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Recommendations for add-ons, 2018

3K views 24 replies 11 participants last post by  gkarasik 
#1 ·
Hi all,
I'm about to order a DCT and would love to tap your collected wisdom. I'm seeking suggestions for what you consider must-have accessories, either Honda or third-party. My thinking is that I will order Honda accessories along with the DCT and buy the third-party accessries and provide them to the dealer so everything can be installed right out of the crate.


First thing on the list, gleaned from a suggestion I just read here, is the fog-light mounting kit (no lights, just the mounting kit) so that the wiring is already in place.


I'm grateful for any ideas.
 
#5 ·
First, You may want to get the bike like I did & see how it works for you. I have always added thousands for dollars worth of extras on my other Gold Wings. However, I don't believe I'm going to need that much with this one. What I or for that matter anyone needs or wants is up to them, because we all have our priorities & they're not the same.
Second, For me I knew I wanted the rider back rest & some members on here didn't like the Honda model. So I went with Utopia & am very happy with it (quite easy to install). I also want more wind screen than I have for 2 reasons. The stock wind screen is too narrow & not tall enough for me, I'm going with a F-4 Customs model. I want it taller because when you raise the screen up bugs get under it all over your dash. I believe if I can leave it down the bug problem will be easier to clean.
I also added the Home Link garage door opener, the 12v outlet, the aux USB cord, & the aux trunk wiring cable for adding tail & brake lights. None of these are easy to install. It took me 10 hours, & it would take longer if you didn't do them together. As has been noted on here. You basically tear the bike to pieces for these installations. Thanks to others on this forum, I followed their leads & it helped me somewhat.
At the end of the day, My thoughts are don't install any more than you need because it's both expensive to buy them & difficult to install them or expensive for someone else to do it. :serious: :smile2: :surprise:
 
#6 ·
Thanks! I've been reading and learning from your posts, and I agree with your general philosophy. I don't want to add a lot of gorp just for the sake of shiny parts, but the aux USB cord and aux trunk wiring harness just went on the list. I'm thinking I don't need the HomeLink as I have a small, key-chain remote.
 
#10 ·
If you plan to tour at all, I'd suggest getting one of these and bolting it to the luggage rack:



I mean, a guy's got to have his priorities, right?
 
#13 ·
If you plan to tour at all, I'd suggest getting one of these and bolting it to the luggage rack:



I mean, a guy's got to have his priorities, right?
Thanks! I can see why one would want to have the BBQ along, but because of the lack of storage on the 2018, it's hard to see where to carry the meat. This seems like a no-brainer on the 2017.
 
#14 ·
Intalled myself theses

Homelink
CB with controls
USB
12V
3.5 plug
CB antenna
Trunk rack with brakes
Trunk light
Entry lights

It is a lot of work. Took me 2 days and a lot of patience as there is a lot of tuppeware to remove, especially in front for buttons but is is all possible if you have a little bit of skills.

Save myself 1000$ can of labor by doing it myself
 
#20 ·
Intalled myself theses

Homelink
CB with controls
USB
12V
3.5 plug
CB antenna
Trunk rack with brakes
Trunk light
Entry lights

It is a lot of work. Took me 2 days and a lot of patience as there is a lot of tuppeware to remove, especially in front for buttons but is is all possible if you have a little bit of skills.

Save myself 1000$ can of labor by doing it myself
Thanks! I can no longer do the work myself.


What are "entry lights?"
 
#15 ·
I'm adding the centerstand, foglights, rear carrier and backrest when a good quick release comes out. Don't see the need for anything else at this point but that could change if the need arises. More miles will tell me everything. Good luck with the farkles.
 
#16 ·
Gkarasik, my .02...

