My PCX150-White/Red

[HawaiiJ]

Hello Everyone,

Just another PCX150 from the "Land of PCXs" aka Thailand, I'm located in Chiang Mai to be precise. I have had the bike since mid-march and have made a few changes since then and have a few more minor ones to go before I'll be finished. I have nearly 3,000 kms with no issues other than the factory tire recall where a new set of Dunlop tires were provided free of charge.

Future changes:

GIVI Windscreen
Exhaust (Maybe)
New Shocks (Maybe)

Here's a few pictures of the bike with the changes over time.

[HawaiiJ]

Here's a closeup of the front wheel.

[Taz]

wow, looks nice, are the red wheels stock too?

[HawaiiJ]

Taz,

The wheels are not stock. The change to the 13" vs 14" wheels is possible without any additional modifications to the bike. Wider wheels and tires, surely softer rubber compound on the road and more grip I hope. The ride seems to be a bit softer with the change in tires without any negatives so far. The modification was handled by the dealer I the bike from. Cost was roughly $370 USD for the package and installation.

The wheels are from this site: http://www.x-speed.co.th/index.php?lay= ... pid=216027

[stickyfingers]

nice pix and getting to kind of like that colour scheme althought the red/black is my favourite.

personally would have stuck with the original wheels as originals look better.

am regular pattaya visitor and hoping to get a 2nd hand PCX 125 when next there as should be plenty traded in by now.

[uploader]

Great wheels I would love wider wheels on mine, not too keen on your black seat I think the red one looks better.

[Cascanciu]

I like where you've put the socket, but what about rain?. I was thinking that, perhaps, buying a kit in a shop of boat accessories could be a good solution. They are supposed to be withstand water and humidity.

What I wonder is much that would interfere with a tunnel bag, in case you want -like I do- to install one in the near future.

Where did you get the handlebar mounts for your sat-nav/mobile phone?.

Thanks for the pics, great input! .

[HawaiiJ]

Both the mounts and 12V outlet were ordered in the US and delivered to an address there and then forwarded on to Thailand.

The 12v outlet came from http://www.powerlet.com; here's what I ordered http://www.powerlet.com/product/cigaret ... t-kit-48/5. The 24" kit would work if mounted in the same location as mine. If you take a look at their website, there's many different ways to mount or power your gadgets and they also sell some of the RAM mounts. I believe it is waterproof as well with the cap closed. If I run into rain, everything would be put under the seat and the 12v plug capped.

The mounts are from RAM; http://www.rammount.com/. Many options for just about any type of gadget needing to be mounted in/on anything. I googled "RAM mounts in Spain" and there were 4 dealers in country.

Not sure how much interference the plug could have on a tunnel bag on my bike but there's enough room to mount in the same general area so it would not impact a tunnel bag.

[maddiedog]

The scooter just looks cooler with the wider tires. It looks like you added bar-end weights too (unless that's standard in Thailand?).

[HawaiiJ]

Maddiedog, The bar-end weights are stock equipment here in Thailand.

[uploader]

How does your satnav communicate with you, Bluetooth or a earpiece?
I cant get the voice navigation to go through bluetooth on my iphone running ios 5.1.1

[HawaiiJ]

Last week I took a 2 day trip around one of the popular loops here in Thailand. The Mae Hong Son Loop boasts over 1800+ curves, 700+ kms & 1400+m of elevation. The roads for the most part were near perfect except for about 30 minutes of riding on a new road dirt bed being prepped for paving. The weather was overcast and cloudy until the last 3 hours of the 2nd day of the trip when the heavens opened up and poured heavily. The rain gear was donned and I pressed on only to discover my waterproof rain pants are not so waterproof.

All the electronics performed perfect with no problems. When it rained everything was put under the seat and the 12v power plug was capped. There were no issues with the bike charging/battery systems while running both the GPS and IPhone continuously.

After the trip, I realized I needed a better solution for storage and decided to install the Givi E450 Top Box. I decided to used the standard mount from Honda and the mount that comes with the Givi box (Z113C MONOLOCK PLATE). I also purchased a replacement white rear plastic faring from Honda in case I wanted to revert to the clean factory look at a later date. The cost of the replacement faring was under $10 USD.

I also realized the seat is not comfortable for long rides. I know many have said the seat is fine but is it really? Can you ride 7-8 hours with just fuel, food and tourist breaks and really say your bum feels fine? I can't and I'm not afraid to say it. So, my possible solution is the AirHawk2 cushion for the long rides, I have a test ride of 100km so far and it felt great. More to follow on the Airhawk2 test later, I have a 1 week trip in the works in a couple of days and this will be the true test.

Here's the pics with the Top Box Installed.

[maddiedog]

I've ridden that long and been fine: http://hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=85

The seat isn't as good as some cruisers I've ridden, but it's a lot better than most bikes I've owned.

I'd like to eventually put some memory foam up in the seat, and possibly lower it and widen it a bit for some more comfort.

[HawaiiJ]

How does your satnav communicate with you, Bluetooth or a earpiece?
I cant get the voice navigation to go through bluetooth on my iphone running ios 5.1.1

Normally I have earphones from the Iphone inserted for music. I have the GPS volume turned on high and so far I have not missed any directional information. As a backup, I have the new GARMIN for Thailand application installed on my Iphone and it chimes in with directional info over any music. They just released the GARMIN for the Iphone (Thai Maps) after I bought the GPS unit.

Sure this is little help since you are troubleshooting the Bluetooth issues not really the same scenario.

[uploader]

Thanks for the info, am thinking about getting a TOMTOM Urban Rider but for the time being I will use a earpiece and the iphone in my pocket.

[Taz]

Maddie
I read somewhere that memory foam isnt recommended for bike seats as it compresses too easily so wont absorb the road bumps. I've got a nice memory foam pillow though and plant to sleep overnight on someones yacht on the weekend who's just put in memory foam mattresses!

[Cascanciu]

Hi HawaiiJJ (and everyone else ). I'm bringing this topic up again since I saw how you've installed the 12v socket and found it a brilliant idea. I will definitely install it that way.

I have a question, though. I've seen Maddiedog's how-to thread to install his in the glove compartment and it is clear to me (more or less) how to disassemble the bike to access the battery, etc, my question is, where did you connect the 12v socket to?. Straight to the battery just running the wires to it or is it any other more accessible place where you can plug it?.

Sorry if the question sounds silly, but I still haven't put my hands on my PCX for anything that wasn't checking oil level and tyre pressure and don't know how its guts look like .

[Taz]

Cascanciu, see this thread, especially posts at the end: http://hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18

[HawaiiJ]

Cascanciu,

I started my project following Maddiedog's detailed how-to guide and decided mid-way to not mount the connector in the dash. In hind-sight I realized I only needed to remove the seat, gas lid, battery cover & the moulding where mounted the socket. There's a small hole near the bottom of the battery to snake the wires through, really simple and easy process to snake the wires. The wires were connected directly to the battery and I have done a couple of multi-day rides and had the bike sit idle for 2 weeks with no problems with battery drain. The wire harness has a waterproof fuse built in and I was able to bundle all the excess cables either in the battery box or under the panel where the socket is mounted.

Another reason for not mounting in the dash box was my rather large hands, they weren't working well under the dash.

[maddiedog]

I took way more apart than I should have on my how-to. The extra room does make installation easier though. The posts at the end of the how-to are more helpful, but a bit more ambiguous.

I love where you installed it, but I wouldn't have been able to install there and still use it with my tunnel bag.