I'm glad I'm in no position to afford a new bike now or for the for seeable, happy to stick to my bike I know my limits and it's limits so hopefully won't be nannyfied in this way!
The problem I see with this is (and shoot me for being paroniod) if ALL bikes will be fitted with this device how long before they are used to track us all and then used against us for going over the limit to over take etc?????
The addition of this "kit" would it make us lazy? Or even worse a little complacent? Look at air bags for instance great if backed up with a seat belt deadly used on their own!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 'safety' lobby certainly need to be watched.
If it was down to them, we'd have had compulsory leg protectors long ago.
Just because the technology exists, doesn't mean it's a good thing.
Most riders (certainly more than car drivers) tend stick to marked speed limits in built up areas although a lot of these new 40 and 50 limits out in the country are treated with the contempt that they deserve. We certainly don't need external speed control on our bikes. Besides, we should ride to the conditions which could be less than 30 at certain times. I also think that pedestrians including the children should be taught to take responsibility for their own actions and not rely on us to avoid them when they do something daft.
As for the bike, I did test MIRA's first attempt at a bike using intelligent speed adaptation - an air-cooled 650 Bandit with a top box full of electronics. The intervention system was ineffective in reducing speeds when entering a speed limit but if it had been more effective, it would have been dangerous especially if you were in the middle of an overtake. The warning system used a flashing visual warning of the speed limit, an audible warning through headphones and a vibrating seat which was deeply unpleasant. It was clearly conceived by people whom I wouldn't trust to sit the right way round on a lavatory let alone a motorcycle. This bike must be a development from the same people.
As long as the riders' groups continue to argue that this sort of intervention is dangerous and distracting, it is unlikely to be put in production. The leg protectors disappeared because it was shown that for all but glancing impacts with other vehicles, they would have increased injuries with more load injuries on upper legs and more head injuries by lowering the head trajectory in a collision.
Safe to say cat that most of these things are thought of by people with with no direct knowledge of the subject. Same as the people that redrafted HGV working law had never sat in a truck!
I suppose it makes some overpaid civil servant feel like he's earning his crust.
I'm trusting that even the dunderheads who thought this one up will realise it will immediately become a riders "target" speed rather that a maximum speed, especially for exactly the sort of rider they are trying to protect (inexperienced & overconfident). After all that's what the "max speed" signs sometimes attached to "bend" warnings are used for, isn't it? (Oh. Really? Just me then.....) Or maybe to get round that problem, it will automatically apply the brakes just as you enter the bend "too fast". That'd be a good idea, eh?? Meanwhile, I presume all those complaining about this threat to our liberty and safety are fully paid up MAG/BMF members? If not, why not??
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