I\u2019m thinking about a long ride covering a few thousand kms, and I\u2019ve got some farkles on the brain to satisfy before I splitski.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This time though I\u2019m thinking about updates to technology. I\u2019ve done long rides before, when I picked up the Ducati back at the start of 2013 I rode from Queensland to Melbourne with nothing but a roll bag and a shit helmet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Looking back at that ride, I was ill prepared. I had no idea how the\u00a0bike<\/a>\u00a0was even going to be in terms of road-worthiness, I had some clothes, no tools (not that they I could have done much to that bike) and a stupid helmet for such long distance\u00a0riding<\/a>\u00a0(see review on Arai XD4 here) and I relied on pulling over every time I needed to make a decision or check a map on my phone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now I\u2019m riding the BMW S1R and apart from being brand new, run in and ready for a big ride, I\u2019ve also adapted it to fit me a bit better (see Adaptation). Here is an overview of one ride I\u2019m looking at to visit my sister in Northern NSW.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The technology that is on my mind is mainly, GPS and a bluetooth headset for my helmet lid. No matter which way I carve it up, there are some long boring distances along the way when I\u2019ll really appreciate my new found enjoyment of some music on the way. It helps turn the endless chatter into really bad singing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I also remember getting lost on several occasions as I attempted to take the curly way home last time. At one point I think I wound up in pig phucking country which is scary when you are alone and somewhat exposed. I ain\u2019t no big tuff guy really and I\u2019ve seen Wolf Creek and it stil haunts me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So I want GPS, and I want it to work seamlessly with my helmet via bluetooth, which should also sync to my phone which also needs to be charging while I ride, for all this to work over that kind of distance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The solutions I have decided on are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Main selling points<\/em>: USB charger! The\u00a0Garmin Zumo 590LM\u00a0comes with a USB charger that solves the phone charging situation while riding with a handy cable that ends in a female USB port. Perfect for hooking up the Nexus 5 while it streams music and directions to my lid.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Main selling points:<\/em>\u00a0The way the\u00a0uClear HBC100 PLUS\u00a0mounts via adhesive means no messing around with the lid to slide bits in between shells etc. This stopped me mounting the Bauhn version I got at Aldi to my\u00a0Shoei GT Air.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And it\u2019s boomless! This means, amazingly, there is no fluffy mic smushed in front of your face. The mics are mounted cleverly in the ear pieces. I took my helmet for a faux fitting at a local store and discovered this makes installation piss easy, and my head still fits without the speakers rubbing up against them to\u00a0badly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019ll need to secure my phone to the bars so I can charge it on the go, the\u00a0Ram Mount Universal X-Grip <\/p>\n Last but not least is my desire for an action cam that is yet to be satiated. Until now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sena have finally released stock of what I must say looks like a pretty amazing action camera.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s called the\u00a0Sena Prism Bluetooth Action Camera\u201d target=\u201d_blank\u201d>Sena Prism Bluetooth Action Camera (model SCA-M01) and it\u2019s incredible for two reasons.<\/p>\n 1. Bluetooth recordable audio. <\/p>\n To be able to hook all of these technology farkles up to a camera with a decent recording time unlike the GoPro I currently have, would be good enough, but to be able to hook it up to bluetooth headset and use it to record some commentary (or rebirth my interest in MotoVlogging?) is just the icing on the cake. Want!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It also comes with a massive array of attachment options right out of the box. No add-ons necessary you get a bar mount, suction cup mounts, waterproof housing, and of course helmet mount options. It\u2019s too early to tell yet if it is \u2018all that\u2019 because it is new and I haven\u2019t really been able to find any real user reviews as yet so I sit and wait for now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m also conscious of not being kitted out with the right clothing for long distance touring. This happened because all of my full weather gear (the four seasons type, Goretex) was sold when I traded the Ducati. I couldn\u2019t really see myself wearing a full Dainese\/Ducati Goretex suit on the BMW (or Dizzy for that matter) so I eBayed it, but never replaced it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m currently sporting an\u00a0Icon 1000 Beltway Jacket\u00a0\u00a0which I love, but isn\u2019t waterproof at all. Being resin coated canvass, it wicks water pretty well which mostly keeps you dry unless you are in a down pour that lasts more than 10 or so minutes, then it seeps through to your under clothes and that\u2019s it, you\u2019re saturated and twice as heavy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not a four seasons jacket, but for short commutes and rides that don\u2019t involve wet weather, it\u2019s perfect. It\u2019s made out of a resin coated canvas with CE approved armour for the back and elbows and it\u2019s a long cut, which I prefer, and has a removable winter liner. It\u2019s got more pockets than I know what to do with, large zippers and the liner is a wicked blue satin material which sets it all off perfectly imho.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I think I need to at least get a cheap four seasons jacket, just in case, something with a winter liner for up in the mountains where the temperature can drop and into the forest areas, where some rain is most likely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My\u00a0Red Route Kevlar\u00a0jeans\u00a0are farked. I got them in the UK two years ago and have worn them every day since and they are paper thin, even the Kevlar lining is looking pretty shit. So I\u2019m after a set of new Draggins and I really like the cut and design of the new Razzo. I found\u00a0this store in Sydney selling them $50 cheaper\u00a0than anywhere else so I bit the bullet and ordered a pair after trying them on for size instore elsewhere (cheeky bastard I know). They fit really well\u00a0without being too hipster, and have a new way of providing protection via the Kevlar liner, which is an inner tube instead of patches of lining attached the jeans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stay tuned and subscribe for my detailed review on these later.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This of course, all costs money. And I\u2019ve just packed in full time work and have no income to speak of. Damn you farkles!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course I can do this ride without any of that stuff above. But I don\u2019t want to. And the coffers are there, but they have to last me until I get some business plans off the ground and that elusive income coming back in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Had any experience with any of the technology farkles I\u2019m looking at? Got any words of wisdom you\u2019d like to impart on the purchasing of shiny things?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Drop your opinion in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m thinking about a long ride covering a few thousand kms, and I\u2019ve got some farkles on the brain to satisfy before I splitski. This time though I\u2019m thinking about updates to technology. I\u2019ve done long rides before, when I picked up the Ducati back at the start of 2013 I rode from Queensland… Continue reading BMW S1R: Technology Farkles<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","entry"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":566,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions\/566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybikers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Garmin Zumo 590LM<\/h2>\n
uclear HBC 100<\/h2>\n
Ram universal mount<\/h2>\n
\nis one the best on market and think for around $50 locally can\u2019t be looked past.<\/p>\nSena Prism Bluetooth Action Camera<\/h2>\n
\n2. 3hr battery life.<\/p>\n