electronic cruise control on a pre WC 1200GS ?

birdseye

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My past experience of manufacturing industry makes me think that BMW were unlikely to have completely different wiring and ecu etc on the RT and the GS. I would expect common components with different facilities being enabled or disabled on the two bikes. So it should be possible to fit electronic cruise control to a GS by the addition of the control switches from an RT and some work on the ECU.

Question is - has anyone done this, or is my guess completely wrong.
 
I can't give a direct reply but the thinking makes sense. Only issue is RT and GS ECU are not the same.

You could fit an aftermarket cruise that pulls on the throttle cable.

BUT in UK how useful will it be?

I have the Kako throttle lock but due to traffic it's never more than a minute or two before I have to adjust the speed.
 
birdseye said:
My past experience of manufacturing industry makes me think that BMW were unlikely to have completely different wiring and ecu etc on the RT and the GS. I would expect common components with different facilities being enabled or disabled on the two bikes. So it should be possible to fit electronic cruise control to a GS by the addition of the control switches from an RT and some work on the ECU.

Question is - has anyone done this, or is my guess completely wrong.
Click to expand...

Pre WC...... throttle cable.............WC fly by wire, so completely different set ups.:D
 
The RT had throttle cables and a vacuum actuator pulling a third cable connected to the pulley box (can't remember it's proper name) I know this because I used the RT box and pulley to fit my Rostra electronic cruise control. As said the RT has a different ECU so retro fitting the complete system is most likely impossible which is why a good few people have went the route I have. Have a Google, there are lots of documented installs there might even be one here. There is definitely a good few on Adventure rider.

Is it useful in the UK? Of course it is which is probably why most cars come equipped with it as standard. More and more bikes are coming with it as well. The UK might be small but there are still several thousand miles of motorways and large dual carriageways. The difference between a throttle lock and proper electronic cruise is like night and day as well.
 
I'd really like Cruise on my GSA. I used it all the time on my RT & know I'm going to miss it.
 
My reason for wanting it is a right wrist problem causing my hand to go numb - needs a quick dangle at my side and feeling is restored but to do that a cruise control is needed.

Spoke to BMW UK who surprisingly told me that they didnt have any tech specialists and the route into BMW germany Tech was via my dealer. So I had a chat with them and persuaded them to contact Germany to get the oial answer as to whether it was possible to fit the RT system to a GS. The answer was yes but horribly expensive. The ECU is the same but they are programmed in Germany not only for the different models but also for your specific bike. So I would need an ECU programmed / re-programmed to give me CC. And Germany wouldnt be willing to supply. Not only that but I would need to change the wiring loon since apoparently the RT of that era had Jap style indicators and I would need to use RT handlebar switches to get the BMW CC. So yes it can be done technically but not economically.
 
birdseye said:
My reason for wanting it is a right wrist problem causing my hand to go numb - needs a quick dangle at my side and feeling is restored but to do that a cruise control is needed.

Spoke to BMW UK who surprisingly told me that they didnt have any tech specialists and the route into BMW germany Tech was via my dealer. So I had a chat with them and persuaded them to contact Germany to get the oial answer as to whether it was possible to fit the RT system to a GS. The answer was yes but horribly expensive. The ECU is the same but they are programmed in Germany not only for the different models but also for your specific bike. So I would need an ECU programmed / re-programmed to give me CC. And Germany wouldnt be willing to supply. Not only that but I would need to change the wiring loon since apoparently the RT of that era had Jap style indicators and I would need to use RT handlebar switches to get the BMW CC. So yes it can be done technically but not economically.
Click to expand...

OT (slightly) - I get thumb pains on the GSA which I never had on my Yamaha 900 Diversion which had bar risers giving a similar position. Im sure my comfort issues are due to the excessive pull back that BMW bars have. There is recent thread which covers the use of Renthal bars. I also get tingling in my left hand which is due to nerve and blood vessel compression in the neck & shoulder. No longer using the Yam with its hopeless screen has improved things but its never going to be perfect. Every now and then I have chiropractic adjustments to sort out my stuck first ribs and collar bone joints.

I use a proper cruise control in the car and would like one on the bike but £800 is silly. AS the bike's ECU is out of bounds, it sounds like time to make something integrated with GPS to do the job.
 
Integrating anything important with gps isn't a good idea. Reception is far too unreliable for anything that really matters. The 1200's provide a perfectly good speed pulse signal that you can use which isn't lost when you go under a flyover or find yourself in a thunderstorm. Basically if your speedo is still working then your cruise will still be seeing speed.
 
the odd thing bendy toy, is that I tried out a harley fatboy before buying the latest GS and not only was it less vibey than the GS but the numb hand thing ( which I believe like yours is a vertebrae problem) didnt appear either after half an hour. Just couldnt bring myself to buy something which would involve so much cleaning.

the torque was brilliant fun though - probably as well since the gear change wasnt. and the image was even worse than the borman look alike bit.
 
Ive eventually got used to the gearshift. Its VERY sensitive to the revs being well matched. But with a preload on the gear lever and a little help from the clutch it can go very smoothly. But don't try to change gear slowly it will crash the gears. And hitting the gear lever too soon after pulling the clutch is all noisy - hence the preload on the lever.

Downshifts work the same way but need a throttle blip. I pull the clutch momentarily early so the revs blip.

Its a hybrid version of clutchless shifts on a sports bike.

My neck/shoulder issues go back I believe to a minor whiplash every few months when I worked in heavy industry. Don't duck quite enough going under a low beam and bam! Safety hat so no bruise but often followed by a sore neck for a few days.

30 years later the only solution has been chiropractic and some stretch exercise. A bike with a good screen and minimal turbulence helps because pumped up anterior neck an chest muscles aggravate any nerve compression.

GPS would be adequate for a cruise control as it will simply revert to normal with a touch of brakes, clutch or loss of signal enough to lose the speed calculation. But with a speedo pulse there is no need (as @Marki GSA says). It really can't be "that" hard to engineer. Admittedly it would need a very fine stepper motor but £800 charged by the Australian supplier is silly.
 
Get a student doing so microprocessor processing to knock up a wee system that compares the pulses from the speedo at set point and open valves controlling a vaccuum operated belows connected to a cable to throttles - oh wait thats the system that I put on my first car around 32 years ago. It was made by Zemco IIRC
Downside for a bike would be packaging, the dia of the bellows would cause packaging issues within the reduced confines of a bike.
To make the processor drive a stepper motor sounds really good but unfortunately it would need to have a fail-safe mechanism, dumping the vaccuum on the bellows works well but a stepper motor may need an electromagnetic clutch to ensure disengagement upon a power fail situation.
All in all a friction throttle lock gives adequate control over road speed for the limited time you need to get the blood flowing back into the throttle hand - I use a Jaws version that is perfectly suitable
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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