Scooter Farkles

 The little Honda ADV 150 scooters are fairly feature rich.  You can explore the scooter features here ADV 150 Features.  It doesn't really need much to make it a capable cross-country touring machine.  Of course, we're not going to be racing down the Interstates on this machine but that's okay because our whole reason for buying these cuties was to do some slow adventure riding.  Take our time, smell the roses, stop at attractions, take a hike, enjoy a meal, whatever.

However, the first thing we both noticed was the need for some mirror extenders so we could easily see the view behind us.  We got a set of Lucky Bike Mirror Risers here Mirror Extenders.  That immediately took care of the rear view!  Hooray and the mirrors are stable like a rock.  On some scooters and even some motorcycles, the mirrors vibrate way too much to get a clear view.  Our ADV 150's kitted out with the Lucky Bike Mirror Risers is da bomb!  No vibration or shaking, just a good clear view.  Honestly, that made me so much more comfortable riding in traffic.

Now to the fun stuff!  We installed handguards to provide weather and bug protection, (and maybe save a brake lever if the scooter gets sleepy).  See what we ordered here Hand Guards.  They work fantastic and there is plenty of room to use the brake levers.

The ADV 150 comes with a two position windscreen and it's rather small.  It was obvious from the get go that we weren't getting a lot of protection from the elements with the small screen.  Not that it was bad just not particularly good.  I kept getting a LOT of bugs on my helmet face shield and I noticed a definite change in the airflow around my head.  Of course, I'm used to sitting behind a rather large windscreen on the R1200GSA.  Anyway, we added a Laminar Lip to the windscreen.  We haven't had an opportunity yet to check it out and see what kind of difference it makes so I'll post that when we've tested it.  Here is a photo of the Laminar Lip and a link Laminar Lip

Our scooters are the first to use the lip and we have sent them photos.  The current link does not provide a photo yet but when it does show up it will be one of our scooters!!!  

In the above and below photos you can also see my XM Radio Antenna mounted behind the turn signal.  We also mounted my Zumo 550 with Sena Dongle.  This not only gives me GPS but the Sena Dongle makes it so I can listen to my XM radio.  The GPS or rider communication will cut out the music so I can hear the GPS or the other rider.  I love this set-up!

This photo shows my Zumo 550 with the Sena dongle sitting on top of the GPS all mounted on a Ram Ball.  Also my SPOT tracker again mounted on a Ram Ball.  None of these additions block the view of my instrument panel or the function buttons.  I think this will be awesome for me.  We will probably sort out some kind of guard to fit behind the GPS and dongle to give it more weather protection although they are both waterproof.

Eric had already mounted his Nuvi 40 GPS when we first got them.  And, yeah, I could use a new Spot Tracker.  Mine is held together with flaming duct tape, lol.

This is the view when I'm sitting on the scooter.  I love my little Rumbux bar bag.  It doesn't interfere with the handle bars and gives me a place to keep my phone and some other items and it is waterproof!  Unfortunately, it is now unobtainium.  However Eric scored a really nice bar bag that has a window which he uses for notes or a map that works great. Bar Bag with Window 

Yet another farkle was the Four in One USB car charger splitter adapter.  Whew!  That's a long name.  It's a cigarette lighter type charger that has two USB ports and a female cigarette port.  It fits perfectly in the little left side glove box and still gives me plenty of room to stow my earplugs, tissues and other little items I like to keep in there.  Charger

This will enable me to charge my phone or Sena comm system while scooting around if need be.  In addition to the USB charger we added an SAE plug so we can plug into the maintenance chargers in the garage or plug into the mini compressor in case of a flat tire and best of all we can plug in heated gear! 

Well, in all honesty, we're not yet sure about heated gear and whether or not the little scoot can handle the draw of a heated jacket.  Guess we'll find out when it gets cold enough to use it, hahahahaha!

When we first brought the scooters home Eric installed a waterproof box under the license plate.  This box holds all the stuff for tire repair including emergency valve stems, compressor and plugging materials and tools.

And now the best farkle yet (other than mirror extenders!) is a flashing brake light.  Now, the ADV 150 has excellent, no stellar, LED lighting.  Great patterns for visibility and they put out a good amount of light.  I really like a flashing brake light so we ordered the FXC 2x 24W Flash Strobe Controller Flasher Module for LED Brake Light Tail Stop Light 12-30V from Amazon. Brakes are applied, quick flashes followed by slow flashes, then brake light stays on steady. Brake is released and re-applied to show the sequence again. We paid about $10 for two modules which beats the heck out of the competition which was asking between $99 and $116 plus shipping for one plug and play module. These do require you to cut wires, but were an easy install. Brake Light Modulater.

Brake Light Video

Isn't that just the bee knees? I love it. Eric already noticed that traffic behind him was much more considerate at traffic lights because of his flashing brake lights.

So that's the extent of our farkles so far. We're still waiting for our tail racks which should arrive in a few weeks. This will give us some luggage options other than the under the seat compartment.

In all fairness I must confess that in this post when I use the term "we" I really mean Eric 😗 . He is very mechanical and makes things work! He has the skills and tools and knows how to use them. Thanks to my honey my little Honda ADV 150 is becoming a mean little cross-country machine. Before much longer, we'll be ready to take on the Scooter Cannonball Run next summer!

I'm excited to go for a ride and test out all the new farkles. Might be a few days because the forecast is rain, heavy rain, torrential rain and maybe some more rain.

Thanks for following along. More good stuff to come soon :-) I'm so glad I found my happy again!

Cheers,

Cletha