatic performance improvement, as well as, low current requirements. My finalist lights were the Clearwater Kristas 2, The Rigid Industries D-Series, Denali D4, MotoMondos, and various other ones. I fell in L.o.V.e with the slick mounting system for the D4s, so I bought those. It was slick, unobstrivsive and plain old clean. Imagine my shock when I realize that the mounting system won't work on the F700s (F800s) have a side panels.
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My only recovery will be mounting them to the crash bars. To be continued when the order comes in
