How to wire a BMW Navigator II straight to your battery

If you're anything like me, you will appreciate the simplicity and fiscal sensibility of an older item - in this case it's a sat nav that gives a straight forward 2D map view of where you want to go, none of this 3D-can't-see-what's-coming-up silliness you get with any modern 'nav. BMW Navigator IIs (and their Garmin Streetpilot 2610 counterparts) can also be found on certain auction sites for around £50 if you look hard enough, which is bargainous by anyone's standard. Plus they're mega retro. There's just one problem - if you're one of the ~95% of people who don't have a BMW ready wired to take one of these units (such as a K1200RS) then you'll find it quite difficult to actually wire the bloody thing in. Here is how I did it, a culmination of a surprising amount of reading up on the subject..

Firstly, if you're really unlucky or misguided, you may have bought a unit without the power cable. Mine came with the cable chopped up to fit a Bosch power socket similar to a cigarette lighter socket but not quite, these are common fitment on BMW motorcycles for some reason. This was a problem because the wires in the power lead are aluminium (!) and the strands would work harden and break off under the screws over the course of a day. As you can imagine, stripping back the wires and reattaching them to the connector every morning became quite tiring. If you need a cable then I found mine on ebay under the title "GARMIN StreetPilot 2610,2620,2720,2820 GPS DATA BMW Amplifier Harness Kit Cable" but I think it also has the BMW part number "71 60 7 686 670". It also bears the code "320-00171-53" if that helps anyone..

So, that's step one out of the way. But there's a problem isn't there? You still can't connect it to the battery because this cable ends in a frankly bizarre connector that is special to BMW. It's a shame to chop this off and solder straight on to the wires because this connector is waterproof and it allows you to easily disconnect your GPS unit. So, there are a couple of ways to go with this - you can either buy the proper BMW connector block to fit the other side (BMW part number "611657 83300413586" available on ebay Germany for £26.67 at time of writing) or you can search for connector number 968402 and see what comes up - BMW also use this connector in their cars, as do JLR and maybe more. The only thing to watch for is where the "rib" on the top is located, there are clearly several versions of the 968402 and you need the one to fit your Garmin cable..

Mine came from a "3 series", whatever that is. They seem to be a popular connector for parking sensors, whatever those are. It was £10, still quite a lot for a chomped off bit of loom but better than the new prices!

With that you'll need to know which is +12v and which is negative, the Garmin cable is traditionally coloured with the red wire is live and the black wire as ground but a kind soul over on the advrider forum has made a lovely diagram:

Of course you're working with the right side of the diagram, I hope that was obvious..! They state that J2 Pin 1 is ground and J2 Pin 3 is +12v, which I can say is correct.

With a bit of wire stripping, twisting, soldering and heatshrinking done it was time to wire the Nav into a battery and hope that the people on advrider weren't lying to me..

Happily the wires out of the "3 series" block are also copper so hopefully it won't work harden and break off! This also somehow makes the BMW cradle work with the GPS unit, there is no extra work required. Happy Navigating!

Mitas/Sava MC25 Bogart review

I'll cut to the chase - these are awful. Awful. If you ever might find yourself riding in the wet, even the damp, do not get these as you might die. I've never known anything like it. Read on for more, should you wish..

At a mileage that seemed far too low, the original fitment Dunlop TT900 on the rear of the Z250SL was worn out. Ebay was scoured for a replacement, the cheaper and more interesting the better - you may have noticed I like to try out the less premium products on offer! Up came a pair of Mitas MC25 Bogarts, barely used, for a mere £55 delivered - bought! Mitas don't have much of a name in the world of road tyres but they have been around forever in the off road market, and are well regarded. A few years ago they bought a rival firm called "Sava" who did have a good reputation in the world of road tyres for small bikes, their MC7 was particularly popular for a while. Now was my chance to try this particular Slovenian delight! But first I have to remove the rear wheel from a bike that doesn't have a centre stand, what a joke..

Is it really that hard to fit a centre stand, Kawasaki? And the rest of you lot making bikes. Look at this, you think this is acceptable? Anyway.. After a while faffing with the rear caliper on its carrier that has to locate on the rear axle and a stub on the inside of the swingarm at the same time (difficult..) I had a tyre that looked like this.

I've never seen a tyre so.. Pointy? I started off at Kawasaki's recommendation of 32 PSI for the rear, which was fine for the OE Dunlop but this looked a little overinflated, like riding on a knife edge. Never mind, only one way to find out..

Another week, another load of commuting. The tyre seemed a bit hard but not bad, not overly affected by bumps or road imperfections and in the first few dry days it had more grip than I needed - I was pleased. Then the first wet morning came, I set of as normal and all was well until I reached a junction that is made of a strange road surface, big stones perhaps to be hard wearing - unfortunately these polish flat over time. I set off in first gear, the rear slid out so I pulled the clutch and kicked it into second while the bike sorted itself out. Put the (meagre!) power down again and the rear span straight up, no problem. The rest of the commute was rather subdued!

