Gen II Rostra Cruise Control Install

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Kelvininin

Well-known member
FJR Supporter
Joined
Jan 6, 2016
Messages
154
Reaction score
66
Location
Corcoran MN
I finally finished the Rostra Cruise install on my 2010 FJR. Much thanks to my fantastic wife who ran interference with our toddler and infant twins to give me time to install the cruise while I should have been doing stuff around the house.

After much research I wanted to go with the McCruise, however, the McCruise is cost prohibitive at the moment so I weighted my options and went with the Rostra. I like the rostra because its electronic, and made in the US. I would rather putz with electronics and wiring than vacuum lines.

Probably the must frustrating part of this install for me was connecting the cruise cable to the throttle and anchoring the cruise cable. I’m picky, and anal retentive, I went through several iterations before settling on the KISS method. I drilled and tapped the throttle stop for a 4mm machine screw. I ground the screw head so that it would clear the throttle cable. I used a 4mm nylon lock nut to fasten the ball chain connector to the 4mm screw. For the throttle cable I used the threaded cable clamp, some cushion camps and a small piece of 3/8” thick wall copper tubing to direct the cruise cable. Picture below.

bpsTnqR.jpg


5zFCKjz.jpg


I attached the Rostra module to the tray under the seat, I used some aluminum angle to make a bracket for relays and a ground termination block.

EYFTCoi.jpg


Now down to the wiring… This is where things get a little interesting.

I tied the Rostra Grey VSS in the FJR ABS communication wire, wire color white with yellow.

The cold side brake wire (purple) was tied into the yellow wire with green; this wire is hot when the brakes are applied.

Rostra dark blue Tach wire tired in to the FJR orange coil pack 1 fire signal.

I pulled a relay trigger wire, and power for the Engaged LED from the power to the taillight. This is the blue with red FJR wire.

The Rostra wire harness comes with a ton or wire, I cut most of it out, and solder where appropriate.

I used the Rostra key pad with the engaged light. I potted with the pad with black non-corrosive peramatex to weather proof it.

The rostra keypad calls for power from three locations, the white is switched power, the red is hot side brake wire, and the brown with red drip is part of the 4 pin harness to the rostra unit. I tired both the 4 amp red wire, the white wire, and the brown rostra power wire into the output side of the power relay. The power relay provided the rostra power from the battery via single from the taillight. The purpose of the using the hot side of the brake switch is to disable the cruise control if the brake circuit ever fails, my wiring setup defeats this, so if the brake light circuit fails, tapping the brakes will not disengage the cruise. I am betting my brake circuit doesn’t fail. If it does there is always the “off” button.

The keypad with the engage LED uses a ground signal from the Rostra to turn on, this requires a relay to function. The Rostra provides the ground, I provide the power.

Here is the picture of the wiring in progress, I admit there was a, “this thing will never run again” moment.

qmcwNnK.jpg


And the finished wiring.

wAi2wpi.jpg


I used the is opportunity to build a bracket for the cruise control key pad and the oxford heated grips controller.

0JIMsOO.jpg


After getting everything done, and installing all the body panels, I ran the diagnostics, passed with flying colors.

Took it out for an 80 mile test ride, I have working cruise control. I tested speeds from 35 to 80 mph all worked great. The Rostra handled rolling hills no problem, the accel button adds about 1 mph the coast subtracts 1.5. Tapping the brakes disengages cruise.

I have around $300 total into this project, worth every penny and I love shop time so wrenching on stuff is always fun for me.

Life is good. Looking forward to getting some serious time with this thing.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
That Gearwrench? And here I was thinking it was part of his toolkit. Nice looking install. Great farkle to have

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I see you used the ABS for the VSS signal. Did you have to lower the frequency?
I did not. Set the Rostra to the highest pulse/mile setting. Works really well. The pulses/mile generated by the FJR ABS sensor must be pretty close considering the accel button results in ~1 mph increase per press.

Signal quality can play a role. I have a very solid 0 ohm ground, and all my connections outside of the wire harness connections are soldered. No quick wire splices.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm contemplating a cruise purchase. The MCcruise is pricey, but seems everyone who's purchased it loves it. I like that it comes as a kit.

Did you order this as a kit from somewhere? If so, could you provide a link? If not, could you please detail what you purchased please?

 
I'm contemplating a cruise purchase. The MCcruise is pricey, but seems everyone who's purchased it loves it. I like that it comes as a kit.
Did you order this as a kit from somewhere? If so, could you provide a link? If not, could you please detail what you purchased please?
I just bought mine off EBay from this guy: Link Here

 
I'm contemplating a cruise purchase. The MCcruise is pricey, but seems everyone who's purchased it loves it. I like that it comes as a kit.
Did you order this as a kit from somewhere? If so, could you provide a link? If not, could you please detail what you purchased please?
I did a google search for the cruise control and the keypad I wanted with the "engage" LED. I used the Rostra site to gather the part numbers then google to find the cheapest option. Below is the link to Rostra.

https://www.rostra.com/

 
Very nice install.

I'm installing the same system on my bike, and plan to use your install as a guide.

Question, what are your dipp switch positions?

 
I used this thread and a couple more from this forum to install my Rostra. Thanks Forum! I had a couple variations. I’m not saying my way is better but I’m offering them up anyhow:

My installation would have been a lot easier without PAIR, but my bike still has it and I didn’t have time to eliminate it.

Rather that drilling the throttle cam as some have done I made an extension lever that I installed under the throttle cam nut. It increased the travel distance of the cable and gave the servo more leverage on the throttle shaft.

38497992022_43da43cb7e_b.jpg


26754001899_e97dd1b516_b.jpg


37814115574_89c1033fdf_b.jpg


My biggest concern, and what I think should be anybody’s doing this, is what happens to the slack in the CC cable when the throttle is opened CC off. Let the slack get fouled and you might find your throttle not releasing when your right hand asks it to
uhoh.gif
This Rostra unit has a lost motion cable setup that negates the need to use the ball chain but I couldn’t get a straight enough pull on the cable to have confidence in the throttle end of the cable being able to “push” the CC cable back consistently. Maybe without PAIR I’d have had room to mount the cable with a straighter shot. So I used the ball chain and this is the best I could come up with.

Throttle closed

24657346758_c28159bf30_b.jpg


Throttle open CC off

26753997419_1c68e118cc_b.jpg


I made a simple bracket for the cable and installed it on one of the PAIR plate bolts. The extra tubing to carry the ball chain is nylon fuel/emission tube with an ID of about 8mm.

38473946036_693da85076_b.jpg


37642371725_76e56d54d8_b.jpg


38529399591_6df397ec33_b.jpg


The fore/aft orientation of the servo made for a nice large radius loop of the cable around the left side of the bike.

26753998369_df5c422532_b.jpg


Cutting a notch out of the seat support hasn’t caused any ill affect (yet).

37642377205_8fca036405_b.jpg


And this thread

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/172054-rostra-help/

saved my bacon as I tried to get the thing to actually work, just hours before our 20 day YFO trip was to begin. Once again the THE FORUM for FJR tech advice came through.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I broke my balls trying to use the ball chain...finally understanding the " lost motion" idea I hooked it up almost exactly as in post 1 and it works perfectly. I did ground the tach wire tho-it was causing drop outs prolly due to the somewhat abrupt throttle response..

 
Top