Euro turn signal conversion

The USA Stelvio replaces the very good looking front turn signals with mirror stalk turn signals which make the mirrors nearly useless. The stock signals don't meet some US requirement for surface area or ?

First step, order up the following:
#AP8104921 Right side mirror (standard Aprilia style)
#AP8104922- Left side mirror
#978428- Right side 'Euro' turn signal
#978427- Left side 'Euro' turn signal

I had good luck getting these from MPH in Houston where my dealer has been waiting for months. You are going to be on the hook for about $120 all told.

Take off the wind deflectors, right and left side panels. You are faced with the toughest part of the whole job, push nuts. Seen here with black backing washers.

Take a small screw driver and maybe something to pry the little suckers (carefully) off of the plastic posts. They are not too hard, so the process takes about 15 minutes per panel. You only need the four push nuts to access the hex screw shown above. 

Take a large drift punch, socket, or some round stock that fits into the push nut rolled edge, bang the tangs back into place (not done yet in the photo above).

Replace the painted over turn signal with the correct one using the single hex nut that now can be reached.

Use a 1/4" drive, 1/4" socket to push the push nuts back to where they came. Don't forget to put the black backing washers with them. Socket pusher shown below (you can use a small hammer to assist).

New signals in place...much better.

The Aprilia mirrors found on Tuonos, Grisos, and the like do a fine job on the Stelvio. This is what they come with everywhere else in the world. They are also cheap...and don't vibrate at speed.

Rear rack installation

The stock Stelvio rack is a tad small to carry much very far. The below solves this by creating a larger platform to strap dry bags or other luggage to. Future racks may include bobbins and brackets to mount a stock Trax rear case or a Givi box.

A few minutes on the drafting board:

Send it off to CAD:

Package in from the laser cutter...12ga. stainless:

Rear rack from factory:

Remove the rear rack plastic cover with (4) self-tappers:

What's left:

Rack installed with hardware:

Rack with Wolfman drybag strapped using Rok Straps (slots in rack line up with Wolfman's D-rings built into bag):

 I'm not really set up to make and sell these racks on a retail basis. I will be setting up AF1 racing with racks that they will sell on their web page (provided they have stock and sell with decent volume).

UPDATE- The racks showed up on AF1's site LINKY HERE

Powerlet electrical sockets

The Stelvio comes with ciggy type electrical sockets. I have, long ago, switched to the Powerlet style. Sometimes called 'BMW' style, but that is the last time I will mention that in a Guzzi blog.

The rear power socket is easy. Remove wire connector, use a 8mm wrench to pull out the mounting bracket. Three washers have to be fabricated to allow the smaller powerlet to fit in the larger ciggy socket hole. All three have the inner hole the same size as the powerlet socket. Two have the outer diameter large enough to cover the ciggy hole. The last washer goes INSIDE the ciggy hole to prevent the powerlet from moving around.

The stack goes powerlet*, rubber grommet*, larger washer, small washer, bracket, large washer, metal washer*, brass nut*.  (* = supplied with powerlet). Factory wire connectors plug directly into Powerlet, so no modifications need to be done.

Items can be seen below used in rear mount.

Installed with wired acc plugged in:

The front is a bit more tricky. Remove windshield, side wind deflectors, and dash. The dash requires the speedo cable to be removed. Not difficult, but be careful with the connector. Push connector button, rotate black lever, remove connector. You will need to reset the clock when done.

Two washers will need to be fabricated here as well. Smaller third 'centering' washer not needed. I chose an aluminum washer powder coated flat black for my outer unit shown below.

The inner washer has to be a very specific size. Small enough to fit in the recess provided, but large enough not to fall through the hole. Trial and not a lot of error is required.

Back together and ready for some use:

Horn upgrade

The stock Stelvio horn is hard to hear while on the bike...and impossible to hear if you are in a car trying to run over said bike.

The horn was identified as being hard-wired to the horn button while the key was turned on. This allowed for a larger horn without being worried about current draw through some 'black box' electronic device and no relay was required. 

The factory horn is located below the oil cooler, wires come from the right side wire harness. The right side panel cover has less equipment mounted there (no ECU), so it was picked for horn location.

Dash removal (see Powerlet blog page) identified two other locations under the dash that could house the horn, but wiring may not be long enough.

Horn was purchased from Areostich HERE. No relay or wire harness is required. Wires from factory horn plug directly on the Fiamm horn.

