Our trip started the day before and we had travelled from Canberra to Cooma, then on to Adaminaby. As we travelled to Cabramurra the temperature dropped and riding got better. Over the top of the mountains and down to Khancoban for our over night stay.

The next day it was on again. While travelling around Lake Hume I noticed that the rear was getting squirrelly. I didn’t think much at the time, however when we stopped at Walwa for lunch one of my buddies noticed that my rear Avon tyre was dead, inso much that the wire was hanging out the tyre. The tyre looked OK when I left however it didn’t make it. I’m thankful it didn’t let go on the road.

Now Walwa is a little remote and trying to get the bike home was going to be a hassle. I had limited breakdown and recovery cover so I phoned a friend, paid for a hotel room for the night and my trailer arrived the next day ready to send the ST1100 home 350kms.

So that was a lesson learnt about having adequate breakdown and recovery services.

So now the question,

What type of breakdown and recovery services do you have?

Here are three breakdown services to check out:

In the UK – The RAC:

http://www.rac.co.uk/breakdown-cover/

In USA – Motorcycle Towing Services

http://www.mtstowing.com/

In Australia – NRMA:

http://www.mynrma.com.au/join/membership-types.htm

You would be crazy riding a without a loud motorcycle horn like this. This is safety riding at it’s best. The BansheeHorn is a combination of a loud motorcycle horn and flashing headlight when your horn button is pressed, however it also allows you to keep your existing horn.

Last week I gave an update to the Banshee Horn and its release on Kickstarter.

The product can now be purchase from the following site: http://bansheehorn.com/home

My friend Ben, currently on his “L” Plates in Australia, was recently run off the road by a “Cell Phone Betty”, wonderful.

I’ve had several experiences of people not concentrating on the road due to using their mobile phones while driving.

Year’s ago I had a set of FIAMM electric horns on my GS1000 Suzuki, it usually fixed a lot of situations, so I’ve been wanting to put a decent set of horns on my ST1100 so I’m prepared if a situation arises.

About the BandsheeHorn

Peter a Kiwi (New Zealander), now living in Florida is an inventor with an Electrical Engineering background. Peter is an active motorcyclist and passionate about safety.

Check out the story below:

If you’re a rider, I suggest you get on board with this project in its last days. If you sponsor this project, Pete will reward you with a complete unit.

When the project goes live, I’ll get the link for the product so you can purchase it from the supplier.

Chris

It’s about the “Tourist Trophy”, the world’s most famous annual road racing event on the Isle of Mann in the United Kingdom.

These guys ride at unbelievable speeds knowing that any point their life could be taken away in the worlds most dangerous motorcycling race. It’s the most ultimate motorcycling drug.If you’re a serious rider, it’s a must see movie.

If you cant get to a movie theatre, I recommend you buy TT3D – Closer to the edge from Amazon.

A couple of years ago, I built a memorial website in remembrance of Kenny Blake, an Australian Racer who lost his life at the Isle of Mann.

As at the date of writing this post 237 riders had lost their life to the race in the 100 years history of the race.

Check out  the trailer below

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click the image to go CRASH

Nathan at the day gig sent me this site link, Consumer Rating and Assessment of Safety Helmets, aka, CRASH.

Helmets decrease the severity of head injuries, the likelihood of death, permanent disability, and the time recuperating from injury.

It’s great a site for telling you all you need to know about Helmets.

Check out the site, it may have some tips you need to know when buying a helmet.

The only thing I was disappointed about in the reviews is that it didn’t have anything on Vemar helmets.

I hope my helmet is OK?

A visual example of the GPS constellation in motion with the Earth rotating. Notice how the number of satellites in view from a given point on the Earth's surface, in this example at 45°N, changes with time. Courtesy, El Pak - Wikipedia

In our previous articles we have been looking at using the iPhone while Motorcycle riding. We have looked at mounting an iPhone on the Motorcycle, using the Telephone application and the iPod application.

Today we want to look at the GPS.

Firstly, it would be remiss of me not explaining what is a GPS.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S. space-based global navigation satellite system. It provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth. To find out more on GPS’ go to Wikipedi, - the source of all truth and knowledge

It basically works by having a GPS device here on earth that triangulates your position by reading the signal from several satellites. Depending on its use (Military, Commercial or Domestic Consumer) depends on how accurate it is to the mark, e.g. within 8 metres to 1 metre (3 ft).

