Saturday, April 7, 2007

Accessory "handedness"

Ok, when a person adds accessories to his or her motorcycle, the first thing to think about should probably be "which hand will I be using this with". From that decision, you can begin to look for a place where the accessory will fit.

Generally, accessories are used by the operators left hand while underway. This is simply because of the need to maintain throttle control while he or she is moving down the road. Remove your right hand from the throttle to operate the GPS, and you might be in for a rude surprise. Most of us learn to do almost everything with our left hand pretty quickly after we start riding.

However, there are other possibilities. As an example, I cite my garage door opener. It's pretty common for me to keep rolling up the driveway while I open the garage door. But it's my habit to stay off the throttle and simply modulate the clutch to control my forward speed. This means that my right hand is free while my left hand is fully occupied. So, my garage door opener is easily accessed with my right hand instead of the usual left hand. See the pics below for ideas and examples.

All I'm really pointing out here is: Think about your personal use and make everything as easy as possible to simplify operation of the controls.

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