Absolutely, Terry. The constant pull between the form vs. function in all that we do to our beloved machines. That's why the choppers look so good. Clean w/o all the storage space, instruments, etc. I've gone over the hill on the GPS deal and could never go back now....it's too neat to have all that info right there on the handlebar, I just wish it was built into the fairing dash like the tach, speedo, and other instruments. You don't have the big hockey puck on your dash do you? The one Duane and I are talking about is the one that has the reciever with the XM subscription built in so that it's like JC found out that if you hide it under the fairing, you can't just buy another antenna w/o paying for another subscription for ea. antenna. Not only is that hockey puck big and ugly, but it's got all that extra length of wire that has to be dealt with. I think Duane did the very best you can do with the wire, but the way my Zumo is mounted, I can't figure a way to accommodate the antenna in a decent looking manner. (That's probably why D00d hasn't added the XM to his...har!) You go down and tell Wanda June that I'm gonna make it up to her with a chrome present to make amends next time I see her.
har!
spyder
Spyder...nope, you can't go back once you have one of these things...it just makes life on the road a lot easier, and in many ways, a lot more enjoyable. I've "found" a lot of roads I would not have otherwise taken because of the GPS, plus it makes riding in unfamiliar places, particularly cities, much less nerve racking because you don't have to be looking for street signs instead of paying attention to the cages around you.
The XM on the HK radio has a small (1 1/2" x 2" or so), black antenna...I relocated mine to the top of the leather dash on the 06 to get better reception, and it's really not that noticable up there...kind of blends in with the black dash.
In your case, I'm not sure what I'd do...I'd hate the extra wires hanging there too, but I will guarantee you will love the XM while on the road. The bracket thing most are attaching it to on the techmount isn't THAT bad, and you could route the wires along the bars, the downtube, then wad up the extra in the lower glove box...at least that would keep the "wad" out of sight.