Consumer GPS products for Motorcycling

Consumer GPS products have been on the market for some time. They are  made specifically for motor vehicles, built in their own device container that can be mounted on the dashboard, or a car windscreen with the appropriate adaptors and mounts.

The nice features of consumer GPS’ is they can tell you what route and direction to take to reach a destination. They work solely by storing all the maps on the device and using the GPS signal to pinpoint your location. Perfect for many situations especially for driving, hiking and motorcycle riding. They plug into the cigarette lighter and have becomes the motorist’s security blanket while travelling down the highway or the suburbs!

They’re a couple of GPS products in the market place by Garmin and Tom Tom that are dedicated to Motorcycle riding. They are waterproof and are excellent solutions; they do a number of nice things such as:

• Trip planning routes
• Est. destination times
• Points of Interest (Hotels, Fuel Stops, Hospitals)
• Fixed Speed Camera Warnings
• Overspeed warnings
• Average times, speeds, etc

Listed below are some dedicated Garmin Motorcycle GPS Units.

The iPhone as a dedicated GPS for Motorcycling

The iPhone GPS Map Application

The iPhone has a built in GPS. The iPhone also comes with an Application called “maps” that utilizes Google road maps and the GPS Function, it works on using a combination of downloading the map across the internet on the fly while moving, updating the map as you move along, then using the  iPhone GPS facility to pinpoint your position on the map.

It can provide turn-by-turn instructions on the screen and directions to get to where you need to go. It works OK and can be very accurate, except when there’s no telephony signal. (Note! When there’s no telephony signal, it’s really funning watching the purple dot traveling across an empty screen, kinda sci-fi like!) So the iPhone Maps application is limited in some of its functionality, useful in some situations, however not really ideal for Motorcycle riding.

What’s needed is the consumer type GPS functionality, of Garmins, Tom Tom’s as an application in the iPhone! It was only a matter of time when the big boys saw a market so now it’s being filled.

If you go to the Apple iTunes store, you can purchase several brands of GPS Applications suited to Motorcycle riding:

• CoPilot Live Australia
• NMaps
• Navigon – Mobile Navigation Australia
• Sygic – Mobile Maps Australia
• Tom Tom

They’re a variety of prices in the range, Tom Tom being the most expensive. I’ve purchases the Sygic Mobile Maps Australia as my iPhone GPS application and have been using it successfully now for some time.

Image of the GPS Apps in iTunes Store

Why use an iPhone as a GPS versus purchasing a consumer GPS?

The reason as I see it is this:

• I already owned and invested in an iPhone,
• I didn’t own a GPS so an iPhone application is around $100 max verses a dedicated motorcycling Tom Tom or a Garmin worth around $300min is a saving.
• It’s one less device to have in the technology arsenal.

So those are the Pros.

The Cons

If you use the iPhone exposed to the elements as I do (even if it is behind a fairing), it’s not waterproof, however, there are some options.

Waterproof containers

There is a video on how to place your iPhone in RAM Waterproof GPS Mount Aqua Box Cradle Flex …

The alternative – the waterproof pocket

The good ole waterproof jacket pocket is the next resort, trusty, dependable, it works.

Finally, a word about riding in the wet

When it comes to wet weather riding, its best to keep all eyes on the road. Don’t use the display, however, voice commands are useful when you have high-levels of visual concentration on a potentially hazardous environment. A voice instruction can be useful especially in unfamiliar territory.

Satellite to GPS; do you read my signal?

Using the iPhone in car can sometimes be a flakey due to positioning and getting a clear signal to the satellites. You have to make sure it’s mounted near the windscreen or top of the dashboard, however, on the Motorcycle its gets a great clear signal.

Using the GPS Application on the iPhone for Motorcycling

Before we get started, this article is not going to compare iPhone GPS Applications. There will be pro’s and cons regarding products. I can say that Sygic – Mobile Maps Australia is meeting my expectations, however sometime when they do an update strange things happens, such as, it can’t determine whether the iPhone is vertically mounted or horizontally mounted. It seems to get itself in a tizz. There’s a couple of usability issues with the product however, no show stoppers and they don’t hinder operations while riding.

Before you think about using the GPS on the iPhone for motorcycling, you need to consider where to mount it, how to power it, (it’s going to suck the battery) and how to protect it. You will need to read my previous article about mounting the iPhone on the Motorcycle.

