Cruise Control

[101stpathfinder]

I recently purchased a fuel cell for my future hopes of riding a rally or two.

An Audiovox CCS-100 was thrown in the deal as a gift. Up to this point I have avoided

one and have not adjusted my throttle spring. My reasons being:

When I get too tired to ride I have trouble keeping speed' this is my sign to

pull over and rest. I fear with a cruise control, I will miss this "Sign" and

fall asleep at a high rate of speed. Yet these are also items which would reduce

fatigue. I am seeking opinions of other LD riders.

Please state your preference and your reasoning...

Thanks, Tony

 

[ionbeam]

You posted this one day too soon, tomorrow is Friday.

There seems to be three camps, tastes great, less filling I DON'T DO cruise; a throttle lock works for me for much less $ and much less hassle; I luv my cruise. I'm a lover. In the '70s and '80s I installed AVCC cruise kits in my cages before OEMs started offering cruise as an option on less than the luxury cars. I'm opinionated on this topic

First, using a cruise will reduce your level of fatigue, it lets you ignore the throttle and concentrate on situational awareness. When you set your cruise, keep an eye to the rear but analyze the traffic flow in front of you like you should anyway. If you study the traffic flow, in most cases you will move and prepare for changes in traffic flow well in advance and put yourself in the optimum position on the roadway to be safe and not have to make any adjustments to your speed. When you get good at this you will realize this is the way you should ride/drive anyway. You may have to change lanes in anticipation of developing traffic flow, but hey, it keeps you in a 'safe box' because you have moved to where they aren't and where they aren't moving to.

On secondary roads it will free you a bit to take in more of your surroundings and enjoy the ride more. And, for me, it lets me take some pixs more safely.

If you are trying to make the very fastest and quickest ride possible a cruise won't get the job done, this is a human optimization area.

A cruise is not an invitation to put your brain in the tank bag and veg vacantly, it is a tool to regulate your speed and free you to spend more time keeping up with the rapidly changing traffic patterns. There are times and places where a cruise won't help, but when covering thousands of miles outside of high traffic concentrations a cruise should help keep you fresh and not brain dead.

I have had throttle locks on several bikes and I just can't live with the wild speed variations that the rolling east coast roads causes.

 

[bramfrank]

I regularly do 600 and 800 mile days without having released the spring and can't quite understand hy some people feel it necessary to - my hands don;t cramp up and I have no trouble in corners either.

I DO have cruise control on my machine. Set it and literally forget about speed creeping up or down - I've had the feature on the last few machines I've owned and wouldn't be without it on a touring machine - but it is just for the slab in my case - I tend to push it a bit when the going gets the least bit twisty.

I suppose that's something of a contradiction; I can drone down the highway at 70 for 5 hours, but bend the road and I tend to wick it up (just ask FJRGuy).

 

[dcarver]

With arthritis onset into the hands and wrists, a CC is a must for my longish CBA rides.

Seriously, I need one if riding more than say 200 miles or so.

I don't think using the CC will eliminate your speed creep fatigue indicator. I normally don't run CC for extended periods of time, but then again I rarely Interstate drone. I think the longest I've run purely on CC is maybe 50 miles.

 

[Patriot]

I don't leave home without it

When I'm tired and trying to get home on the slab, I set it to 79 and don't worry about staying with the group

It halves the fatigue factor for moi

 

[rfulcher]

I am in the "I love my cruise control camp" it helps me avoid performance awards and lowers the stress of a long trip significantly. Some throttle springs are tighter than others. Before I loosened mine, an 07, it was tight enough to cause hand cramping. I have a friend with an 06 and his throttle is just right stock and does not need to be adjusted.

 

[Sticky Throttle]

I am in the "I love my cruise control camp" it helps me avoid performance awards and lowers the stress of a long trip significantly.

+1

CC is also great when you'd like to maintain speed through elevation changes. When the time is right for using it, concentrating on the quality of the ride is easier rather than the occasional numbing of the right hand. Of course, YMMV.

 

[JR'SFJR]

I refused to have cruise until some arthritis in my hand and wrist set in. I want to keep riding, so I installed cruise on the FJR and old LT about 2 yrs. ago. Releasing the throttle spring on the FJR has also been a big help, requiring little twisting force. I am careful to use it only with little traffic around on the open road.

 

[kebo123]

I am after one season with MCruise. Before I had a pain in my wrist after whole day driving, now those issues are gone. It is really big difference and also fuel consumption went down . I am not using in all the time, just for highways and sometimes in not crowded city areas.

 

[lfmn16]

I recently purchased a fuel cell for my future hopes of riding a rally or two.

An Audiovox CCS-100 was thrown in the deal as a gift. Up to this point I have avoided

one and have not adjusted my throttle spring. My reasons being:

When I get too tired to ride I have trouble keeping speed' this is my sign to

pull over and rest. I fear with a cruise control, I will miss this "Sign" and

fall asleep at a high rate of speed. Yet these are also items which would reduce

fatigue. I am seeking opinions of other LD riders.

Please state your preference and your reasoning...

Thanks, Tony

The Throttle spring adjustment is in my future (over the winter) and I have a throttle lock, so I'm not sure about Cruise Control. I had some of the same misgivings as you and when I had cruise control on my Harley, I only used it periodically to give my hand a break.

 

[El Toro]

I'm kinda coming around to the position that 'don't knock it if you haven't tried it.' The reason for this is my surprising and unexpected love affair with the 870 pound British Behemoth Class Rocket III Touring. I would have dismissed an 870 pound motorcycle out of hand in past days.

I would have quickly also dismissed cruise control before this change of heart. Cruise control seems to me to offer one more opportunity to become distracted as part of the task of riding is shifted from the rider to the machine. I dunno.... Its too bad you can't try someone else's cruise control first and see what your personal feeling about it is. Obviously a lot of the guys who try it like it. I use cruise control on my cars, but I am constantly turning it on and off as traffic conditions change. I'd probably do the same thing on a bike.

 

[GunMD]

Love my AVCC. Hands down one of the best farkles ever. (Thanks Hal)