Hey guys, anybody have any suggestions for a good method of going through the EZ-pass lane on a bike? if I had a windscreen, I'd mount it there, but I don't, so I can't. 80% of the time I'm riding within town, and the pass is in my wife's car. but on occasions where I venture out for a longer trip, I've been doing this low speed juggling act as I approach the tollbooth and pull the EZ-pass from my breast pocket. It's especially unnerving when there's an 18 wheeler right behind me.  Any suggestions for a good mounting location for an EZ-pass on the G?
needs to be:
1. secure
2. removable
Regards,
Riz
 

preemptive p.s. yeah, velcro to my helmet...very funny, jackass.  :nana:

Maybe on the front of the left side mirror?

Sparkplug,
I don't know about the stockers, but I'm pretty sure my aftermarket mirrors are getting nailed pretty hard by the wind. I'd be concerned about the pass flying off.

thanks for the suggestion, though.

Regards,
Riz

Not too sure what an EZ-Pass is but I work in a restricted area that required security pass entry (who dosn't these days?) passes were traditionaly carried around the neck in a plastic holder. On a bike this causes a delay, we used to have mag-strip passes that had to be fed into a machine like an ATM card. To quicken this up I mounted a plasic holder with two cable ties on my handlebers, right-hand side was appropriate for my situation. About a year ago we changed to a micro-chip proximity pass. Much easier. I now keep the pass in plastic holder attatched to my right hand glove, both sets of gloves have a holder. Now I slow down to a crawl, wave my right hand about and up goes the barrier, brilliant.

The only downside is that the regs require the pass to be "Worn prominently on an outside garment at all times" and I tend to forget and leave it on the gloves, I have now scanned-in a copy which I tape to a plastice card and wear in the holder around my neck, possibly not 100% kosher but it works.

Don't know what these EZ-pass things are like, but on the bridge tolls here they have things called "Mac Pass"  that sound similar, there are little gates across the toll that have to raise in order for you to go through. Trouble is, they seem to have a hard time dealing with motorcycles and you often end up having to carefully ride your way around the gate because it doesn't see you there.

If it's anything like those, you might want to be careful going through, I had one try to take my head off one day.  

Get a tank bag- they have small ones with just enough space for some papers, wallet, cash, etc... Big zippers or velcro for easy access.

the EZ pass lanes here (ATL) don't have the barrier gates.  the cars barely slow down as they go through.

this makes me think that it's a magnetic sensor, not an optic one.  in that case, just having the pass in your pocket would suffice.

of course, i maybe be just blowing steam out of my behind, since i've never used one.

EZ PASS is an RFID toll collection system.  It allows users to pass through toll gates without stopping, using an invoice billing for payment. For an explanation of RFID's see:
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/207
http://www.ezpass.com


I dunno about the tank bag idea, it could affect the responder.  It's also outside on your bike so someone could steal it and cause you some hassle, especailly if you paid for the month already.  You could breast pocket it on your jacket.  :dunno:

Make a little pocket on the back of your left glove.

no dice fellas. I've got a handy-dandy breast pocket on my jacket, (textile,btw) and it won't detect it through that. normally, EZ-Pass mounts to the windshield inside a car behind the rearview mirror. If it's a RF transmitter, I would expect it would be able to go through my jacket, since it can go through thick glass. however, since the xmitter (it's a bit bigger than a tin of Altoids) needs to be mounted to the window in a specific orientation   (it has arrows) I assume it's got to be VISIBLE to the receiver in the tollbooth in order to communicate. I figure the arrows are on the EZ Pass so that it's mounted with its internal antenna oriented as close as possible to the receiver. I could try fiddling with the xmitter's orientation in my pocket at the tollbooth (scary,  because you're not supposed to stop in an ezpass lane and the vehicle behind me wouldn't be expecting it), but I'd rather figure out a way to mount it to the bike. A tank bag with a clear top pocket might work. any other ideas?

Regards,
Riz

I'm thinking the top of headlight would be a good place if it doesn't get too hot. It shouldn't be too hard to make something that mounts on the headlight mounting brackets. Possibly using heavy velcro or elastic straps.

Maybe you could put it into one of those clear plastic ID holder things that can then be attached by a clip to your front zipper?


....that or duct tape it your helmet. :mrgreen:

Again with the tank bag- mine has an external, clear pocket (for when I ride with a map...)  It is water proof and can even be removed from the bag easily (most bags are designed with gloves in mind).  

Tank bags are magnetic so that when you get to where you are going, you just pull it off and carry it with you.  I could see how this might be  problem with the pass but you never know till you try it (i've hadall sorts of electronic devices in my bag and they have nver been adversely affected).

or attach it to the back side of your glove, sew a clear pocket into your sleeve.  Go to home depot and by/make a mounting bracket that attaches to your handle bars...  yeah..ok..whatever..

Ummm.....Why not just attach the "velcro" strips to your gastank and put the EZ-pass right on the tank?
Ok, so you'll get some glue on your tank, but at least it will slow the corrosion under the velcrow. :mrgreen:
Cheers
-Denis S.

Glue it to your helmet.  :lol:
It's not going to work on the tank.  
Works on my V-Strm on the windshield.
Almost lost it when the almost came off.
So I just keep it in my right pocket.
I have it down to a science.
I use it once going into Manhattan and twice on the return
trip home.  
Don't worry about the 18 wheelers watch the guys in the mini vans.
Just blip the throttle the exhaust will scare them. :lol:

Thanks for all the fantastic advice everyone. I think tank bag has it, but till I find a good one I'll have to try rigging it to the outside of my left glove. either that, or to the outside of the forearm of my left sleeve. then whenever I'm approaching the toll, I can just wave the arm at the sensor. or if I get good at "no-hands", I can do a Space Ghost maneuver.

yeah. That'll be a big hit with the toll-booth ladies!

Thanks for the good ideas, any others are totally welcome too!

Regards,
Riz

p.s. to the duct tape/glue to the helmet folks  :nana:  :lol:

attach to your middle finger, so when you approach the toll booth  flip em off?    :nana:  :dunno: dunno :dunno:

my friend has his mounted on his rear seat.

He has this strap that goes around the seat in the passenger position. Its made of felt (and he has a velcro thing on the two ends that meet under the seat (like when you pop it up). He has a strong velcro thing on the underside of teh EZ pass so it velcro's to this belt.. and he hasnt had any issues..

Just make sure you get a wide enough belt (he has a 1.5" belt, but he says he should have gotten a 2 inch belt) so he could have it have a better foothold.

ANycase that's just an idea.

Rizp, please post a follow-up to how this works as I may be doing the same thing in the near future.  Thanks!   :mrgreen:

I'll definitely let everyone know what comes of it as soon as i try a fix. It's gonna be at least until after monday before anything comes of it though, I've got a mother of a cardio exam that I should be studying for right now.

one final thought though, I might just shell out for a national cycle F-16 windscreen and mount it to that. I know it'll work, and they're only ~70 bucks. Besides, whenever I'm on the highway, the wind gets to be a bite in the ass anyway, and so the screen solves two problems...

I'll let you know if I can rig something well with the glove or jacket till then, however.

Regards,
Riz

p.s. thanks again for all the good ideas.