Carrying a Computer on a Bike?

[Slainte]

Does anyone on this board carry a laptop computer in the system cases of their “R” bike? Presently I carry a Macbook on my daily commute (70 miles round trip). The Macbook is small enough that I can put it inside a padded sleeve and insert it upright in the left, or right system case.

This has worked well so far, but I am beginning to wonder if the vibration of the R motor will have negative effects.

[SageRider]

I carry mine (Fujitsu P or U series) all the time.

My miles are touring only, so it always gets packed in clothes.

Never a problem.

If it does become a problem, well, it was time to upgrade anyway...

[Paul In Australia]

I carry daily a mac book Pro 17inch in the system case. never a problem. I put mine in a neoprene sleeve.

Don't think you have an issue really

best regards

PCH

[Tim Wilson]

I carry an HP6910 in a laptop bag in the top case daily commuting... no problems.

[Francois_Dumas]

Yup, large 17"screen HP (Compaq) in the topcase (in a small rucksack), when going on multiple-day trips. Looking for a smaller one though......

[SWB]

Yup, large 17"screen HP (Compaq) in the topcase (in a small rucksack), when going on multiple-day trips. Looking for a smaller one though......

 

Second laptop - yeah, I hear ya.

 

I don't have a topcase, and my 17" HP won't fit anywhere else. I have a smaller HP that belongs to my client at work, and it fits in my tank bag. In fact, I leave my 17" HP (basically, it's a portable engineering work station) at the office most of the time and pack the smaller HP. I've taken a large sized laptop in a military ruck sack before, and might do that for the new 17" one as a back up plan, but usually I just take the truck when I have to move the large laptop - too much invested in it to rattle it to death.

 

I'm going to look for a cheap used notebook (i.e. maybe $350) that will fit anywhere, and use it just for riding trips.

 

That is, err...when I start taking riding trips. Haven't really done much of that yet.

 

I really want to get a laptop, camera, autocom, and link a helmet cam into it all so that I can take pictures frequently without diverting too much from the road plan. I have pieces of the puzzle, but not all the toys yet.

 

I used to have a padded case that was great for carrying the notebook in the side-city-case on the R1100RT-P, and that plus some bubblewrap worked well. The R1200RT side cases are too large for (safe) lane spliting, so I leave them at home and just take the tank bag anyhow. A $500 topcase is in the not too distant future, but not too close future either.

 

Scott

[Selden]

Does anyone on this board carry a laptop computer in the system cases of their “R” bike? Presently I carry a Macbook on my daily commute (70 miles round trip). The Macbook is small enough that I can put it inside a padded sleeve and insert it upright in the left, or right system case.

This has worked well so far, but I am beginning to wonder if the vibration of the R motor will have negative effects.

I don't think you have much to worry about. I travelled with a 12" G4 MacBook on my old Pacific Coast for probably 20,000 miles, including an 11,000 mile ride to Alaska and back. Abuse included riding way too fast over 120 miles of dirt road on the Denali Highway, and someone spilling a beer on the keyboard. I didn't even turn it off unless I expected not to have access to electricity for more than 24 hours. It never skipped a beat, and is still going strong (I passed it on to someone else).

 

I currently travel with an Acer AA1 with a 16gb flash drive; Linux is very efficient with resources, so even with the OS and a full suite of software, I still have over 8gb of free space for data.

[CarrotNC]

Carry a Dell M65 (15.4" display) in my top case, not had issues with it. Then again, also carry soft drinks there sometimes (lunch box) and they don't seem "shaken up" when opened.

 

Not sure what vibration the bikes transmits into the top case, but according to Dell this laptop allows for a maximum vibration (using a random-vibration spectrum that simulates user environment): Operating: 0.66 GRMS -Storage: 1.30 GRMS

 

Had to check the web, and found GRMS refers to a single feedback value for vibration which covers a wide-band frequency range acting in all three axes at once. Still not much help to me in a real-world case, but perhaps the smarter guys on this board can clarify it.

[Tim Wilson]

If you're looking at having the laptop powered-on/operating while in the top case, you may want to look at getting a Panasonic Toughbook. While "normal" operation may not affect a standard hard drive, if you hit a bump in the road while the disk is 'seeking', you might toast it. The new Toughbooks (from what I've heard) have solid state drives, but you'll need to spend $$$$ on one.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

My 17" Toshiba laptops have, collectively, about 100K miles of saddle time, divided between panniers or top box. Never a problem.

