REVIEW: Tyre to Travel GPS Software

A lot of you folks may know that I really like to plan intricate routes for my GPS taking all these odd little backroads I've never been on before.  Before my honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls and back, I purchased a TomTom Rider Motorcycle GPS.  Bundled with this is a software called Tyre to Travel (or just Tyre).  It was originally developed by Jan Boersma in 2006 right before I started riding, and I used it with my original Tom Tom One in a huge waterproof Otter Box mounted to my scoot's handlebars.  It was ok, but not great.  The thing I always wanted was to plan a route in Google Maps and somehow transfer it to my GPS without seventeen or twenty steps.  It was pretty good software at the time but it was still not very easy to do this.

When I became a member of the Iron Butt Society and joined their discussion email list, I found that nearly all those guys used Garmin GPS and software, so I switched.  The software I installed and used on my Garmin Nuvi 550 (one of the only waterproof GPS units under $400) was really professional and allowed the granular tweaking I do for routes.  The trouble was it was nearly impossible to plan anything on Google Maps and transfer it.  I tried web apps galore and some manual procedures to no avail.

Today, with the TomTom Rider (which is an excellent MC GPS if for only the Winding Roads route feature) I can seamlessly transfer the route I've planned from Google Maps into the Tyre Software and then right into the GPS unit ready to select and ride.

Suzuki of Louisville - Down Two Weeks?

The gal at Suzuki on English Station road here in Louisville is pretty nice. Her name is Inga and I talked to her today.  I hitched my bike up to a rented uHaul trailer and towed it over with my truck. I called the parts department earlier this morning and ordered the clutch cable. The guy said it was lucky that I called when I did because he was just getting ready to place the order. So now my clutch cable should be in tomorrow. I talked to the service department and they said it it's generally going to be two weeks before they get to my bike at this point. I explained how it is my daily driver and I use it everyday to get back and forth to work in the service guy said that they could probably work me in sooner. When I spoke to Inga she told me again it would be 2 weeks.

I told her that when I spoke with the service department they said they would try to get me in sooner because it is my main vehicle. She said that they might be able to get to it on Saturday afternoon later in the day. So now my bike is in the Suzuki shop until at least Saturday. I really hope they are able to get it done then and let me pick it up because I'm missing out on a lot of time.

Milton, KY to Madison, IN Bridge

My wife and I took a ride from Louisville to Madison Indiana across the Milton-Madison bridge which was just replaced. Madison is a great little historic town. The weather was perfect.

At a stop in Sulphur, KY my top box came loose and dropped off. An old man told me he lived three doors down and would go home and look for a bolt. I found the knob on the inside of the trunk just came untightened and with a few turns was fine. 

We rode across the bridge which neither GPS nor Google recognized and then through downtown. No restaurants were open due to the holiday so we grabbed a burger at the golden arches in Hanover.