Kiecker's superbag

You guys remember Mark Kiecker, the remarkable LD rider who competes in Iron Butt rallys on a 2000 VFR?
- Finished 10th in the 2001 rally;
- Finished 2nd in the 2003 rally;
- In the 2003 Iron Butt he burned out his clutch, and added a Folgers coffee can lid to his clutch stack to go the next 5,000 miles.

Well, he has an electrified tank bag you wouldn't believe, and he's letting me post pics. �Here ya go!

His bag has a stiff plastic liner and his fuse panel, relay, Autocom and iPod charger are mounted around the sides.
[image: user posted image]

His Valentine 1 (and is that a screamer?) is mounted to the inner "roof" of the bag.
[image: user posted image]

Another shot of the fuse box, 12v outlets and other gadgets in greater detail. �Notice how much room is left for other gear you normally put in a tank bag.
[image: user posted image]

Interesting, he has a gooseneck map light with a rheostadt, but I don't know what the other rheostadt controls.
[image: user posted image]

On top edge of the bag he has mounted a voltage meter, a Valentine 1 remote display and his iPod remote.
[image: user posted image]

Here is what Mark sees riding along the road. �A well lit map and a few handy controls.
[image: user posted image]

Thanks again to Mark for letting me post these pictures of a truely ingenious do-it-all tank bag system. �Larry

Interesting gadgets, that belkin thing is it a GPS bulb or just a light bulb?  Those guys have all sorts of gadgets.  I think its interesting he uses paper maps still.I would be afraid to put anything into that bag for fear of shorting somthing out.

HispanicSlammer, May 14 2004Interesting gadgets, that belkin thing is it a GPS bulb or just a light bulb? �Those guys have all sorts of gadgets. �I think its interesting he uses paper maps still.I would be afraid to put anything into that bag for fear of shorting somthing out.

The Belkin thing looks to be the iPod charger plugged into a cigarette lighter socket.

Paper maps don't crash on you when you need them.  GPS units can also be hard to program on the fly for rallies like they do, and it takes a bit of memory to load all those maps.

HispanicSlammer, May 14 2004Interesting gadgets, that belkin thing is it a GPS bulb or just a light bulb?

Nope, that is a standard iPod charger that plugs into a cigarette outlet.  These chargers, which aren't expensive, also contain a tiny little solid-state amp with a volume control to boost volume.  Larry

Great job on the bag, but I wonder why so many exposed connections?

Once I have all my electrics finalized, I'll be doing the same to my Tourmaster bag. Already have the GPS, V1, MP3CD player, and a Autocom in the bag. I just haven't decided how I'm going to install them yet (I hate making holes in my bag, but I guess I'll have to ohmy.gif ).

[Edit]Btw. Does he catch anything with his V1 inside the tankbag??? :wow: I can't imagine the reception being good inside of a tank bag, even if it is just radio waves. I would think the Laser pickups would receive zilch in there. :shake: [/Edit]

Some good ideas there.  But, waterproofing?  My longstanding tankbag project has been stalled at the waterproofing stage for, well, forever!  I can get a waterproof box, and waterproof electrical connectors, but controls on stuff inside the box would be mostly inaccessible most of the time.  Not good.  I'm not a big fan of slipping a waterproof cover over the bag, either, but I suppose that may be the only really practical solution.  Oh, that's right, it doesn't rain in the 'States!  :D

Ciao,