Cruise Control comparisons

[CrashTestDanny]

Not counting the mechanical (throttle lock) options, there seem to be about three real alternatives for cruise controls:

1 - Automotive vacuum cruise control (Audiovox CCS-100). $100
2 - Automotive Electronic Cruise (Audiovox makes one of these too). $250
3 - MCcruise. $580

Is there anyone out there that has tried all three that could provide some comparisons? Some specific questions I have are:

With the electronic cruise control, is drive line lash really bad enough to make it worth going to a vacuum cruise control?

Is there a performance difference between the three options?

Besides being more of a plug & play option, is there any really significant advantage to the MC Cruise unit to make it worth the extra $500 above the CCS-100?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Deleted member 1854]

Dan,
With the value of the investment, it may be difficult to find anyone who has tried more than one of these.

I have the McCruise - installed it 20,000 miles ago and it's excellent. The whole setup is as professionally done as it gets. The only issue with mine was about where to mount the control. I ended up putting it 'under' the left handlebar controls as my J&M audio unit is 'above' the left controls and the Honda radio control is on a modified mount above the right side handlebar controls.

The guys at McCruise were very helpful in providing additional mounting brackets (at no cost) so I could play around with the options. I rang them direct and emailed a few times (they are also Australian-based, but I am not biased ;-) and their service was very good. You may wish to consider these aspects over simply price.
Cheers

 

[Moby]

Dan,
I am just having a MC Cruise put on my St1300.
I will contact you after my trip around the Great Lakes and let you know
how it is.I hope it as sweet as expected.


More money than brains,
Moby :bow1:

 

[Northern Rob]

Dan, I have the McCruise on my ST1100. It works flawlessly. And I agree, customer support from McCruise was very good.

Rob

 

[crazykz]

I'm obviously an MCCruise person too as you can tell from other posts. I think if MCCruise would come down on their price they would be more competetive but having a little inside information I know that they are pretty tight on their costs already so the odds of a big discount is probably not going to be available. Having said that I think it's worth the money to me if you've never played with cruise controls, as was the case with me.

The other solutions seem to work well for people though although I would like to see a comparison also. From the write ups I see it looks like they all seem to work about the same. The cost of the MCCruise is part that they designed and/or modified the control unit to work better on a motorcycle. They also give you a completely pre-assembled wiring harness that you can literally drop into place. They also provide a way to mount the actuator although some people do complain is looks like an eye sore below the left side panel.

Overall I was impressed with the fact that I didn't have to tap or cut a single wire, it dropped right into place, the directions were flawless, and it worked first time out of the shoot except for one issue that was user error. I've seen others that are very happy with the Audiovox setup so it must be a decent solution. I like the mount that MCCruise provides for their buttoms though versus the audiovox one but I don't think that can overcome the cost difference for most people.

I think they all work about the same, it's the installation and support I think that will be the diferentiator and each person has to decide for themselves.

Curt

 

[cerrmj]

I finished up my Audiovox CC install this week. I've got about $120 total into it after purchasing a few required items. I used the instructions posted by Ray and didn't bother with the instructions in the box. I made the vacuum cannister myself and purchased a check valve from an aquarium place. I was a little nervous getting into the install - especially taking the bike apart as I couldn't find any really good instructions w/ pics on exactly how to go about it. I took my time with the install and spent maybe 6-7 hours on it total, which included a lot of time figuring out how to take the plastic off, cussing while trying to remove the bottom airbox screws, and being careful while doing the wiring. (Oh, I also put in a right side fairing powerlet socket & wired up my GPS mount at the same time)

Bottom line is that is works great. I'm sure that I could have saved a couple of hours on the install by getting the MC Cruise - but I had the time to kill and have a lot more knowledge about how my bike is put together.

 

[duSTy]

As posted elsewhere, I installed the Audiovox. It really wasn't too hard. There are a number of brackets that come with the kit, you just have to cut off two of them. That's it. You have to hook up one power to +12v, one to +12v Acc, one to the coil wire, and one to the brake wire. Everything went into place very well, especially if you follow Ray's instructions. I didn't use a cannister at all. Don't need it. Just put the check valve very close to the map sensor. I picked up an "L" bracket at the hardware store that you would put on the corner of a picture or something like that. The one I got had 4 holes on it. I made one hole larger and bolted it to the right brake housing in front. I then stuck the control unit to the "L" bracket so it was underneath the starter switch. Works just fine there. For the $ 500 in savings, I could cut a couple of brackets and connect a couple of wires. I'm sure the MC cruise is a very nice unit. I was thinking I would do this next Winter until I saw Ray's instructions and decided I would give it a try. For less than the price of a throttlemeister, you can a have a real cruise.

Tom

 

[John Anthony]

Count me as another of the McCruise fans. Very well engineered and thought out system with some of the best documentation around. Tony and Frank are more than happy to help out if you have any questions. I'm one of those ham-handed guys and they spent the better part of an hour one evening helping to trouble shoot. Sure it's a few buck more than the rest of the pack, but well worth it. Did Seattle to Sun Valley one day run (about 680 miles) and the cruise made it great.

Now that Maggie has her '05 she tells me that this will be one of the first projects for me to help her with. Why not.

 

[Gug]

Box of large rubber bands runs about some change or a buck. I use the real long ones and wrap it multiple times in the space btw the end weight and handgrip. Works great. It's low tech but effective. No need to concern yourself about the bike blowing up if it does go down, the ST shuts off anyhow with the lean angle.

Dennis

 

[IntruderCruiser]

hmmm -- the description on the Audio vox web site says

Not compatible with Hondas

 

[cerrmj]

Don't believe the not compatible comment. The audiovox works just fine on our ST's. If you are installing, just follow Ray's instructions.

 

[CrashTestDanny]

Don't believe the not compatible comment. The audiovox works just fine on our ST's. If you are installing, just follow Ray's instructions.

Yep - got those. I'm gonna order the Audiovox. For $480, I think they'd have to send someone to install it for me AND wash the bike when they were done