Ducati Multistrada 1200 GPS SatNav Mount Installation

See also: Multistrada 1200 Motorcycle GPS Mounting Project (Garmin Zumo 550 ‘DIY’ mounting by ‘Dr Phibes’)

See also: Multistrada 1200 MTS1200 GPS Mounting Project 4**CARE** – Before proceding, see comments and warning here

Ducati supply a mount that is designed to be fitted in the same position for the Ducati branded Garmin SatNav system – however, the GPS cradle fits to a ‘plate’ rather than via a RAM mount and at this time I’m not sure if it is compatible with other Garmin GPS units e.g. the Zumo 660

Fitting a Satnav mount to an MTS1200 15May2010
By John W (www.ducatiforum.co.uk and www.ducatisportingclub.com forums)

Introduction
The following documents the method that I used to fit a satnav mount to my MTS1200 for a Garmin Zumo 550.
The details are provided as is, for other owners to use for information purposes. These are not detailed instructions and no liability will be accepted if you choose to follow them and in doing so damage your bike or equipment.
A couple of photos are shown at the end of this document for reference.

Tools and parts needed
Electric / cordless drill
6mm drill bit (2mm & 4mm too if you wish to drill the mounting hole in stages)
allen keys to remove screen and panels (2 sizes needed)
soldering iron
wire cutters
wire strippers
heat-shrink sleeving (or electrical tape)
tie-wraps
RAM 6mm Ball mount. (see http://www.motohaus.com/acatalog/Ball_Systems.html)
A suitable 6mm bolt as the ones that come with the above mount aren’t threaded far enough up their shank.
6mm nylon washer
6mm plated steel washer
6mm lock-nut
6mm rubber Well-nut

Preparation
Before you start, be clear on what you are attempting to do. You will be drilling a hole in your bike

You need to allow at least 2 hours to complete the installation process. Exactly how long it will take you will depend on how anal you are about wiring placement etc.
Also, if you are likely to want your satnav to work with a wired intercom (e.g. Autocom) or mp3 player, now would be the best time to run the cabling for that as well. Therefore ensure you have the necessary cables for this to hand.

In my case I swap the bike mount between my bikes, so use an interim connector close to the mount so I can remove it easily. The connector resides inside the fuse panel area and can be accessed without removing any panels (except the screen as its more convenient to feed the cables from the front). The parts were purchased from http://uk.rs-online.com/web/, part number 656-3917 for the fixed lead and 455-097 for the plug fitted to the mount lead.

Lets get on with it
The first steps are to remove the panels to gain access.
• clear screen (3 allen bolts),
• the left top fairing cover / fuse panel cover (4 allen bolts, the one under the flap is a larger size)
• the small panel under the tank on the left side (2 allen bolts)

At this stage you should be able to see the route the wiring takes under the tank on the left side and also the white OEM GPS connector that you will be connecting to for power.

Apply masking tape across the top of the screen mount on the ribbed face, locate the centre and mark it. I did this by measuring between the screen mounts with a steel rule.

Take a deep breath, and drill the mounting hole, in stages if you prefer starting with a small drill bit and working up to the final 6mm hole size. The hole needs to be between the middle rib and the rib closest to the front of the bike.

You can now trial-fit the RAM ball mount.
Put the nylon washer between the ball mount and the screen mount. This not only helps to protect the screen mount but will also squash down as you tighten it up. Put the steel washer and lock nut on the end of the bolt and tighten them up. The RAM mount should now be secure, and not able to rotate.
It is likely that you could use the mount as is but my experience was that the satnav would bounce about a fair bit. I resolved this by screwing a rubber well-nut up the bolt so that the body of the well-nut was trapped between the rear face of the screen mount and the remaining threads of the mounting bolt. This is enough to stop most of the movement.

Now you can attach the mount to the RAM ball mount and feed the wiring.
Take a moment to determine where the cable to the keyless fob sensor goes (the large round ring below the display). Route your cabling to follow this across to the left side of the bike, to the fuse box. Be sure to leave sufficient slack to allow the screen to be raised and lowered as required. Fit tie-wraps as required to tidy up the cable and ensure it moves up and down in a controlled manner.

You can now refit the screen and adjust the mount to get it into a position you are happy with. If you have fed all the cabling for your other devices the screen can probably be left in place now.

You now need to feed the power lead under the tank to the white OEM SatNav connector.

This can be a bit fiddly, and it is going to take you a bit of time to do this if you want it to follow the existing loom. I chose to lift the tank a little to do this, but that requires stripping most of the panels off the bike. You can get the cables through, just take your time.

Having got the cable to the white connector you now need to join it to the short tails provided. The ends of these tails are protected by adhesive lined heat-shrink sleeving. This needs to be cut off.

The critical bit here is to get the connections the right way around. Looking at the loom side of the connector one of the wires is red with a blue trace. This is the positive feed.

You can if you wish temporarily connect the wires at this stage, turn on the ignition, and ensure the satnav comes on. If you have a volt meter you could also confirm which connection is positive prior to connecting to it.
Slide a 20mm long piece of heat-shrink up both of the short tails. If you have a larger diameter piece of heat-shrink slide that up the cabling too (this will cover the entire joint).

Now tin and then joint the wires using a soldering iron, slide the heat-shrink to cover each of the joints and shrink it down using the body of the iron (be careful not to burn the insulation on the cables !).

You can now tidy up and secure any cable placement using tie-wraps (if you didn’t do it as you went along), and refit the panels.

If you have a wired intercom you obviously need to route the cabling for that as well.
In my case I fitted an autocom inside the right hand side panel below the riders seat.
To get the cabling from the satnav to there I followed the main loom routing, including feeding it through the plastic cable channel below the seat.

That’s it !

Please note: The thread in this case has been left long as it is required to be that length for my other bike which the mount had been borrowed from. I would suggest you cut the thread back (off of the bike !) so that it finishes much closer to the bottom of the screen mount.

Hope this helps
JW