Nancy and I don’t normally ride two-up and thought we should try a trip to see what it’s all about. We were going to tour the Gulf Coast and then Hurricane Katrina hit. We were then going to tour south Florida and Hurricane Wilma beat us to it. We finally decided to trace the route of the complete US 129.

Being new at the touring scene Nancy spent several days on the Internet planning what we needed to buy for the back road trip. It was a daunting chore at first trying to put the best communications system, GPS unit, mounts, and audio entertainment together. She finally got answers to all her questions and what we rigged-up worked smooth.

We had great assistance from the people at Touratech-usa.com who answered all our questions about the GPS unit, wiring kits, and various mounts that we would need.

I can handle putting batteries in, but for anything more complicated we go to Wheeler’s (located two miles north of Robbinsville on US129 ). Ken can make anything work. In a day he had installed all our goodies and made them convenient to use. We could even still see our dashboard.

Here is what we used and the good and bad of each:

The StreetPilot 2720 $889 Full-featured GPS preloaded with MapSource City Navigator NT North America. Detailed maps and turn-by-turn directions to anywhere in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico come loaded on this unit. The StreetPilot 2720 can help you locate gas stations, restaurants, motels and even ATMs from its 6 million preloaded points of interest (POI). Waterproof marine construction.

The upgraded “touch screen” display contains double the pixels for the highest 3D display resolution which is visible in bright sunlight and adjusts for night riding. Data is stored securely on solid state memory so there's no more shock and vibration issues when you decide to go exploring on a bumpy road.

Optional Traffic Receiver ($214, plus $60 per year subscription) can route you around traffic tie-ups in major metropolitan areas across the US.

If you have other MapSource software, there is 750M (three quarters of a gigabyte!) available for additional map downloads. This can be used for additional mapping programs for other parts of the world such as Europe, Australia or South Africa. Also, US and Canada related maps can be added such as TOPO.

COMMENTS: This unit was awesome. Easy to use, easy to see in all conditions, easy to save locations/routes, and was also easy to check your exact speed. It labeled upcoming intersections, showed you how far to your next turn, and even had 3D screen layout that we used just about exclusively. You could switch to the 2D screen by touching anywhere and then drag the screen with your finger to see areas that were off-screen in that view. Unit saves a complete trip log keeping time, distance, top speed, average speed, and more. It even talked to you if you wanted to connect to your communications system.

Drawbacks were minimal. In cities using shortest distance you needed to look ahead and watch-out for the unit directing down the goat paths instead of staying on the main route.

Touratech Locking MvG Mount for Garmin Streetpilot GPS 2720 $165.20 MvG provides Softest "suspension" available to protect the electronics, includes a KEY lock, and a powercord holder. KEY-LOCK provides very secure attachment

MvG model has SUPER suspension for vibration protection on single-cyl and rough twins. Mounts to 1/2 inch crossbar or can be used with RAM arm.
COMMENTS: Don’t skimp on jury-rigged mounts. This worked great and was easy to use. The lock was okay for short stops, but we removed the whole mount and GPS unit at night.

RAM Handlebar Mount without cradle $32 This Ram Handlebar Mount is most useful for mounting a Touratech GPS Mount on your handlebars. The diamond base is easy to adapt to any number of accessories. This kit includes a diamond base with mounting ball, a medium arm and the u-bolt handlebar mount adapter.
COMMENTS: We also has a Ram Mount for our radar unit. These mounts are easy to put on, remove, and can give you just about unlimited ranges of movement so you can place the units right where you want them.

2v Hardwire Kit for Garmin StreetPilot GPS 720 $30.00 This kit contains a 12V power cord, a blade-type fuse kit with two 2A fuses and a small container of dielectric grease. This kit provides power to your StreetPilot only, it has no provision for sound output.
COMMENTS: This is another must have item to provide easy removal of the GPS unit.

Escort Passport 8500 X50 radar detector $299 Probably the best performing radar detector on the market today. Along with it's superior performance, this model features Escort's ExpertMeter™ multiple threat display which can detect and alert you to a possible 8 different radar threats at once. The Passport 8500 X50 also features an AutoSensitivity™ mode, which automatically adjusts sensitivity levels to your driving conditions and virtually eliminates false alarms. This model will also detect the new POP mode radar as well.
COMMENTS: Saved us on several occasions when we were getting it on the back roads. Long range warning and the coppers can’t shoot bikes as easy as the bigger profile of cars.

Radar Screamer $99.95 There is no doubt that a radar detector is a handy thing on a lot of bikes, but the biggest problem with using one is knowing when it's going off! If you think that the little speaker in the detector is loud enough to hear while you're riding, forget about it - if you can hear the detector, you're not going fast enough to need it. I've seen riders try to mount the detector such that they'll "see the display" when it goes off, but depending on the angle of the sun and the level of attention you're giving to the road (hopefully a lot) that doesn't work well either.

The Radar Screamer is the solution to this problem. The Screamer installs quickly on your bike, with just two power wires and a remote switch. The peizo buzzer amplifies the radar alert up to 108dB, plenty loud enough to hear on any bike. The remote hi/lo/off switch can be mounted under any handy screw or nut. The system is completely waterproof, and simply plugs into the radar detector's earphone jack.
COMMENTS: Another must have.

The Delphi XM MyFi™ $199 personal XM satellite radio.
COMMENTS: Our entertainment on the road. Some loss of signal here and there, but no big deal. A little complicated to work while riding.

CHATTERBOX FRS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM $199 Frequency-modulated transmission gives crystal-clear communication with up to a two-mile range. HJC-FRS kit includes communicator, batteries, charger, headset, mounting hardware and optional-use handlebar-mount talk switch. Features include convenient voice activation, audio input and adjustable volume. Optional audio cord allows you to listen to portable CD and tape players, radios, XM radio. Large controls are easy to manage even when wearing gloves. Shock-resistant case lets the HJC-FRS withstand even the harshest roads. Two UHF channels plus full-duplex intercom - use it as a wireless intercom between two bikes or get another headset and extension cord for 2-up communication. Mounts on any helmet or clip it to your belt, jacket, tankbag, etc. Small, flexable, built-in atenna. Also need to purchase additional stereo headset for passenger $29.99 and stereo headset extension cord which will run from the chatterbox to the passenger $19.99
COMMENTS: the cheapest and simplest answer to two-up communications and radio audio.