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Garmin, and get very different instructionsover similar routes from the Wing unit. Manytimes, the Wing unit has tried to send me downnon-existent roads and past the appropriateones. It frequently tells me to turn on a roadonce I have already passed it by a few dozenfeet. All in all, the unit needs updating andimproving. If there is information out theresomewhere, I have been unable to find it.)One of my friends is an electronics repairmanas well as an avid motorcyclist. He toldme words of wisdom: “The guys at the dealersare mechanics, not electronics techs”. Hondareally needs to address this problem and trainpeople at each dealership if they are going tosell cycles with advanced electronics on them.Any help you can offer in pushing Honda inthis direction would be greatly appreciated bymany of us. Thanks for “listening”.Richard AxelbergGWRRA #290171Jacksonville, FloridaHi Richard. Like you, I suspect many problemswith the seat and grip heaters are relatedto improperly connected wiring terminals. Butthere’s another possibility. The heaters havethermistors in circuit. Those are devices thatprevent the seats from overheating by limitingcurrent in warm ambient conditions. So if abike had been removed from a warm garage,the seats may not begin feeling warm till thethermistors adjusted to the colder ambient temperatures.Today’s cars and bikes have replaced mostof the mechanical ignition and fueling adjustmentswith electronics. Beyond that, there’sABS, GPS, and a host of other electronics thatdon’t lend themselves to intuitive diagnosis. Sotoday’s technician needs to be electricallysavvy. Your friend the electronics tech is spoton, as our article last month about the burntwiring pins illustrates. Unfortunately, the situationisn’t likely to improve—not ever. You askfor my help in pushing Honda to provide electronicstraining at each dealership? I’ve beendoing just that for at least 8 years, since theGL1800’s introduction. But training isn’t conductedat the dealerships, it’s conducted in corporateclassrooms in training centers locatedaround the country. It’s also available to techson-line. I’ve audited several of Honda’s weeklongtraining courses, and I think they’re verygood - given what they’re trying to accomplish.But Honda currently has no way to force atech to attend these courses. Even if they did,many of the techs I observed at one of thoseelectrical training courses looked like deercaught in the headlights after the first fewhours of instruction. And it’s not like theinstruction material was rocket science. It wasdesigned to allow a person with little knowledgeof electrical principles to diagnose problems.There were some very sharp techs whocaught on quickly. But given the low generalWinners ofRandy Powell’s“GPS vs. Maps” ContestThe winner of Wing World ContributingWriter Randy Powell’s “GPS vs. MAPS”email contest (See November 2008,“GPS vs. Maps:A Map Lover’s Viewpoint”, page54) and the $30 gift certificate to CrackerBarrel is Kevin Carpenter from Sierra Vista,Arizona. Kevin’s winning entry has been postedon Randy’s website, www.ride2up.com.You may read Kevin’s story, along with thestories of the two runners-up, online there.Kevin’s story was about a life-saving adventurewhile ice fishing in Michigan years ago whenGPS units were not as technologicallyadvanced as today.For his personally held contest, Randy says,“I received over 75 emails for the contest, and 95percent of them were stories about a mistake their GPS made. But every single story said theystill liked their GPS unit.”Randy also notes that Tom Mixon, a GWRRA Member from Panama City, Florida, emailedhim with an offer for a second place prize:Tom’s son Chris has donated a weekend camping passand lobster dinner at the Meadowbrook Camping area in Phippsburg, Maine, along with a completelobster dinner cooked onsite.This second-place prize was awarded to Don Mallinson of Washington, Illinois. His story alsoappears on Randy’s website.“Thanks Tom and Chris, and thanks to everyone who sent in your great stories,” Randy says.●March 2009 41