The Trip

The bash plate from JNS Engineering arrived earlier in the week, and I’ve fitted it to the bike. It took me maybe 10 minutes to remove the stock plate and attach the new one.

This thing is very solid, and while I expect that the powder coat will suffer the same fate as that of my crash bars, I don’t think the plate itself is likely to fail me. The recessed bolts on the bottom are a nice touch, as is the fact that it protects the drain plug properly.

John at JNS was incredibly helpful with his advice, and with arranging delivery from the US. I was able to share the freight with two other Melbourne buyers, and John’s communication thoughout that process was excellent.

Another thing to tick off…

Wow… it’s a bit sad when my twitter feed is generating more blog posts than I am. Need to remedy that.

Last week I ordered an Autocom Active PLUS from a reseller on eBay. It pays to shop around for these, since the one I bought got undercut by another reseller a few ours before I purchased, and I missed it. Also, by the looks of Autocom’s UK site, they’re replacing their entire model range, so there’s a good chance that all the existing models will start to drop in price in the next few months.

Anyway, I’ll soon be kitted up for iPod, phone, UHF radio and GPS chatter in my ears. I’ll need to get a an adapter made up for my Earmolds and my Noise Terminator throat mic, but that shouldn’t be too hard. In the meantime, the kit comes with two complete helmet setups, so I can at least test it with one of those.

At this point I’m still leaning toward a tank bag as the means of housing the Autocomm and all the associated gadgets. The Wolfman Expedition is probably winning – I’ll wedge all the power adapters etc in the bottom corner of it, and put a false floor over that. I’ll need to feed lines out for power, GPS and the PTT switch at the front, and for the mic/headphone jack at the back. Should be a nice setup when it’s done.

I’ve also ordered a bash plate from JNS Engineering in the states. I was able to share the postage with a couple of other guys… pretty happy about that.