This is the target I’m wanting to set for my next road trip. Unfortunatly, it’s not until May of next year, and it’s (of course) going to be impossible to know the actual date until after they actually launch. Still, I really want to see a shuttle launch, and the last scheduled trip to maintain hubble seems like an excellent choice!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4/index.html
When I bought the new bike, I got them to order a new seat as part of the deal. The old seat was a little low, and the compartment in the passenger part of the new one seemed too good to resist. It had to be ordered and didn’t arrive until last Saturday. CalMoto keyed the compartment to match the rest of my bike, and then I picked it up just before they closed. Unfortunately, I picked it up by car and didn’t get to try it out right away.
So, after getting home, I tried right away to attach the new toy. Sadly, I had two problems. My keys didn’t seem to open the compartment, and the seat wouldn’t quite fit the bike (it wouldn’t lock down in the back).
So, waiting until CalMoto was open this morning I went by and showed my problem to both the salesman who sold me the bike, and one of the service associates. They both had the same problems that I did, so we showed it to the tech who had keyed the compartment. He promptly inserted the key and opened the compartment. He was just willing to turn the new lock harder than any of the rest of us, and so had no problem. Also, checking the fit of the seat, there was just a small wire in the way that kept it from locking down.
I felt a bit foolish, and would have felt extremely foolish if two other people at the dealership hadn’t had the same problems that I did.
New Seat with Compartment
Inside New Compartment
You open it up and look inside! I added a mount for a GPS and needed to wire it in for power, so that seemed like a good excuse. The F650 has the gas tank under the seat, so the ‘faux’ gas tank has to have other stuff in it. Obviously, it was time to find out what!
F650GS without body panels
Under that fake tank, you can see (from left to right), oil, battery, and the air box feeding air to the top of the engine.
F650GS under the fake gas tank
I had fun opening things up to look around a little, but had trouble tracing down wiring to understand what’s what. Eventually I just hooked up the GPS to the battery so that it’s not switched with the key and went searching online.
I found the following article, and so know what to do, but I’ll have to go back and do it later after I get some heat shrink stuff to protect the new splice from the weather.