Thursday, July 5, 2012

Improvements on all fronts

I finally bit the bullet and got the RAM mount I needed for the Garmin Nuvi GPS unit I have.  Like my other RAM mounts this one came from the Canadian branch of GPS City.  The power for the unit, like the power for the iPhone charger (the iPhone sits in a RAM mount on the right mirror stalk), comes from the 12 volt outlet I installed in the Vespa's glovebox.  The wires route out the bottom lip of the glovebox door and don't prevent the door from closing.


Two years ago I was using a Garmin Pilot i5 unit that was old and so finnicky that I just stopped using it.  Last night that unit hit the dustbin.

I now have all the instrumentation I need and there are no more mysteries about how long my commute really takes, or what the top speed was that I hit when the Vespa's speedometer, with typical Italian brio, tells me I'm sailing along at 72 mph.

In scientific terms it's really 105 km/h or 65.2439752 miles per hour.  Or so it was on this morning's commute.  Not too shabby for an LX150.  Piaggio should be proud to show the real speed, no?  Why opt for puffery when the truth is shockingly impressive?  Ahhhh... BRIO!

Speaking of Italian brio, isn't this a nice cozy picture?
Today I'm sharing my privileged parking spot with this gorgeous 50cc two-tone Vespa S.  Things are looking really spiffy in the garage now.  Won't be long now before the Ferraris show up, that's what I'm thinking.

4 comments:

The City Mouse in the Country said...

I'm not sure why but no what brand or type of bike...the speedo is always about 10% off.

Dar said...

David my speedo on my Honda is off by about 10kms/h. I have heard that other bikes have the same issue with the speedo not being accurate. Its weird. The little white one is cute! Hmmm I think your red one could use some white racing stripes!

Anonymous said...

I don't know about N America but in Europe it seems to be a regulatory requirement - speedos have to be accurate to + 0 -10% ie they must NEVER read low for 'safety' reasons. In practice most manufacturers seem to be about the +10% mark. It suits everyone except the owner. The police like it because people who think they are doing 80 are really only doing 72 and they can live with that, the manufacturers like it because it makes their cars seem faster and governments like it too.

My 17 yr old VW has an accurate speedo but my wife's newer one is about 7% high. The speedo on my 34 year old MZ 250 is all over the place but I think that's just senility.

Trobairitz said...

Those two scooters go very nicely together. Complimentary colors, you couldn't have planned that one better.

Good job on 65 mph.

I am not sure why they can't make an accurate speedo. My Suzuki is out 10% exponentially. At 60 mph it is out 6 mph, at 30 mph it is out 3 mph, etc. Maybe they just want us to think we are going faster. Hubby's Triumph seems to be pretty close to dead on though.

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