Five years of NT ownership, here is my list of top Farkles.

[savantelite]

1. Retrofit source HID head light up grade. Better than xeon, better than LED and spreads light evenly into the ditches. I see wild life at night I have never seen during the day! Ride at night with confidence.
2. Daylong seat. No butt burn.
3. Fuze Block. Routing accesories into one block saves future problems. I put mine beside the battery housing so I can get to it without tools. Just remove the side plastic thing.
4. Safe and warm jacket and gloves. A must for riding more days of the year.
5. USB power outlet in side cowl. Everything charges via usb. So I have a USB ext cable that routes into my tank bag. So I can charge anything right in my bag! Cheap too $25.
6. Handle bar risers with shock asorbers. Yea, it makes a difference.
7. Heated Grips
8. Larger Paniers. Cuts gas milage a little, and kinda pricey, but doubles your storage.

What not to buy!
1. Garmin Zumo 660 or most garmins. They are expensive, slow and crash all the time. I have barely used mine because the battery died twice, and they don't work without the battery. I just run my headphones from my phone under my helmit for gps. Works way better and way cheaper.
2. Those Honda Wind deflectors or Honda 12v Accesory outlet. Expensive and worthless.
3. Radar Detector. Very difficult to mount and possistion and they don't like weather. Most cops don't care about motorcycles within reasonalbe speeds over.
4. Anything Bluetooth. Bluetooth helmit? skip it, It only works in town at low speeds. I have had just as much success with an apple ear buds inside a helmit.

Thats my list. Glad to riding again and checking on the Forum.

 

[Golfnutk2]

Thanks for insight and suggestions.

Golfnutk2

 

[DirtFlier]

I've had 4 different Garmin GPS units over the years and have been happy with them. And I only had to buy batteries for ones that were older and/or bought used. The screen on the Zumo 660 is too dark for my old eyes but that's my only complaint. It was much brighter on the Zumo 550. :smile:

 

[bearbait51]

We all have our preferences on farkles, so I will disagree on your what not to buy.
1. GPS: I have a Tom Tom and love it. I did a 2400+ mile tour with a couple buddies from south central Pa. as far north as Bar Harbor last September. Using the Winding Roads program, of the 650 trip up I was only on 14 miles of four lane highways. It took an extra 5 hours, of beautiful two lane roads! It's also nice to be warned of traffic tie ups with alternate routes.
2. Blueltooth: The Scala Bluetooth works awesome without ear buds and wires. GPS directions come through loud and clear, the phone is voice activated, just say hello to answer. With my full face helmet, I can whisper into the microphone at 70 mph and the caller can hear me crystal clear. Also, communicating with my riding buddies is great up to two miles apart on straight roads.
3. Radar Detectors: Don't need them, enough said.

One farkle I did add is a Denali Sound Bomb air horn. No more Beep Beep, the air horn gets everyone's attention.
BB

 

[Rusty_Iron]

1. Retrofit source HID head light up grade.

Savantelite,
I'm interested in lighting improvement for my NT. As I started researching, I discovered there are HID color choices of yellow, white, blue and purple. Which color did you choose? Did you replace both high and low beams?

Thanks for your insight.

 

[gbrand42]

Got my re-profiled and re-covered seat back today from Tony Archer - this guy has a large number of satisfied customers in the UK. Can't wait to try it out on an extended run.

 

[Electraclyde]

Have owned mine slightly less that two years. Made one trip from Michigan to Florida and return. Have added bar risers and an electronic cruise control and designed and made a set of "highway" pegs. The cruise is the one item that I would not be without. Only other thing I may or may not do is a Russel Day Long seat.
I do use a Garmin 660 GPS. This unit is now on its 4th bike as well as being used in several cars. It is one of the first 660's on the market and has not ever failed.
Almost forgot, I also added the Honda wind reflectors. Don't see where they made any difference. Also replaced stock (cracked) windshield with a V stream. Not impressed with that either.

 

[dnktng]

The Honda wind deflectors work extremely well with the handlebars at stock height. If you add handlebar risers the grips will rise out of the wind protected zone.

I have an old car Garmin GPS on the NT that is now 10 years old. Cheap (already had it) but it doesn't have map updates and not many features, but it allows me to get lost without worrying about finding a way home. I have used the same GPS on a bicycle, have dropped it twice while at speed, and ran over it. It looks rough but still works great. I liked it so much I bought the same model for my other motorcycle.

