raesewell

If they are the exact same lights you have that beam pattern doesn't look like a fog light beam and indeed they call them "Driving Beam" So I would say point them downwards to avoid blinding oncoming traffic and call it job done.

Sometimes "Fog" light is a general term for auxiliary lighting that may not be fog lights. Fog lights have wide and short beam pattern so even pointing them down can have little effect unless they are pointed down so far as to make them next to useless. Spot lights on the other hand have a more focused and longer beam pattern. Some lights come with a choice of lenses, so if you can find the manufacturer of the OEM lights you might be able to find alternative lenses. Simply making them dimmer will not change the beam pattern, if they are indeed "Fog" lights. Wait until it gets dark and check the beam pattern.

The GPS chips in phones were somewhat inadequate, however these days the GPS chips are more than good enough. I still use a dedicated bike GPS though and have my phone as a backup.

I have always found the tech guys at most companies are willing to chat. I had a very informative chat with a guy from Castrol about the BMW oil they used to supply to BMW this was the 5W-40 verses the 10W-40. And his parting shot believe it or not was "any oil is better than no oil"

Fog lights typically spread a wide short beam pattern, is it feasible to change the lens for spot beam and angle it downwards. Or even change the light pods? Something like this https://www.bikevis.com/product-category/motorcycle-running-lights/

Another thing that is always misinformed is the mixing of oils, most people think if you mix two oils 50:50 you get a figure in the middle, however it's not as simple as that. When I was doing this research I had a long chat with one of the chemists at Silkolene and he gave me a mix ratio to obtain the viscosity I was looking for. In my case looking for a viscosity of 18.7 Centistokes @ 40°C he advised me to mix a 2.5W with the 5W in a 1/3 to 2/3 ratio respectively which gave a viscosity of 18.85 Centistokes @ 40°C, close enough for me. He started talking about molecular structure and how the two different weights react with each other, even though I have a laboratory quality control background this was way above my pay grade, so I just took his word for it.

A conversation on another thread jogged my memory about a thread I wrote on another forum about my experience with finding the right viscosity fork oil, which as you will read has nothing to do with the W number. Before I started researching fork oil I didn't know much about it other than it was oily. So I suppose you could say I knew fork oil about fork oil. The searching started when I took my first ride after fitting my newly sealed forks. They were stiffer than a stiff thing on a stiff day. In other word they were 'king stiff. I had already purchased the oil before I sent them off so Ernie put it what I had sent him. The manufacturers W numbers bear no resemblance to the viscosity. The Yamaha manual recommends Yamaha Suspension Oil M1 or Ohlins R&T43. Both of which seem pretty scarce in the uk. A US site tell me that Yamaha M1 is a zero weight oil but no viscosity figures. The Ohlins site however was more helpful giving a viscosity of 19 mm2 Centistokes @ 40°C. So I had a reference point to aim for. I contacted Opie Oils for some advice and Tim (very helpful) set about finding me some suitable oil. His first recommendation was for any 5W oil until I pointed out that it was the viscosity that was the critical factor as the 5, 7.5, 10W etc bore no resemblance to the viscosity. Telling him my aim was a viscosity of 19. He came back again with a recommendation for Motul Light 5W Factory Line Motorcycle Fork Oil which has a viscosity of 18, so close enough for me. I then set about finding others that were in the same range so I had a choice. Fork Oil recommendations for the Yamaha FJR 1300A Centistokes @ 40°C Millers Suspension Oil 2.5 NT 17.2 Motul Factory Line 5W Light (Synth) 18 Motul Expert 5W Light (Semi Synth) 18 Red Line Light Weight Suspension Fluid 16 Silkolene 02 17.94 Yamaha M1 18.7 Yamaha 01 15.3 So as you can see from the figures above the W number bears no resemblance to the viscosity. The oil I supplied to Ernie turned out to have a viscosity of 47.4, no wonder it was bloody stiff. The right oil is on its way from Ernie. I will use Opie next time I need fork oil, Tim, you are a top man.

You say you changed the oil, did you use the same oil as came out or did you change the oil weight? It can make a huge difference if you use the wrong weight oil.

They are available fairly cheap on Ebay. I think they first appeared as an accessory for Schuberth helmets.

I made a fing the other day, one of these fings. Well actually two fings, one for Melanie. Now I can't claim it as my own idea coz it's not. I didn't even know what it was when I first saw it. I had some odds and sods in the garage and a bit of time on my hands. For the uninitiated this is what it does and where it fits.

Another advantage Stu is that in the hot weather you can tilt it to direct the airflow at your chest.

Every jacket that I have ever bought with an attachment zip came with the mating half so it could be sewn to a garment of your choice.

I only used the Tomtom Connector as an example I don't need a connector for my Tomtom, I don't need it to connect to the Tomtom in fact I don't need a connector at all now as I have found a solution. Thank you for all of your input but you can stop searching now and get back to what you were doing before I interrupted you.

OK lets clarify here, I don't need a connector for my Tomtom Rider, I need a similar connector for another project. I did say a "Tomtom type" connector. Anyway problem solve now, Thank you for your input.

I'm not fake, just adopted. No sorry on the heat controller front.

I got that too. I am not planning on going to Germany any time soon. If I do I must remember to switch them off. This by the way was for the Go app. They will probably come up with another solution for the Tomtom Rider like they did for France.

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I just happen to have in the garage an old Keis heated clothing male and female plug, so a result and no cost

Yes OK but not weatherproof. Ooo just had an idea maybe a heated clothing connector.

I have used Supereseal too I am looking for something small.

I am aware of both of those sites. I try not to buy from Aliexpress if I can help it and the RS components site is a bloody nightmare. So if you have a link please post it up.

Hello peeps Can anyone give me an indication where I might be able to buy a Tomtom type connector as shown in the picture below. It doesn't have to be the exact same connector just similarly small. I have tried the usual suspects, Autoelectrical, Wiringproducts and the like, without success. I need both the male and female plugs.

I have a fairly chunky lock that serves as a disc or chain lock. Recently I have been looking at the Abus Granit 68 Victory X-Plus roll up https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Abus+Granit+68+Victory+X-Plus+roll+up&_sacat=0

Yes it has two channels and this is how I tried to set it all up but they fight each other for phone and media support and its a constant battle! If you turn the sat nav on first all is well but stop for fuel turn bike off sat nav goes off and the headset then does everything and if you walk out of range of one or the other then the fight starts again I think its a phone problem rather than sat nav or headset I found the key is how you pair the units to each other Garmin and Cardo may work differently. The pairing of the phone (with the music on) as a "second" mobile is the important bit, at least it is for my Tomtom Sena setup.

Stu, does your intercom have two bluetooth channels (i'm sure it must). My Sena 20S evo set up is thus. Connect phone to Tomtom for traffic data and cloud connection, then connect Tomtom as phone 1 to Sena then connect phone as phone two. This gives me phone calls through Tomtom and I can control music from the phone via the Sena. I tried several configurations before settling on this setup.

Over the years I have found lots of creative ways to mount phones including making my own brackets. I had a perfectly good mount on my bike that did the job admirably, unfortunately I had to plug it in using a cable from the glove box socket. This was perfectly acceptable but a bit of a faff plugging and unplugging. So it was the wireless charging that sold this mount to me. I'll see how it goes longer term. If it turns out the naysayers are right I will just revert to the old mount, simples.