 

I now use a little HP 1000 mini and, since it has no moving components, often just toss it into my tank bag or my Givi T439 tail pack. So far, it only has about 5K miles of such use but, I expect it will last quite awhile, and, if it doesn't, I'm only out $350 anyway.

[jakfrost]

I've been trucking my Mac Air back and forth to work for a couple of years now...no special precautions, just have it in the backpack in the top case. Never had a problem.

 

For my trips I use an Acer Aspire One Netbook, with the 2Gb ram and 160Gb HD, all in a 9" package. Its a very little package, comes with the built in web cam and speakers so I can 'Skype' home when ever I feel the need, and have the bandwidth. Doesn't take up much room and weighs almost nothing. I use it mostly to stay in touch via email and also update my routing using MapSource and my Garmin 376c.

 

The screen is small, 8.9" but the resolution is great and the keyboard works well. The only concession to the small size that I make is to bring along my USB Nano mouse.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

Jim

[wbrissette]

I've been carrying my MacBook Pro for a couple of years now on two BMW RTs ('04, '09), and a Buell Ulysses. I use the Buell for most of my daily commuting and it certainly rattles around more than the RTs do and I haven't had a single issue with my laptop. I just got back from a 4K round trip tour on the '09 RT and never had any issues.

 

Wayne

[Dave R1100RT]

Dell D620 Latitude in an REI laptop bag appropriately sized.

Daily commute - 30 miles round trip in top case

No Issues

[Survived-til-now]

Plenty of replies to reassure you and I too carry a laptop on my 1200RT - but I always carry it in a padded bag on my pillion seat!

 

I ruined an internal CD drive by putting a laptop in a topcase (1150RT)but on reflection the problem was that it was not sufficiently padded and the laptop came into contact with the hard plastic of the case so the jolts from the road went straight into the case of the laptop.

 

So, if you are careful to insulate the laptop from anything hard - should be fine.

 

Andy

[Selden]

Dell D620 Latitude in an REI laptop bag appropriately sized.

The REI E-wrap sleeves are great; firmly padded, and the top and end velcro flaps provide great access. Carrying straps at top and end are also very handy.

[EddyQ]

The REI E-wrap sleeves are great; firmly padded, and the top and end velcro flaps provide great access. Carrying straps at top and end are also very handy.

 

+1 Great commuter bag! Very light and corners seem to snuggly hold my HP6910p from any movements in my RT sidecase.

[outpost22]

Been carrying a Toshiba in my Givi topcase for 4 years. Just wrap it in a small towel.

 

If it breaks, it was time to upgrade anyway.

[11101110]

 

That is, err...when I start taking riding trips. Haven't really done much of that yet.

 

I really want to get a laptop, camera, autocom, and link a helmet cam into it all so that I can take pictures frequently without diverting too much from the road plan. I have pieces of the puzzle, but not all the toys yet.

 

 

Scott

 

I'm still tryong to take som strips too. Been spending trip money on bike upgrades like 700 for a cruise. strike the autocom and add a gps and Ham radio and that is my list.

[Elhoff]

Been carrying my HP NW8440 in my side case or in my GIVI Top/brief case for two years with no issue.

[Roadwolf]

I have a unibody MacBook and have had no problems. I put it in a Brenthaven case and just pop it in the 49 liter top case... no worries... (one thing I do though is I power it down when I take it on the road).

[mike g]

I normally travel with a 15.4 gateway in a backpack case that fits perfect in my top case, a Givi 54. This is the second laptop I have traveled with for years and no problems yet.

 

I just bought an acer aspire to reduce size and weight when I travel with my so. Last time we did a big trip we couldn't fit the full size. haven't tried traveling with it yet.

 

Not to hijack the thread, but how do you load mapsouce without a cd or dvd drive?

 

mike

[Tim Wilson]

In theory (mine), if you can get the cd files loaded onto a USB thumb drive and you have the CD key, you "should" be able to install it.

[Fightingpiper]

If you have a home network you can share a CD drive from a different computer and install it that way or you can get an external USB cdrom.