 

[karl]

My guess your unhappiness with things Bluetooth is less that system than what you are connected to. A new phone opened a whole new world for me with my Bluetooth headset. With earplugs can still listen to the blues at extralegal speeds. Very nice when you want it. Didn't notice any change in mileage with the big lids but love being able to stow a large modular helmet in the left side. Don't worry about them making my butt look big either. [video]https://youtu.be/igu2GHbgA8s[/video]

 

[Rand soper]

My favorite farkles - Sena Bluetooth - I can talk to my buddy at speed nearly a mile apart and it is great for conversations with a passenger. Never had an issue with it. USB outlet in side cover, large panniers, Really really LOUD air horn

 

[moriniman2011]

Bluetooth with my Scala is excellent, Ultimate add-Ons case for my phone to use as a free GPS, Honda fog lights (but agree on HID dipped beam) USB socket and a connecter fly lead to allow my trickle charger to be easily connected when necessary!!

 

[savantelite]

Savantelite,
I'm interested in lighting improvement for my NT. As I started researching, I discovered there are HID color choices of yellow, white, blue and purple. Which color did you choose? Did you replace both high and low beams?

Thanks for your insight.

Thats a very good question. I called and asked for the most light possible. I can't remember witch that was. I think I have white.

The High beam was easy to replace because you just swap out the bulb, mount the ballast, attach the wire kit. I went a step further and put a fuse block in instead of relying on an inline fuse connected to the battery.

The low beam was work. You have to take out the entire headlight assembly and pull it apart. You can use a heat gun and a freind with a sharp knife. You just want to heat the glue holding it together. Once you have it apart, take the reflector and mount it table facing a wall. At this point you have to put the old light back in and find the light cutoff point on the wall, find it and mark it. Now the brave part, cut a whole in the low beam spot just large enough for the projector. The projector (a black box with a clear round bulb in front) will have to sit level once your remount in the lens. I don't remember what I used, but their direction will tell you. Before remounting, you plug in the HID into the projector and line up the cutoff point with the projector. I had to bring my battery in from my bike to do this. Once you have it alligned, mount it permantanly to the lens and let dry. When finished you will have this black box and glass ball sticking out the front. They sell different covers to hide the black box. You will have to cut it to fit and in my case use some silver tape at the top because the covers are too large. But no one knows unless I point it out. Once you are happy with how it looks, reassemble the headlight. You can reheat the glue to better seal, but you can also use some new sealent stuff. (I don't remember what I used)

Once its all back together, you can still use the alignment knobs to fine tune. The main thing is you don't want your low beam shining above peoples hood. The light is crazy bright. Once you are out on the highway and want high beams, the projector opens its cut-off mechanism so you have two full powered HIDs for the rode. I will update this with some pictures.

 

[savantelite]

My post is based on bang for your buck, and Bluetooth hasn't held its own for me. I spent $800 on Garmin GPS with XM radio. $300 on bluetooth helmet speakers and mic and couldn't be less happy. Support was terrible, map updates were expensive, and if the battery dies, it doesn't even work, it just turns on and tells you to put in the battery. Only gps to ever do that. Mine might be a 665. I tend to average 75-85 mph and with earplugs in my bluetooth helmet is useless.

Instead I use inear headphones (currently bose QC-20 noise cancelling in ear headphones with apple jack). I can listen to music, podcasts, and audio books at less than half volume. I just put my phone on my tank bag, type in gps coordinates, and start a audiobook. The gps cuts in when it needs to and I never have to look down at the screen. With the apple jack (not iphone 7) you can turn the volume up and down as well as stop or start calls or music. As a note, the regular iphone earbuds work intown to make calls and listen to music. You can use any in ear headphones too, but volume control is very nice.

 

[Comanche]

My guess your unhappiness with things Bluetooth is less that system than what you are connected to. A new phone opened a whole new world for me with my Bluetooth headset. With earplugs can still listen to the blues at extralegal speeds. Very nice when you want it. Didn't notice any change in mileage with the big lids but love being able to stow a large modular helmet in the left side. Don't worry about them making my butt look big either. [video]https://youtu.be/igu2GHbgA8s[/video]

Karl - love your taste in music!! You must have some more music from Alligator Records!

 

[Comanche]

Excellent list!! I agree with much of it, as as is the case with all opinions, we all have at least one.

