What did you do to your bike today?

IC3 · 27 Sep 2015 at 02:19

Clov!s said:
Looks good. I'll upload some of my footage later on.

Thanks, what camera you've got? BTW Is the image better than my video on yours or worse? I think my is a bit out of focus still, just a tiny bit though.

I think, I'm getting there... but its really hard to close the tyre on public roads without killing yourself.

tom_e · 27 Sep 2015 at 08:38

Clov!s said:
Mine aren't the best either, have you done lights before? Is it difficult?

Nope never fiddled with lights before but I've got a Haynes manual and a full tool box so I'll give it a go!

Craig321 said:
Do they have a bike section on there? Can only see car stuff on there, or did you make do with a car kit?

http://www.hids4u.co.uk/motorcycle-hid-conversion-kits/

IC3 · 27 Sep 2015 at 08:55

tom_e said:
http://www.hids4u.co.uk/motorcycle-hid-conversion-kits/

£100 for HID's, what are the differences compared to the HID's wazza posted? :confused:

tom_e · 27 Sep 2015 at 09:24

IC3 said:
£100 for HID's, what's the difference compared to what wazza posted?

Probably nothing apart from quality, the hids4u stuff gets good reviews and explicitly states it's designed to work in old style reflector setups.

Considering I nearly spent the same on a rear seat cowl the other day it's not really that expensive

wazza300 · 27 Sep 2015 at 11:13

looks good quality to say its at night ic3

mic is decent on it aswell

Captain · 27 Sep 2015 at 14:07

IC3 said:
Thanks, what camera you've got? BTW Is the image better than my video on yours or worse? I think my is a bit out of focus still, just a tiny bit though.

I think, I'm getting there... but its really hard to close the tyre on public roads without killing yourself.

I've got the contour roam2, picture quality is good but the sound is pretty terrible when being used on a motorbike, when the video plays all you can hear is wind noise

IC3 · 27 Sep 2015 at 14:22

wazza300 said:
looks good quality to say its at night ic3

mic is decent on it aswell

For just over 50 quid its a bargain tbh, it has WiFi and does 1080p 60fps.

Are you considering buying one?

I'm going to get some footage after work today, as soon as I finish will jump on the bike and go out for a ride. On that video I wanted to get footage of a street with no lights/bad lightning and town where there's lots of different lights\lightning.

Clov!s said:
I've got the contour roam2, picture quality is good but the sound is pretty terrible when being used on a motorbike, when the video plays all you can hear is wind noise

Can you use a external mic? or a waterproof case of some sort?

Captain · 27 Sep 2015 at 14:24

Nope, can't use an external mic unless you fit one yourself, it's waterproof so doesn't need a case.

wazza300 · 27 Sep 2015 at 16:30

IC3 said:
For just over 50 quid its a bargain tbh, it has WiFi and does 1080p 60fps.

Are you considering buying one? I'm going to get some footage after work today, as soon as I finish will jump on the bike and go out for a ride. On that video I wanted to get footage of a street with no lights/bad lightning and town where there's lots of different lights\lightning.

Can you use a external mic? or a waterproof case of some sort?

yeah ill probably pick on up eventually,cant argue with the quality/£

Captain · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:02

Just recorded 30 minutes of footage on my Roam2, video quality is good, sound quality is very poor, can hardly hear the bike over the wind noise unless going under 10mph.

Just uploading to Youtube now, takes agesssss.

wazza300 · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:05

cant you stick a piece of sponge over the mic hole? might reduce the hiss idk

stick and earphone sponge on it haha

Craig321 · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:06

Clov!s said:
Just recorded 30 minutes of footage on my Roam2, video quality is good, sound quality is very poor, can hardly hear the bike over the wind noise unless going under 10mph.

Just uploading to Youtube now, takes agesssss.

Compress with Adobe Media Encoder or Handbrake before uploading rather than uploading the original file.

wazza300 said:
cant you stick a piece of sponge over the mic hole? might reduce the hiss idk

You can get dead cat dots for the Contour Roam 2, for about £20 as far as I remember. Makes a massive difference.

Kreeeee · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:15

Try electrical tape on the mic first.

Captain · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:20

Craig321 said:
Compress with Adobe Media Encoder or Handbrake before uploading rather than uploading the original file.

You can get dead cat dots for the Contour Roam 2, for about £20 as far as I remember. Makes a massive difference.

Doesn't matter now, just checked Youtube and it's 99% done.

Craig321 · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:52

Good guide here: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en-GB for recommended encoding for YouTube. Normally turns out alright for me and you'll find most of the settings in Handbrake.,

ConTRo13R · 27 Sep 2015 at 18:20

tom_e said:
Started looking at some new brighter bulbs since it's going to be a dark commute soon.
Ended up spending £100 on a HID upgrade from hids4u

£100!!!! Iv retro-fitted a whole projector and HID kit into mine for less than that, gives a fantastic cut off and haven't been flashed once since I fitted a projector, used to get flashed all the time with a HID kit in the oem reflector.

