I’ve been working on my navigation options for long distance scooter rides. Garmin had a nice price on their motorcycle Zumo gps so it’s what I settled on. The reviews are pretty good. There’s a steep learning curve.
The box comes with a basic manual and a site link to download the full manual. That was my starting point. It helped to watch a bunch of YouTube videos. While that’s great but at some point it’s necessary to do a field trial.
There was a predicted gap in the rain so it gave me a chance to go for a ride. One of things I needed to work out was gpx route files -never used those before. It’s a bit different from turn by turn directions as it’s basically just a line on the map. To practice I downloaded some gpx files from the Backwoods Discovery Routes. The New Hampshire and Maine sections are near me and so those were the files downloaded and the route my trip took.
There’s a lot of apps and programs for navigation. Many can generate gpx files. However, I was able to just download the gpx files from the BDR website. Then it was a simple matter of using a USB cable to connect the Garmin with my computer. After that it was just dragging and dropping files.
All this fancy satellite navigation is fine, but I’m still a fan of paper maps.
-Sixbears
Have you experimented with various gasoline's in your scooter? I found non-ethanol 91 octane gives the best mileage and performance in my ADV160. Knowing which is optimum might be a leg up during the Cannonball.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. Normally I'm pretty cheap and run the regular stuff. I should check out some non-ethanol. There's one place about a half hour away that carries it.
DeleteWhile interesting Sixbears, unless your support vehicle is carrying the non-ethanol stuff, you're going to be buying what is available when the scooters tank is low.
ReplyDeleteExtra fuel filters seem useful as getting a bad tank of fuel is possible and as Mr. Murphy still thrives, at the least opportune time.
It's worse than that. The scoot only takes a couple gallons. With multifuel pumps I basically get the fuel left in the line from the guy before me.
DeleteThe plan is to change all the filters and do all the maintenance before the trip and bring spares and tools just in case. Pretty sure I'm going to have to change at least one tire at some point.