Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 IRON BUTT MAGAZINE | Winter 2014 WHILE ATTENDING THE IBA Inter- National Meet in Denver this past August, I had the chance to look over many of the items that the vendors brought to display and sell to the attend- ees. One of the items that caught my eye was the Omni-Cruise Universal Cruise Control offered by Lee Parks Design. One big advantage of a removable throt- tle lock, like the Omni-Cruise, is it’s very easy to move from bike to bike. After speaking with Lee and having him dem- onstrate its functions, I decided to test one. Let me begin by saying that I believe it is always a good idea to keep both hands on the motorcycle controls. However, there are times when taking one hand off the grip to prevent cramps and numbness is necessary — but only when commonsense and safety prevails. It was apparent that the Omni-Cruise that it is a well thought-out, well-designed product. It’s not made of cheap plastic like many of the other throttle locks I have used in the past. Granted, it does cost a little more than a plastic throttle lock, but since it’s made of metal, I would expect it to last a life- time. Except for the small adjuster knob and the slider piece that rests against the brake lever, which are made from Acetol, the body is powder-coated -billet aluminum. A stainless steel screw, spring and washers are used for tension. Brian Carmichael makes Omni-Cruise in the USA and everything is made in house for quality assurance. Carmichael is basi- cally a one-man show and personally inspects each unit after making it. The instructions are very good and point out the proper technique for using the device. Open the jaws and slip it onto any size grip, snug the thumbscrew, and that’s it. Adjustment of the thumbscrew is impor- tant, as you want it to create sufficient friction to hold the throttle open when it is up against the brake lever while still being able to roll it around the grip to activate or deactivate it. There is a convenient and very clever thumb lever that makes applying it easy with no need to move your hand from the throttle. Deactivating it is just as easy. Apply the front brake while holding the throt- tle (the slider pushes the Omni-Cruise up) and either roll off the throttle or use your index finger to lift it out of the way. When not in use it sits in an up posi- tion and remains out of the way.It is very narrow, just slightly over a quarter inch, with no sharp edges to catch on gloved hands. It does not interfere with normal throttle operation when in the off (up) position. A couple of rubber sleeves are also included for different sized grips. These may be needed for a handgrip that does not provide sufficient friction between the grip and the Omni-Cruise, such as chrome grips.There are oversized bands available for some of the larger chrome grips as well. The other case for using is with foam grips, as the Omni- Cruise can slowly wear a groove into or deform the foam. Extra and oversized bands are available for $.. Omni-Cruise needs a minimum clearance of ." between the grip and any objects other than the front brake lever. As it happened to be, I was riding a V-Strom, which, due to its hand guards, does not provide the needed clearance. An easy modification allowed the Omni- Cruise to work,but at the expense of cut- ting a notch in the right side hand guard. Checking the website reveals a very short list of bikes that are known to have simi- Omni-Cruise Universal Cruise Control By Jim Fousek, Photos by Michael Kneebone continued on page  ProductEvaluation