Preparing the GPS before riding

Things I did prior to using the GPS for Motorcycle riding:

1. Configuring the Unit  – This meant putting in all my defaults, such as location, time, warning tones, when to signal when I am going excessively over speed, layout on the screen of the information, what voice I want to speak at me, all the typical things that so with the GPS. If it requires internet connectivity, make sure it can operate without advising you that it has lost its internet connectivity. Some units want to advise you that it has lost it, blanking out the main screen, a distraction and potentially a hazard.
2. Entering my Itineraries – For each of my trips, I needed to put in an itinerary.  The first one I entered was the trip from Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory to Port Macquarie NSW. On the Sygic application this was an easy operation.
   

   Setting up an itinerary on Mobile Maps on the iPhone

3. Testing its operations while stationary

Preparing the iPhone/iPod before riding

The night before I head out on a ride, I usually sort out my music playlists and podcasts. This saves a hassle in the morning and allows me to focus on final bike prep on the morning of the ride.

Using the GPS while riding

After performing the above steps what I do before I ride is this

1. Get the iPhone setup for riding; mounted on the RAM Mounts, powered up from the Motorcycle
2. Gear up except for my Helmet and Gloves
3. Warm up my Motorcycle
4. Set-up my iPhone/iPod for music and get it running
   

   It helps to select your music options before you switch across the GPS

5. Select the home button and go to my iPhone GPS Application (Sygic Mobile Maps), and acknowledge the disclaimer
6. Select my Itinerary and let the unit compute the route, accept all the messages
   

   What you'll see on the GPS while riding

7. Plug my headphones into the iPhone and put my headphones in my ears
8. Put on my Helmet then Gloves
9. Head out on the ride

Basically using the GPS Application should be a set and forget affair. I don’t touch it; I let it do its job. The volume controls on the outside of iPhone control the iPod volume and the GPS volume.

What happens to GPS on the iPhone when the telephone rings?

On my iPhone, when you answer the call the GPS application goes to the background. When the call is finished, the GPS resumes its operations. Sometimes when you miss a call or receive an SMS it does leave the message on the screen overlaid on the Map. This is a nuisance.  So the question is, why don’t you turn airplane mode on? Well, that turns off the GPS signal. So you have to put up with the messages unless your glove can activate the acknowledged message.

An iPhone message on the GPS Screen while motorcycling

So there you have it. I hope this has provided you with an insight to using GPS Application’s while Motorcycle riding.

Happy Motorcycle Riding

Chris

On a long ride, one of my great escapes is listening to music or podcasts while I’m riding. I find it very relaxing and stimulating while I’m riding. I’ve been listening to music while riding since 1983 where I first pulled apart a set of Radio Shack (Tandy) mini headphones, inserted them into my helmet liner, ran a cassette player in my topbox on batteries with an extension lead to the headphones. It was primitive, but, hey it worked and in all serious it’s not much different than what we’re doing today.

A little history first, enter the iPod

Around 2001 Steve Jobs the Apple CEO changed the course of media and entertainment distribution when he unveiled his creation, the Apple iPod.

Prior to that, media players were clunky and difficult to use.

Media players had their genesis in small tape recorders and micro-cassette recorders, most people who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s would be familiar with the Sony Walkman, which is synonymous with the early media players.

The iPod strength was that it did not store the music on a cassette tape but on media that was either a hard disk drive or a solid-state drive. This meant it held lots of music on a relatively small device. The other strength of the iPod was the creation of the iTunes as an application on your computer to load music on your iPod and the creation of the online Apple iTunes store to download, content (music, electronic books, podcasts (subject matter expert talks) from the internet to your iPod.

When the iPhone was created, the iPod already was automatically integrated into the device as an application, making the iPhone one of the most innovative devices in the market place since its release.

Preparing the iPod for Motorcycle riding

Now for those experienced with the iPod and iTunes, let me ramble on a bit about iPods and iTunes for those who are coming up to speed with the Apple music tools.

1. Think about how to organise the way you want to listen to your music

Before you think about riding off into the wild blue yonder to escape to that special place, you will need to organise the music you want to listen to. With music players like the iPod, you can play your music in album format, e.g. song 1-10, in groups of songs from different albums or  a mixture of singles, or let it choose songs randomly, kind of like a radio station.

2.Use iTunes on your computer to organise the music you want to listen to on the iPod for the iPhone

iTunes allows you to group music by Album, and Artist and Playlist (your favourites), composers, genres (Classical, Rock, Country, etc) Compilations (20 electifying hits) etc.

