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[Twolanerider]

Looks great Don. I have never been a fan of handlebar mounted GPS systems.  About 4 years ago I mounted mine to my windshield with a stick on ball mount. Using 3M primer before attaching so far they have stuck like they were a part of the windshield itself.  I run the wire between the inner fairing and the back of the windshield by cutting a 1/8 radius notch in the fairing to fit the power wire. I get the power and ground off the cigarette lighter inside the fairing.  I really like the looks of yours, may go that route next time. Good job.

Had done something similar on a couple of Electra Glides.  That's a slick and easy mount there as well.

I was initially thinking of doing this same thing on the windshield of the Road Glide.  Then thought it might place the unit ineffectively far away from me in the saddle.  After seeing today how much space is gained back toward the rider by the AMP mount hardware I'm re-thinking.  Need to mock parts up a bit but think it'll actually work pretty well now.  Then once the mount is done it'll be easy enough to do just as you did and get power at the lighter plug.

The Road Glide has always worked fine handlebar mounted.  Used it that way for years.  Never really liked it but it was perfectly functional. Occasionally the power lead would get snagged as the bars moved.  This would make it easy and seamless if the spacing is right.

The alternative was something similar but mounted on top of the inner fairing with a different bracket.  If the spacing is ok I'd rather drill what could easily be a consumable windshield than I would the inner fairing though.  Maybe next weekend....

[skratch]

for the road glide, I used the iron aces mount coupled with another swivel so that I could tilt the gps whichever direction was necessary (improve angle, reduce glare, etc.).  works good for me.  and if I do decide to remove it, then I just have to stick the 'road glide' decal back into the receptacle on the gauge cluster.  the wiring goes behind the gps and into the gauge cluster and then down the backbone of the frame.  there is one wire left out that plugs into the aux in on the hk radio.  the rushmores wouldn't necessarily have to have that wire exposed if they get that aux in harness that plugs into the back of the infotainment system.

for the rushmore road glides, iron aces includes a 3m sticky mount base for the mount.

[Twolanerider]

Did this to the Road Glide tonight.  Spent 2x longer mocking up hardware to make 100% sure knew where things would land than actually doing the drilling and mounting.  After a little playing with locations was satisfied though.

Mounted on the windshield in the vertical spot that seemed best to me that GPS unit lands in a position that is closer to the rider than the radio without in any way blocking the radio.  The unit ends up in about that same location away from the rider as it does using one of the instrument pod mounts discussed above.  I can easily understand why one might choose to use the other mount.  I personally just never quite cared for and now am very comfortable much prefer this.

A handlebar mount with a ball adapter definitely will have the unit closer to the rider than this is.  As many years as I did it that way I still never really liked it.  It worked.  So that was good enough; barring another solution.  At least to my tastes this is that better solution.

Pic shows the unit from the saddle.  It's indoors at night so the unit has gone to night time display mode.  Fluorescent lights are consequently screwing with it.  It'll work fine in practice though.  I did turn that intermediate amp bracket 180 degrees around from the way I used it on the Road King to change the mount angle.  It just worked better that way relative to the inner fairing.

Still have to pop off the outer fairing and make a notch in the inner just enough that the cable will drop between with a grommet around it.  That's it.  Once again just a really simple solution to something I'd never been quite happy with before.  Parts list is the same as above and would be for any bike with a windshield someone might choose to do this to. 

Unit on the Road Glide:

[Twolanerider]

From the front of the bike:

[Twolanerider]

What you'd be looking at with the weather cap on anytime the GPS unit is off the bike:

[Dan_Lockwood]

Don, that looks really good.

I have a larger windshield so it would be hidden a bit more. The bracket looks like it belongs there.

Great job!   

[Twolanerider]

Had a PM asking about the "extra wires" someone saw on the last picture with the weather cap.  Something other than the cable that comes obviously off the Zumo mount. 

I looked at the silly picture for a good two minutes before "seeing" what someone else saw.  My bad.  The "extra" wires aren't on the bike at all.  That's the lead off the battery tender that's plugged in to the wall in front of the Road Glide  .

[Twolanerider]

Don, that looks really good.

I have a larger windshield so it would be hidden a bit more. The bracket looks like it belongs there.

Great job!   

I was quite satisfied with it also Dan.  Sometime over the long weekend I'll pop off the outer and route the cable.  On the Road King I'll strip that big cable down to just power and make it shorter to tuck inside the nacelle.  On the Road Glide I'll keep the whole thing.  The aux port output can go permanently to the rear aux input that's been done to my radio.  The USB port will likely live in the left glove box with a power port that already exists there. 

Having the GPS in the rear aux port permanently will also eliminate a small annoyance I've had for a long time.  I sent my radio to Iron Cross for their updates and a necessary fix quite literally two weeks before they announced their Bluetooth upgrade.  Timing was just wrong.  I never wanted it bad enough to yank the radio back out and send it off again just for that.

With the GPS in the rear aux port I can then bluetooth anything to the GPS unit.  It'll all play through the aux input on the radio along with all the MP3s stored in the GPS unit. With it setup that way all the weather, traffic and navigation inputs from the GPS unit will automatically and clearly interrupt any music and I'll be a happy camper.

[Twolanerider]

One of the Brethren PM'd asking for pics of the Road Glide mount in profile.  Wanted to see where the GPS unit ended up in relation to the inner.  This one should do it.

Was on the bike half the day today.  A three tank full day.  In use this works really well.  Can reach the screen from the saddle without having to lean and reach forward an uncomfortable amount.  Can see the screen from the saddle fine.  It just works.  I much prefer it over the ball mount on the handlebar that had been using for years and years.

It's not as close as the handlebar mount.  It is close enough to work fine though.  The only thing I wish I'd done differently was the cable routing.  Wish I'd put it right on the nose of the inner fairing.  The cable would have hidden behind the GPS unit better there.  When doing the routing and install I convinced myself the cable's natural routing off the cradle would be better than the turn down.  I convinced myself wrong (I think I did anyway).

Even this way it's not bad.  After sitting behind it for an hour I didn't notice it anymore.  All in this was one of the easiest little retrofits that a guy could do for some rather nice added convenience.

You can see the GPS unit closer to you than the radio.  If you went higher on the windshield it would actually come back a little more.  I didn't like the look higher though.  The unit actually ends up at about the same distance from the rider as the speedo and tach and does so with zero obstruction of anything else.  Having it plugged in to a rear aux port in the radio makes the whole thing work slick too.  Leave the radio in aux mode and Pandora, mp3s or any phone or other device that is bluetoothed to the GPS unit comes over loud and clear and is seamlessly interrupted by navigation, weather or traffic prompts from the unit. 

[Twolanerider]

Was also asked about the potential hassle of having the unit windshield mounted with cable having to both through the front edge of inner and making wiring connections inside the fairing.  Question was would it all be a hassle to disconnect when taking the outer fairing and its attached windshield off?

Not at all. 

Notice the thumbscrews highlighted in this pic.  Take those out and leave the part of the cradle with the cable attached laying on the bike.  The fairing and windshield then come off just like normal with no other attachments to worry about.