First, I have installed a bunch of accessories and also done the front and rear shock Traxxion replacement, so I have had this bike broken down to pieces twice now. When I was doing all the accessories, I discovered that so many steps were common among the different installation instructions that it prompted me to actually create a matrix in a spreadsheet in order to "visualize" this commonality. I have provided a snapshot of just a part of this spreadsheet here (that's all I could fit into a snapshot). If you'd like the whole thing hit me up with your email and I'll email you the spreadsheet. The point of this matrix, in your case, is to be educated and armed when you negotiate the installation labor costs with your dealer. Don't let them "stack" your labor costs (i.e. Labor for CB install (3hrs) + labor for Homelink (3hrs)= 6hrs). So many of the steps are common that you deserve to get "credit" for them already being done. So in this case, you want them to do a real world estimate of the labor for all your accessories, not just add all the "book values" together.

Here is a list of the items I installed (or came installed when I got the bike - trunk rack and air deflectors) and some thoughts for you to consider:

1. Trunk Rack - very functional. OEM quality is excellent. Highly recommended
2. LED Brake light (mounted to trunk rack) - OEM, and again quality excellent. Requires trunk rack in order to mount. Also requires No. 3 below.
3. Trunk sub-harness - necessary for trunk rack mounted LED brake light, trunk "entry light" (light that turns on when you open the trunk)
4. LED Fog Light and Fog Light Kit - I like your idea of at least getting the fog light kit, so it is wired to accept foglights at a later date, or an aftermarket light kit. Ask your dealer to take note, if you are not installing foglights at the time they do the foglight KIT, to ensure that any parts on the kit that might be "captured" by the lights when they are installed, are saved and given to you separately. I think there may be collars that get inserted into the rubber grommets that might be able to fall out if there isn't a light to hold them in, if that makes any sense.
5. LED Fog Lights - I think the OEM lights are ok, but not spectacular. Their QUALITY is definitely excellent, but they are kinda puny. That won't change with aftermarket though because the foglight cowls kinda dictate the size of the light.
6. Upper and Lower Air Deflectors - I like them, especially the uppers, in terms of their quality. I know Baker AirWings has a product out now (Pro: the lowers are adjustable unlike the OEM lowers. Con: I think they are kinda ugly when compared to the OEM lowers, JMHO)
7. 12 V accessory socket - highly recommended if they are gonna have your bike in pieces to do all the other stuff. It is inexpensive and has a nice finished look, and of course would be/can be pretty darn handy to have a power source if and when you need it!
8. LED "trunk entry" light - a nice to have, not a must have, but pretty cool. Light turns on and illuminates the inside of the trunk when you open the trunk. Very helpful at night. Requires the trunk subharness to be installed.
9. LED "entry lights" aka "puddle lights" - These lights mount in the front and left fairings (the black pieces) and shine down to illuminate the bike, and the ground, below and aft. They are mostly farkle, but look darn cool when you approach the bike at night with your fob in your pocket. As soon as the bike senses the fob in range, these lights illuminated. Looks pretty wicked IMO.
10. XM Satellite Antenna - If you don't listen to XM or have a subcription, you obviously don't need this. But if you think you might want it downstream, consider it now as it is fairly inexpensive and with all the other stuff getting done, now would be a good time to put it on and forget about it. If you have an Iphone and intend to use Apple Car Play, XM will stream on an app on your phone which you can access with apple carplay. If you want Doppler weather display and/or Traffic data however, you will need the antenna. I would recommend it even if it only improved your resale value downstream. Again, the idea is to do all of this stuff at once and save on labor costs. If the bike is already broken down, this is a pretty quick install.
11. Right and Left Saddlebag liners - don't let the dealer "install" these LOL. Just order them. They are excellent quality and work great.
12. Trunk Liner (bag) - nice quality, haven't used it yet.
13. Saddlebag and Trunk carpet liners - nice quality, give the bike a nice finished look. Again, don't have dealer "install" these. Just order and throw them in yourself.
14. CB Radio - if you ride with others and they have CBs, IMO, this is a no brainer, though it isn't a cheap accessory and does require drilling holes to install the antenna. But having a dedicated bike-to-bike comm system that is instant (think "deer!" on the radio and you know what I mean), is invaluable to me and the way I ride and who I ride with.
15. Homelink - I know you've got your keyring, but the other poster who mentions how convenient it is, is right. No fumbling for a key fob, not stopping. In fact, I press that button as I'm still moving down my street and ride right into the garage without ever putting my foot down! Plus, it is a nice clean looking purpose made install. I actually really like this feature.
16. Passenger CB Push To Talk - only necessary if you have the CB and you have a significant other who would like their own ability to chat with your riding buddies. But it is a nice clean looking installl.
17. Passenger Audio Control Panel - same as number 16 above.
18. Rider backrest - easy to install by yourself at any time. If you want to hold out and look at aftermarket products that would be easy to do. I initially didn't really care for my OEM backrest but have now gotten used to it and kinda like it.
19. Full Cover - I probably wouldn't get this again. It is very good quality but it is HUGE and takes up way too much space to ever bring on a road trip. Might be ok for winter storage in your garage or some similar function.
20. Half Cover - highly recommended. Much smaller and more compact and easily fits in a saddlebag. Perfect for road trips.