Just to understand your options for uploading music onto your iPhone you have three choices, load up music by artist, genre or playlist.

Artist

Artist and Genre selections are made by selecting what you want e.g,

Simon and Garfunkel

To prepare the music for the iPhone, you can put your favourite music into playlists.

Do you need to know how to set-up a play

http://www.apple.com/itunes/how-to/#video-playlists

In iTunes you need to set this up before you head out on your ride. The process works like this:

1. Set up your Albums and Playlists in iTunes
2. Upload them to your iPhone
3. Set how you want to play them on your iPod (Albums, Artists, Albums, Genres, etc)
4. Put your headphones on
5. Set your volume
6. Press the play button
7. Enjoy the music

Fine tuning the iPhone/Pod while riding

The only thing you should have to worry about while using the iPod while riding is the volume level. You need to have the volume set so you can hear the music comfortably, however not that loud you can’t hear anything else.

As previously mentioned in the other article on mounting the iPhone, I control my volume by having the iPhone volume accessible on the topside so I can change the volume easily while riding or stationary.

If I have to pull up and talk to somebody, I turn the volume down to zero to focus on the conversation, and then return it to the desired listening level to continue the music.

Observations while using the iPod while Motorcycling.

• If I pull out the earphone jack while using the iPod, the iPod stops playing music. I think that’s a good feature for Motorcycling, especially when someone pulls you over to have a chat, if you catch my drift!
• The iPod nicely transitions to a secondary application while the new primary application turns on, e.g. a Phone call comes in so the iPod fades out and fades back in when the call ends.
• When you are ready to ride off, ensure that your iPod screen is turned off. To do this, press the off button on the top of the iPhone. Why? This stops the iPod from trying shuffle the music due to the road vibrations. It took me ages to work out why I would get 20 seconds into song then it would skip to another song!
• The iPod feature works well as a secondary application with a third-party GPS Application. To use it you have do the following….

1. Turn on the iPod application, press play.
2. Select the home button on the iPhone
3. Launch the GPS Application

What now happens is that the music is playing and being controlled by the volume control, when English UK Lucy from GPS tells me when to turn left, the music volume decreases so I can hear her instructions.

So there you have it, using the iPod feature while Motorcycling. In my next article I will look at using a GPS Application on the iPhone while Motorcycle riding.

One last note! Depending on where you ride in the world, there may some road rules related to the use of electronic devices while driving. Ensure you observe the local road rules.

Enjoy the ride

Chris

We just had a fantastic weekend ride!  The weather was cold, the team were eager, the food was good and it was so much fun!

Day 1

• Canberra to Bungendore: meet at 7.45am, every one was on time, 2 deg C. Thankfully the new handgrip warmers installed OK the night before.
• Bungendore to Goulburn: (breakfast and coffee at the Paragon Cafe)
• Goulburn to Oberon: great riding, things had warmed up, stopped at Abercrombie river to enjoy and contribute in nature
• Oberon to Jenolan Caves: Watch out for the wildlife, watch out for the Moss, time for some lunch.
• Jenolan Caves to Mt Victoria: Great countryside, a stop for fuel for Phil at Mount Victoria,
• Mt Victoria to Bathurst: Down to Lithgow, across to Tarana, O’Connell and through to Bathurst, time to get in a lap around Mt Panorama and dinner at the RSL Club.

Video Day One

• Breakfast and Mount Panorama race circuit (several laps  some video and photos)
• Bathurst to Blayney: time for some fuel
• Blayney to Woodstock: Great highway riding, Australian style, stretched the legs on the big fella
• Woodstock to Wyangala Dam: Time to see where the water mark came to in the 80′s and 90′s, interesting road,
• Wyangala Dam to Boorowa:  A few roos and some nesting emus make the ride more interesting
• Boorowa to Canberra: A bite of lunch at the bakery then head for home.

Day 2

Video Day Two

So that was the weekend!

Enjoy the presentations.

Chris

The Route

After being in South East Asia, enjoying some Tuk Tuk riding in Cambodia, partaking in a little bit of motorcycle riding in Thailand, we’re now back into the swing of things in Australia.

Phil my business partner has moved to Canberra so we’re moving ahead with some more ideas in ramping up this site.

I’ve been able to complete my next iPhone article and doing a short article on planning a short weekend ride.

• Link to the iPhone Motorcycle riding article – part 3
• Link to planning a short weekend ride

I hope you enjoy the articles.

Chris