With apologies to Robert Pirsig and the Chautauqua Institute
Modification
We’re all dependent on our phones. While mine will make a full day on a charge, I’ll be riding for three straight days without a guarantee of power when I stop. I decided to add a USB charge port to my bike. I was going to put it under the rear seat where I have a pigtail lead for my battery charger. Then I discovered the pigtail lead for my battery charger is specific to my fancy lithium-ion bike battery, and I can’t hook anything up to it. Too bad for me I had already purchased a USB charge port that hooks to the pigtail I thought was under there.
A quick search on the internet made the decision where to put the charge port easy. One, my motorcycle has a set of unused accessory leads in the front under the left fairing. Two, a lot of people have made this modification to this bike, so there were a lot of ideas and parts lists floating around. Ten dollars and 17 cents and about half an hour later, I’ve installed two USB charge ports on the dash on the bike. I have to say that Annie and I did a great job – it looks like it came that way from the factory.
What’s more, it’s key-switched, so if the bike is off, you can’t plug in there and steal power. I’m not concerned about power theft so much as I am coming back to a bike with a dead battery. Also, since it’s in the front, I can keep my phone easily accessible in my tank bag rather than behind me in the saddlebags.
The Ninja 1000 is known to be a thirsty creature. A common and easy fix for this is a 1-tooth larger countershaft sprocket. I was certain I already owned one and planned to install it for this trip. On searching through my trove of motorcycle parts, I couldn’t find it. It’s not important enough to me to order another one. I guess I’ll discover later if that is a regrettable move.