Love them or loath them, it can’t be denied that a sat-nav is certainly a handy piece of kit to have around, especially when touring.

GSX-R with Ram Mount
I had a few days free so decided to take the bike over to Ireland and thought the trip would be much more pleasant if I wasn’t having to worry about checking a map. I normally use the plastic cover of my tank bag to hold a map but this time wanted to travel light and didn’t want a bag cramping my riding.
Looking around, there’s not a huge range of sat-navs available for motorcycles compared to the monstrous range of car devices so, in the end, I went for the cheapest option and got the TomTom Urban Rider ‘Regional’, which comes with UK & ROI maps. Will post a review of the unit once i’ve had the chance to fully test it on a number of rides in different conditions but initial impression is that its a nice compact robust little thing.
Then came fitting – obviously, all motorcycles are different, its not just a case of ‘one size fits all’. A lot of the kits are designed to be bar mounted, which, if you look at the bars on a GSX-R, isn’t a real option!
The TomTom itself comes with a number of different fitting widgets, but to actually attach it to your bike you’ll need a kit to create a mounting point for it. Various fitting kits I saw used the triple trees or the clutch/brake reservoir. I decided to fit mine to the reservoir clamps.
The following guide shows which parts were used and how the kit was fitted. Apologies for the quality of some of the images, this was a quick job after work and I was losing light.
1. Fitting Kit

gsxr ram sat nav mount
I went for a kit from Ram, took me a while to work out the right part for my GSX-R 750 (RAM-B-174-A-TOM1U). This is the UK part, I think the US part has a different code so be sure to search Ram’s site before you buy, they have a list of motorcycle makes and models along with the kit numbers.
The kit fits multiple models of bike so comes with a bag of various fittings, nuts and bolts and seems to also include kit to fix the mounting to the bikes bars (or any round rail) if required.

Bag-o-bolts
I went for the brake/clutch fitting though, and, as you’ll see below, this was pretty simple to fit.
2. Fitting the mount to the bike
The following fitting was performed on a 2009 GSX-R 750 but (as far as I know) should be the same on the Gixxer 600 or 1000 of various years. As stated before, make sure you check the exact year and model with the mount manufacturer before buying.

GSX-R Clutch/Brake Reservoir
First, unscrew and remove one of the bolts holding the clutch/brake reservoir clamp to the bars (don’t remove both or the reservoir will fall off!). This took an 8mm socket on my K8. Once you’ve removed the bolt then compare it against the two sets of long bolts supplied with the Ram mounting kit. Place the threads of the bikes’ bolt into each pair of fitting kit bolts, only one pair of kit bolts will match, this is the pair you’ll use for the fitting. Make sure you get the right set otherwise you could damage the thread on your reservoir clamp.

Ram Mount Assembly
Then select the following bits from the fitting kit:
- Handlebar base (the long plate with the ball on the end)
- 2 x long bolts that you matched to the thread of the bolt you took off the bike
- 2 x larger diameter lock washers
- 2 x plastic spacers
The mount is assembled as shown in the photo and, once put together with the spacers, the visible thread on the bolt should be pretty much the same length as the bolt you took off the bike.

Fitting Mount to GSX-R Reservoir
Now screw the mount to the bike at the mounting point of the bolt you removed earlier, just finger tighten it enough to ensure the reservoir clamp remains in place while you remove the other bolt. Once both mounting bolts are in place then tighten until the clamp is secure and there is no movement.
The mounting point is now complete and ready to accept the mounting arm. The backplate supplied with the Ram mount screws onto the TomToms’ plastic dock and then the dock connects to the bike via the plastic ‘arm’.

TomTom Mounting Arm
The mounting kit with the arm is shown in the following photo, once the bolt on the arm is unscrewed, it can be rotated into any position and then locked once you are happy with the location of the sat-nav.
The fitting itself seems very sturdy and once the arm is locked into place it is pretty solid, certainly doesn’t seem like it’d be affected by speed or vibration.
3. Impressions & Summary
The kit was very easy to fit, requires minimal tools (I only needed an 8mm socket and an Allen key) and seems well made.
Once the arm and sat-nav are removed, the mounting point itself is unobtrusive so I wouldn’t feel the need to remove it when not touring (i.e, it doesn’t spoil the ‘look’ of the bike).

- GSX-R with TomTom Rider Sat nav
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Because the arm can be rotated to any position, its easy to position the sat-nav somewhere that looks good, only to find that it fouls the fairing when the bars are at left lock. So be sure to test by turning the bars fully to ensure its clear, and make sure the arm is properly tightened so it stays that way. Bit embarrassing to find at the first left-hand junction that the sat-nav smacks into your fairing and you can’t make the turn!
Now the unit is fitted, I need to feed it some juice. TomTom quote 6 hours battery life but I can’t comment on that yet. Fair to assume though that i’ll want to recharge it on the move, so the next article will be about setting up a 12v feed to it.
Will also post on how I find the Urban Rider performs on my upcoming trip round the Emerald Isle.
Durbs.