Thankfully the commute home was dry, so again no drama. I figured the pressure must be too high, giving me only a tiny contact patch - I let it down to 28 PSI. This seemed to have no ill effects on handling and gave a more comfortable ride. There was no more rain that week but at the weekend I had a day out in the Peak district on a hot day, when I actually had to stop and let yet more air out of the tyre as it had become so hard again in the heat - now at 26 PSI! This feels slightly squirmy until the tyre is warm but it is what I've stayed with. This is also by far the lowest pressure I've ever run a tyre at, the construction of these must be really stiff.

Now running half flat the contact patch was larger and I was really beginning to enjoy the grip on offer, at least in the dry. I barely had any chicken strips left, the bike wasn't wallowing or weaving in corners and the shoulders of the tyre were roughing up enough to make me look a bit like Rossi's retarded second cousin. Unfortunately another rain dawned, and quickly dashed my hopes of a larger contact patch meaning more grip in the wet - further testing has revealed I can spin up the rear in third gear! I have also nearly stuffed the bike into a kerb when going too fast around a long sweeping bend, as whenever I tried to lean the bike very seriously threatened to lowside due to the total lack of grip on offer. These tyres make the Goldentyre GT201 seem excellent.

I have not yet fitted the front Mitas, and frankly I'm not sure if I dare. I wish I could imagine it will be better, but this is so bad that it seems an impossibility. I have since seen M+P selling pairs of scooter tyres from Dunlop for £50, I wish I'd bought those instead.. Never mind, eh?

**UPDATE**
With a pathetic 2979 miles up the wear markers are making themselves known!

Now that it has squared off a bit I can spin the rear up in 6th gear in the wet and it snakes all over the place given a hint of moisture. I'm increasingly of the opinion these tyres should not be offered for sale and still have severe anxiety over the thought of fitting the front.. I really don't think I can do it, it'd be suicide.

**FINAL UPDATE**
After 5750 miles I was becoming concerned about the police asking me why I'm running a bald tyre and the commute had long since become a game of speedway, seeing how often I can spin the rear up in the damp conditions that autumn and winter bring.

Not all of the tyre was bald:

But at least half of it was..

It was also badly scalloped (or cupped depending on your favoured vernacular) which is where the outline of the tyre looks like a lovely scallop:

Personally I've never noticed this to have any detrimental effect but it seems a lot of people don't like this for some reason.

So, the Mitas MC25 Bogart.. Just don't. They're very stiff making an uncomfortable ride. They don't last very long. They absolutely do not work at all on a road that is not completely bone dry. They're not even cheap. I think this is, by far the worst tyre I've ever had.

I still have the front tyre waiting to be fitted but I've bought a Continental ContiTwist SM instead. I hope this tells you everything you need to know.

"Rhino" brand brake pads review

With not a lot over 8000 miles on the clock (if the previous owner was telling the truth!) the Z250SL had eaten the organic EBCs that were in the front brake caliper. EBCs are not original fitment so I don't know what's going on here but they were plenty meaty at 3200 so they've not lasted long at all. They were also cracked!

I found this out since I had to clean out the calipers after a few days of winter riding.. It only took me until June to get around to it. I'm busy, y'know? Anyway, this meant I was in need of some new pads. Being tight I went straight to ebay looking for FA197 sorted by price and postage (lowest). This brings up some openly Chinese pads at £6.70 or the next step up is supposedly German quality pads from Rhino at £8. I have tried Chinese pads before and actually liked them very much, but I went big with the Rhinos because they're completely new to me and I haven't seen a single proper review of them. Very quickly they popped through my door..

They look very fancy in gold with a nice thick back plate, not like the thin thing that the Chinese pads get. They fitted into the caliper beautifully and took around 50-60 miles to bed in against the disc. Initial impressions are that they actually work okay, plenty powerful if I squeeze the lever hard (I did have the rear slewing about one time!) but they do lack a certain feel, there's a good initial bite and then not a lot more until a lot of squeezing takes place when they seem to really come alive. They do feel more slippery than grippy though, a lot like Kyoto and Vicma pads do - as if the disc is getting away from them rather than the pads biting the disc to slow it down, if that makes any sense at all.

I have not yet ridden with these pads in the rain but this review will be updated when I do, along with pad life if I keep this bike long enough.

**UPDATE**

With 7121 miles under their belt the Rhino pads look like this:

After around 5000 miles they started to exhibit quite serious wet weather lag which has only become worse with time and they do show signs of brake fade if given the task of a serious stop. Combine this with an overall lack of power and the only thing these pads have going for them is long life, which is a shame when all I want to do is replace them

**FINAL UPDATE**
12859 miles:

I probably could've squeezed a few more miles out of them but the wet weather lag and the fade continued to get worse and frankly I couldn't wait to swap them for something else. So overall not completely terrible (they do at least kinda work as brake pads and never fell apart) but long lag, noticeable lag and annoyingly long life makes these a 3/10 at best. I also disagree with Rhino that these won't harm your discs, my disc seems every bit as worn as I would expect after this. Properly Chinese AKA pads have been fitted in their place, a review will of course follow.