R1150GS Returned

So, the yellow beast arrived home today.
Not sure what to do with it next, but first thoughts are that it has the following extras fitted:

• Touring screen with late-model adjusters
• GS crossbar pad
• Hella / DIN accessory socket in cockpit
• Fused Optimate lead fitted
• Sony on-board camera
• Touratech wishbone protector (£102)
• Touratech headlight protector (£34)
• BMW Adventure fuel tank, colour-coded
• ...with Adventure fuel gauge sensor and fittings
• BMW plastic cylinder head protectors
• Touratech extension for stand foot (£28)
• Full 18mm hoop steel pannier frames (£284)
• Homemade LED brake light upgrade
• BMW system top-case bracket
• Touratech rear fender cover (£15)
• Remus Competition silencer (details TBC)
• Remus y-piece Cat eliminator

I have the original exhaust and unused catalytic convertor in the garage, ready for refitting.

US Sat Nav 2

So the Garmin Nuvi 200 arrived, with massively out of date firmware and 2008 City Navigator NT mapping. Checked the internal battery and all seems good. The device itself is great, a worthy successor to my Garmin i3 (small, 3" screen, nice form factor and a good design of charge cable, old enough to still have pretty rugged quality, not like flimsy new ones).

Connected to Garmin Express and the firmware immediately updated to 5.10. Good news so far... but what's this? A free map update?! Looks like someone in the past associated this serial no. with free lifetime maps! The GPS also had the UK Safety Cam network on it (albeit out of date). So after a bit of faffing (the map update fits on the internal memory with nothing to spare) I ended up with UK/Ireland 2015.40 NavTeq maps via Garmin, as well as Nevada and the D.C. metro area routable OSM maps on an SD card.

Only glitch so far is that the cartography of the OSM isn't very pleasing, so I was considering choosing some other options on the download - like perhaps not choosing the new style. Anyone else have any experience? Final thing to do is to sort out the 1" RAM Mount ball to attach to my GS; I got the RAM chassis for the GPS but I ordered the wrong size ball, so it will be a few days before I can test it. All going OK though.

** Edit: Going to regular OSM cartography appears much better: indistinguishable in symbology or colours from the standard Garmin mapping. Happy days. **

US Sat Nav

Today's excitement is buying an £18 Garmin Nuvi 200 (might be a 250, we will see when it arrives), a 3" screen car sat nav from the late 2000s. Plan is to flash it with free OSM mapping for the places I have to go to in the US, freeing me from the hassle and expense of crappy car rental sat navs. Maps are downloading, gadget will be here in a few days. We'll see how we do.

Main concerns are that I won't be able to get a newish firmware on there using the current update software, or that the onboard GPS constellation almanac will be so outdated that the first lock takes 30mins (this is the reason my Garmin i3 became unusable despite having new maps). 

Today's Morning Jaunt

The very pretty Leith Hill in Surrey. Didn't use my Edge 305 this time, was experimenting with ViewRanger on my phone and a Garmin eTrex 30 (which I can rant about another time). Map produced with GPX2KML and then the Google Maps website, elevation profile from BaseCamp.

What the GS is for!

Portugal, Spain and my R1150GS

Here is a map showing where we went - you can switch the days on and off. To map this I used a Garmin Edge 305 on my motorcycle as a data logger and km/hr speedometer. On one day I forgot to set the logger, so I've had to add a google road track.

As you can see the breadcrumb trail does not come back to the UK, as I returned on a flight. More on that when I know what's happening and my bike arrives back home. The picture shows a space where the cam chain guide should go. Other pics from the trip are here - but I'll tell you one thing; they love their ham in Spain! Other pic is the elevation change in 1000km from Serpa to northern Spain (Burgos).

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