• Totally love my Russell Day Long saddle. Mine has the back rest.
• Big lids - yes expensive and probably do cut down on the mileage. Have the Bestem liners which make it easy to unload at the motel at night.
• Givi Maxi top case - solid and carries all the junk I need for a long trip.
• Heli-bar riders - these really get me up into the "sit-up-and beg" position, which is what I need
• Foam covers for the grips, along with a twist-away version of a Throttle Miester
• The stock windshield is way to short for me with the Heli-bar risers. I currently have a National V-Stream and am very happy with is.
• LED driving lights mounted next to the mirror mounts. Like you, I ride with confidence at night, though I still try to avoid the dawn and dusk hours. There are a lot of Bambi types in Texas.
• Extra lightling front and rear for visibility.
• Fuze block - you bet. Though I don't have any heated clothing (not in South Texas), I do have a lot of electric gizmos.
• GPS - currently I have a Zumo 660. Mixed reviews - the GPS works fine, but the tire pressure monitor has gone belly-up.

I found out after three (count 'em) three Cee Bailey screens that they crack too often. (I'm a slow learner.)

 

[Argyll]

My guess your unhappiness with things Bluetooth is less that system than what you are connected to. A new phone opened a whole new world for me with my Bluetooth headset. With earplugs can still listen to the blues at extralegal speeds. Very nice when you want it. Didn't notice any change in mileage with the big lids but love being able to stow a large modular helmet in the left side. Don't worry about them making my butt look big either. [video]https://youtu.be/igu2GHbgA8s[/video]

Thanks so much for posting the link to Ann Rabson / Uppity Blues. I'd never heard of them before but immediately had to find everything possible on youtube. Just great music.

 

[JQL]

• In-ear ear buds for earphones (i.e. to transmit sound to your ears) are illegal in France and will be in most of Europe soon, probably. In-ear ear buds to protect your ears aren't (go figure), nor are helmet speakers. In the Schuberth C3 Pro helmet at 70-80 mph I can hear the music and radio (including speech) just fine. In the Nolan, I can't. Choice of helmet is important.
• The Wind Deflectors work well on my bike down to about 2?-3?C. Yes, they are expensive but, IMHO, well worth it.
• Heated handlebars - A must for cooler weather and older hands. I use them from about 8?C down. I also use them in the rain even from about 15?C down.
• After 30,000 miles the vibration goes away and after 75,000 miles is virtually non-existent. Handlebar shock absorbers not required. Ride more
• Loud Horn - Stebel Nautilus or copies, like the Sound Bomb, is a must.
• HID low beam - not required for high beam as that works well enough.
• LED Fog Lights correctly set up. Good for Numpties and seeing in the rain at night as the headlight lens isn't very good.
• Power outlet is a good idea but the pocket is too small to hold a Smartphone on charge without damaging the cable, so rarely used. I use a "back-up" battery in my jacket pocket and plug the phone into that. Charge the battery up in the pocket!
• Big Lids - a must.
• Choice of gear - Separate summer and winter Goretex gear (including Leather Goretex boots) with armour. Also, impermeable over-trousers and jacket for "frog stranglers". No problem carrying the over-trousers and jacket with Big Lids as they fold up really small.
• Under cowl (sabot) - helps keep your feet dry and warm in winter.
• Topbox - holds 2 full face helmets or 1 large modular or 2 small modular helmets
• Brake light modulator which goes to full red after 8 flashes - wakes up numpties.

 

[karl]

Makes me happy to share something that makes some others happy. http://www.alligator.com/artists/Saffire--The-Uppity-Blues-Women/ My current phone will let me stream music from Pandora or Amazon music and others. Use a lot less data than even short video. Outside of cell service areas it supports micro sd so I can use it as an old school music player. With an app it even does the transistor radio deal.
The best farkle is the one that makes You happy.

 

[mtnair3]

Thanks for starting an interesting and, as always on the forum, informative thread.

 

[Mikethebike]

Hi John,
It appears you either live in France or spend a lot of time there. We have just bought two bikes in the UK for extended riding in Europe. Spain and Portugal this year for 3 months and then Scandinavia next year for 3.
My wife got a 2006 NT700 and I got a 2004 VRF 800 both in incredible condition and low miles.
I'm in the midst of getting a bunch of stuff ready to pack for the trip over ( we live in NE Washington State)
I note you recommended brake modulators, I already have those, but I'm not sure if I can use headlight modulators in Europe. I've checked many website and nothing shows up.Do you know if its either legal or tolerated?
Thanks
Michael