The bracket that comes with the horn had to be bent 90 degrees near the bike end, bolted to the wire harness brackets...plenty of holes to do this. The horn fits perfect behind the right cover in the recess. Some existing cable ties may need to be cut and relocated for proper install.

Horn installed:

Heated Grips Installation

One of the cool things about the NTX is that is comes complete with heated grips in the electronics, wiring, etc...except for the actual grips. I was able to have the kit thrown in at bike purchase, but they can be secured from a site like AF1 racing HERE...search for part number 983155.

Finding the connectors was not too bad. Remove the left side cover and look for two small white connectors with a green wire and blue(w/ black stripe) wire. Follow the large wire harness back feeling for unused connectors.

These were located on the left side tucked into the harness above the head by the frame down tube as shown below. The other white connector left of the two we are looking for is the factory connector for the fog lamps.

Grip kit: 

The grip kit contains everything you need for install...except a 1/8" drill bit and long enough wire for the throttle side. You will also not need the aluminum bar ends supplied as your bike already has them.

I chose to route the throttle side wiring behind the headlights which left the wiring about 20" short. I spliced in the wiring (solder and heat shrink) to get to where I needed to go. 

The left side grip has it's own plastic tube with set screws ans shown below:

These are self-tapping screws that need to thread into the handlebar after a 1/8" hole is drilled to both sides. The plastic tube helps insulate the heated grip from the handlebar which makes for a great heat sink on other bikes.

Left side is easy- mark, drill, screw, connect wire.

Right side requires maxing out the cable adjusters, removing the throttle switch assembly, put in new twist grip, reassemble- make sure you watch for the holding nipple and hole in bar. These are to keep the switch housing from rotating. Put everything back and connect wiring. Readjust both throttle cables correctly. 

Grips only work when the bike is running, so start up the bike to test. Other brand of grips get warmer than these, but they do an adequate job. 

GPS Installation

Time to install the Garmin Zumo 550 GPS. 
Location of the factory GPS connector is first....

Located here behind the left side cover, just above the ECU. The connector is shown here with a 90 degree rubber boot hanging over the ECU and partially blocking the oil cooler.

Factory schematics found at guzzitek.org identify the connector as a solid blue (ground) and solid green (switched battery +) wire. That is identified below:

The factory connector was removed and replaced with a Deutsch brand 2 wire connector to the Garmin harness for Zumo cradles. Deutsch brand are very high quality connectors that I happen to have with crimper and pins.

Mounting the Garmin to keep it from blocking the view of the speedo as well as being easy to reach was solved with Enduro-Engineering's cross bar. This could be had for about $35 at TouratechUSA's site...

The factory cradle is set in another Touratech product brought over from a recently sold bike and mounted to the cross bar. XM antenna and ipod remote mounts were fabricated and installed as well...

Mounted on bike:

Luggage rack, bag, and bobbins

The Stelvio has a fairly useful and useless rear rack depending on how you look at it. It is slightly small, in it's stock form, to carry much. I have created a rear luggage rack to improve the carry capacity (see a later blog).

The stock rack is fine for a Wolfman 'peak' tail bag. This bag is perfect for hauling small items, phones, etc. I can even use the under-seat power plug to charge the phone in the tail bag while underway.

First step is to add more bobbins. I placed an order with AF1 racing (fantastic web parts site for Guzzi) which also has a full parts number manual for each modern Guzzi. 

The part numbers needed:
(2) 8121890 Aprillia rear stand spools (bobbins)
(2) GU98250635 Screw, tapered head

Parts, as ordered:

 Bobbins installed in spare holes on the underside of factory rack with tail bag rear strap in place (front next).

Tail bag installed on bike. Perfect shape and fit:

Sticker removal

First thing, now that the bike was home, is to get it back to where my old bike was before the deer took it's life and the bike with it.

Time to get the warning stickers, all 7 of them, off the tank, frame, and other areas.

I use a personal steamer that allows the stickers and glue to be heated up and removed without much drama. The leftover glue residue is taken off with goo-gone. Goo-gone is a fairly low impact cleaner that does a good job of getting the glue soft so it can be removed. This is not to be confused with goof-off which is much more harsh.

About a half-hour later and the job is done.

2013 Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX pick up day

I had a 2012 Stelvio NTX that was taken out by a deer. This blog is very much based on one I started for that bike. The old blog is here: 2012 NTX blog

The bike was already at the dealer due to an order that was cancelled in late 2012. I purchased the bike in Feb and left the bike in storage until the weather was warm enough to ride it home. 

Now that the bike is home, it is time for a little work to get it set up the way I like it.