How much time does it take to install a McCruise cruise control?

[PaddyO]

Thanks for the replies. I do believe barbagris, Navigator, and Joesmoe are speaking words of wisdom. Knowing myself the way I do, it would be better to install this when I get home Familiar surroundings, no pressure, etc. I am just anxious to get the bike and make it mine.

I rode from Brooksville, to Salt Lake City, Utah, to San Antonio, Texas, and back home again this past summer. It was the longest ride I had ever taken on a motorcycle. I did an Iron Butt Association Bun Burner Gold (1,500 miles in 24 hours) on the way to SLC and a Saddle Sore 1,000 (1,000 miles in 24 hours) from SLC to San Antonio. I enjoyed the ride immensely. The Nomad really struggled against the wind in Kansas and against the wind and mountains in Wyoming. I never thought I would make it through Wyoming. Between the wind (40+ miles/hr warning signs flashing along I-80) and the mountain grades, the Nomad struggled. I had the throttle wide open and sometimes it would get up to 70-80 (less wind/grade) and other times I would barely be doing 60. Even the semi's were struggling. The Nomad knew it wasn't in Florida anymore. In fairness to the Nomad, it was really loaded down with me and all of the stuff it was carrying I did a 200+ mile ride through near SLC through Utah and Wyoming. Beautiful. I even saw snow along the Ogden River Scenic Byway between Huntsville and Woodruff.

I then went to San Antonio to see the friend who checked out the Rocket for me. We and some friends of his rode the Twisted Sisters near San Antonio. That was a great ride until a deer interrupted the proceedings by jumping in front of the last guy. Deer was killed, bike totaled, and the guy went to the hospital. His gear did its job and he did not have any serious injuries. Then went home from there. Altogether it was about 5,500 miles. I have a deep appreciation for how big this country is. I am really wanting to do something like this again. With our daughter living in SLC, I can see this happening. My wife will fly and I will ride.

 

[Steel]

I got spoiled by the cruise control I had on my Nomad. I will be on I-10 until I get to the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. I will then head south to the coast and then follow the coast on US 98 until I get to US 19 south to Brooksville. The coast ride will be nice. The I-10 ride give me a good feel for how the bike does on the highway. Overall, the ride will be about 1,160 miles.

I'm guessing you will take I-12 from Baton Rouge to Slidell, instead of the long way through New Orleans.

Have you considered getting one of the cheap throttle locks just for this trip? For under $20 they are pretty good.
Motorcycle Cruise Control - Universal Throttle Lock | eBay

 

[PaddyO]

I'm guessing you will take I-12 from Baton Rouge to Slidell, instead of the long way through New Orleans.

Have you considered getting one of the cheap throttle locks just for this trip? For under $20 they are pretty good.
Motorcycle Cruise Control - Universal Throttle Lock | eBay

You are correct Steel, I will take I-12 since that will be quicker. Thanks for the suggestion on the throttle lock. Ordered one. Should be in San Antonio before I leave.

 

[rcket3]

You are correct Steel, I will take I-12 since that will be quicker. Thanks for the suggestion on the throttle lock. Ordered one. Should be in San Antonio before I leave.

Hi I fitted a McCruise to my R3 touring. Read the excellent manual several times then read through it at the bike to clarify what was going where. Once I started took me a day to complete the install at a leisurely pace and working step by step from the manual. The next day I cable tied and secured wires and cables and ran tests that took a couple of hours to make everything really ship shape. If you have a Decosse keyless system you will need a small diode in the wiring in the headlight shell. Decosse and/or McCruise will help you with this. (you will also need shrink tube and soldering gear if you need this mod) For mine I needed some small metric sockets and a torx key wrench some needle nose pliers helped with threading some stuff and putting the cable interface together.
I had an intermittent problem at the speedo connection which McCruise were great in helping me find, the speedo would freak out under hard acceleration and the cruise would drop out when going over lane dividers but not when hitting a pot hole or decent bump in the road.
In the end tracked it to one of the connectors was not pushed all the way in on the speedo block connector (at the factory) whilst it was held in contact most of the time by the sealing rings on the back of the connector certain vibrations would cause it to disconnect.
Other than that the unit is fantastic, rock solid and out performs the factory cruise on my mates Harley Street Glide. Personally I have not noticed that the throttle action is heavier since fitting the McCRuise but I did pay attention to lubing all throttle components when doing the install.
If I were doing the install again I would recommend using a bike table lift if you can, at my age at the end of the day my back and knees were letting me know they had had enough.
Either way you would be better doing it at home at your own pace. Take your time and follow the steps in the manual to the letter and it is almost plug and play.