[markgoodrich]

http://dealnews.com/features/Deal-Watch-Price-trends-on-Netbooks/292489.html

 

 

[marcopolo]

Not to hijack the thread, but how do you load mapsouce without a cd or dvd drive?

 

mike

 

Do you have a wireless network at home with a desktop PC equipped with a CD/DVD drive? I have loaded Mapsource on my Acer Aspire One using my desktop. Being somewhat computer illiterate, I discovered the trick to doing this on ADVRider. If you have a network and let us know, I can tell you in more detail how I did it. It involved downloading free software on both the desktop and the Aspire One to get the job done. I used the same method to load MS Office too.

[marcopolo]

Here is a short summary of how I loaded Mapsource on my Acer Aspire One:

 

I first downloaded ImgBurn (free software. Try getting it at Download.com) onto my desktop. I loaded my Mapsource discs (four CDs in all -- originals and updates in my case) into an optical drive on my desktop and used ImgBurn to create ISO files of each and save them to my desktop hard drive. I then downloaded DaemonTools (more free software) onto my Acer netbook (the one with no optical drive) and used it to find each ISO file on my home wireless network from my desktop's hard drive and then "mount" each ISO file onto a virtual DVD drive on my netbook. I did not have to use Windows Explorer to find the setup files on the virtual drive; each "disc" started on its own etc.

 

[mike g]

Thanks. I read this the other day also. I will try that this weekend. From then on I can download updates from Garmins site.

 

I'll let you know if I have any problems.

mike

[gmarktbone]

I carry a macbook in my left bag and have had no problems so far.

[sundaeman]

I've carried around a 17" MacBook and/or Dell Latitude on my commute (about 50 miles or so) & longer trips. I had a sleeve for the Mac. Just tossed the Dell in on top of towel.

[bogthebasher]

I carried my LG E300 6500Km to California and back last year - in my horendously expensive BMW tank bag. I have a tight fitting neopreen sleeve and put it inside the 'waterproof' section. Came in handy to download all my pictures from my camera as well as to get on this forum, look for good motels, etc. At first I thought it might take away from the whole 'out there' experience, but its like anything else, personal choice on how/when/if it gets used.

[Selden]

...At first I thought it might take away from the whole 'out there' experience, but its like anything else, personal choice on how/when/if it gets used.

This was a concern when I rode to Alaska, but far outweighed by the convenience of being able to track the weather and look for hostels, as well as to post to a web site. The biggest frustration was that I felt like I was travelling with a small family of vampires who had to be fed at regular intervals: laptop, cell phone, shaver.

[mike g]

I got it loaded tonight. Had a litle trouble with unlocking the maps but finally got it done. i used the instructions thtat Garmin sent me. I coopied the download file to the new computer using the network then followed these:

 

Thanks for contacting Garmin Technical Support.

 

The City Navigator program can be installed on multiple computers. You will need to copy the update file to the other computer then run the setup. After the program installs to the computer, cancel the process otherwise it will recopy the map update to your gps. You can also use the following alternate method. The attachment better illustrates the

process.:

 

Use the following link to download the program 7-zip: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/sevenzip/7z457.exe.

It's a program used to extract files from compressed archives which is

exactly what the update file is. It is a very small file, less than 1

megabyte in size. You will also need to place the update file into a folder that is not on the desktop. After installing 7-zip, go to the Start menu, select All programs, run the 7-zip File Manager that's in the 7-zip folder and direct it to the folder in which you placed the update file. Press the Extract button (the big blue - sign) and it will place all of the setup files into a folder. Open that folder and run the setup.exe file. If there is a problem with the archive, this program will indicate it.

 

There is a modification to the procedure. In step 6, instead of running the setup.exe file, open the IMG folder launch the file CNNANT2009_11_Update_ENU.msi. This will install City Navigator to your computer but won't update the gps.

 

Rich C

Software Support Specialist AM

 

GARMIN International

1200 E. 151st Street

Olathe, KS 66062

1-800-800-1020 Phone

1-913-440-8200 Fax

 

 

The attachment they refer to is a pdf file showing how to use the 7zip program. It has screen shots etc. and that is where the step 6 they say is. If you need it pm me and I can send it.

 

mike