Motorcycle GPS from an old cell phone.

Jampy00

Jampy00

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I’ve wanted a motorcycle dash for navigation and Spotify for a while, but having two motorcycles makes it a bit of a challenge. Most of the dedicated units are hardwired to the bike, so switching between my Pan America and Ural isn’t exactly convenient.

So I decided to build my own!

I took an old Google Pixel 2 with no cellular service in a Quadlock case and turned it into a dedicated motorcycle dash.

Downloaded my routes on MyRoute-app and Google Maps for offline navigation
Downloaded about 20 hours of music on Spotify
Used Smart Layout to optimize the screen for landscape mode
Adjusted the home screen and used Zedge for a clean white wallpaper
Used an Icon Studio pack to customize the icons

The end result is a simple, dedicated navigation/music screen that matches the look of my Pan America and can easily be moved over to the Ural when I’m riding it.

Best part? It cost me basically nothing since I was using an old phone I already had sitting around. Sometimes the best motorcycle accessories are the ones you build yourself! image0 (7).jpeg
 
Standalone offline apps 3D capable apps are better IMO. Waze runs offline. I have an old shuttered one called Navmii Offline Maps I used on my road bike that is really good.
 
Waze does not offer downloadable maps.
I’m using Google Maps and myroute.app both allow downloading maps.
 
Jampy00 said:
Waze does not offer downloadable maps.
I’m using Google Maps and myroute.app both allow downloading maps.
Click to expand...

It does, sort of. When I'm in the Dead Zone (Cedar Springs Rd. between Kilbride and Britannia Rd.) I get a popup saying Waze is running offline. How much of the map is buffered when you open the app with cell coverage is the crux.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
Standalone offline apps 3D capable apps are better IMO. Waze runs offline. I have an old shuttered one called Navmii Offline Maps I used on my road bike that is really good.
Click to expand...
I did that with an old HTC android phone, it was an off brand with a big screen, the nice thing about that oldie was the screen was bright and high contrast, you could read it on a sunny day.

There are some very good launchers and widgets made for android/carplay radios, I used one for the units dashboard.

Mine flew off my bike on deep bay road (chasing that famous Shane fellow), I replaced it with a dedicated android CarPlay unit.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
It does, sort of. When I'm in the Dead Zone (Cedar Springs Rd. between Kilbride and Britannia Rd.) I get a popup saying Waze is running offline. How much of the map is buffered when you open the app with cell coverage is the crux.
Click to expand...
It caches the map area requiring cell service.
Exactly the reason I did not use it on my setup.
 
Mad Mike said:
I did that with an old HTC android phone, it was an off brand with a big screen, the nice thing about that oldie was the screen was bright and high contrast, you could read it on a sunny day.

There are some very good launchers and widgets made for android/carplay radios, I used one for the units dashboard.

Mine flew off my bike on deep bay road (chasing that famous Shane fellow), I replaced it with a dedicated android CarPlay unit.
Click to expand...
Yes, my set up has no personal information on it. So if it were to get damaged or lost it would not be a huge loss.
 
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