So that's what I currently have on my bike. There really aren't any other Honda OEM accessories that I think I would want, but you never know. Here are some aftermarket items that I will be getting or would consider getting.

A. Highway Pegs - for sure going to get these when they are available
B. Hitch with wiring harness - I have a trailer and also a big rack that I can use if I don't use the trailer. Both require the hitch and the harness. Bushtec and Rivco are both taking orders now I believe.
C. Floorboards? Maybe. I had floorboards on my 02 and 15 and I really liked them. If someone comes out with good looking/functional floorboards that don't decrease the bike's clearance, I'll probably give them a shot.
D. Headlight protectors - if they were good looking and unobtrusive I would probably consider these. Replacing the OEM headlight units is quite expensive both in terms of parts costs and labor costs.

Let me know if you want the full spreadsheet.
Hope this gives you something to think about and helps you.

Cheers,

Matt
 

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#23 ·
Gkarasik, my .02...

First, I have installed a bunch of accessories and also done the front and rear shock Traxxion replacement, so I have had this bike broken down to pieces twice now. When I was doing all the accessories, I discovered that so many steps were common among the different installation instructions that it prompted me to actually create a matrix in a spreadsheet in order to "visualize" this commonality. I have provided a snapshot of just a part of this spreadsheet here (that's all I could fit into a snapshot). If you'd like the whole thing hit me up with your email and I'll email you the spreadsheet. The point of this matrix, in your case, is to be educated and armed when you negotiate the installation labor costs with your dealer. Don't let them "stack" your labor costs (i.e. Labor for CB install (3hrs) + labor for Homelink (3hrs)= 6hrs). So many of the steps are common that you deserve to get "credit" for them already being done. So in this case, you want them to do a real world estimate of the labor for all your accessories, not just add all the "book values" together.

Here is a list of the items I installed (or came installed when I got the bike - trunk rack and air deflectors) and some thoughts for you to consider:

