Handlebar bracket for CD player control
As fitted to my Goldwing
The CD player I installed in the Goldwing is a Sony ten disc unit, the disc carrier hid away in the right side pannier. I made the control bracket from mild steel, folded it and mig welded the joints before spraying the whole thing satin black. I bolted it to one of those chromed plastic switch boxes that most of the Goldwing aftermarket manufacturers do. Anyone with a reasonable degree of skill can make one of these brackets to suit their CD player. The benefits are obvious - one handed operation of the controls without taking your paw off the bars. I made mine long enough to take the control for the Hondaline grip heater as the idea of sticking it to the tank shelter, as the instructions suggested, did nothing for me. The second picture is the view from the front of the Goldwing. The third picture shows the CD changer mounted in the right pannier, on a false floor (made from MDF board) and on a quick release bracket, just in case I need the extra space. I have had this setup on my GL1100 and all three of the 1500 Goldwings that I owned and it worked a treat on all of them.
Below is the bracket I made for my year 2000 GL1500SE. This time I made the bracket with a welded fixed plate, to fit straight onto the brake master cylinder cover. This made for a much steadier construction.
And here is the CD changer. You can see a hinge at the bottom of it, which is fixed to a plywood base shaped to fit flat in the saddlebag. The hinge is a rising door type and if I want to remove the changer for space, all I have to do is unplug the three wires and tilt the unit forward and out of the saddlebag. I had this very same Sony unit in three GL1500's over a five year period and never had any problems with it.
Suzuki Burgman ground lock.
This should solve the problem of bike thieves lifting a lightweight locked scooter or moped off the ground. I designed this myself and had it made by Goldwing owner, John Kirwan. John made it from 50mm x 15mm solid stainless steel so that it would be more difficult for scumbags to cut through. For those that want to make one themselves, the width across the upright bars is 600mm and ground to top bar is 550mm. There are two locks fitted and the anchor bolts holding the whole thing to the ground are welded to the base bar. When not in use the uprights fold down. This design can probably be adapted to suit any step-thru scooter or moped. The welding is really strong and we had a good go at smashing it with the ould surgical tools (big lump hammer), all to no avail. The fact that the locked part moves back and forth makes it quite difficult to get to grips with.