Scooby_WR1 · 27 Sep 2015 at 18:57

Clov!s said:
Does yours have the evotech tail tidy or the R&G? Could you also record a short clip to show what the exhaust sounds like please?

Managed to get some clips of the sound, its a lot louder in person but the overall sound is quite accurate.

TallPaul_S · 27 Sep 2015 at 18:59

IC3 said:
Nope, some Chinese 2 quid mount, I can make it more discrete. But I really wanted some footage to test the camera, surely you can understand me. I'll work on the mounting to make it more discrete as atm its huge.

Edit:

Its still rendering/uploading...

Nice, I was thinking the audio quality isn't too bad but then I realised you're only doing 20mph most of the time

all noise and no go

Night footage looks pretty good though tbh. So you did have to adjust your focus?

Not hard to do though is it.

I've just got back from a quick 3 day trip on the bike - Kent down to Poole/Corfe Castle area via the A272 on Friday (190 miles), campsite the following morning:

Then on Saturday I went via Lyme Regis

and over dartmoor (the b3212 is a cracking road over the moors, and very quiet, not many cars), then up to Lynton along the A39 on Exmoor via Bideford (hill just east of Lynton)

then to the campsite in the Exe valley last night (236 miles).

Then today, back via the A303, through Winchester and back along the A272 (245 miles) along with the hordes of other bikers - not kidding, I must have seen 100+ out today!

it was a little chilly camping, especially with only a lightweight sleeping bag, it was 0 degrees on the thermometer this morning at 7am :eek:

This was tester for camping on the bike, went well - just a few things to amend. I will be getting a couple of US20's, I wore my R30 along with the US30 on the back of the bike, but it made it a little cramped, in that i couldn't sit bolt upright so was bent over slightly. Having all the bags on the bike will solve this. by the end of today I was feeling it on my shoulders/bank being bent over more than usual.

The merino base layers paid for themselves, wore them all day and all night for the trip (I have a couple of sets) and they kept me warm overnight, and warm riding - it was lovely and sunny but the wind was cold at times.

I'll pick up some other things too, like a small camping chair (for somewhere to sit) and a stove, along with a powerbank (I have a charging point on the bike but that's no good if something dies when you're at the campsite.

All in all, a decent trip - 200-250 miles of just twisties is about right, I left the campsite yesterday at 11am, and with a couple of stops (lets say an hour and 45 minutes hours) I arrived at 6:45pm, so that's averaging about 45mph. The lightweight 2 man tent I have is just enough room for me and all my kit, I'll have a look at sizes but might pick up a 2 man backpacking style tent over winter along with a warmer sleeping bag.

Also I was getting over 60mpg on the 2 days of twisties, less on the way back as I wast at 80ish on D/C for a good amount of time (8k revs!!!). Deffo felt the extra weight on the bike, a proper tourer needs more power, about 150bhp or so should do it

wazza300 · 27 Sep 2015 at 19:20

looks nice where you went,nice views and weather

hooked it in just before its gonna get too cold aswell

TallPaul_S · 27 Sep 2015 at 20:25

Yeah that was the last chance I'll have to go away this year, next year I want to get my passport renewed, and start doing some proper trips - I'll do a short France trip (a 2 day eurotunnel ticket is only £30) going on one day and coming back the next - maybe down to Normandy or somewhere along the coast, as I've never ridden/driven in France before and that'll give me a little taster before any bigger trips. I'll probably do that around April/May time, then June/July I have a route planned out for a 4/5 day trip down through France and Belgium to the Ardennes, then across Luxembourg to the Mosel Valley, Cochem and Koblenz, before heading north to the Nordschleife and then up to Spa Francorchamps via the Eifel mountains, before a quick blast back across Belgium back to the eurotunnel.

That trip works out at 280 and 260 miles on the first and last day (a fair amount of motorway each day, 120 miles on day one and 195 miles on the last day) and easy days of 150 and 200 miles on day 2 and 3, less than 900 miles in total, easy for 4 days, with maybe an extra day somewhere (Cochem is meant to be nice) as a sightseeing day.

Good thing is about camping on the bike, for 3 days away (ok nowhere amazing but it won't cost much more on the continent) it's cost me £20 in camping, £30 in food/drink, and about £60 in fuel. So £110 all in to get away for 3 days, bargain I'd say! I reckon a 4/5 day euro trip would be around £250, all in - eurotunnel is around £50-60 for a 5 day trip. Obviously there's the cost of luggage/satnav etc but over the course of a few trips the cost is spread out.

I have my eye on the Portsmouth to Sandander ferry for late summer next year, straight into the Picos national park, then across the Pyrenees, south of france, milau bridge, route Napoleon, then the Alps from west to east through france, switzerland, italy and austria, and finally up through the Black forest in Germany before heading home - probably a good 2000 miles, a 2 week/10 day trip easy.

I wouldn't want to do the motorway trip down to the alps on my bike, it's too compromised for long motorway stuff, but doing multiple trips per year is my goal on the bike