Old School Compass on ST

I want a magnetic compass on my ST....The old kind, size of a golfball that float and swing around and tell you what way you are going. It won't work in my truck or motorcycle...works fine standing away from metel...I know they operate on a magnet and metel can screw them up...how come grandpas worked fine in his 1968 Ford truck...

the excess metal can be corrected for, but the vibration will screw up an generic compass. small AND vibration damping- I don't think that's going to happen

Wear one on your wrist like a scuba diver

Just a thought - My Chinavasion GPS has a 'visible' compass as one of its options on the screen. Don't know if that would satisfy you or not, but it works well for me.

Mount it to your helmet where you can see it your in peripheral vision, and call it a heads-up display!

Had an Brookstone electronic (battery) compass on my GoldWing a few years back but I think cold Michigan winters in the garage screwed it up . When it was working correctly you would travel straight north make a 180 ° U turn and straight south to set it to your bike , readout was letters.

I have a ball compass mounted using 3M dual lock to the inside of the windshield. I purchased a Coghlan ball compass and carefully removed the safety pin. The indicated direction and actual direction are in good agreement.

If you have speakers in your dashboard , the strong speaker magnets can really mess with generic compasses that can't over-compensate for that much magnetic interference .

I just look at signs and always know what old school direction I'm going......

TPadden said:

I just look at signs and always know what old school direction I'm going......

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Not always a good thing to rely on. Just last week, my wife and I took a ride into eastern Oklahoma, heading east into the Ouachita mountains. Paper map and our GPS maps jived so off we went. Guess what? On our selected route, there were NO direction or mileage signs. The actual roads/intersections did not match either the paper map or our GPS. Overcast so we lost North pretty quickly. Some intersections were marked only as 'Stop'. Fumbled around on the back roads and eventually found Hwy 1 and followed a bunch bikers. We ended up where we wanted to in Arkansas after a two hour extension to our planned route. Return trip? Signs in Arkansas were adequately marked so our trip home by a different route was scenic and otherwise uneventful.

This was not the first time we encountered confusion between maps/signs/gps/me when riding well off the main drags.

Oldbikefixr said:

Not always a good thing to rely on.......

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There are definitely no signs pointing towards a ST Owner's sense of humor ......

Must I add a sarcastic emoji to all my posts?

Tom

TPadden said:

I just look at signs and always know what old school direction I'm going......

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Hmm, mounting that sign on his bike will present a few problems.

BakerBoy said:

Mount it to your helmet where you can see it your in peripheral vision, and call it a heads-up display!

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If there is any metal in or on his helmet (ferrous metal plate in his head?) he will go around in circles.

Davey1965 said:

I want a magnetic compass on my ST..

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You can buy a good one that can be compensated at any good marine supply store. However, the word(s) marine (and aeronautical) often ads a lot to the price.

SMSW said:

If there is any metal in or on his helmet (ferrous metal plate in his head?) he will go around in circles..

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It's called the Hokey Pokey!

Tom

The one in grandpa's truck had compensators in it. There are usually two adjustments. You will have to carefully follow the instructions to get it set right. Here is one that may work for you and there are many others including electronic ones. Look for the term "Compensation" in the description. down load the manual to see how to make the adjustments......

https://www.ritchienavigation.com/research-compasses/compass-by-series/ritchiesport/ritchiesport-bracket-mount/

https://www.amazon.com/Ritchie-Navigation-X-10-Bracket-Compass/dp/B001CYG6XS/ref=lp_11866126011_1_16?srs=11866126011&ie=UTF8&qid=1503894788&sr=8-16

My $3 suction cup ball compass from pep boys usually works pretty well. See avatar.

Phil, my compass up in the right hand corner of the Rage screen reverses East and West.
Got the cradle..much appreciated.

TPadden said:

It's called the Hokey Pokey!

Tom

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What if the Hokey Pokey really was what is all about??

spiderman302 said:

The one in grandpa's truck had compensators in it. There are usually two adjustments. You will have to carefully follow the instructions to get it set right. Here is one that may work for you and there are many others including electronic ones. Look for the term "Compensation" in the description. down load the manual to see how to make the adjustments......

https://www.ritchienavigation.com/research-compasses/compass-by-series/ritchiesport/ritchiesport-bracket-mount/

https://www.amazon.com/Ritchie-Navigation-X-10-Bracket-Compass/dp/B001CYG6XS/ref=lp_11866126011_1_16?srs=11866126011&ie=UTF8&qid=1503894788&sr=8-16

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The one I had (probably removed it and kept it) on my 2005 Concours was a cheap one from the auto parts store and had compensator adjusters. It worked ok as long as the bike was straight up/down and level to keep the mechanism "floating" in the liquid.
If you look closely and/or enlarge the picture you can see it mounted on the bar riser and also visible is my version of the ambient tempature display unit.

TPadden said:

It's called the Hokey Pokey!

Tom

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Tom this emoji is for you sarcasm :Chair1:

Al st1100 said:

Tom this emoji is for you sarcasm :Chair1:

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I'm feeling nothing but affection.......:butt1:

Tom

TPadden said:

I just look at signs and always know what old school direction I'm going......

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I tried this but I get confused easily.