1. Trunk Rack - very functional. OEM quality is excellent. Highly recommended
2. LED Brake light (mounted to trunk rack) - OEM, and again quality excellent. Requires trunk rack in order to mount. Also requires No. 3 below.
3. Trunk sub-harness - necessary for trunk rack mounted LED brake light, trunk "entry light" (light that turns on when you open the trunk)
4. LED Fog Light and Fog Light Kit - I like your idea of at least getting the fog light kit, so it is wired to accept foglights at a later date, or an aftermarket light kit. Ask your dealer to take note, if you are not installing foglights at the time they do the foglight KIT, to ensure that any parts on the kit that might be "captured" by the lights when they are installed, are saved and given to you separately. I think there may be collars that get inserted into the rubber grommets that might be able to fall out if there isn't a light to hold them in, if that makes any sense.
5. LED Fog Lights - I think the OEM lights are ok, but not spectacular. Their QUALITY is definitely excellent, but they are kinda puny. That won't change with aftermarket though because the foglight cowls kinda dictate the size of the light.
6. Upper and Lower Air Deflectors - I like them, especially the uppers, in terms of their quality. I know Baker AirWings has a product out now (Pro: the lowers are adjustable unlike the OEM lowers. Con: I think they are kinda ugly when compared to the OEM lowers, JMHO)
7. 12 V accessory socket - highly recommended if they are gonna have your bike in pieces to do all the other stuff. It is inexpensive and has a nice finished look, and of course would be/can be pretty darn handy to have a power source if and when you need it!
8. LED "trunk entry" light - a nice to have, not a must have, but pretty cool. Light turns on and illuminates the inside of the trunk when you open the trunk. Very helpful at night. Requires the trunk subharness to be installed.
9. LED "entry lights" aka "puddle lights" - These lights mount in the front and left fairings (the black pieces) and shine down to illuminate the bike, and the ground, below and aft. They are mostly farkle, but look darn cool when you approach the bike at night with your fob in your pocket. As soon as the bike senses the fob in range, these lights illuminated. Looks pretty wicked IMO.
10. XM Satellite Antenna - If you don't listen to XM or have a subcription, you obviously don't need this. But if you think you might want it downstream, consider it now as it is fairly inexpensive and with all the other stuff getting done, now would be a good time to put it on and forget about it. If you have an Iphone and intend to use Apple Car Play, XM will stream on an app on your phone which you can access with apple carplay. If you want Doppler weather display and/or Traffic data however, you will need the antenna. I would recommend it even if it only improved your resale value downstream. Again, the idea is to do all of this stuff at once and save on labor costs. If the bike is already broken down, this is a pretty quick install.
11. Right and Left Saddlebag liners - don't let the dealer "install" these LOL. Just order them. They are excellent quality and work great.
12. Trunk Liner (bag) - nice quality, haven't used it yet.
13. Saddlebag and Trunk carpet liners - nice quality, give the bike a nice finished look. Again, don't have dealer "install" these. Just order and throw them in yourself.
14. CB Radio - if you ride with others and they have CBs, IMO, this is a no brainer, though it isn't a cheap accessory and does require drilling holes to install the antenna. But having a dedicated bike-to-bike comm system that is instant (think "deer!" on the radio and you know what I mean), is invaluable to me and the way I ride and who I ride with.
15. Homelink - I know you've got your keyring, but the other poster who mentions how convenient it is, is right. No fumbling for a key fob, not stopping. In fact, I press that button as I'm still moving down my street and ride right into the garage without ever putting my foot down! Plus, it is a nice clean looking purpose made install. I actually really like this feature.
16. Passenger CB Push To Talk - only necessary if you have the CB and you have a significant other who would like their own ability to chat with your riding buddies. But it is a nice clean looking installl.
17. Passenger Audio Control Panel - same as number 16 above.
18. Rider backrest - easy to install by yourself at any time. If you want to hold out and look at aftermarket products that would be easy to do. I initially didn't really care for my OEM backrest but have now gotten used to it and kinda like it.
19. Full Cover - I probably wouldn't get this again. It is very good quality but it is HUGE and takes up way too much space to ever bring on a road trip. Might be ok for winter storage in your garage or some similar function.
20. Half Cover - highly recommended. Much smaller and more compact and easily fits in a saddlebag. Perfect for road trips.

So that's what I currently have on my bike. There really aren't any other Honda OEM accessories that I think I would want, but you never know. Here are some aftermarket items that I will be getting or would consider getting.

A. Highway Pegs - for sure going to get these when they are available
B. Hitch with wiring harness - I have a trailer and also a big rack that I can use if I don't use the trailer. Both require the hitch and the harness. Bushtec and Rivco are both taking orders now I believe.
C. Floorboards? Maybe. I had floorboards on my 02 and 15 and I really liked them. If someone comes out with good looking/functional floorboards that don't decrease the bike's clearance, I'll probably give them a shot.
D. Headlight protectors - if they were good looking and unobtrusive I would probably consider these. Replacing the OEM headlight units is quite expensive both in terms of parts costs and labor costs.

Let me know if you want the full spreadsheet.
Hope this gives you something to think about and helps you.

Cheers,

Matt
Wow! Thanks! All these responses help a lot, and your response is exceptional. I will PM you for the spreadsheet.
 
#18 ·
OEM gray



Thanks Joe,
I got the gray one, but you'll think it's black when you first open it up. It only has a small gray panel on the bottom. Zippers back into its own attached pouch. I like it a lot.
 
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