I've kitted my bike out with some serious bits of stuff: Garmin 550 Zumo-blue tooth helmet Comes with heated grips Heated jacket Electric Tank bag-charges up my batteries Laptop Video cameras HID lights Ohlin shocks Spot satellite tracker/locator other bits a bobs.
I've used them all extensively, on various rides. What have you added, what gear would you recommend from experience? What have you discovered is a waste of time?
My latest gizzmo isn't on the bike, it's www.gaiafix.com a website that I link my Zumo to and it produces maps with tracks I've taken marked up. And it's free.
where do I start.
Tomtom Rider
Autocom with blutooth and PTT switch
2M Ham radio transceiver
Hi-Band VHF transceiver linked to the Red Cross and ambulance service
LED beacons Amber and Red
Heated grips
axillary power take off on glove box and under seat
moving text message board
electrically movable font screen (Factory fitted)
www.gaiafix.com will work with the Tom Tom too. I had one, but the brass/copper connectors on the back wore down and became erratic and in the middle of nowhere that wasn't acceptable.
I had the same problem with the TomTom v1. Mine went back to TomTom so many times I pulled the contract my company had with TomTom and gave it to Co-pilot. When I quoted my ongoing support case they eventually gave in and sent me the TomTom v2 which has a much better mounting system. I'll have a look at gaiafix.
The Zumo 550 is okay, not blown away by the assumed logic and the button to scroll through pages rather than the option to build your own front screen. Plus the blue tooth isn't that good at anything 70mph ish and once fixed in a helmet is a right pain to swap to another lid. But it switches from bike to car easily enough and in the car, when twinned with your phone, acts as a hands free. You can also take calls on your bike and make calls, but that's not my idea of a best function. new Zumo 660 is out. Any reviews?
Oh me much more low tech,,
Screen on front of my bike, (had it longer than the bike was taken off the ex's virago is plain not got staps of non essential chrome lol) I get on average 20 miles more to reserve was 168 now 188 miles,
Front sprocket 1 more tooth, lower revs = better mpg 6 miles more to reserve now 194 average.
12v Accessory plug mounted behind battery side cover inverted to allow easy assess and no moisture to collect, air bed pump and sat nav power pickup.
RAC sat nav was cheap as chips 2 years ago but no update available (still useful is put in Tank Bag map pocket and earplugs tell me where to go lol) told you low tec..
Kappa rack, got me out of trouble carrying all sorts everywhere lol.
Towbar, design and build by yours truly was origanally hammerite painted took off every year to totally strip and repaint due to being shot blasted as I rode lol now plastic coated and no signs of errosion 18 months and counting (had arms and brackets of rack blasted and plastic coated too bloody cheap dipping paint these itialians use is so thin it scratched down to metal on 1st application of a spider bungie) towbar VERY useful I pull a trailer designed and built by me too have fitted kitchens while bike was my only transport, took all my tools on trailer :oD shopping no problem as I added a roof box to the trailer and also handy on a rally as it's lockable can leave kit in it and it remains dry and fairly secure
Cyclone alarm, auto remote start cold mornings great gimmick, but can kill engine upto 100 mtrs away if bike hijacked, sensative enough to go off if trailer hitch is messed with or trailer it's self if interfered with. Also bike locator handy if on a rally cannot fin your way back to bike or at NEC/BMF in the sea of bikes £25 in del lol
now ur talkin TM lol, this seems like a thread for the techno geek, no offence but mud flaps from a rubber floor mat is more my level, if its got two wheels and is legal oh and safe o course...thats all that counts for me
You'll find that when you set off on a six month ride, into places that many would regard as inhospitable, that some extra bits of kit are required. You soon learn to "geek up" for the more extreme situations where a mud flap just won't cut it.
Suppose it depends on what type of riding you do and where to and for what purpose.
If a weekend bimble to the Welsh Coast is your gig, I dare say a map and a bag of boiled sweets is all you need...
Which is the "hard core", true to biking authenticity biker?
Both are.
Without innovations being adopted, you'd be pedalling that bike you ride. Without the essence of two wheeled simplicity, adventure riding would make more sense in a car.
six month ride into inhospitable place, ooo no ta, weekend bimble to the coast hmmm maybe, my bike is my sole transport whether im off to work or a two week tour of scotland, tho with my navigation skills i shud invest in a sat nav, but then i have to decide which one is best and best value, n then wheres the fun in gettin lost lol
i aint knocking technology by any means but all those gadgets just seem too tenchnoy for me, i dont even know what half of them do so if i aint needed em b4 now then i wont miss em.
A GPS lets you get lost very easily indeed. It will open your horizons as you can even ride off the edge of your paper map. You'll find you become even more "adventurous" when you have some idea that you can get back if it all goes wrong, or a route just ends. Okay that's not so likely to happen in the UK because it's such a small and highly populated place, but in a smaller way, you still get to get off the path.
I love the idea and irony that this conversation is taking place on a website.
jus thinkin when we took an old cortina[ban the bomb tailights] to India with an old out of date world atlas and a compass!surprisin how far yu get by jus lookin and askin! yeah i know it werent a bike but we did see some bikers with no gizmo's whatsoever jus a map !
I always tip my hat to a biker who's sole means of transport is his/her bike ! mine was for many years as well and i thoroughly enjoyed it , however i also enjoy having a choice these days ..i suppose its called aging lol . To the expeditionary rider the technology available today is not an option , its a must have ! anyone recall Maggie Thatcher's son in a Dakar race a few years ago ?
How come you didn't just send me a note by pigeon TM?
<Now of course if you wish to deride a group of fellow riders, or further segment biking, that's your prerogative of course, but I can assure you, in my case, stopping to talk to people was very much part of a journey, as was filming them, as was uploading that film to a website, as was showing where that interaction had taken place with on-line mapping , as was an extraction plan.
I had a cortina too, once, a long time ago. It's a heap of cr@p compared to what I drive now.
Here's another quick thought, the thread theme sort of gives a clue to the topics being covered.
If you don't use any, you're not likely to find much of interest in it.
Now you could of course try to divide motorcycling by implying through derogatory examples, that those who embrace change are someway "lesser" riders. Or, you could just accept that there's scope for folk to get different things from riding and that their circumstances and yours might be different.
Now, I am happy to play who is hard core and who isn't until the cows come home, but I'd rather discuss developments that arise in motorcycle technology in this thread, if you don't mind.
Lamble,
SV_Shell has the new Zumo 660 and loves it. Lane assist, active speed limit indication etc, and just as easy to move between car and Bike.
The bike cabling is a little irritating, as it has various fly-leads for audio etc on the power lead, making the routing a little more awkward through small gaps, but I fitted it to her 125 without major problem.
Drop her a PM...
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