Multistrada 1200 Motorcycle GPS Mounting Project (3)

For more Multistrada 1200 GPS mounting options/guides check out the menu on the left! 😉

**CARE** – Before proceding, see comments and warning here

Gadget Guy GPS mount for Ducati Multistrada 1200
by Ducati.ms member ‘motomotive1’ aka Jamie (original forum post and discussions here)

NB: Larger versions of photos here

So I got the parts I ordered from Gadget Guy for my Multistrada 1200. I sent Genna (Gadget Guy) an email before ordering to clarify what exactly I’d need and he recommended the following:

1. Base Plate II Kit – ABP00002-0000 (plain aluminum) or ABP00002-0101 (black anodized)

2. Kit II with M8 x 70mm mounting screws – BK02005-0000 (plain aluminum) or ABK02005-0101 (black anodized)

I ordered the black anodized versions of the above mount pieces and also purchased an additional Garmin Zumo 550 motorcycle cradle mount and extra Garmin motorcycle wiring harness. Note: these Garmin pieces normally come in the box with the Zumo 550. I needed to order a second set as this is the second motorcycle I’m using the Zumo 550 on.

Genna called me after I placed my online order to follow up and make sure I was ordering the correct parts, to make sure I was indeed ordering a second cradle and wiring harness and to just plain introduce himself and make himself available for questions. He was great to deal with, prompt and had the order out in a day or two.

Two days later I received my parts. Every individual item was shrink wrapped and organized in a way you *rarely* see these days. Very impressive:

So after removing both the passenger pillion and rider seat I went ahead and pulled the bodywork off the right hand side thinking that would help when it came time to run the power bus wire from the battery to the GPS mount. There are a lot of fasteners that need to be removed (including one under the rubber liner in the right-side storage bin to the right of the instrument cluster). You can also remove the side panel without removing all the side pieces. Just carefully pry the lower panel down to access the other fasteners:

So after removing the panels you’ll be left with this:

Turns out that I didn’t gain much of an advantage pulling these parts off the bike, so save yourself the time and leave them on.
I ran the wire up through the right-side and bundled it into the existing loom of wires using the stock rubberband-like cable organizers that Ducati uses:

Once I had the wire run up to the rough location of where I wanted to mount the GPS I installed the two M8 bar clamp bolts with the new longer Gadget Boy bolts and aluminum risers. Leaving the clamping bolts loose for now I put the aluminum cross bar in place to see how it looked and to take a photo:

Next I pulled the cross bar back out of the clamp mounts and threaded through the Gadget Boy Base Plate II. I centered the cross bar between the two clamp mounts and tightened the clamp mounts that hold the cross bar down thoroughly. Leave the Gadget Boy base plate loose on the cross bar for now.

The Base Plate II has numerous stock Garmin base plate mount holes pre-drilled and threaded to support any of the ZUMO model mounts – in my case the Zumo 550. I attached the Zumo 550 cradle mount (again loosely). I ran the power bus wire under the stock bar clamp and through the wire slack loop on the back of the Gadget Boy base plate. Then I connected the power bus line to the cradle unit with the two supplied screws.

After that remove any additional slack in the power bus line going back to the battery. Make sure you move the bars back and forth through their full range of motion to make sure you have enough play in the wire. Then center the Gadget Boy base plate where you want it at the correct angle you want and tighten it down. Once the base plate is locked down you can go ahead and finish tightening the four screws that hold the cradle to the base plate. When it’s all done it should look like this:

I finished making connections to the battery directly and used some zip ties to clean up any loose wiring. I then connected the ZUMO 550 unit to the cradle and fired it up:

I then put the seats back on and sat down to check my rider view:

I can still see all the gauges I need to see and I’ve got some room to make adjustments if necessary. The entire setup is rock solid and bomb proof – there isn’t a single wiggle or movement within the entire mount.

That’s it. All said and done, if I hadn’t removed the body work from the bike I would have only about an hour or less of installation time involved.

Hope this helps for those that were considering the Gadget Boy mounts.

Update: So quick update. I installed my Wolfman Express tank bag and decided to move the mount up to the top bar clamp bolts (I need to change that startup wallpaper on the ZUMO!):

This gave me a bit more height over the tank bag but didn’t block the gauges:

I’m 6 feet tall for reference sake. Took a short ride today and I like the positioning. It is close enough to see the details I want to see but not so far out of line of site as to be uncomfortable (your mileage may vary of course). I find that I don’t watch it all that closely and tend to be a bit more paranoid about driver distractions (mine and others!) these days.

Someone mentioned vibrations. The GPS mounted to my Multi with the Gadget Boy mounts doesn’t visually look like it is shaking or vibrating at all. If you touch it there are tiny, tiny vibes but that’s about it. The stock Garmin mount we used on our GS has more extensions on it and any vibrations seem to get worse the longer you extend the mounts from the base/bar. That said, even the stock mount doesn’t visibly shake bad enough that you would worry about it. On a Ducati though the chances for vibrations with a v-twin are a bit higher and things seem very solid with the Gadget Boy setup so far.

Hope that helps!

(Q) …….the mounting bar can be cut off to be flush with the clamps, instead of extending out on the sides can’t it??
(A) Yes it can, I should have mentioned that. However I went with the anodized black version and cutting it would have left the end raw aluminum colored.

(Q) With most GPS units connected to the battery, they will remain on when the bike is shut off…….where did you connect your Garmin power leads?
(A) Mine is hardwired right to the battery, so yes it will stay on when the bike is turned off. However I don’t leave the unit unattended when I leave the bike, so this isn’t much of a problem.
(A) [TimOz] I have a Garmin Zumo660 (and this is the same for the 665. It is 12 volt powered and has an inbuilt battery. I wired it up to the standard GPS 2-wire connector under the left front shroud. Kudos to Ducati for fitting this connection with the make socket. To be clear, the wiring harness is fitted with a 2-wire, female connector that provides 12V when the bike is turned on (engine does not have to be running). This connector has the matching male plug with 2 short wires covered in heat shrink already fitted. You can unplug this and just “plug and play” the Ducati branded GPS or you can use this male plug ti wire in another GPS of your choosing. Just cut off the heat shrink and solder on the power supply to your GPS, making sure the polarity is correct.
To answer the first question. The Garmin Zumo is designed as a bike specific unit and is excellent. You can turn the unit on with the ON switch on top of the unit or it with auto turn on when the bike is turned on. When the bike is turned off the unit asks you on screen if you would like to “turn off or stay on”. It has a 30 second countdown timer and will turn off if it receives no input. If you press the stay on screen button it will stay on and run on battery power. Mine seem to have 2-3 hours run time on battery and will simply recharge next time the bike power is on or you plug it into a charger. You can also turn it on or off any time with the unit switch but it is pretty smart how it handles power input.

[AndyW] The Multistrada 1200 has an ignition switched power socket specifically designed for attaching a power lead for the Ducati GPS system (a rebadged Garmin satnav;-). See here re using this to power any GPS unit:
Multistrada 1200 / MTS1200 Custom GPS Power Lead

I had a GadgetGuy GPS mount on my R1200GS and transferred it to the Multistrada when I sold the GS….

I customised the power lead from my Zumo 550 so that the cradle was easy to remove when not required. I’ve upgraded to a Zumo 660 now and have done some serious surgery on that’s cradle wiring loom!
Garmin Zumo 660 Cradle – Wiring Loom / Cables Modification